Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution

by Michael Hammer, James Champy

The most successful business book of the last decade, Reengineering the Corporation is the pioneering work on the most important topic in business today: achieving dramatic performance improvements. This book leads readers through the radical redesign of a company's processes, organization, and culture to achieve a quantum leap in performance. Michael Hammer and James Champy have updated and revised their milestone work for the New Economy they helped to create—promising to help corporations save hundreds of millions of dollars more, raise their customer satisfaction still higher, and grow ever more nimble in the years to come.

Genres: Business, Management, Nonfiction, Leadership, Buisness, Professional Development, Economics

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

Reviews

[Paul Szydlowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gets five stars because it saved my business, if not my life. My business partner and I had been working 100+ hour weeks for months (I'd go home at midnight, come back at five or six and ask him if he was already back or still there - he'd typically answer "still here"). Clothes we would typically promise tomorrow were now being promised back a week from tomorrow - and they were still not done in time. It was Labor Day weekend and I was supposed to go to Hilton Head with my wife, but our dry cleaning plant manager ended up in the hospital and the cleaning duties fell to me. Our main cleaning machine suffered a major malfunction, putting us even further behind. I ended up calling on a fellow friend in the business to let me use his equipment. I could go on and on (my wife called on Labor Day to tell me about this great unknown band she'd seen the night before at the last show ever at the famed HH post office by the name of Hootie & the Blowfish - that didn't make me feel any better).

Anyway, I spent that Labor Day at my friend's cleaners, catching up best I could. I then stopped at a local park on the way home and began reading this book, which had been given to me by my wife ("here, read this - I'll be in Hilton Head if you need anything"). Almost immediately the book began providing insight into the types of challenges we faced and the potential solutions. One, involving the flow of an unpaid invoice through IBM's accounting maze provided the framework for a solution to our production woes. A month later I took my first day off since the 4th of July. I credit this book, my business partner, my wife and our employees for making that possible. I don't know how much longer I could have survived. So, yes, this book saved a business and a life - and if that doesn't merit five stars, nothing does.

[TarasProkopyuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Данная книга входит в список 100 лучших бизнес-книг всех времен по версии издателей бизнес литературы Джека Коверта и Тодда Саттерстена. Обычно книги из данного списка вызывают либо несомненной удовольствие либо же восторг от данных книг, и очень редко достаточное удовлетворение.

Эта же книга по моему усмотрению попадает под первый вариант. У авторов стояла цель показать, что такое подлинный реинжиниринг для компаний или части их процессов, а не одна лишь его видимость. Это не только получилось, но и доказало, что данную процедуру нужно внедрять в обязательном порядке с определённой цикличностью.

Конечно же здесь указаны множество примеров, кейсов, стандартов и порядков проведения реинжиниринга. Книга несмотря на весьма качественный материал получилась весьма лаконичной и с весьма дружелюбным языком. А это говорит о профессионализме авторов.

[Synthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book for someone in a management, director or VP position that is either looking to improve intra-office dynamics or is in a traditional company that is in need of keeping up with the times. It is a more holistic view of running a company. Includes the ideas of: combing several jobs into one, allowing workers to make decisions, performing the steps of a process in a natural order, and recognizing that processes have multiple versions and designing processes to take account of different situations.

[Shiva Shetty · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are only 3 types of processes in any firm, and rarely are they all the same:

- broken processes
- important processes
- processes ripe for Reengineering

'Reengineering The Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution' - Released in 1993, talks about the third one. RTC earnestly kicked off the Reengineering mania that gripped corners of corporate America in the 1990s and 2000s. It is still alive today under the guise of 'Digital Transformation', having fused with the parallel IT revolution that took off around the same time. While the book has 15 chapters, 3 are standouts :
Chapter 03 : 09 Themes/Rules of Reengineering
Chapter 06 : 05 Key Roles when a firm is Reengineering
Chapter 14 : 19 resons why Reengineering fails

Just listing them here will give you a decent idea of what to pay attention to while Reengineering any process at your firm, and you likely have taken 40% of the books value just from reading this list below:

