Communication barriers in an interorganizational ERP-project

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 214-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Andersson

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze communication patterns and bridging activities to be able to describe communication barriers in an interorganizational enterprise resource planning (ERP) project and some ways to overcome those. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical arena was an interorganizational ERP-project, which implemented an On-Premise ERP-system. The goal for the team, assembled from both the buyer and supplier, was to implement an ERP-system, with a fixed price calculated from the expected resources and time needed, half a year. Participant observations, complementary interviews and documentation studies were accomplished, to be able to find and describe communication barriers for organizational development. Findings – Communication barriers were found, such as technnological concerns, micro-level discussions, limited bridging activities and openness to change. Research limitations/implications – The present study, concerning one single, interorganizational ERP-project provides a starting point for further research concerning communication barriers in ERP-projects. Further research could look at the implications communication barriers could have for the buyer and supplier organization in a long term. Practical implications – In managerial implications, some ways to overcome those barriers are discussed. Originality/value – Communication barriers found, and their impact on knowledge development within interorganizational ERP-projects, is described. The paper offers a starting point for future research concerning communication barriers. Results could be used of managers to understand communication barriers and their implications for knowledge development and organizational change.

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Abdinnour ◽  
Khawaja Saeed

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how key users’ perceptions (capability, value, timing, and acceptance) toward an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system change from the pre-implementation to the post-implementation phase. The paper also examines how this change differs with varying levels of user involvement in the implementation process and users’ positions in the company. Design/methodology/approach – The authors survey the employees of a major aircraft manufacturing company in the Midwest and analyze the data using repeated measures ANOVA. The authors use time as a within-subject independent variable, and involvement/position at the company as between-subject independent variables. Findings – The results reveal a significant drop in users’ perceptions regarding the capability, value, and implementation timing of the ERP system. However, the perception of acceptance did not change significantly. Furthermore, there were more significant interactions of users’ perceptions with employee position than employee involvement in the implementation process. Research limitations/implications – The study offers a better theoretical understanding of how users’ perceptions regarding an ERP system evolve over time. The use of one company is a limitation of the study, so future research can focus on extending the study in different sectors. Practical implications – Management can design interventions to minimize users’ negative perceptions about the ERP system and increase usage in the post-implementation phase. For example, management can design training customized toward users’ positions in the company. Originality/value – Post-implementation research in the ERP field is rare. Conducting a survey of users’ perceptions allows the authors to take an in-depth look at attitudes toward an ERP system.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Oliveira ◽  
Stewart Clegg

Purpose – This paper aims to clarify a paradox in an organisation: in the past, formally powerful “central” actors confronted important limitations in their relations with formally less powerful actors. However, three innovations – the financial accounting module of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a corporate centre (CC) and a shared services centre (SSC) – substantially changed and re-centred network power relations. The authors adopt a critical discourse to explain this paradox, contributing to the emerging literature on SSCs and bridging the management control and power literatures. Design/methodology/approach – An in-depth, processual, actor-network theory-inspired three-year case study of a large Portuguese manufacturer. Findings – As the intertwined accounting-related innovations were (re)mobilised by actors, dynamically adjusting to unfolding repercussions, control and power effects emerged, enabling enhanced organisational steering. Research limitations/implications – Based on a single case, this paper highlights effects of managerial technologies, in particular ERPs and SSCs, on control and power relations, and refines Clegg’s model for future research. Practical implications – The transactional, low value-added activities typically performed by SSCs should not lead to underestimating their potentially profound organisational consequences. However, the surrounding socio-technical network is decisive for the emerging, inter-related repercussions. Originality/value – This paper explains the relative capacity of actors to influence the practices and configuration of the organisational network structurally, fixing power relations within the socio-technical network through innovations in the accounting area, in particular ERPs and SSCs. By revising Clegg’s circuits of power framework, this paper contributes to understanding possibilities and limits of accounting techniques in management control procedures.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin R.W. Hiebl ◽  
Bernhard Gärtner ◽  
Christine Duller

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between characteristics of chief financial officers (CFOs) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system adoption. Following upper echelons theory, the authors theorize that CFO age, education, tenure and recruitment influence ERP system adoption, and that this relationship is moderated by the CFO being responsible for firm-wide information technology (IT) functions. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis is based on a survey of 296 large and medium-sized Austrian firms. Logistic regression analyses were used to test the association between CFO characteristics and ERP system adoption. Findings The authors find that firms with externally recruited CFOs have adopted ERP systems significantly more often than firms with internally promoted CFOs. Surprisingly, the results indicate that firms with less educated CFOs more often adopted an ERP system, and that the relationship between CFO characteristics and ERP system adoption is not moderated by the CFO being responsible for IT. Research limitations/implications This paper adds to the literature by corroborating case-based evidence that CFOs and their characteristics influence ERP system adoption. Extending previous research which indicates that CFO characteristics influence accounting practices, the authors show that CFO characteristics also influence technological innovation such as the adoption of ERP systems. Future research on technological innovation may therefore pay closer attention to the influence of CFOs. Originality/value This paper is the first to quantitatively test the influence of CFO characteristics on ERP system adoption.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 668-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Glowalla ◽  
Ali Sunyaev

