This study (a) compares the process reengineering (PR) principles with the internal control (IC) principles demonstrating that some of them are potentially conflicting; (b) shows that the conflicts between the RP principles and the IC principles can be explained by the distinct assumptions this two approaches have about human behavior, organizations and technology; and (c) explores the implications of these conflicts for the managers, who will decide about the radicalism of the process revisions, and for the auditing and consulting firms, which sell PR and auditing services, sometimes, for the same client. The argument adopted here assumes that the different objectives of PR and IC decisively influence the rhetoric of the sponsors of each of these approaches, the assumptions they make about people, organizations and technology and consequently the principles that guide their choices in the development of work projects.
Process reengineering; internal control; work projects