09 Themes/Rules the shows the 'essence' of Reengineering
- Several Jobs are combined into one
- Workers make decisions
- the steps in the process are performed in a natural order
- processes have multiple versions
- work is performed where it makes the most sense
- checks and controls are reduced
- Reconciliation is minimized
- a case manager provides a single point of contact
- hybrid centralized/decentralized opertions are prevalent

05 Key Roles when a firm is Reengineering
- Leader of Reengineering
- process owner
- Reengineering team
- steering committee
- Reengineering czar

19 resons why Reengineering fails
- trying to fix a process instead of changing it
- teams don't focus of business processes
- teams ignore everything except process redesign
- teams neglect people's value and beliefs
- firms is willing to settle for minor results
- teams quit too early
- leaders place prior constraints on the definition of the problem and the scope of the reengineering effort
- leaders allow existing corporate cultures and Management attitudes to prevent Reengineering from getting started
- staff try to make Reengineering happen from the bottom up
- leaders assign somebody who doesn't understand Reengineering to lead the effort
- leaders skimp on the resources devoted to Reengineering
- leaders bury Reengineering in the moddle of the corporate agenda
- firm dissipates energy across many Reengineering projects
- CEO attempt to Reengineer when the he is close to retirement
- firm fail to distinguish Reengineering from other business improvement programs
- teams concentrate exclusively on process design (not execution post)
- leaders try to make Reengineering happen without making anyone unhappy
- leaders pulling back when people (inevitably) resist making the changes needed
- frims drag the effort out

Some good lines from the book:

- too many small companies look and operate like large ones. they may be smaller, but they've already adopted then old conventional ways, and their processes are as hopelessly fragmented as those of their larger cousins.

- Reengineering cannot be entrusted to the semi-competent, the hangers-on with nothing better to do.

- Reengineering must break boundaries, not reinforce them. Reengineering must feel disruptive, not comfortable. Insisting that Reengineering be neat is insisting that it not be Reengineering.

- you can't plan an entire Reengineering project in advance, because what you discover during the project changes your plan.

- expect resistance....people with a vested interest in the way things are will be upset when you change them. If some people are upset it's a good sign that you're doing something significant...Process change ripples into universal organizational change.

- the only absolutely essential element in every Reengineering project is that it be directed at a process rather than a function.

- A critical principle of Reengineering : Work is best organized around outcomes, not tasks

- America's business problem is that it is entering the 21st century with companies designed during the 19th century to work well in the 20th.


Before I give my takeaway, I'll tell you what Bill Gates' take aways were, as per Bill himself ("three of their ideas really stood out for me"):
1. The first is that you need to step back periodically to take a hard look at your processes. Do they solve the right problems? Can they be simplified?
2. The second is that if you cut a job into too many pieces and involve too many people, nobody can see the whole process and the work will bog down.
3. The third, closely related to the second, is that too many hand-offs create too many likely points of failure.

What was my key takeaway from the book ?
If I was kicking of a Reengineering project tomorrow, I would gather the 5 roles into a room and get them to memorize the 9 themes and then do a pre-mortem by rank ordering the 19 reasons, from most likely to least likely, this reengineering project fails.

Just doing this one thing would have saved a few doomed Reengineering projects I saw disintegrate. But these 4 lists and a few bits in the book bring homes to the reader just why Reengineering is high risk. SO MUCH has to go right for Reengineering to deliver the intended benefits. No wonder the success rate is painfully low. The strength of a chain is limited to that of the weakest link in the chain. Any one of the roles in the 5 mentioned if incompetent, meeting any 2 reasons on the 19 resons why Reengineering fails' would be enough to sink most well intentioned Reengineering projects. What chance do mere mortals in most ordinary firms. Still reading the book and understanding the essence of reengineering through it is a good start before the actual start of a reengineering journey.

[Iolanda Ciobanu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything in this book is common sense, which is mostly missing from the corporate world. Sometimes there are people wanting to change the status quo and get things done.

[Carlos Munhoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1993, when this book was published for the first time, most organizations in America had became inefficient and mammoth proportions monsters, spending ridiculous ammounts of money with useless systems, hardware, offices and any sort of pointless extravagances. The original idea was an easy concept, but the implications (specially in a giant organization) were huge: it was about time to re-think the whole company, and decide what could (and should) be cut. Unfortunatelly, some ideas were misunderstood, and "reengineering" became synonymous with "fire everybody to cut costs" - which was not the main argument of the authors. This is one of the books with the ability to change the course of thoughts and ideas - long story short, a classic.

