ity.

The business community contin- authors, both heads of management eering,” they may say, “is an-
ues to need a more balanced coverage consulting firms that specialize in re- other name for downsizing.”
of the realities of TQM, and the au- engineering, give several examples of Or they equate it with restruc-
thors have not addressed this issue how it has resulted in significant im- turing or some other business
adequately. provement. For example, after Ford fix of the month. Not at all.
Where would the book have its reengineered its accounts payable pro- Reengineering has little or
greatest value? It seems less likely to cess, it had only I25 people involved nothing in common with any
be used as a “how to” source than as in vendor payment rather than 500-a of these other programs and
a key resource in a college course or 75 percent reduction in staff. Similarly, differs in significant ways
executive seminar-where I plan to IBM Credit reduced its turnaround even from those with which it
use it. It also has many delightful time for processing a credit applica- does share some common
quotable statements that carry very tion from seven days to four hours-a premises. (pp. 47-48)
powerful messages-overall, an excel- 90 percent reduction in cycle time.
lent contribution to the field. The first two chapters explain Reengineering is different because
why American corporations need it challenges corporations to rethink
Warrerz H. Scknlidt and&v-otne P. reengineering. Most still organize on the entire way they do business. It is a
Finnigan, The Race Without a Fin- the principles set forth by Adam Smith bold approach to organizational de-
ish Line: America’s Quest for Total in his WeaM of Nations, published in sign, one that seeks to reverse the
Quality. Sal? Francisco: ./ossqMass, 1776. Smith observed that a number of growth of bureaucracy. In the authors’
3992. 400~~. specialized workers, each performing view, bureaucracy was, and still is, a
a single step in the manufacture of a solution to the problem of holding
pin, coulcl make far more pins in a together fragmented work processes.
day than the same number of general- However, it is a cumbersome and ex-
ists. This principle of division of labor pensive solution that most corpora-
increased the productivity of pin mak- tions can no longer afford. Many firms
Reengineering the ers more than a hundredfold. It was would he better off to reengineer pro-
incorporated into U.S. production sys- cesses so that they are no longer frag-
Corporation: A tems with great success, including mented. Much of the traditional bu-
Manifesto for Business Hemy Ford’s moving assembly line
introcluced in 1913.
reaucracy would no longer be needed
ancl could be dismantled.
Revolution The down side of the division of Chapter 3, “Rethinking Business
labor was that it fragmented work ancl Processes,” ancl Chapter 4, “The New
made the task of coordinating work- Worlcl of Work,” are basecl on the as-
By Michael Hammer ers’ efforts much more difficult. As a sumption that to meet contemporary
and James Champy result, by the 1960s most large-corpo- demancls of quality, service, flexibility,
rations had developed elaborate and ancl low cost, processes must be kept
7;13&reviewer, Henry H. Beam, is a expensive control systems to schedule simple. Examples of simplifying pro-
professor of management at Westem and coordinate practically every as- cesses are combining several jobs into
Michigan lhiversity, Kalamazoo. pect of work. Reengineering is not one, letting workers make clecisions,
based on the division of labor, a task performing the steps in a process in a
Reengineering is a way to bring about orientation. Instead, it focuses on re- natural order, and performing work
order of magnitude improvements in designing the process used to accom- where it makes the most sense. The
the way a corporation operates. The plish a task or a job. It recognizes that net result is that work may be shiftecl
authors define reengineering as “the one generalist handling all aspects of across functional bounclaries several
fundamental rethinking and radical a job, such as an insurance claim, may times to expedite its accomplishment.
redesign of business processes to be able to handle the job more effec- Traditional inspection and control pro-
achieve dramatic improvements in tively than several specialists each cedures are often eliminated or de-
critical, contemporary measures of handling only part of the job. ferred until the process is complete,
performance, such as cost, quality, At the end of Chapter 2, the au- providing further cost savings.
service, and speed” (p. 32). In effect, thors tell what reengineering is not: The role of the manager shifts
reengineering means tossing aside old from that of the traditional boss who
systems and making a fresh start with People with hearsay knowl- allocates work to that of a coach who
a clean sheet of paper. It contrasts edge of reengineering and helps solve problems. “Managers have
sharply with the popular idea that those just being introduced to to switch from supervisory roles to
continuous incremental improvement the concept often jump to the acting as facilitators, as enablers, and
in functional areas is sufficient to conclusion that it is much the as people whose jobs are the develop-
make American corporations more same as other business im- ment of people and their skills so that
competitive. provement programs with those people will be able to perform
The results achieved with re- which they are already famil- value-adding processes themselves”
engineering can be impressive. The iar. “Oh, I get it. Reengin- (p. 77).

90 Business IHorizons / September-October 1993

 Chapters 5 through 8 demonstrate sage relates to what the firm neecls to Reeugineering dx Cotporarion is a
how reengineering can be carried out become-its vision statement. The very well-written and thought-provok-
in a variety of corporate settings. But vision statement is important because ing book that merits a wide reading. It
although workers are the ones who “a well-drawn vision will sustain a challenges some long-cherished as-
neecl to he empowered to carry out company’s resolve through the stress sumptions of business organization,
reengineering, the authors are acla- of the reengineering process” (p. 154 ). such as the division of labor ancl orga-
mant that the process must start at the It also provides a way to measure the nization by function. The focus is on
top. This is hecause it involves making progress of the effort. the advantages of organizing by pro-
major changes that are likely to cut The book concludes with chapter- cess (how work gets clone) rather than
across traditional organizational long examples of successful reengin- on division of labor (specialization).
l~ounclaries. Those empowered to eering efforts at Hallmark Carcls, Taco The case stuclies provided by the au-
make the changes at lower levels must Bell, Capital Holcling, ancl Bell Atlan- thors throughout the book clemon-
know they have the support of top tic. Each example is recountecl by :I strate that reengineering can incleecl
management, or change won’t occur. senior representative of one of these result in quantum leaps in corporate
In Chapter 9, the authors stress firms or subsidiaries, giving it aclclecl performance.
the importance of developing two credibility. Certainly reengineering is
clear messages about the need for useful for firms that are desperate; if Michael Hammer- and./umes C%nmnpy,
reengineering. The first is why the they clon’l change, they won’t survive. Reengineer&g the Corporation.- A
company cannot stay as it is. This It may also he useful for firms that are Manifesto for Business Revolution.
shoulcl be ;I compelling “case for ac- cloing well at present but wish to pre- Neut 1bt&: Hatper- L3rrsiaess. 199-3. Z3
tion” built on facts. The second mes- pare for challenges they see ahead. PP.

Focus on Rooks 91