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In an attempt to improve productivity, performance and overall competitiveness in both domestic and global markets, organisations have realised that there is a need to reform their business practices and become more customer focused. Consequently, these organisations have recognised the need for organisational change, but do not necessarily know how and what to change, to achieve improvements in productivity and performance. Process reengineering has been described as the elixir for achieving dramatic improvements in production time and cost. Process reengineering is not about fixing current processes, but rebuilding them, with the aim of process improvement. This paper will explain what is meant by process reengineering and suggests that before an organisation attempts to process reengineer, a thorough understanding of current practices, procedures and enablers of change are required. Typically, information technology is implemented as the key change enabler of process reengineering implemented as the key enabler without prior consideration to other enablers such as organisational, human resource and total quality management. This paper suggests that the use of information technology as an enabler is rarely sufficient to cause process change. The paper concludes by suggesting that a combination of information technology, organisational and human resource enablers and a total quality management based philosophy are requisite for the effective redesign of business processes.

Industrialised economies are encountering an eraof transition - from the stability and order of theindustrial era to the flexibility and uncertainty ofthe post industrial future. This period of transitionis characterised by radical economic and socialchange. This era of change is similar to Toffler’s(1980) “The Third Wave” where the agriculturaland industrial revolutions have been major forcesthat have shaped the way in which we live. Wordsbeing used to describe the associated industrialdecline include, de-industrialisation, industrialrestructuring and “de-Adam smithising”. Thistransition from industrial to post-industrial societyera is occurring because micro-electronics offers usa way of storing, processing and communicatingvast amounts of information quickly. Industries,such as the manufacturing and service, are confronting the crisis of restructure; the collapse ofthe industrial system as it gives way to the post industrial. Implicit to this is the role of new technologies.Consequently, we are faced with a revolutionthat will radically change the way we think,the way we perform work, the roles and tasks weundertake. This revolution is founded on re-thinkingand focuses on reforming current productionprocesses and workflows, with the aim of addingvalue to the production process and the product.This period of change is the beginning of a muchneeded second industrial revolution for the manufacturing/service industry. Furthermore, the firstindustrial revolution was about breaking packagesof work up into small pieces, managers designingjobs and telling people exactly what to do, andthen workers doing it. It is time to depart froma functional approach to doing work, by radicallytransforming the ways in which organisations do business.

Process reengineering can potentially improvethe competitiveness and performance of organisationsby radically changing their existing processesand replacing them with new ones. However, forsuch radical changes to take place, the organisationmust acknowledge that the following enablers ofchange are required: (i) information technology; (ii)organisational;, (ii) human resources; and iv) totalquality management.Each enabler has been discussed and it has beendemonstrated that each enabler is interdependent.Consequently, a judicious mixture of these enablersis required for change to take place. Each enablercannot be considered in isolation. We cannot forgetthat people make change happen. If process reengineering is to be implemented, management mustcontinually communicate to employees specifying the reasons for change. Commitment from employeesis essential. Therefore, it is necessary thatmanagement cultivates a culture of change, not byattempting to change employee values and norms,but by influencing behaviour and attitudes.Primarilythis is achieved by changing the organisationsprocesses, structures, strategies, and tasks.