Business Process Reengineering - The Role of Human Resource Resource Function, A Comprehensive Review of Literature

Abstract

Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve remarkable improvements in critical measures of performance such as cost, quality, service, and speed. In the Banking industry, BPR means transforming processes and procedures to empower the bank with the human resources, technologies, business solutions and innovations that enhance its competitive advantage. There is no doubt about the critical role which Information technology (IT) plays in the success of BPR. Along with that, studying the related human resource issues of resistance to change and the perception of the impact of BPR on their jobs is attracting the attention of the academicians and practitioners. Research is increasingly giving importance to using effective change management techniques and treating human factors at par with IT to improve the success ratio of BPR led changes. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the past and shed light on the future scope of the role of the human resource function in BPR in banks. This is achieved through a review of literature published covering the period from the 1990s to 2018. This paper reviews the literature under the main fields of concept and evolution of BPR, the scope of BPR in banks, BPR and HR coexistence and the change management challenge. Finally, gaps in literature have been identified and suggestions given for future research opportunities.Re-engineering (BPR). Business process re-engineering (BPR) has been visualized as a radical concept to help business houses to rethink their current processes from the basics in order to radically improve them so that it phenomenally cuts costs, leads to better customer service and enables them to compete globally.Nowhere has the story of BPR inspired success been more profound than in the Banking Sector which has shown remarkable progress in the last few years. As a result of the changes in the markets initiated by liberalization and globalization and technology acting as the catalyst, the pace of transformation of Banking has been extremely rapid in the last 2-3 decades. With the growing use of Information Technology to make banking more personal by offering a host of services to the customers, banks are not only redesigning their current business processes but also re-defining the rules of the game by innovative banking practices through Business Process Re-engineering.It is important to note that the failure of BPR in organizations has been as severe as its success stories. Related research points towards the need for effectively conveying an understanding of the 'need for cultural change' to the people by the top management. This is essential to keep people feel motivated enough. Also, there is growing focus on the criticality of 'Change Management' which involves the techniques to be implemented by the management during the BPR implementation process keeping in consideration that workforce is People, not programmable machines.This paper presents a review of the existing literature o...

Effect of Business Process Re-Engineering on Performance of Agro-Processing Firms in Nairobi City County

“…Among the benefits resultant from business process re-engineering included cost reduction (Mean=3.65), profitability (Mean=3.80), market share (Mean=3.85), productivity (Mean=3.79), rationalization of staff (Mean=3.40), motivation of employees (Mean=3.67) and customer satisfaction (Mean=3.76). The findings of this study are in agreement with Bhasin and Dhami (2018) that BPR is a fundamental rethinking, as well as, a drastic restructure of processes to realize improvements of various performance indices, like cost, quality, speed and service. Ringim, Razalli and Hasnan (2018) claimed that if the concept of BPR is correctly implemented, organizations would achieve quantum leap of improvement in cost, speed, organizational performance and profitability.…”

Knowledge Creation and Business Process Re-Engineering Outcomes of Financial Services

“…The relationship between knowledge production and the results of business process re-engineering is one viewpoint on the subject (Fan, Rajib, & Alam, 2012). Furthermore, it is frequently recommended as best practice for businesses to provide knowledge to their representatives and employees (Bhasin & Dhami, 2018). Though Wickens and Kötter (1995) argues that he synthesized information and knowledge gained from observations of more than 100 companies into a set of eight steps to facilitate organizational transformation.…”