in the reengineering process which lesser authors might have skirted. For example, the author deals directly and honestly with the fact that many jobs will be lost in the reengineering process, including the jobs of many managers. Making a company more effective, more efficient, more modernized, and more productive will inevitably mean job loss in many cases. The main point Champy makes in the book, however, is that continuing major change on every level of the modern organization is inevitable, and managers must meet this change bravely and eagerly if they and their firms are to survive and prosper. Technology and the changing role of government in business are the two major forces in the change cycle which Champy explores.
In Chapter 1, Champy writes honestly that the goals of his first book have been only partially achieved, requiring a second book:
Our earlier book was largely about reengineering work---the operational processes performed by salespeople, clerks, factory and warehouse hands, repair people, engineers, technicians, customer-service folks, field representatives.
This book . . . is about managing, written for managers, and . . . by a manager. It is about us, changing our managerial work, the way we think about, organize, inspire, deploy, enable, measure and reward the value-adding operational work.
Of course, the first book was written for managers as well. Is Champy suggesting that clerks and warehouse hands were buyers and readers of his first book? In fact, Champy is naive to think that managers would take steps to implement reengineering processes which would endanger their jobs. His first work was apparently written in the belief that such processes could be limited to the non-managerial realm. Whether or not he is merely trying to sell another book, he is at least writing a work which acknowledges that the jobs of his readers in this case are at risk if managers implement his suggestions.
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