Putting the enterprise into the enterprise system
Harvard Business Review
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This article analyzes the results of an 18-month research study examining the implementation of an ERP system within a multinational firm specialised in the extraction and transformation of raw materials. The analysis focuses on the social effects software can have on working procedures and power-sharing structures within an organization. The three principle results show that implementing an ERP system is not a neutral process. Indeed, the ERP triggers fundamental changes in the way managers and assistants organize themselves and it tightens the control of their work. However, it also presents a paradoxical characteristic, managers transgress procedures in order reach their targeted goals. Finally, the rules by which everybody has to play tend to give more importance to specialists, such as purchasing buyers.We conclude this article by raising the hypothesis that both the ERP and the top management, who decided its implementation, generate social changes.