Business process reengineering reappraised: the politics and technology of forgetting
Other Publication ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
In this paper, we reappraise the phenomenon of business process reengineering through our own recent case study and survey findings, and through developing an interpretivist account of its appeal and content. A preliminary assessment questions what is actually being achieved under the label of BPR and the efficacy of the methodologies and tools available. We then argue that its claims to radicalism and novelty are exaggerated, provide an externalist account for part of its appeal, together with locating BPR as a fonn of utopian thought applied to work organizations. We then deepen the analysis by suggesting how its essentially political origins, aims and characteristics link inextricably with the high importance management commentators give to the role of information technology as a catalyst and consolidator of radical change in how work is organized and performed. A key concept throughout is that of deracination- the rooting out of the past. In the view that we develop, a significant impetus within BPR is toward a technology-supported deracination that requires a collective forgetting.
Journal
N/A
Publication Name
Information Technology and Changes in Organizational Work
Volume
N/A
ISBN/ISSN
978-0-412-64010-0
Edition
N/A
Issue
N/A
Pages Count
23
Location
N/A
Publisher
Chapman and Hall
Publisher Url
N/A
Publisher Location
London
Publish Date
N/A
Url
N/A
Date
N/A
EISSN
N/A
DOI
N/A