مهندسی مجدد فرآیند در بخش دولتی : آموزش برخی از درس های بخش خصوصی

The possible applicability of business process reengineering (BPR) to organisations in the public sector is explored through analysis of the central issues in BPR and the emerging experience of organisations which have recently implemented it. In particular, the paper suggests that success of reengineering may depend critically on the strategic capability of the organisation prior to undertaking the effort. For that reason well-performing organisations are more likely to improve performance by means of BPR than are weak ones. Yet, in the public sector, it tends to be badly performing agencies which are most encouraged to undertake BPR. Knowing and understanding the reasons for success or failure of BPR in private organisations can prepare public sector managers for undertaking the effort, but each reengineering initiative must be tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of the individual agency. Public sector managers should use the widest possible definition of ‘value’ when analysing value-added in process reengineering and should be especially sensitive to the way in which ‘value’ in the public sector is differently interpreted by major stakeholders. During this learning process, public sector agencies would be well advised to be conservative in estimating gains from BPR.

Business process reengineering (BPR) has been oneof the key fads in business management in the lastthree years. It has been explicitly promoted by itsinventors as a revolution in business thought -- itseems that now 'revolution' is no longer beingpreached by the USSR, it has been taken up by USmanagement consultants.BPR can be summed up as follows: (a) organisations must exploit all technologies available,particularly recent developments in informationtechnology; and(b) the process which organisations use to arrive atthe product or service they provide to customersmust be radically redesigned in the light of theorganisation's current environment rather thanits traditions.Thus BPR is about breaking off from and doing awaywith past administrative traditions when marginaladjustments to past practices do not seem to help theorganisation in dealing with its current situation(Hyde, 1994).The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibleapplicability of BPR to organisations in the publicsector, through analysis of the central issues involvedin reengineering business processes and a review ofemerging experience in organisations which haveimplemented BPR -- these have been primarily in theprivate sector. In particular, the paper suggests thatthe success of a reengineering effort may depend criticallyon the strategic capability of the organisation prior to undertaking the effort.

There are major differences between the case ofreengineering in the public and private sectors,especially in respect of the core value generation processwhich underlies the reengineering effort and inthe criteria used in deciding whether or not to launcha BPR initiative. The success of a reengineering effortmay depend critically on the strategic capability of the organisation prior to undertaking the effort. Wellperformingorganisations, public or private, are morelikely to survive BPR and to improve performancethan weak ones. Yet, in the public sector, well-performingagencies may not be permitted to go throughBPR, while those that have been subject to recentcriticism are likely to be encouraged even if the effort fails to improve performance.While the experience of BPR in the private sectoris indeed of importance to the learning of managersin the public sector, managers in either sector should not expect the experiences of others to provide tailormadesolutions to their specific problems. Knowingand understanding the reasons for success or failureof BPR in the private sector can prepare public sectormanagers for undertaking the effort, but it cannotautomatically indicate to them a preferred model forreengineering.However, as more accounts of successful -- and unsuccessful -- cases of reengineering are documented,it may be possible to undertake the developmentof a generic model(s) of reengineering by sector.For the present, public sector managers should payparticular attention to the widest possible definitionof 'value' when analysing value added in the processreengineering effort. In doing so, they will need to be especially sensitive to the way in which 'value' in thepublic sector is differently interpreted by the majorstakeholders and the intensity with which stakeholders(both internal and external) identify with theprocesses whose radical redesign is intended. In theinterim, they would be well advised to be conservativein estimating the gains from BPR.