{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,14]],"date-time":"2026-04-14T17:49:52Z","timestamp":1776188992402,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[1996,12,1]],"date-time":"1996-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":849398400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1996,12,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Business process re\u2010engineering (BPR) promises to transform organizations by fundamentally altering their core processes, thereby achieving radical improvements in performance. As the number of actual re\u2010engineering projects increases, the rhetoric surrounding BPR has shifted to reflect greater cynicism and discomfort over its claims. In the absence of compelling and trustworthy evidence about the success of BPR projects, critics have exposed logical contradictions within BPR\u2019s \u201cmanifesto\u201d for revolutionary change and insinuated that BPR\u2019s utopian rhetoric masks political motives. This paper contributes to this discussion in three ways. First we examine two difficulties affecting the evaluation of BPR programmes: defining what process re\u2010engineering really is, and determining whether BPR has been applied successfully. Second, we examine four fundamental contradictions inherent in BPR\u2019s analysis of organizations: the fallacy of its \u201cclean\u2010slate\u201d assumption, the paradox of information technology\u2019s role as an enabler of organizational change, the hypocrisy of employee empowerment, and the irony of employee commitment. Third we propose that such contradictions be addressed in both research and practice by employing theoretical perspectives that are prepared to accommodate contradictory phenomena, in contrast to the simplistic, deterministic logic guiding current investigations of BPR\u2019s effectiveness. We suggest theories of organizational learning and organizational politics to understand and resolve the contradictions embedded within BPR.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1108\/09593849610153421","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2002,7,28]],"date-time":"2002-07-28T18:52:06Z","timestamp":1027882326000},"page":"40-57","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":63,"title":["Coping with contradictions in business process re\u2010engineering"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Marie\u2010Claude","family":"Boudreau","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Robey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022012620305689300_b1","unstructured":"Barrett, R. 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