5 Top Contributions of Michael Hammer towards BPM
Posted by: Filipe Pinto in michael hammer, bpm on
Sep 02, 2008
I'm sure you noticed that on this past Wednesday, Michael Hammer died in Boston, from complications of a brain hemorrhage, at the age of 60. Along with Michael Porter, and Peter Fingar, they defined our vision of Business Process Management (BPM), so this is a less bright day.
To make it easier to all of us, here is the list of the 5 top contributions of Michael Hammer towards BPM.
1 - "Reengineering the Corporation", the book - this best seller book introduced, for the first time, the concept of "management process design" to the masses. The book was on The New York Times nonfiction paperback best-seller list for 41 weeks and took Hammer, in 1996, to Time magazine’s list of “America’s 25 Most Influential People.”
2 - Coined the end of Adam Smith era - Michael Hammer made the case that the division of labor, defended by Adam Smith (capitalism's high-priest), and masterfully put in place by Henry Ford in his assemblies lines, was not sustainable in a post-industrial era, characterized by changes in customer bases, competition and a high rate of change. A new organization (a re-engineered organization), had to re-emerge under the supervision of a strong leader with vision, who, using information technologies, consulting closely with suppliers to reduce inventories, and empowering employees, would build a more efficient organization . Hammer actually defended “the undoing of the Industrial Revolution.”
3 - Started shaping the modern process - Michael Hammer defended that corporation ought simplifying and reorganizing business departments by having workers break down their activities into logical, bite-size pieces, then take a “clean sheet” approach to reassembling their work for greater efficiency and productivity. This “clean sheet” was a less formal shape of what we call the PROCESS.
4 - Empowered the Information worker - Michael Hammer defended that in these new organizations (re-engineered organizations), managers ought to switch from supervisory roles to facilitators. They ought to become enablers, and mentors of those who they manage, empowering them to perform value-adding processes themselves, making sure their contribution would be recognize to those at the top. You may not know this but he once wrote - "I’m saddened and offended by the idea that companies exist to enrich their owners. That is the very least of their roles; they are far more worthy, more honorable, and more important than that. Without the vital creative force of business, our world would be impoverished beyond reckoning.”
5 - Educated us all about "powerful ideas gone bad" - as you so well know, reengineering became synonymous with downsizing, in which CEOs confused re-organization with ad-hoc automation. This misinterpretation led to the firing of workers in droves. In a Time interview, Michael Hammer declared - “It is astonishing to me the extent to which the term re-engineering has been hijacked, misappropriated and misunderstood,” adding that ideally, re-engineering should promote greater production and create more jobs.
To make it easier to all of us, here is the list of the 5 top contributions of Michael Hammer towards BPM.
1 - "Reengineering the Corporation", the book - this best seller book introduced, for the first time, the concept of "management process design" to the masses. The book was on The New York Times nonfiction paperback best-seller list for 41 weeks and took Hammer, in 1996, to Time magazine’s list of “America’s 25 Most Influential People.”
2 - Coined the end of Adam Smith era - Michael Hammer made the case that the division of labor, defended by Adam Smith (capitalism's high-priest), and masterfully put in place by Henry Ford in his assemblies lines, was not sustainable in a post-industrial era, characterized by changes in customer bases, competition and a high rate of change. A new organization (a re-engineered organization), had to re-emerge under the supervision of a strong leader with vision, who, using information technologies, consulting closely with suppliers to reduce inventories, and empowering employees, would build a more efficient organization . Hammer actually defended “the undoing of the Industrial Revolution.”
3 - Started shaping the modern process - Michael Hammer defended that corporation ought simplifying and reorganizing business departments by having workers break down their activities into logical, bite-size pieces, then take a “clean sheet” approach to reassembling their work for greater efficiency and productivity. This “clean sheet” was a less formal shape of what we call the PROCESS.
4 - Empowered the Information worker - Michael Hammer defended that in these new organizations (re-engineered organizations), managers ought to switch from supervisory roles to facilitators. They ought to become enablers, and mentors of those who they manage, empowering them to perform value-adding processes themselves, making sure their contribution would be recognize to those at the top. You may not know this but he once wrote - "I’m saddened and offended by the idea that companies exist to enrich their owners. That is the very least of their roles; they are far more worthy, more honorable, and more important than that. Without the vital creative force of business, our world would be impoverished beyond reckoning.”
5 - Educated us all about "powerful ideas gone bad" - as you so well know, reengineering became synonymous with downsizing, in which CEOs confused re-organization with ad-hoc automation. This misinterpretation led to the firing of workers in droves. In a Time interview, Michael Hammer declared - “It is astonishing to me the extent to which the term re-engineering has been hijacked, misappropriated and misunderstood,” adding that ideally, re-engineering should promote greater production and create more jobs.
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