Information Technology Dimensions and Interdependencies in BPR Projects

Roger Sor and Dieter Fink
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Roger Sor: School of Management Information Systems, Edith Cowan University, Churchlands WA 6018, Australia
Dieter Fink: School of Management Information Systems, Edith Cowan University, Churchlands WA 6018, Australia

Chapter 18 in Reengineering in Action:The Quest for World-Class Excellence, 1999, pp 333-348 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: AbstractManagement increasingly are examining ways to redesign organizational practices to improve the quality of their products and services. This has led to the phenomenon of Business Process Reengineering (BPR). Business process reengineering purposefully discards existing tasks, processes and structures and replaces them with complete new ways of accomplishing work. The aim of BPR is to have innovative approaches to business operations rather than incremental improvements.The study analyzed BPR projects conducted in four organizations. These organizations were a large construction company, a medium-sized manufacturer, a large multinational mining company and a large banking organization. First, BPR projects were examined along Information Technology (IT) dimensions determined by task variety and task knowledge. The findings indicated that technical-professional technologies, in the form of databases and transaction processing systems, were predominantly used to achieve organizational restructuring.Second, BPR projects were examined in process interdependencies. The set of interdependencies between information processes themselves and with other processes is a major factor in creating organizational complexity because it is the factor that creates the need for coordination between tasks. The greater the interdependence, the more resources (rules, schedules, and line and staff officials) must be devoted to coordination mechanisms. The use of IT in BPR led to the absorption of sequential and reciprocal interdependencies thereby reducing the need for coordination and organizational resources.

Date: 1999
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