Adapting organizations: the instance of business process re‐engineering

Abstract

Abstract The question whether the often‐radical approach of Business Process Re‐engineering constitutes a viable option for restructuring is at the heart of this study. It appraises the case of Business Process Re‐engineering and its kin—process innovation and the Delft School Approach—from an evolutionary perspective based on an analogy between organisms and organizations. The research introduces a reference model that originates in evolutionary biological theories and models. The study undertaken—archival research for Business Process Re‐engineering and process innovation, and six case studies for the Delft School Approach—confirms that organizations evolve slower than expected, that Business Process Re‐engineering as a radical approach is hardly viable, that it and its kin seem to be directed at optimization and that the initiatives hardly connect to external opportunities. The primary yield of this research is the reference model that makes it possible to describe these (often slower) evolutionary processes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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