I refer to Doug Simplson's interest in LO/IT/BPR synergy and his request
to know who else has interests in the field.
My interest and research is not quite in the LO/IT/BPR intersection, but
in the intersection between organisational strategy making and computers.
I also went along the object oriented, simulation, BPR and LO paths (any
others).
I agree that BPR and Information Technology (IT) certainly can work
closely together. Hawaii International Conference of Systems Sciences
(HICSS) is a high profile conference where people discuss things like
these. I can recall that HICSS had the BPR/IT connection as a thread
within one of their streams. HICSS also had - I believe they still have -
a strong IT/LO stream. On that basis one can say that the possibility and
desirability of these connections are generally accepted.
However, I can not recall that HICSS connected the IT/BPR thread with the
LO/IT stream at any stage. To me LO and BPR seems like different
paradigms: LO is a measure to make people ready to act appropriately when
something unplanned comes up. This is typically useful when structured
planning is less successful (due to complexity, unstructuredness,
uncertain future, and so on). BPR seems to be exactly the opposite in that
it is based on rational planning (after lateral thinking, sorry). BPR
assumes that strategies and structures are available knowledge (or will be
with a bit of analysis), while LO is more concerned with the things that
are not known (when that knowledge is needed). BPR changes the
organisational system now and then leaves it to its own devices, LO is
less concerned with immediate changes and more with the future continuity
of the system. I hope I am not misrepresenting LO or BPR, the point I
would like to make is it can be argued that LO and BPR are different
paradigms which can co-exist for the common good of an organisation, but I
am not so sure about the logic and wisdom of linking them.
Majola Oosthuizen
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Majola J.H.Oosthuizen (PhD candidate) For commercial issues:
Dept.Information Systems BusComTech Pty Ltd
PO Box 197, Caulfield East 3145 Frankston, Tel 61-3-9789-8778
Monash University, Australia Fax 61-3-9776-6899
majola@ponderosa.is.monash.edu.au
--"Majola J.H.Oosthuizen" <majola@ponderosa.is.monash.edu.au>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>