Process Re-Engineering Needs Top Level Commitment

Vaish said it was not viable to try to change the whole organisation at one go. He said it was best to slice off an unit and show results which, in turn would be an example for the others

Management experts today stressed the importance of top managerial level commitment for the successful implementation of process re-engineering. The top level guys say that they can spare so-and-so. That is precisely what we dont want. We dont want people who are dispensable. We want your involvement and time, said Ashok Alexander, principal of McKinseys & Cos Delhi operations, while addressing the CEOs of companies in Mumbai yesterday.

 

The conference between McKinsey and CEOs of domestic companies focused on the topic of Achieving breakthrough operational performance improvement in India.

Also present were CM Hattangadi, managing director, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd; AM Parekh, president, Arvind Mills; TC Venkatsubramanian, executive director, Exim Bank; RK Birla, president, National Engineering Industries; Siddarth Shriram, chairman and managing director, Siel and V Shekhar, vice-president, BPL.

McKinsey management experts presented actual case studies bringing out the success of the companys strategies. Paresh Vaish, principal at the Bombay office, brought an Indian flavour with his presentation on an Indian consumer goods company. He said that it was not viable to try to change the whole organisation at one go and that it was best to slice off an unit and show results which, in turn would be an example for the others.

CEOs were eager participants in the conference, most of them staying on to hear all speakers though the programme was running behind schedule and asked them questions relating to specific needs of their particular industry.

Responding to a question as to how long it would take for the re-engineering to be complete, Alexander replied that depending on the companys requirements and the extent of change required, it could take around five to six years.

Corporate heads questioned the wisdom of carrying on a long drawn programme where several people were engaged in it full time, to which Rod Laird, principal at Melbourne, replied that the process was to be undertaken in several steps, with the units being re-engineered in order of their contributions to the bottomline.

Laird made a presentation on Re-engineering the chief executive, stressing on the six Ds - diagnose, redesign, demonstrate, duplicate, deliver and do.

Graham Sharman,headof integrated logistics practises, outlined the supply chain management in the US. He outlined to the corporate heads how the backbone systems could be integrated in a more meaningful way by broadening the scope of purchase, upgrading the purchase organisation and focussing beyond price.