HR plays a crucial role in implementing re-engineering efforts. Here are some aspects of that role:
Roles
1. Building Commitment:
The key to re-engineering is winning people’s commitment to the organisational changes and to what those changes mean. HR can play a big role here by hiring competent employees, by providing the right incentives and by installing effective two-way communication practices.
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2. Building Teams:
Business process re-engineering generally means switching from functional departments to process-oriented teams. HR plays a role in making such teams more effective, for example by hiring carefully selected “team players” and providing the required training.
3. Redesigning Compensation:
Re-engineering also has significant compensation implications. The job’s know-how and problem-solving requirements will raise significantly thereby necessating higher pay to employees.
4. Redesigning the Work Itself:
With re-engineering, jobs generally change from specialised tasks to multitask, enriched, generalist work. Each worker becomes responsible for a broader, more enriched job.
The employee must share joint responsibility with team members for performing the whole process, not just a small piece of it. Each worker needs to be capable of using a much broader range of skills from day to day.
The BPR approach is considered to be more radical, fundamental and dramatic. Though BPR and TQM serve the same purpose, the distinction gained ground because many organisations had accumulated so much rust and were so confused in their orientation that a radical shift was perceived to be essential prior to any gradual change.
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It is evident, the objective and focus of BPR and TQM are the same i.e., providing the customer the appropriate service.
5. Moving from Controlled to Empowered Jobs:
Selecting and training employees for re-engineered jobs is a special challenge. “Re-engineered” employees are empowered to perform a broad set of tasks with relatively little supervision. This means that in selecting employees, values play a bigger role.
6. Flexible Work Arrangements:
Organisational renewal doesn’t always require a massive transformation. At many companies, a change as simple as flexible hours can sometimes provide a good start.