AN APPROACH TO BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING - THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOCIOTECHNICAL AND SOFT OR CONCEPTS

Current thinking on business process reengineering (BPR) is evaluated in the context of four schools of thought with respect to business str ategy, with aspects of the management of change literature and with co ncepts taken from the socio-technical and soft operational research (O R) traditions. Based on the latter, a means of undertaking BPR project s is proposed and is illustrated by means of a case study. Inter alia, the centrality of information technology (IT) in BPR is questioned wi th greater emphasis being given to the identification df required info rmation and an organization's ability to manage its information servic es.