Business process re‐engineering

Business process re‐engineering (BPR) and the learning organization are widely discussed management concepts. While both could be, and sometimes are pursued in the same organization, the first tends to be perceived as a means and the latter as an end of corporate transformation. Examines the development aspects of BPR and whether in practice its application helps or hinders the development of the learning organization. Draws on the results of COBRA, a pan‐European examination of BPR experience and practice, which has found that the reality of BPR application does not always match its rhetoric. BPR exercises tend to be concerned with working people harder rather than smarter and the development implications of implementing different approaches to BPR are rarely fully thought through. Greater priority needs to be devoted to agreeing and building roles, competences and behaviours.