By Golly! It is starting to look like a consensus is going to appear on
BPR. So far, the comments on BPR seem to be running towards:
- Bad Press. BPR has been associated with major job cuts and cultural
disruption. In addition is the high perceived failure rate of BPR
initiatives. True or not, almost everybody believes most BPR projects
fail. Things that are expected to fail ususlly do!
- Lack Of Effective Change Management. When employees fear for their
jobs (security) or perceiv that this is something that only management
understands, it won't be supported and implemented by the workers at the
botton of the food chain.
- Lack of Management Support. Managers must be sure to include
employees from all levels in the organization beyond "token inclusion"
and look at their operations with an open mind.
- Consultants Are Not Perfect. Professors aren't either and I am not
aware of any profession where all members are perfect. The fact is,
that anyone providing outside assistance to an organization that wants
to change and improve MUST carefully tailor its assistance to the
specific needs of the organization. What worked for one organization
may not work for another.
Two funny (but unfortunately true) stories from my work reengineering
logistics in the U.S. Army.
Story #1
The manager of a large heavy equipment maintenance shop was trying to
speed up parts ordering (As-Is was twice a week) using a standard Army
automated system. His goal (To-Be) was at least once a day and repeated
meetings with his formen to discuss the problem had been unsuccessful.
My team conducted a "Walk-Through" of the processes where we interviewed
each person involved (The manager and two formen were with us) and when
we interviewed the clerk who entered the parts requirements into the
automated system we learned that he entered requests as received but
uploaded the data only twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday. The manager
said "That's Crazy! Why Do You Only Upload On Tuesday And Thursday?" and
the clerk said "Three years ago when you hired me you told me to be sure
to upload avery Tuesday and Thursday."
Point - the employee was proud of the fact that he was doing exactly
what he had been told and the manager had not reailized that he had
established an "unwritten rule."
Story #2
A smaller shop was using the same (as above) automated system but after
loading parts requests into the system, they would transfer the data to
a floppy disk, put the disk into an envelope addressed to the next
higher headquarters, and put it into the "out box." Once a day, someone
would collect all of the outbound mail and mail it out. It would arrive
at the headquarters mailroom and eventually find its way to the
addressee in 7 to 10 days. The shops were all equipped with modems for
their computers but nobody knew how to use them because they were all
mechanics. My team trained several people how to transmit data
electronically to the headquarters and then the next day trained the
headquarters people how to receive it. The result was that the shops
started uploading data electronically several times a day and this one
segment of the parts requesting process was reduced form 7-10 days to
hours.
Point - Shop personnel were pleased that they had converted from
manually typed individual parts forms to a computer system. But nobody
had ever bothered to show them the capability of the hardware and
software they had. Remember they were hired as mechanics and had no PC
training.
The above two examples show what I think is very effective. Walking
through existing business processes with a selection of people directly
involved and looking for all of the "unwritten rules" that drive poor
performance. No modeling software was used, we just showed the people
who did the work how to find a better way. In many cases, the workers
know what needs to be fixed but do not have a way to get their ideas to
management.
Happy BPRing To All...
Jim