Michael Martin Hammer (April 13, 1948 – Sept 3, 2008) was a Jewish-American engineer, management author, and a former professor of computer science at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT), known as one of the founders of the

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

theory of

Business process reengineering Business process re-engineering (BPR) is a business management strategy originally pioneered in the early 1990s, focusing on the analysis and design of workflows and business processes within an organization. BPR aims to help organizations fundam ...

(BPR).Hammer and Company — Official website of the company run by Michael Hammer
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Biography

Early life and education

Hammer, the child of

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Axis powers, its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no unive ...

, grew up in

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

. He earned BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in EECS from the

in 1968, 1970, and 1973 respectively

Career

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

by training, Hammer was the proponent of a process-oriented view of

business management Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

. He was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

at the

in the department of

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

and a lecturer in the

MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...

. Articles written by Hammer have been published in business periodicals, such as the ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massach ...

'' and ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

''. ''TIME'' named him as one of America's 25 most influential individuals, in its first such list. ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine ranked Hammer's book, ''Reengineering the Corporation'', among the "three most important business books of the past 20 years".

Personal life

He and his wife, Phyllis Thurm Hammer, lived in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

with their four children, Jessica, Allison, Dana, and David.

Death

Hammer died suddenly from complications of a brain hemorrhage he suffered while on vacation, and he is buried in the Baker Street Jewish Cemeteries in Boston.

Publications

*''Reengineering the Corporation: A manifesto for Business Revolution'' (1993), which Hammer he co-authored with James A. Champy, was instrumental in capturing the focus of business community towards Business Process Reengineering (BPR). 2.5 million copies of the book were sold, and the book remained on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list for more than a year. *''The Reengineering Revolution'' (1995) *''Beyond Reengineering'' (1996) *''The Agenda'' (2001) *''Faster, Cheaper, Better'' (2010), co-authored with Lisa Hershman

References

External links

Hammer and Company — Official website of the company run by Michael Hammer

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammer, Michael 1948 births 2008 deaths American computer scientists 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American economists MIT School of Engineering alumni MIT School of Engineering faculty MIT Sloan School of Management faculty People from Newton, Massachusetts