The authors sent out 853 questionnaires, and this paper is based on 239 responses. Their essential conclusion is that “the most successful reengineering projects direct attention to social design and process transformation rather than analyzing existing procedures.”

The paper contains a number of helpful tables, a careful description of the methodology (but not the actual questionnaire), and a list of references. It includes adequate discussions of the responding firms and their projects and of the research findings. The authors’ research supports the concept of process management rather than one-shot reengineering. They rightly caution that “a variety of methods of inquiry” are needed in order to adequately understand successful reengineering. People managing reengineering projects should read this paper.