The Process-Centered Enterprise: The Power of Commitments

The basic premise of this book is that all business problems and challenges of the late twentieth century - whether related to "downsizing", rapid response to change, or growth - have been process- related. Without solving process problems, enterprises will be neither profitable nor competitive. In order to solve them at the operational or strategic level, and to be able to respond to accelerating change, companies must make business processes the center of their attention.
A common approach to solving process problems has been process reengineering. While in some cases it has succeeded far beyond expectations, reengineering has also failed in a surprisingly large number of cases. Unfortunately, it has also become identified with "downsizing", the loss of jobs, and massive layoffs.
The author proposes that the solution to business problems is process change, applied in an integrated, holistic way to all key components of the business process: the process flow, human resources, and information technology. The goal of such process change could be one or more of the following: efficiency improvement, strategic redeployment for growth, enhanced profitability, and superior competitive position.
The decision to introduce process change is a management problem, as is its disciplined, methodical, and integrated design and implementation. This is the focus of The Process-Centered Enterprise - how to manage the initiation, design and implementation of business process change to respond to change and achieve success in the business context and avoid predictable failures.