BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING : A CASE STUDY OF REINVENTED HDB SERVICES

Abstract

In the 1990s, a rapidly changing environment with increased competition and higher customer expectation has replaced the high-growth stable environment of the past. Work process organised based on the division of labour principle can no longer deliver the required performance. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) advocates the redesign of business processes using enabling technologies to bring about quantum leap in business performance. Rapid interest in this area has resulted in an explosion of BPR models, methodologies, and tools and techniques. The plethora of published literature is confusing to both researchers and pracitioners. In this thesis, a framework to categorise the published literature is proposed and the various BPR methodologies are consolidated into a generic BPR methodology. Interest in BPR has been largely confined to the private sector. There are few reported cases of public sector organisations using BPR concepts to improve services to the public. Although the need for reengineering in the public sector is clear, it is not clear whether BPR methodologies and techniques developed in the private sector context can be applied to the public sector. In light of this, a BPR project in a large public organisation, the Housing and Development Board of Singapore, was examined. The study identified a number of unique characterisitics and key success factors of BPR in public organisations.