In my 7 years of post secondary education, I can honestly say this is the worst book I've ever had to read.
Why?
1. The writing style is horiible. You'll have better luck understanding books on the synaptic reflexes of sub-Saharan lizards than you will this book. Many sentences are structured poorly and the authors' choice of words make understanding their point very difficult.
2. The Socio-Technical System (STS) described in the book is a complicated methodology to reengineer a company, division, etc. What it really is is a "MOTO" method - a Master Of The Obvious method. This is not to say that book doesn't have many good points about reengineering a system, it does. However, it complicates reasonable methods into an overall complex system that obscures their value.
3. In practical terms, the STS system described in this book is impossible to implement. Afterall, have you ever heard of STS before? Of course not... because it's not used in practice.
4. It's expensive, very expensive.
If you are hoping to learn more about reengineering, I would recommend another book. As much as I'd like to be able to offer one, I cannot, sorry.
If you have to read this for a college class, make sure you have plenty of time set aside since it will take you longer than you think.