[Surendran Velath · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Information Technology revolutionized the way we worked and lived, businesses were struggling to understand what IT could do for them. Without a change in the business processes, IT could do nothing to add profits to them. Reengineering came into picture just for this reason. This is one of the best books that explained what reengineering was all about and why it was required.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book that describes the difference between continuous process improvement and reengineering (or building a process from scratch).
The business examples were useful as were the "reason for failure" chapter. I would love to find a good book on how to build a learning game like the one discussed in the IBM example.

[Lamec Mariita · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent interesting book. It is a very inspiring story of how corporations transformed themselves to meet the changing demands of the market place. In spite of being released 20 years ago, the book is still useful just a little dated. You will love the book if you are interested in business techniques. I recommend the book for all managers and consultants.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be in the standard curriculum for business students and consultants. Hammer's arguments for a wholesale reorientation in the business world (from task to process organization) make complete sense. But surprisingly, the business world still seems to be stuck in the industrial age.

[Lastoadri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple and quick recipe for how to re-work your cooperate work. Not really fully applicable to all sorts of corporates, yet it gives you a better insight for the big picture.
I think its a must read for anyone interested in such topics.

[James Nasipak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book for anyone looking to transform their organization. It is not easy or popular, but reengineering is the vaccine a dying organization needs in order to live. However, it must be the leaders the own the transformation.

[Ehsan Choudhry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book is a good and insightful read into how to make radical changes. But after some point it becomes a bit redundant.
Overall a good read for those looking to bring about changes in existing companies and their systems and procedures.

[Adam Wiggins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Business process optimization, with the central thesis being that too much subdivision of labor can make for inefficient processes.

[Lori Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A should-read book on organizational behavior and design for knowledge workers, managers, executives, and entrepreneurs.

[Tanmoy Mondal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book for Operation Managers

[Dmitry · Rating 4 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Я долго думал, можно ли советовать эту книгу маркетологам, ибо книга ориентирована строго на менеджеров, а если быть более точным, на операционных менеджеров. Тем не менее, несмотря на то, что эта книга является крайне важной для операционного менеджмента, написанное в ней прямо касается всех, кто участвует в разработке, как стратегии фирмы, так и её тактики. Эта книга настолько фундаментальна, что её можно назвать философией современного бизнеса, ибо книга предлагает новый взгляд на организацию бизнеса XXI века.

Кажется парадоксальным, что книга, написанная в 1990 году, может быть актуальной для XXI века, но именно благодаря тому, что авторы пишут не о какой-то части бизнеса, не о тактических изменениях и даже не о стратегии, а о бизнесе как таковом, книга сохраняет свою актуальность даже и сегодня. При этом мы не имеем тут крайне мутных или самоочевидных тем типа: нужно учитывать технологические достижения в AI, Интернете и пр. Нет, авторы пишут о более приземлённых вещах, которые, тем не менее, являются фундаментальными.

Авторы предлагают новый взгляд на бизнес-процессы. Они предлагают проанализировать всю деятельность организации в контексте тех технологических достижений, что имеются на сегодняшний день и создать новые правила работы. Авторы подчёркивают, что речь идёт не об улучшениях, а о кардинальном изменении выполняемой работы с чистого листа, т.е. о создании нового способа выполнения тех же самых задач. К примеру, авторы приводят интересный пример с поставкой товаров компании P&G в магазины Walmart. Как пишут авторы, «Walmart хранит запасы Pampers в своих распределительных центрах, которые выполняли заказы, поступающие из магазинов. Когда запасы центров подходили к концу, Walmart заказывал у P&G новую партию подгузников». На всё это требовалось время и внимание со стороны работников. В новой схеме, т.е. после проведения реинжиниринга, сама P&G решает, сколько и в каких количествах поставить в магазины Walmart, т.е. сама P&G занимается пополнением запасов Walmart. Мы видим ликвидацию сразу нескольких цепочек во взаимоотношениях этих двух компаний. То же самое может происходить и в самой фирме, когда работу, которую раньше делали несколько человек, благодаря развитию технологий, может делать один. Как пишут авторы, «Без ИТ реинжиниринг процесса неосуществим».

