Denying the technology: middle management resistance in business process re-engineering

Abstract

Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) as a methodology for organizational transformation has been around since the early 1990s. There are however, some serious issues of concern surrounding the success of BPR as a methodology for organizational change. This paper attempts to highlight the issues surrounding the BPR approach to change management that remain implicit within the re-engineering literature. The research presented in this paper specifically investigates BPR in practice and concentrates on the issues of power and control that underlie many of the re-engineering methodologies and how these conflict with the prerequisites of the flattened, empowered workforce that BPR envisions. The research presented here was conducted using the interpretive approach of ethnography to investigate how middle management were able to deny the technology of BPR and disable a change project. In order to maintain their hold on power in the organization they needed to revolt against the technology of re-engineering imposed on them by senior management. In using the clinical metaphor, middle management were able to create a reality around technology that portrayed it almost as a function of biological warfare, denying it being seen as a positive social tool. This paper highlights how they were able to manipulate the technology and turn its power around to reinforce their position and power in the process.