Process Innovation: Reengineering Work Through Information Technology

by Thomas H. Davenport

The business environment of the 1990s demands significant changes in the way we do business. Simply formulating strategy is no longer sufficient; we must also design the processes to implement it effectively. The key to change is process innovation, a revolutionary new approach that fuses information technology and human resource management to improve business performance. The cornerstone to process innovation's dramatic results is information technology--a largely untapped resource, but a crucial "enabler" of process innovation. In turn, only a challenge like process innovation affords maximum use of information technology's potential. Davenport provides numerous examples of firms that have succeeded or failed in combining business change and technology initiatives. He also highlights the roles of new organizational structures and human resource programs in developing process innovation. Process innovation is quickly becoming the byword for industries ready to pull their companies out of modest growth patterns and compete effectively in the world marketplace.

Genres: Management, Business

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1992

About the author

Tom Davenport holds the President's Chair in Information Technology and Management at Babson College. His books and articles on business process reengineering, knowledge management, attention management, knowledge worker productivity, and analytical competition helped to establish each of those business ideas. Over many years he's authored or co-authored nine books for Harvard Business Press, most recently Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning (2007) and Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results (2010). His byline has also appeared for publications such as Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Financial Times, Information Week, CIO, and many others.

Davenport has an extensive background in research and has led research centers at Ernst & Young, McKinsey & Company, CSC Index, and the Accenture Institute of Strategic Change. Davenport holds a B.A. in sociology from Trinity University and M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University. For more from Tom Davenport, visit his website and follow his regular HBR blog.

Reviews

[José Luis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livro muito referenciado, apesar de ter sido publicado em 1992. Foi uma surpresa, o livro é muito bom, tudo o que está escrito lá do ponto de vista de processos e gestão, ou já aconteceu ou está acontecendo. A parte tecnológica, claro, é defasada para hoje. Mas mesmo sendo de 1992, indica muitas soluções e caminhos que boa parte das empresas ainda não conseguiu seguir. Gostei da leitura, muitas lições práticas. Compre usado por aqui mesmo, há exemplares disponíveis em lojas de livros usados.

[Sophiepedia · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro que necesitaba. Práctico y lleno de ejemplos.

[Jack Vinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A colleague gave me this book after a business training session in June 2000. Although the title was intriguing, the book did not live up to its promise. The true focus of the book is the question of Process Innovation. Information technology is treated as a tool to help the innovation process. There is only one chapter specifically devoted to IT. Davenport does this to help people get away from the idea that if it is on a computer, it must be good. Many projects that were otherwise well-designed failed due to over-emphasis of the IT component when it was not necessary. He also reminds the readers that poor design is poor design, whether on a computer or not. I actually agree with this sentiment, but I had hoped this book would be future-looking like Burrus' Technotrends also from 1993. It would also be interesting to read an update to this book, where Davenport acknowledges that many of the technologies he discussed in 1993 are in regular use today (conferencing, e-mail, networks, etc.).

That said, there were many useful comments about process innovation. Although the book is aimed at technology and business leaders within an organization, I found many comments applicable to my life. The basic steps of process innovation, according to Davenport, are
1. Identify processes
2. Identify change levers
3. Develop a process vision
4. Understand existing processes
5. Design and prototype the new process
The book then discusses many aspects of these steps, with some emphasis on the fact that information technology can be a valuable tool throughout this process. The book also talks about many concepts and tools that have nothing to do with information technology.

If teams are to be successful, the team must be an integral part of one's job. Spending one day a week on team-related activities is not enough to make the team effective. Davenport suggests that at least 50% of each member's time should be devoted to teamwork; otherwise the team will not succeed.

Davenport cautions against developing highly detailed models of work processes. Too much time and monetary investment might bias people to staying with the modeled behavior. It takes too much time to build these models in the first place, and work processes are under continual flux. High-level description of the work processes does not require the detailed models. For example, the PCRP model probably has too much detail to be worthwhile to management. Many of these reasons apply to developing models of chemical / physical processes as well.