cameron and green making-sense-of-change-management

IT-based process changeAN EXAMPLE OF BPRA car leasing organization in the UK decided to completely redesign itscustomer service processes, with the goal of gaining competitive advantageover other car leasing companies by being much faster and muchmore responsive. It also intended to offer some self-service operations tocustomers via the internet. A task force was selected from the existingcustomer service team, and these people worked alongside a team ofspecialized BPR consultants to radically redesign the customer serviceprocesses over a period of three to four months.The new process designs looked excellent, but problems came in theform of resistance when teams had to work on implementing processesthat were obviously going to lead to staff redundancies. The roll-out wasdone over an intensive six-month period, which was very stressful formanagers and staff alike. Customers noticed a significant dip in service,so much so that two key accounts were lost during the roll-out period.Things are better now, with new teams in place and improved processes,but if anyone was brave enough to do a cost–benefit analysis, the resultswould probably not look good.Unfortunately the number of BPR successes where expectations have beenfully realized is said to be quite small. Advocates of BPR take some pride inthis. They claim that the potential gains of this approach are so great, it isbound to be risky. However, Sauer and Yetton (1997) say, ‘Not only is the risk[of BPR] substantial, but the stakes are unusually high. The cost of failure fora project that involves organizational transformation is likely to be muchgreater than the simple loss of investment. The time lost in undertaking aproject that fails may give competitors a lead that cannot be recovered.’This is a mechanistic approach that spends little effort on the social ororganizational side of the process. A typical BPR approach follows thesteps seen in Figure 8.3. There might be some team work, some multiskillingand some group problem solving; there is usually quite a strongprescriptive element to the IT solution. Also, although the impact onstructures, skills, culture and standards is thought about, it is often notacted upon until the later phases of the programme of change, as an addon.Many believe that this approach is not the most effective way ofengaging people in defining what process improvements are needed, and297