Strategic control in reengineering the complex organization

Abstract

Reengineering a whole organization, rather than only a function or subelement, is an extraordinarily complex undertaking. The human and organizational complexities exceed those arising from technological innovations. The top-level strategic redesign is made first and the subsequent redesign of lower-level processes must support that new top-level design. The reality of time-based competition necessitates a simultaneous reengineering of the various elements of the organization. That simultaneity further increases the complexity of the reengineering. Control by enumeration becomes impossible and if attempted may defeat the reengineering effort. This paper presents methods for coping with the complexity and maintaining strategic control while empowering those change agents unleashed by the reengineering effort. A case study of an application is presented. A basis for strategic control and communication of strategies and authorized constraints to those redesigning the lower-level processes is established.