Tales of Resistance in an Australian University

Many universities have taken the expensive path of ERP implementation. It is a worrying thought to hear staff comments such as “we have bought a system that never met our needs in any way … we have had to change almost everything in the university to fit a system instead of having a system to fit us.” Organizational fit and system success have been well covered in the literature. This chapter brings to the discussion resistance and how power can be used to perpetuate resistance. The chapter also discusses that not all resistance is bad and that it can actually represent business issues which need addressing. This chapter has focussed on the perceptions of the administration staff local to the academic elements and how they have reacted to the sweeping changes of an ERP.

Technology Innovation in a Small Rural Hospital

This case study illustrates how the leaders of a small, rural hospital were able to successfully introduce and institutionalize a strategic change in information technologies. Our work briefly reviews strategic change leadership and common theories of innovation and governance. We then present a case study investigating how a hospital’s top management team used managerial discretion to create and institutionalize a strategic information technology (IT) innovation.

Achieving Strategic Goals

This chapter discusses the strategic role of an enterprise resource planning system within the International Centre of an Australian University. Several problems with use of the system are identified in the case study. These problems with use quality are a likely cause for the mismatch between what was expected of the system in supporting business strategies and the actual outcome. The users demonstrate an awareness of organisational strategies and goals and consider that the newly-implemented system does not sufficiently support execution of strategy and achievement of strategic goals, or formulation of organisational strategy.

Academic and Business Users

This chapter proposes a model of ERP user acceptance, performing a qualitative assessment of a university implementation in terms of two distinctive user groups: business users and academic users. The model examines areas of system and information quality, attitudes and perceptions, training quality, user ability, and user’s situational and personal factors. Through conduction of a field study and subsequent analysis, it is concluded that the user groups, while experiencing a similar implementation process, are demonstrated as being so different and undergoing different forces that it cannot be stated which user group has the overall best level of acceptance of and satisfaction with the new ERP system. Factors such as personal and cultural background and workplace influences have proven to be extremely strong for both groups. Training is shown as having the greatest impact on the business user group, as the techniques used created favorable impressions of the new system, and it is possible such an effect could be extended to academic users, given different training circumstances.

Critical Success Factors for Implementing an ERP System

This chapter involves an investigation into critical success factors (CSFs) for implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system into an Australian university. Existing ERP research has neglected the higher education sector (HES) worldwide and in Australia, even though a majority of Australian universities have implemented an ERP solution. Findings from the case study found that interviewees discussed 22 of the 29 factors identified from contemporary literature. Additionally, four new factors are identified, namely, competitive edge, service for students, knowledge management, and system ownership.

Looking Back, Looking In and Looking On

This chapter addresses the topic of organizational change brought about through the implementation of an enterprise resource planning system (ERP) at one of Queensland’s regional universities. This chapter describes the institution’s development and its increasing reliance on corporate information systems. The unsuccessful attempt to resolve problems associated with these systems, in particular the student record system via the Core Australian Specification for Management and Administrative Computing (CASMAC) project, is explored. How the need for ERP adoption was presented to staff is then examined. The reactions of staff to the implementation experience are then explored using preliminary results from focus group interviews. The chapter concludes by comparing the expectations, reactions, and outcomes of the ERP project with some recommendations suggested for improving organizational change induced by ERP implementation.

What Went Wrong? Lessons Learned from Studying ERP Implementation Across Cultures

Following a literature review that sets this research in context, case study data from two companies, one in the United States and one in Israel, are presented. Data are used to compare the implementation process of SAP Enterprise Planning Systems (ERPs) in the two cultures. The unique patterns of the implementation process that emerge from the two case studies are discussed as examples of the decision-making patterns typical of the two cultures. When relevant, areas where the findings did not agree with the theory are highlighted. The conclusions section explores the implications from this research to broader issues of ERP implementation across cultures, including the implementation of ERP systems within the higher education sector, and possible directions for future research emanating from this study.

Implementation Factors that Affect ERP System Success

This chapter identifies valuable lessons about implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems into universities and contains a warning about cutting implementation costs and the impact on the system’s success. In the case study described, many incorrect assumptions were made regarding the organization and users. These led to ineffective change management and support strategies, and ultimately reduced both the system’s quality and its benefit to the organization. This study found that an ERP system’s quality can be improved by effectively tailoring the user training, change management, and support strategies to the organization’s culture and users.

Managing Complexity and Institutionalization

This chapter reports a case study of ERP implementation in an institution of higher education. The ERP is one based on integration of administrative tasks based on Oracle® systems and is successful both in terms of its embeddedness in institutionalized practice and in supporting that university’s operations. The key issue that emerged from the study showed that understanding complexity, institutionalized practice, and the power relations in existence enable the implementation to be more effective, as it can be managed when understood. The chapter argues that organizations reproduce practice and that an ERP challenges that. To deal with that challenge, social dramas emerge wherever power exists, and the resulting conflicts challenge the effectiveness of the systems put in place. In this case study, the key role of the project champion in resolving the social dramas became evident.

Metaphorically Speaking, Does Culture Matter?

This chapter is a qualitative research case study discussing the use of metaphors to analyze the organizational culture of a university department involved in a Human Resources Academic Administration Information Systems Implementation. The new system is part of a larger university-wide Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation. Current literature suggests that organizational culture is impacted by information systems implementation and it is argued that the impact of the enterprise systems can result in a major cultural transformation that resets organizational values, meanings and beliefs. The metaphor of “organizations as cultures” is used to enable a better understanding of the department’s culture and the staff’s cultural attitudes toward the newly implemented ERP system. This investigation indicated that as a result of the implementation, the culture within the department did need to change to accommodate the new system and this is reflected through culturally symbolic artifacts, roles, values and beliefs (see Beekhuyzen, 2001 for more discussion of these topics). The metaphorical analysis of these culturally symbolic elements is presented in this chapter.