Beyond Reengineering : How the Processed-Centered Organization is Changing Our Work and Our Lives

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Summary: Mr. Hammer has little knowledge of the real business world
Review: I come from four generations of independent businessmen, none of whom needed a book to tell them how to run one. And none of whom ever failed at the business they owned. I currently work for a company that has been in business for 102 years, and this book has sold some of the marketing types in management down the Hammer River of "process", whose implementation and loose interpretation of this book has resulted in mass retirements; fragmentation of skilled staff; loss of communication between working departments, and physical movements of employees that follow no logical purpose. The effect upon moral as a whole has de-motivated all of us. You cannot come to work or take a break without small groups of people venting their outrage at what's going on. There are increased hand-offs and rather than report to one person, now we must go through five, wait for a number to be generated for each task we perform (2 to 5 days). It's the craziest way to run a business that I've ever seen! We are left trying to figure out who is the leader and how we are supposed to get a project completed. None of us can figure out why management would go along with what Mr. Hammer proposes, when we won the JD Powers award for Customer Satisfaction in 2003. If we were not successfully doing our jobs before this "process change implementation", I'd like to know how this company stayed in business for 102 years! His proposals have intentionally set us up to fail. The only reason I can find for a company to use his recommendations is if they intend to be bought, want to get rid of all their employees, and want to cause general dishelvement and frustration. We were told that no jobs would be eliminated, this was not a reorganization, not a restructure. And yet entire departments that were instrumental in the core business of this company have been dissolved. And those who have retired would not have otherwise done so, had this company not chosen Mr. Hammer's path. Staff that has left is not being replaced. And no one prefers the job title "Subject Matter Expert" over the one they had before. Nobody wants "Process Leader" on their business cards. We all want to be productive, to feel that our work has real purpose and relevance. Mr. Hammer would have us all be nothing more than the by-product of some process that was unnecessary. I'd like to be there the day they lock Mr. Hammer away for insanity. I guess it's worth the price of this book just to buy it for a dartboard (which is precisely what I intend to do). Yes, Mr. Hammer, this has definately impacted my life, and I hope I never see you stranded by the side of the road: the result will be the implementation of a process you didn't mention in your book...

Rating:
Summary: A must read for anyone interested in how organizations work
Review: I recently had the privilige of attending a Dr. Hammer seminar in Boston and can tell you that this book tracks closely with his seminar which was the best I have ever attended. The book however goes into much greater detail and depth than a one day high level seminar can go to. The portions that described the first principles of business (chapter 6)and the dramatic impact that process centered organizations will have on employees (the entire book)were standouts. I have already used information contained here in my work as a consultant for a major federal systems integrator. I am also going to try and get my children who are attending college and high school to read at least chapter 14 (What I Tell My Children)so that they can take advantage of Dr Hammer's guidance with respect to the selection of fulfilling educational and career choices. I think it is the best book on business that I have ever read.

I also understand the book was written for a general audience but it would have been nice to have some footnotes and research to underpin some of the pronouncements of business benefits. I tried to track the performance of American Standard, Texas Instruments, and GTE to see if I could confirm Hammer's assertions but it would have taken too much time. Maybe he can publish an addendum for those of us interested in such matters.

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Summary: A must read if you're intent on being an up-to-date manager
Review: Michael Hammer's newest book, Beyond Reengineering, is a work in progress because it provides observations of a revolution that's only just begun. The "natural aristocracy" among leaders--as Thomas Jefferson would call them--are moving already from a procedure-based culture to a process-based culture; from micro to macro; from a microscopic view to a telescopic view. Procedure-based task analysis is gone. Process-related performance technology has replaced it. A sequel to his earlier book, Beyond Reengineering calls for rethinking of our most basic assumptions: "the kinds of work that people do, the jobs they hold, the skills they need, the careers they follow, the roles managers play, the principles of strategy that enterprises follow." The shift has carried Hammer with it, moving (as do all revolutionary movements) from the revolution of ideals, in which his key word was "radical," to the organized reworking of the underpining society, in which the key word is "process." Michael Hammer is not prescriptive but descriptive, showing where we're headed and what we're doing to get there.

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Summary: Heresy
Review: Sorry, but I'm not as impressed by Hammer as he is of himself. I work for a large Fortune 100 company as a Director of Business Process Reengineering, and I'm NOT convinced after reading this that Hammer has rolled up his sleeves and gotten dirty (we all think it but no one will admit to it out loud). Just read the chapter about process owners and his theory about managing the employee and it is clear he has littler or no experience working with front-line $20K/year employees that are found in our operations. Sure, if you're working with professionals making $50K+ his theories are more plausible.

My boss swears by Hammer but when it comes to planning and performing the Redesign work she calls on my team to get it done. We aren't disciples of Hammer, but everyone on my team has read this book and in order to understand the terminology. Using the methodology found in this book will be of minimal use for planning and completing your BPR.

Rating:
Summary: A must read for anyone interested in how organizations work
Review: Work culture in old civilizations was professional. We had specialists who teach, who rule or manage, who do the business, who get the food, who makes the wooden articles for daily use and this list is unending. All these processes are independent and all the workers are independent. They have to plan and manage all the activities they undertake. I don't have sufficient information but this is true in every civilization the world has seen before it emerged into a complex web for man. With organizations becoming diverse and complex the systems they establish for running the organizations need continuous change and they need to adopt new strategies and they have to change the work culture, management strategy etc. Michael Hammer, who defined Reengineering the organizatoin now came with a brilliant explanation of the consequences of reengineering and the strategies necessary to meet the consequences. The industrial revolution and scientific management saw division of work into different tasks and making people responsible for tasks and thus making them experts of individual tasks. We saw expert engineers, expert managers who are experts in their own area of work. The basic principle was, if each task is taken care of by involving experts for the task, the end will take care of itself. But with increase in market demands and competition in all industries, this principle stopped paying dividends. The quality was going down so also the productivity because over the years, the workers were working in the same limited domain and they don't have any way to express his abilities. The worker started feeling frustrated and disowning the activities he was doing. Now the world is in such a complex situation where we cannot apply the principles of scientific management. We need people who can think of entire process of a product or service being developed and reaching the ultimate customer or expected user. With evolution of technology and use of different tools for flow of information within the organization and across the organizations, the modern worker needed more than what a specialist required. The world started looking back to a situation of ancient economies where we had the artisans who can manage entire cycle of his activity. In current work, this situation was explained with great vision. Michele Hammer explained new strategies necessary for work, management, enterprise etc. and this book can be used as a practical guide for people at different levels. I was inspired by the thoughts relating to work and management because these thoughts are not only at conceptual strategies but also at the level of actual work and management.