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to facilitate understanding of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and data quality interdependency by presenting ERP systems’ use within data quality management. Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply task technology fit (TTF) in an explorative study, conducting semi-structured expert interviews with participants in information technology strategic decision making. The authors analyzed the interviews with iterative descriptive and subsequent interpretive coding. Findings – Although considered sustainable, continuously increasing regulations challenge ERP systems. However, compliance with regulations may serve as a bridge for organizations to engage in data analysis. Organizations are embedded into evolving task environments with the need to continuously adapt their systems or the organization and the need for contextual understanding of data quality. Research limitations/implications – With ERP systems being used for administrative functions, future research might draw on extant ERP systems research from the manufacturing sector. However, for insurance-specific tasks, ERP systems and their data need to be considered in a sector-specific context with the need for further research. Practical implications – ERP systems are considered sustainable. High initial fit is desirable, but the sector's relevance for ERP system vendors might be more important for sustainability. Ensuring TTF will be an increasing challenge with increasing task non-routineness. Originality/value – Applying TTF provides guidance for fit research, while the qualitative approach accounts for a deeper understanding, especially when exploring data quality issues since deficiencies might have several root causes. The authors show that ERP systems have an impact on data quality beyond its typically examined functionality.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Shaikh ◽  
Libi Shen

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are considered, by many, to be extremely solid, while giving organizations the ability to quickly capture and manage data across diverse sectors. Because the successful employment of an ERP system depends upon skillful implementation, specific factors contributing to successful ERP implementation are essential. What are the critical factors in the implementation of ERP system? How do company administrators and IT professionals perceive the critical successful factors for the effective implementation of the ERP? How are critical successful factors defined? How do IT professionals perceive the influence of critical factors on the effective implementation of ERP in a Phoenix company? In this chapter, the critical successful factors in the implementation of ERP systems will be explored. A single case study was conducted, and the interview data were gathered from 15 IT professionals in a Phoenix, Arizona company. Problems, solutions, recommendations, and future research direction will be presented.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morteza Ghobakhloo ◽  
Masood Fathi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how small manufacturing firms can leverage their Information Technology (IT) resources to develop the lean-digitized manufacturing system that offers sustained competitiveness in the Industry 4.0 era. Design/methodology/approach The study performs an in-depth five years case study of a manufacturing firm, and reports its journey from failure in the implementation of enterprise resource planning to its success in integrating IT-based technology trends of Industry 4.0 with the firm’s core capabilities and competencies while pursuing manufacturing digitization. Findings Industry 4.0 transition requires the organizational integration of many IT-based modern technologies and the digitization of entire value chains. However, Industry 4.0 transition for smaller manufacturers can begin with digitization of certain areas of operations in support of organizational core strategies. The development of lean-digitized manufacturing system is a viable business strategy for corporate survivability in the Industry 4.0 setting. Research limitations/implications Although the implementation of lean-digitized manufacturing system is costly and challenging, this manufacturing strategy offers superior corporate competitiveness in the long run. Since this finding is rather limited to the present case study, assessing the business value of lean-digitized manufacturing system in a larger scale research context would be an interesting avenue for future research. Practical implications Industry 4.0 transition for typical manufacturers should commensurate with their organizational, operational and technical particularities. Digitization of certain operations and processes, when aligned with the firm’s core strategies, capabilities and procedures, can offer superior competitiveness even in Industry 4.0 era, meaning that the strategic plan for successful Industry 4.0 transition is idiosyncratic to each particular manufacturer. Social implications Manufacturing digitization can have deep social implications as it alters inter- and intra-organizational relationships, causes unemployment among low-skilled workforce, and raises data security and privacy concerns. Manufacturers should take responsibility for their digitization process and steer it in a direction that simultaneously safeguards economic, social and environmental sustainability. Originality/value The strategic roadmap devised and employed by the case company for managing its digitization process can better reveal what manufacturing digitization, mandated by Industry 4.0, might require of typical manufacturers, and further enable them to better facilitate their digital transformation process.


