What are the factors and steps for successful implementation of BPR?

Factors for Successful Implementation of BPR

As per Hammer and Champy (1993), “BPR is certainly a ‘Change Management’ approach that aims at bringing in fundamental improvements in the business performance of any organization. It is a detailed blueprint of how the new processes are tested, the plan of redeployment of employees, the re-arrangement  of resources, and controlling and monitoring of its implementation plan.” Al-Mashari and Zairi (1999) have identified five factors for a successful implementation of BPR i.e.

• Change in management
• Management competencies
• Organizational structure
• BPR project management
• IT sub-structures

BPR is commonly termed as a bi-fold challenge viz. technical and socio-cultural (Reijersa and Mansarb, 2005). The technical challenge consists of creating radical process design to improve existing systems. The sociocultural challenge stems from a reaction against change from organizational employees. (CIPS: Achieving results through BPR and BPO). Therefore, the reasons for the failure of BPR (Crowe et al., 2002 and Kotter, 1996) may be:

• Employees’ resistance against change
• Communication breakdown
• Personnel turnover during the transition

Steps for Business Process Reengineering

A well-conducted execution of Business Process Reengineering can prove to be a game-changer for an organization. BPR can revive a failing entity and lead it to the path of profit maximization. However, executing BPR may not be easy as it involves enforcing a change in the entire organization. BPR comprises the following steps:

• Define: Objectives and Framework

       There must be a clear definition of the objectives of choosing BPR. Such objectives must be clearly laid out in qualitative and quantitative terms. After defining such objectives, the requirement for change must be communicated to the employees to apprise them about the upcoming processes. This becomes important as the willingness of the employees to adopt the change is key for the success of BPR.

• Identify: Customer Needs

       The requirements and feedback of the customers must be given due importance while designing the BPR. It must be ensured that the new process is able to deliver the added value to the customer.

• Study: the Existing Process

       In order to re-engineer, the company must have to analyze its existing business process. A SWOT should be carried out to have a clear view of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing processes.

• Formulate: a Redesigned Business Plan

      After an analysis of the prevailing business process, the modifications to be made are chalked down. These modifications form a base for the re-designing of the process. Then, a plan is laid down by selecting the best alternative.

• Implement: the Redesign

      The last step is to implement the redesigned plan. Management should make sure that the new process is operational and adopted by the team. Such support from the team is indeed critical to the success of BPR.