Reengineering -- the radical redesign of work processes using information technology as an enabler -- creates new integrated processes. These new integrated processes include: 1) combined `case manager` jobs, 2) interorganizational systems, and 3) flatter organizational structures. Reengineering is being widely practiced, but with many reports of failures or undesired side effects. The advocates of reengineering tend to focus on the political risks of bringing about radical organizational change and on the risks of creating expensive new processes which do not support an organization's strategic goals. They do not, however, address the problem that the newly integrated processes themselves may be more risky to an organization's long term viability by both exposing it to new sources of vulnerability and by creating structures which will allow minor failures to propagate into major, disastrous ones. Currently, reengineering studies have been limited to: 1) single case studies of `successes` and 2) surveys which report high failure rates and negative side effects, but do not specifically address the nature of the failures and negative side effects and how they arose from the reengineering effort. This interdisciplinary analysis applies organizational theory concepts from Charles Perrow's Normal Accident Theory and the theory of High Reliability Organizations, and information technology concepts from software engineering, systems analysis and design, and the computer risk literature to three of the newly integrated processes advocated by reengineering: 1) combined jobs, 2) interorganizational systems, and 3) flatter organizational structures. The results of the analysis indicate that many new types of risks may be arising and that there is reason for concern that the new processes may increase an organization's risk exposure. The study will involve interviews in 30 organizations to determine the degree to which these newly integrated processes are being adopted by organizations, the degree to which risk factors identified in the analysis are emerging in the implementation of these processes, and the degree to which control factors to mitigate these risks are being applied. The immediate goal of this study is to provide insights into the nature of reengineering risks as they emerge in the newly integrated processes. The ultimate goal is the development of a methodological tool to minimize and control for the risks of newly integrated processes.
