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Michael W. Stebbins: College of Business, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, USA
Abraham B. (Rami) Shani: College of Business, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, USA
Wayne Moon: Blue Shield of California, San Francisco, California, USA
Debra Bowles: CPIC Life Insurance Company, A Blue Shield of California Subsidiary, San Francisco, California, USA
Introduction
Successful business process reengineering (BPR) efforts in many companies have been reported to significantly increase performance (Hammer and Stanton, 1995). However, some BPR programs have produced negative effects on other organizational processes, and there have been many reports of overall program failure. Further, there is a need to investigate relationships between BPR and other change initiatives that may occur in tandem. Few of the cases in the literature on BPR cover industry forces and strategic initiatives that might shape the context (Teng et al., 1996).
Management experts on BPR have proposed that BPR consider the integration of all aspects of the system while focussing on reengineering of key processes. Paradoxically, the focussed energy and effort on reengineering key business processes results, in many cases, in lack of attention to integration. At issue is whether BPR change initiatives are narrowly focussed versus comprehensive system-wide change programs.
The mechanism established within the organization for orchestrating and conducting the BPR change program determines to a large extent the capacity to carry out the effort and its success (Kettinger et al., 1997). The nature of the mechanism's structural configuration, its creation, key processes and linkages to the formal organization also determine employee commitment to change. Yet, relatively little can be found in the BPR literature about the "learning mechanism", its role and dynamics (Shani and Mitki, 1996). This paper begins with a short synopsis of BPR propositions and a review of what is known about system-wide change programs and learning mechanisms. Next we describe the context and the implementation of BPR at Blue Shield of California (BSC). The paper ends with a discussion brought forth by the BSC case where we attempt to draw some general conclusions. As developed in the text, there is no "BPR theory." Our attempt is rather to relate BPR to more general theories about learning and change.
Business process reengineering theory: a brief synopsis
Business process...