Process reengineering or simply reengineering is a term that began to be used in the 80s.
The precursors of this method, technique or philosophy as other authors have come to name it are Dr. Michael Hammer and James Champy, who affirm that they have never attributed the invention of reengineering but that…
“They have tried to reorganize, systematize, label and put within a conceptual framework those pieces and parts of what many organizations have been doing, so that other companies can understand what is happening, the motivations for it, and decide to do it themselves. … ”
Hammer and Champy defined reengineering as "the fundamental revision and radical redesign of processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measures and performance components, such as quality, costs, service and speed of delivery." However, according to Cantú, this concept has evolved by including strategic content, leaving a definition like the one Lowenthal tells us: “it is a fundamental redesign and rethinking of operational processes and organizational structure, focused on improving competitiveness. of the company through dramatic improvements in its performance ”.
It is important to mention that for a reengineering study to be successful, 4 aspects need to be considered according to Champy:
- Continuous questioning about the purpose and reason for being of everything that is done in the organization, be it processes, products, services, work methods, etc. A cultural change at all levels of the company to promote an environment of change. Create new procedures, norms and standards to achieve better levels of company performance; It is important to set radically “more challenging than previous” objectives and establish leadership to achieve them Define the type of personnel to carry out the cultural change and the implementation of new procedures so that the change is not aggressive and a precise adaptation of the the proposed norms and standards.
It should not be forgotten that reengineering is aimed at changing "the processes" of the organization, known as business processes, and not its tasks, trades or structure. Hammer and Champy define a business process as "a set of activities that receives one or more inputs and creates a product of value for the customer."
Currently many public and private organizations are making changes and adjustments in their areas, and this event is called reengineering, the change in every organization must be as a primary element planned, and when it comes to planning it is said that it has to be within the administrative process With planning, the administrative process begins, which well applied undoubtedly leads to the successful fulfillment of objectives, goals, programs and budgets.
Changes cannot and should not be applied irresponsibly, since the change would not be understood and would create annoyance within the organizational structure.In order for the change to be successful, it must be communicated in advance and clearly explain what the changes will be. benefits, the information must always start from the top management and permeate to the base of the pyramid of the structure, any unplanned change results in its rejection.
In senior management or senior management, the term part of organizational development (OD), where based on psychosocial processes, a prior study or investigation is carried out using the techniques designed for it, in itself it is a meticulous process that results in the way forward, these results are delivered, and the decision is made as to what kind of change should be implemented. The process is almost the same as that of the patient doctor.
A company that is not healthy is one that does not have clear organizational charts, does not have well designed processes, does not have manuals such as induction, quality management, recruitment and selection, assignment of positions, among others, and being thus it is clear that it cannot reengineer processes because it is not even remotely ready for certification. And what we have in the different case studies is that although the organization has the economic capacity to carry out these processes, it lives in a state of comfort that leads to administrative inoperation. As a consequence, the organization goes from a simple cold to pneumonia that often leads to organizational ruin.
In short, we can say that a company that wants to apply changes must plan, communicate, organize and direct. The changes are not made by fashion but by necessity, and in order to determine a need, a prior diagnosis is essential.
