SYSTEMS AND REENGINEERING - RELATING THE REENGINEERING PARADIGM TO SYSTEMS METHODOLOGIES

Recently the topic of business process reengineering (BPR) has emerged to prominence in a number of guises, e.g. Hammer and Champy (1993). B PR is accepted here as containing a core paradigm with the potential t o mobilize and channel change to secure radical improvements in organi zational performance. This is contrasted with Continuous Improvement m ethods which deliver gradual improvements. In this paper BPR is concep tualised as an approach comprised of an emerging group of systems meth odologies. These are related to other approaches and methodologies usi ng the Total Systems Intervention framework of Flood and Jackson (1991 ). In keeping with the framework the main assumptions and metaphors th at underlie the BPR literature are examined. BPR methodologies are cha racterised as rooted mainly in the hard systems approach with the mach ine metaphor dominating. The possibility is discussed of BPR methodolo gies based around other than hard system approaches.