Peter Drucker wrote that the single greatest challenge facing managers in the developed countries of the world is to raise the productivity of knowledge and service workers. This challenge, which will dominate the management agenda for the next several decades, will ultimately determine the competitive performance of companies. Even more important, it will determine the very fabric of society and the quality of life in every industrialized nation. So much so that before 1914, when everyone else worked at least 3,000 hours a year. (Today even the Japanese work no more than about 2,000 hours each year, while Americans average 1,800 hours and West Germans 1,650.)
Many different management ideas & techniques and the ubiquitous IT are all aimed at enhancing global levels of productivity and Business Process Re-engineering is an integral part of sever
Post Dr.Michael Hammer’s seminal article Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate, published in 1990, it is now common knowledge that enterprises generally accept that by redesigning business processes they can realize significant improvements in cost, quality, speed, profitability, and other key areas. Dr Michael Hammer has conceded that despite their intentions and efforts, enterprises often are unclear about what needs to be changed – by when and to what degree. It is extremely demanding and looks like crossing a rough terrain – this holds true for even proclaiming success out of such initiatives. There is little doubt that process re-engineering is extremely touch – the demands made by such a change permeates redefinition of work , culture and more importantly performance management measures of people across the enterprise – starting from front-office to all aspects of enterprise. Consulting firms have made tonnes of money in trying to help organizations accomplish this and each and every firm have taken their own approaches – based on their strengths and predilections.
Dr. Hammer now comes with a framework aimed at helping enterprises appreciate, plan , assess and enact process -based transformation efforts.
Michael Hammer identifies two distinct groups of characteristics that are needed for business processes to perform exceptionally well over a long period of time. Process enablers, which affect individual processes, determine how well a process is able to function. They are mutually interdependent—if any are missing, the others will be ineffective. However, enablers are not enough to develop high-performance processes; they only provide the potential to deliver high performance. Dr.Hammer holds the view that an enterprise must also possess or establish organizational capabilities that allow the business to offer a supportive environment. Together, the enablers and the capabilities provide an effective way for companies to plan and evaluate process-based transformations. PEMM is different from other frameworks, such as Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), because it applies to all industries and all processes. We shall see in next part the specific details that Dr.Hammer shares in building the framework.
Labels: Business Process Re-Enginnering, Dr.Michael Hammer
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