Reconfiguration in the context of BPR

Abstract

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between organising knowledge and process in the context of business process redesign (BPR). Empirical evidence was collected from one of the biggest retailers in the UK. Findings derived from a qualitative analysis of longitudinal case study data suggest that change involves complex battles of stories that inform and shape both how knowledge is organised and how knowledge organises. These contested stories illustrate how there is rather more going on than a simple replacement of one organisational narrative with a new consensual meta-narrative. Although BPR introduced a version of change that seeks to claim a preferential right of interpretation and officiality, the ambiguity of the concept leaves open room for political manoeuvring. We conclude that the emergence of dominant official story of change (which represents a form of stored knowledge on change) remains open to redefinition. The coexistence of competing narratives demonstrates how the collective sense making of new business processes is not simply based on an uncontested version of past and present experience, but is intrinsically a process in which organisational members attempt to re-landscape collective views on change.