To begin with it is necessary to mention, that any company and any management can be ensured against misunderstanding and misidentification of the problem. The same can be said about the N company, managing large professional staff, engaged in polygraphic industry.
Print worker P noticed, that the printing roller would need the replacement in the nearest time, and had informed the technician manager L, that the new spare part is required. L made the notice not in the register of requirements, but on some sheet of paper with the aim to recollect the case a bit later, and make the necessary notice in the register. P continued working with the old roller, and in two weeks it got out of order. First the company blamed P for not mentioning it in the register, and L quite forgot about that request. As a result P was fined for $2000 (the cost of a new roller with the fork for replacement, plus stated fine of violating the inner rules). The case had been solved through the trade union in two months. The decision was to fine both:
- P was fined for not checking the notice was made in the register ($200)
- L – for not observing his direct obligations ($500).
The misunderstanding appeared because P just trusted L, as they had worked together for a long time, and such violations had never taken place before, and L just was too busy, and the register was in the company’s safe (as the described case took place by the end of the shift), and then, the sheet with the notice got lost among other papers.
The interview
The interview had been taken from V the head of a provincial sports-parachuting club. V is fully devoted to his occupation, and says he would never change it, as he adores parachuting, and his only aim is to jump, and give this pleasure to others. Especially for these aims he founded the club 10 years ago, and he himself manages the documentation, riggers, and maintains all the necessary contacts.
The interview took place in cozy surroundings of the club, when the club was getting ready to start working after winter break. First of all V tried to scuttle all the rumors on some accidents in his club. Then the talk switched in the direction of parachuting safety, and V narrated about the matters of safety and achievements in this industry (the reliability of canopying system, and the electronic automatic activation device for skydivers). The experience of convincing people in the comparative safety of parachuting is felt at once, as in ten minutes of the discussion I was fully persuaded in the necessity to jump. The only upsetting thing is the growing prices for a jump, as equipment, activation devices, expandable materials are getting more and more expensive nowadays. Inspite of the fact, that interview had been taken with professional journalistic aim; the author became frequent guest in the club, and fell in love with sky and life like lots of other skydivers.
Analysis tool
The analysis tool for Business Process Reengineering is as necessary as air for breathing. Thus, for any company SWOT analysis is the most universal, as it is claimed to generalize the profile of the company in the context of the internal and external matters, and on the basis of the acquired data, it is aimed to change or just slightly modify (depending on the results of the analysis) the business process.
The early BPR literature, classified numerous so regarded troublesome methodologies that were aimed to challenge conventional understanding about how work should be done.
- Common databases, making data obtainable for different locations
- Expert systems, permitting generalists to execute consultant jobs
- Telecommunication systems, allowing companies to be unified and dispersed at the same time
- Decision-maintenance instruments, permitting decision-making to be a division of everyone’s work
- Wireless communication and portable PCs, allowing field workers to work office self-governing
- Interactive videodisk, to obtain in immediate connection with possible customers
- Automatic recognition and tracking, permitting matters to tell anywhere they are located, rather than requiring to be initiated
- High presentation computing, permitting on-the-go planning and revising
The most recurrent and harsh analysis against BPR apprehensions the strict concentration on competence and knowledge and the ignorance of people in the structure that is subjected to a reengineering initiative. Very often, the label BPR was used for major workforce reductions.
References
Duray, D., & Vering, M. (2001). The E-Business Workplace: Discovering the Power of Enterprise Portals. New York: Wiley.
Frame, J. D. (2002). The New Project Management: Tools for an Age of Rapid Change, Complexity, and Other Business Realities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.