IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jomega/v30y2002i3p215-225.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Challenging the paradigm of the process enterprise: a case-study analysis of BPR implementation

Author

Listed:
  • Silvestro, Rhian
  • Westley, Charles

Abstract

The dangers of functional organisation structures are well documented and have led to the advocation, particularly by exponents of BPR, of the process enterprise paradigm. This paper reports the results of case-study research that was conducted in order to explore the operational changes resulting from re-engineering companies along process, rather than functional lines. Increased market responsiveness, improved collaboration between functions and alignment of organisational objectives were some of the perceived benefits of the new process structures; but some disadvantages were also identified. Duplication of functional expertise and increased operational complexity resulted in an escalation of costs, the emergence of horizontal silos, inconsistency in the execution of functional decisions between processes, and general erosion of the efficiency of the operations network. These preliminary findings point to some possible contingencies of organisational design, suggesting that process structures may be conducive to the realisation of differentiation strategies, whilst functional structures may offer benefits to cost leaders. It is further proposed that matrix structures may be appropriate for companies adopting mixed strategies; however, it is envisaged that a more flexible approach to organisational design, based on a network rather than a matrix paradigm, could stimulate new developments in the future quest for strategic and structural alignment.

Suggested Citation

  • Silvestro, Rhian & Westley, Charles, 2002. "Challenging the paradigm of the process enterprise: a case-study analysis of BPR implementation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 215-225, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jomega:v:30:y:2002:i:3:p:215-225
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305-0483(02)00028-2
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lu, Hsi-Peng & Yeh, Da-Chin, 1998. "Enterprises' Perceptions on Business Process Re-engineering: a Path Analytic Model," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 17-27, February.
    2. Grover, V & Teng, J. T. C. & Fiedler, K. D., 1993. "Information technology enabled business process redesign: An integrated planning framework," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 433-447, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ranđelović Aleksandra Stoiljković & Milojević Radenko & Radosavljević Marija, 2018. "Identification and Analysis of Key Business Process Management Factors," Economic Themes, Sciendo, vol. 56(1), pages 57-78, April.
    2. Fabio Bento & Marco Tagliabue & Flora Lorenzo, 2020. "Organizational Silos: A Scoping Review Informed by a Behavioral Perspective on Systems and Networks," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-27, July.
    3. Trkman, Peter, 2010. "The critical success factors of business process management," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 125-134.
    4. Lobanov, Mikhail (Лобанов, Михаил) & Zvezdvanovic-Lobanova, Jelena (Звезданович-Лобанова, Елена), 2017. "Specifics of Agricultural Policy in the Countries of Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe in 1990–2010s [Особенности Аграрной Политики В Странах Центрально- И Юго-Восточной Европы В 1990-2010-Х," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 3, pages 150-173, June.
    5. A. Van Looy & M. De Backer & G. Poels, 2011. "A theoretical framework and classification of capability areas for business process maturity," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 11/743, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Teng, James TC & Fiedler, Kirk D & Grover, Varun, 1998. "An exploratory study of the influence of the IS function and organizational context on business process reengineering project initiatives," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 679-698, December.
    2. Gabriela GHEORGHE, 2012. "Business Process Reengineering, a Crisis Solution or a Necessity," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 2, pages 47-52.
    3. Teng, J. T. C. & Grover, V. & Fiedler, K. D., 1996. "Developing strategic perspectives on business process reengineering: From process reconfiguration to organizational change," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 271-294, June.
    4. Lu, Hsi-Peng & Yu, Huei-Ju & Lu, Simon S. K., 2001. "The effects of cognitive style and model type on DSS acceptance: An empirical study," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(3), pages 649-663, June.
    5. Peppard, J., 1996. "Broadening visions of business process re-engineering," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 255-270, June.
    6. Gabriela GHEORGHE, 2011. "Business Process Reengineering, a Crises Solution or a Necessity," Risk in Contemporary Economy, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, pages 190-195.
    7. Virginia Franke Kleist, 2003. "An Approach to Evaluating E-Business Information Systems Projects," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 249-263, September.
    8. Chin-Lung Hsu & Judy Chuan-Chuan Lin, 2016. "Factors affecting the adoption of cloud services in enterprises," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 791-822, November.
    9. Guimaraes, Tor, 1997. "Empirically testing the antecedents of BPR success," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 199-210, June.
    10. Abebe Menberu, 2015. "Making Sense of Business Process Change Impacts: The Ethiopian Experience," Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, Educational Research Multimedia & Publications,India, vol. 6(2), pages 27-35, May.
    11. Radhakrishnan, Abirami & Zu, Xingxing & Grover, Varun, 2008. "A process-oriented perspective on differential business value creation by information technology: An empirical investigation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1105-1125, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jomega:v:30:y:2002:i:3:p:215-225. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/375/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.