Article talks about how the BPR vision of radical change process challenges the HRM in an organization.

With the help of new technologies mainly ICT as part of BPR, organizations are bound to reduce the workforce in order to become more competitive and cost effective in the industry. This will surely impact the Human workforce of the organization. It highlights BPRs cursory treatment of the human dimension of its programme for radical organizational change and raises the question of how HRM specialists are to respond to its trivialisation of the complexities and dilemmas associated with the reengineering of work processes. It states that the leading advocate of Business Process Reengineering (BPR), Hammer, asserts that companies need fast change and dramatic improvements5. In BPR, the emphasis is placed upon the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to play a key, enabling role in transforming the design of work processes6, a role that stretches far beyond the automation of existing methods of manufacturing products or delivering services. Making the transition from function centred to process-oriented organizing practices necessarily depends upon the human resources who enact, and are also (re)constituted by, BPR. Finally, the paper questions how HRM specialists, in particular, are to respond to its trivialisation of the human and organizational complexities and dilemmas associated with the BPR recipe for radical organizational change. It concludes by suggesting that the human aspects and implications of BPR have been woefully neglected, and that these should provide a strong focus for contemporary management research. Reasons for selecting this article are as follows 1. The holistic view it takes on the definition, designing and the improtance of the BPR as a new process. Article does not go into

the details of the BPR as a process but gives an understanding on the pros and cons of its implementation. 2. The importance of BPR in todays highly competitive business world where the implementation of technology has become a necessity. But, implemetation of technology can impact the human resources of the organizations which are considered to be the most important factor of production in any organization. 3. Article gives a comparative analysis between the old methods like TQM, Change management and the new method BPR. It gives us a clear understanding that BPR does not have just the incremental improvements from the old methods. It is completely a new approach to make the organization more effective and efficient. The key learning from the article is that BPR is not the same old imperialistic consultancy guff dressed up in new jargon. It is sufficiently striking, flexible and ambiguous to encompass many programmes and techniques, such as teamworking, and networking and even EPOS (electronic point of sale), that are have contributed to the reorganization of work during the 1980s. It promises radical (not just incremental) improvements in such areas as product development, product quality and speed of delivery. It focuses on the leaps in performance that can be attained through the innovative use of ICTs. Instead of using ICTs to just automate existing, functionally organized methods of production, they be mobilised to redesign processes in ways that obliterate established practices. One can also learn from the article that how big a challenge HRM faces because of the deployement of technologies like ICT which will force an organization to reduce its workforce. HRM specialists, may question whether the ambitions of BPR are consistent with the distinctive qualities of human resources. It might be asked to what extent the increased pressures that are fuelled by BPR are compatible with ideas of creativity, empowerment and fulfilment that differentiate human beings from other factors of production. It is important to know that BPR gives

very little attention to the human dimension of the organisation. It mainly focuses on the business processes. Article also teaches us that the role of senior management is highly critical in an effective implementation of BPR. The radical changes envisaged by BPR are bound to encounter some resistance from the midlevel and low-level management. But, this resistance can be dissolved by effective leadership and commitment from top management.