What is reengineering?
Reengineering is the fundamental overhaul and radical redesign of processes to achieve dramatic improvements in contemporary and critical performance measures such as cost, quality, service, and speed. (Hammer and Champy, p.34)
Process reengineering can be understood as a fundamental and deep understanding of the processes in view of the added value they have for customers, to achieve an in-depth redesign of the processes and implement an essential change in them to achieve spectacular improvements in Critical performance measures (costs, quality, service, productivity, speed,…) modifying at the same time the purpose of the work and the fundamentals of the business, in order to establish if necessary new corporate strategies. (Alarcón, p.15)
Reengineering is the rapid and radical design of strategic value-added processes - and the systems, policies, and organizational structures that underpin them - to optimize an organization's workflows and productivity… Process reengineering is the activity that Analyzes the operation and value of existing processes in the business and makes radical changes to dramatically improve their results, in the customer's opinion. (Klein and Manganelli, p.10)
It is the new thinking and the fundamental redesign of the operational processes and the organizational structure, oriented towards the essential competences of the organization, to achieve improvements in organizational performance… Reengineering means starting again by starting again; Reengineering is not doing more with less, it is giving less to the customer. The goal is to do what we are already doing, but to do it better, to work smarter. (Drucker, quoted by Flores et al., P.3)
How is it implemented?
The implementation of reengineering is a process that includes three things (Kamiya, p.66):
- Define objectives and divide projects into manageable units, that is, forget about the great goals and concentrate on small but permanent advances, which, being achievable goals, can be easily quantified. Reform the middle management to convince them of the need for change. The agreements adopted between the management of the company and the employees below fail many times because they go over the directors, bosses and deputy chiefs, that is to say, all the staff that arbitrates and that really directs what was thought above. information as an inherent tool of the company. Technology accelerates communication and reduces time spent on paperwork and procedures, allowing you to create time to focus on strategy.
The basic phases of the reengineering process. Source: Cuatrecasas, p.601
What benefits does it bring?
Some of the benefits that are achieved with reengineering are (Cuatrecasas, p.601):
- Positive change to more efficient processes. Active behavior of people, who contribute ideas and opinions, getting involved in the evolution and improvement of processes. Change to processes that require fewer controls and verifications. Integration of jobs, several tasks are combined into one. Better organization of work.
In the following video a good synthesis is made of what business reengineering means:
Bibliography
- Alarcón González, Juan Ángel. Reengineering of business processes, FC Editorial, 1998.Cuatrecasas Arbós, Lluis. Total quality management, Ediciones Díaz de Santos, 2012.Drucker, Peter F., The Reengineering in the Company, Grupo editorial patria, 2005. Quoted by Flores Jiménez, Ivette and others in Reengineering in small and large companies.Hammer M. and Champy J., Reengineering, Editorial Norma, 1994.Kamiya, Marco. Japanese reengineering and administration, In: Quehacer, Ed. 101, 1995 Klein, Mark M. and Manganelli, Raymond L., How to reengineer, Editorial Norma, 2004.
