James Champy, in Reengineering Management: The Mandate for New Leadership, studies the turbulent world of modern business in a follow-up work to his 1993 work Reengineering the Corporation. In the previous work, the author presented a broader picture of corporate opportunities for more effective and efficient "operational processes---product development, for example, or order fulfillment." In this new work, Champy focuses on the role of and requirements for management in the reengineering process.
The first chapter addresses questions often raised by readers of his earlier work. One of the purposes of this chapter is to justify another book on the subject of reengineering, and he accomplishes this end effectively. The nature of many of these questions and his own continuing research have led him to bring to reengineering a tighter focus than he established in the first book: "I have become increasingly convinced that the real challenge to changing dramatically how companies operate is with managers, both in how they work and how they think." Management has shown a willingness to implement the steps of reengineering but has not been so willing to include itself in the overhaul process. The shortcomings of reengineering to date are not failures of the ideas of Champy, the author says, but are rather failures of managerial accountability. In addition, the author emphasizes the point that reengineering is a matter of humanizing the company and not merely refining the technical or mechanical aspects of its operations. Managers must also have a vision for the future, which requires risk-taking and flexibility and being "ambitious radicals." All of this requires that managers need to balance fear and hope in themselves and throughout the corporation.
In this opening section on readers' questions is a courage on the part of the author which resonates throughout the book. Champy is fearless in attacking problems and dangers...