2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 1075-1104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Sundtoft Hald ◽  
Jan Mouritsen

PurposeThis research aims to explore the enabling and constraining effects of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and speculate on how these can be linked to the four generic roles of operations management (OM) proposed by Slack et al.Design/methodology/approachThis research understands ERP as boundary objects characterised by modularity, abstraction, accommodation, and standardization. An in‐depth cross‐disciplinary literature review and role synthesis is conducted.FindingsFour enabling and three constraining effects of ERP are deduced from existing literature. ERP and OM are linked conceptually. Based on the identified effects of ERP, the paper speculates on the managerial tasks of the production and operations manager (POM) in an ERP environment and lists a set of central concerns of potential relevance to POM and to future research.Research limitations/implicationsThe identified roles of ERP and their implications could be empirically tested using case based and survey research.Practical implicationsThe results provide insights into how ERP has multiple and parallel roles, and how these roles are relevant to the function of OM. Such knowledge is valuable for practicing POMs in managing the implementation and design of ERP to support the different domains of OM.Originality/valueCurrent studies of the effects of ERP and their link to the practice of OM tend to focus on one or a few roles of the emerging system. Such studies do not properly take into account the modularised and pluralistic nature of ERP. This research provides a platform from where future research on the effects, managerial dilemmas and implications of ERP can be reconciled across research communities.


2019 ◽  
pp. 097215091984975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adejare Yusuff Aremu ◽  
Arfan Shahzad ◽  
Shahizan Hassan

The objective of this study is to examine the mediating role of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system adoption on the relationship between performance of medium enterprises (PMEs) and organizational culture (OC), communication process (CP), organizational structure (OS), information technology readiness (ITR), technological change (TC), government policy (GP), information access (IA) and technology infrastructure support (TIS). This study also includes the role of top management support (TMS) as a moderating variable on the relationship between ERP and PME. This study proposes a theoretical framework based on theories such as resource-based view, contingency theory and diffusion of innovation. The data were collected from medium-sized enterprise (ME) organizations operating in South Western Nigeria. A total of 658 questionnaires were distributed to selected MEs and only 355 were returned and used for the analysis. The empirical data were analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that CP, ERP, GP, IA, ITR, OC, OS, TC, TIS and TMS have significant direct relationships with the ERP and PME while GP is not significantly linked to ERP adoption. Moreover, IA, ITR, OC, OS and TC have no significant relationship with PME while ERP system adoption mediates the relationship between the CP, OC, OS, TC and TIS with PME. The findings showed that the presence of CP, OC, OS, TC and TIS will influence the PMEs in the adoption of ERP and confirmed that TMS plays an important role in moderating the relationship between ERP and PME. The findings provide important insights to CEO, managers, policymakers and researchers to help them understand the importance of using the ERP system to enhance the performance of medium-sized enterprise (PMSE) organizations. Limitation of the study is based on MEs only. In this light, future research can focus on the evolution of not only small enterprises but also large firms.


Author(s):  
Sudhaman Parthasarathy ◽  
C. Sridharan ◽  
Thangavel Chandrakumar ◽  
S. Sridevi

Software quality is a very important aspect in evolving strategy for IT vendors involved in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) (also referred as packaged software) product development. Software metrics are widely accepted measures for monitoring and managing the quality in software projects. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are COTS products and attempt to integrate data and processes in organizations and often require extensive customization. Using software quality metrics already established in literature, software quality attributes defined by the quality model ISO/IEC 9126 were evaluated for a standard and a customized ERP product. This will help the ERP team to identify the specific quality attributes that were affected owing to customization. This research study infers that there exists a considerable impact of ERP system customization over the quality of ERP product. The implications of the findings for both practice and research are discussed, and possible areas of future research are identified.


Author(s):  
Kalinga Jagoda ◽  
Premaratne Samaranayake

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose an alternative integrated approach based on the stage-gate method to implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems which will enhance the effectiveness of ERP projects. Design/methodology/approach A literature review was conducted on ERP system implementation and its effectiveness. The need for improving implementation approaches and methodologies was examined. Based on the insights gained, a conceptual framework for ERP system implementation is presented by combining the state-gate approach with the pre-implementation roadmap. Findings The proposed framework aims to enhance the overall ERP implementation outcomes, ensuring critical success factors and eliminating common causes of failures. A pre-implementation roadmap is identified as a key element for eliminating many causes of failure including lack of organisations’ readiness for ERP. The post-implementation stage can be used for further improvements to the system through internal research and development. Research limitations/implications The development of the framework is an attempt to contribute to improving ERP implementation. This research is expected to motivate researchers to work in this area, and it will be beneficial to practicing managers in the identification of opportunities for improvements in ERP systems. Case studies will be valuable to refine and validate the proposed model. Originality/value This paper explores research in a needy area and offers a framework to help researchers and practitioners in improving ERP implementation. This framework is expected to reduce the implementation project duration, strengthen critical success factors and minimise common problems of ERP implementation projects.


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