Проблема современного бизнеса, продолжают авторы, состоит в том, что он продолжает думать в парадигме XX века, т.е. на основе разделения труда по Адаму Смиту. Именно из-за этого в работе появилось так много ненужных уровней, т.е. так много бюрократии и раздутого штата. Цель реинжиниринга в такой ситуации, пишут авторы, «организовать бизнес на основе ключевых процессов».

В первой половине книги авторы объясняют суть реинжиниринга, предлагают несколько очень красноречивых примеров того как корпорации IBM, Ford, Kodak и пр. провели у себя реинжиниринг, а также пишут о тех изменениях, происходящих при реинжиниринге бизнес-процессов.

Разумеется, как и любая подобная литература, авторы не дают инструкцию, что именно нужно поменять и как это сделать. Хотя авторы предлагают довольно детальный план по реинжинирингу, всё же предложить нечто типа практических советов в стиле «бери и делай», просто невозможно. Тут как раз всё дело в индивидуальности каждого бизнеса, в его непохожести. Но, не смотря на это, авторы пишут очень подробно. Видно как они пытаются прояснить каждый вопрос. Честно сказать, такой подход не часто встретишь в подобной литературе. В книге мы даже найдём главу «Часто задаваемые вопросы». Так что, по моему мнению, тема разобрана максимально возможно.

К недостаткам я бы отнёс вторую половину книги и в особенности три последних главы, которые я бросил читать. В этих трёх главах – Duke Power, IBM, Deere – авторы берут интервью у топ менеджеров этих компаний. Что могут рассказать сами сотрудники компаний, которые отвечали за реинжиниринг? Только то, как они достигли успеха. Читается это невероятно скучно и больше напоминает корпоративный отчет, а-ля "какие мы замечательные управленцы". Я считаю, что если и давать расширенную версию примера реализации реинжиниринга на практике, то делать это нужно с использованием не заинтересованной стороны. Короче говоря, книгу можно было бы легко сократить в два раза, ибо самая ценная и стоящая информация располагается только в первой половине книги. Далее идёт повтор и описание деталей процесса реинжиниринга, а точнее, темы формирование команды, лидер и пр. Мне это показалось излишним.

I have long wondered whether this book could be recommended to marketers since it is aimed strictly at managers, or to be more precise, at operational managers. Nevertheless, while this book is essential to operations management, what is written in it applies directly to everyone involved in the development of both the firm's strategy and its tactics. This book is so fundamental that it can be called the philosophy of modern business. The book offers a new perspective on the organization of business in the XXI century.

It seems paradoxical that a book written in 1990 can be relevant to the twenty-first century, but precisely because the authors write not about any part of business, not about tactical changes or even about strategy, but about business as such, the book retains its relevance even today. We do not have here murky or self-evident topics such as "we need to consider technological advances in AI, the Internet, etc." No, the authors write about more down-to-earth things that are nonetheless fundamental.

The authors offer a new perspective on business processes. They propose to analyze all the activities of the organization in the context of those technological advances that are available today and create new rules of operation. The authors emphasize that we are not talking about improvements but a radical change in the work being done from scratch, that is, about creating a new way of doing the same tasks. For example, the authors cite an interesting example of P&G supplying Walmart stores. As the authors write, "Walmart kept stock of Pampers in its distribution centers, which fulfilled orders coming from stores. When the centers ran out of stock, Walmart would order a new batch of diapers from P&G." All of this took time and attention from employees. In the new scheme, i.e., after reengineering, P&G itself decides how much and in what quantities to supply Walmart stores, i.e., P&G itself is in charge of restocking Walmart. We see the elimination of several chains in the relationship between these two companies. The same thing can happen in the firm itself, where work that used to be done by several people can be done by one person, thanks to advances in technology. As the authors write, "Without IT, process reengineering is not feasible."

The problem with modern business, the authors continue, is that it continues to think in a 20th-century paradigm, i.e., based on the Adam Smith division of labor. This is the reason why there are so many unnecessary levels of work, i.e., so much bureaucracy and bloated staff. The goal of reengineering in such a situation, the authors write, is "to organize the business based on key processes."

