Incremental change, although necessary and even fundamental, is no longer enough to cope with the acceleration of change. In an age when everything is being questioned, the old ways of management no longer work.
This means that organizational charts, remuneration systems, hierarchies, vertical organization, which implies the whole set of instruments and methods applied for the management and control of organizations no longer work.
The change we are witnessing is much deeper than the simple alteration of the techniques that are used. Not only do they affect what managers do, but they alter their own way of being and feeling.
We can affirm that nothing is as simple as it was before. Now whatever we do is not enough. Everything is being radically questioned. We all must change. Peter Drucker went even deeper in stating that "all organizations must be prepared to abandon everything they do."
Winning the favor of consumers is becoming increasingly difficult. Today's customers and consumers are the smartest and most educated marketers have ever had to deal with. Today's consumers are characterized by their relentless demand for quality products and services at the best price, by their willingness to act legally in the event of any failure to comply with a contract and by their disloyalty. In fact, the new power and freedom of choice that consumers have today have destroyed the basic premises of leadership. No one can therefore stay out of the collapse of the previous paradigms typical of the Second Wave.
Currently there is an urgent need to reinvent the traditional management processes, in order to make them viable in the face of the new realities posed by the needs of the market. One of the main drawbacks of the traditional organization is that it openly encouraged the development of a culture of bureaucracy, which implies the development of a functional approach, rather than an approach focused on activities and results.
Under these new needs and requirements, with a profound modification in the way of thinking and managing, reengineering has to allow us to do much more with much less.
There are patterns of thought, a series of paradigms, a comprehensive set of ideals and expectations that must be detected and removed. In this way, perfectionist organizational thinking, with its faith in a single, eternal and universal way of doing things, must be left behind. From now on, the way of thinking will have to be radically experimental. If that does not appeal to you, bad luck, because as Wayne Calloway (PepsiCo) has reflected it “The market will not let you continue in it”.
From now on, a new directive must be adopted. Instead of "get it right and keep doing it like this", you should move on to "get it right and get better and better and better and better" and even "do it differently." One must forget the comfortable illusion that there is a conclusive solution to every business (or human) problem and go on to live with the fact that all problems change, practically, overnight, with no two problems that are exactly the same. and that many of them will have to be solved with great difficulties. Ask yourself constantly:How can I do better? How can I do it at a lower cost? What if I stop doing it altogether? How can I add more value to the customer and user? How can I reduce response times? How can we prevent the occurrence of failures or errors? How can we stay ahead of the competition?
The feeling of mistrust towards employees must be overcome, generating faith in them in such a way as to allow us to delegate responsibilities and empowerment.
Reengineering is a special way of using our minds, about the way of thinking and rethinking the company. It forms a form of experimentation, of inventions and reinventions, constantly contrasted with the bottom line of the results table.
“We live in a new world, therefore we must find a new way of thinking.” 1 It is necessary to leave the step urgently.
It is necessary to continually think about the following phrases:
- A mind continually willing to turn against its own conclusions A mind prepared for constant and flexible skepticism, not disbelief (avoid all kinds of dogmatism) A mind open to all possibilities, including impossibilities A mind open to the various points of view A mind willing and capable of putting processes and procedures on trial A mind with sufficient discipline for analysis A mind willing to take both great leaps and incremental leaps.
It is essential that each manager asks himself and actively questions:
- What does this company exist for? What kind of culture do we want? How should we do our work? With what kind of people do we want to work? What changes should we make in the jobs and key processes of the management that allow us to translate those results desired in a reality?
According to James Champy, “The flow of the market is out there. The reengineering of management requires managers at all levels to leave their command posts, to get out of the boxes of the organization chart, to come into contact with the real world on which companies depend: the market. Why is this advised? Well, because markets and consumers are constantly changing.
There are two reasons for someone to worry about reengineering, they are greed and fear. In addition, if there is one thing that all those who have implemented reengineering agree on, it is that there is no person, company, or market that will enjoy total security in the future.
Reengineering is difficult, but there are enough and abundant technological, socio-political and cultural reasons that force us to implement it.
If reality changes rapidly, changes in the company have to be generated in the same way, otherwise it will be out of step with the environment.
Bibliography
Process Reengineering - Mauricio Lefcovich - www.sht.com.ar - 2004
Second Generation Reengineering - Mauricio Lefcovich - www.gestiopolis.com - 2005
1 Emerson.
