A Focused Review of the Reengineering Literature: Expert Frequently Asked Questions

Business process reengmeering (BPR) is said to be entering its second phase. In its first phase, many disparate methodologies for process redesign were developed and employed, and BPR became a pervasive and important phenomenon in the fast-paced global economy. The second phase promises to be more challenging than the first, particularly as the reengmeering phenomenon continues to have negligible theoretical basis. As organizations progress to take on the challenges of reengineering's second phase, it is important for the academic and practitioner communities to learn from the lessons of the first phase. Toward this end, this article includes a focused review of the reengineering literature, with the purpose of circumscribing the best practices and integrating the lessons learned. Drawing primarily from expert reengmeering methodologies, the key lessons learned in the first phase are presented in terms of frequently asked questions (FAQs). These FAQs provide the basis of some integrating themes, from which an outline of a number of future research directions is drawn.