Beyond re-engineering: de-engineering the corporation

Abstract

This paper addresses the failure of re-engineering to deliver its promise of better organizational performance through radical change. It looks at the change in Hammer and Champy's own perceptions of what re-engineering really is and studies reasons for its failure - the problem of ubiquitous IT, the problem ofprocess integration and re-engineering's radical Marxist connotations. Newton's linear clock-like machine view of the world is seen as part ofthefailure ofre-engineering to deliver and is replaced by a quantum view ofcontinued, evolutionary change. Consequently, the chaos phenomenon is studied, especially with respect to the principle of self-organization. Lastly, the proposition of (evolutionary) de-engineering the organization as clean up after or beyond (revolutionary) re-engineering is discussed following on the principles of chaos theory and the emerging viewpoint ofthe organization as a living entity.