In the first half of the book, the authors explain what reengineering is, offer some very eloquent examples of how IBM, Ford, Kodak, etc., has reengineering themselves, and write about the changes that occur when reengineering business processes.

Of course, like any such literature, the authors do not give instructions on what exactly needs to be changed and how to do it. Although the authors offer a fairly detailed plan for reengineering, it is impossible to offer something like practical advice in the style of "take it and do it. Here it is all about the individuality of each business, its dissimilarity. But, in spite of this, the authors write in great detail. You can see how they try to clarify every issue. Frankly, you don't often see this approach in this kind of literature. In the book, we even find a chapter on "Frequently Asked Questions". So, in my opinion, the topic is covered as much as possible.

On the downside, I would point to the second half of the book and especially the last three chapters, which I gave up reading. In these three chapters - The Experience of Duke Power, IBM, Deere - the authors interview the top managers of these companies. What can the employees of the companies themselves, who were responsible for reengineering, have to say? Only how they achieved success. It reads incredibly boring and looks more like a corporate report, a la ''what great managers we are''. I think that if we give an extended version of the example of reengineering in practice, we should do it using a non-interested party. In short, the book could easily be halved because the most valuable and worthwhile information is found only in the first half of the book. Then there is a repetition and description of the details of the reengineering process, more precisely, the topics of team building, leader, etc. I found it unnecessary.

[Juan Pablo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fascinated by this book. I believe everyone who works at an organization will get a lot of value from this, whether the reader comes from a small business or a corporation. It will persuade you to look at your job from a different perspective. Even though it was originally published several years ago, I believe it contents to be more relevant than ever in the "new normal".

Structuring a company or jobs by processes instead of mere tasks (while leveraging information technology) can drastically improve efficiency within an organization. The book first introduces you tho this approach and then supports it with a variety of examples and real world cases that ultimately makes "Re-Engineering" highly compelling. Yet, it also mentions its challenges and various reasons why it would not work. This is not your typical "3 rules to improve your business", it goes much deeper. I would love to know/hear managers' point of view regarding this topic.

[Robert Bogue]

Evolution, it seems, doesn’t follow one slow, methodical path towards progress. It stalls. It leaps. What we see as a smoothness is an illusion caused by the distance of time. Even evolution reaches points where slow and steady won’t win the race. Instead, it’s time for something radical to happen. That’s what reengineering a corporation is. It’s a radical change. Reengineering the Corporation: Manifesto for Business Revolution is a guide to this radical process that organizations must go through at some point – or several points during their lifecycle.

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[Joshua Giles · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll be honest with you. It took me a month to power through this book, and I only did so after my boss made me. I always retain book facts well but with this book I remembered just enough to pass off my knowledge in it but a year later I don't remember anything and that says something. Maybe with a better mindset going in i might have liked it more, but probably not lol

[Estevo Raposo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro describe la metodología para reinventar una empresa a través de sus procesos, pensándolos desde cero.

Promete resultados fantásticos (mejoras del rendimiento superiores al 100%) pero advierte también que la mayoría de proyectos de reingeniería fracasan (y cuenta por que suelen hacerlo).

La traducción es mejorable.

[Irfan Malick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice introduction.

I read after being in the process field for quite sometime. I think it was natural to read the beginning of the work performed. Safe to say, most of the issues then are still relevant today.

[Omar Dabdoub · Rating 3 out of 5]

un libro que habla sobre temas de reingeniería pero creo yo que se basa en muchos ejemplos y no pone una metodología bien establecida, menciona algunas de las metodologías para comenzar pero no dice cuáles son todos y cada uno de los pasos para lograrla.

[Mary Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, sweet, and to the point. Has some good ideas, less specialization and more efficiency.

[Alba Marin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un buen libro de su tipo, no entretenido pero si educativo.

[A PEARSON · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts really strong but tapers out a little bit. Some very good insights into company structure and processes. 3.5/5

[Mark Parent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid principles but felt a bit dated

[Juanvarelah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante en perspectiva

[Vijay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Outdated by the time I read it?

[Mike Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad by any means, and a lot of it has stood up to time. The the claims of posterity, however, don't ring the same