ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems are now the backbone of the information systems in public and private sector organisations. Yet, even if their ability to address the fragmentation of former information systems, provide functional integration and support best practices is recognised, difficulties remain. These difficulties, arising during and after their introduction in organisations, have been widely discussed, leading to many articles and books explaining reasons of failure, listing conditions of success, and suggesting project management methods that are supposed to allow their harmonious implementation.

ERP systems are clearly software systems which are supposed to support organisational and individual work. Thus, ERP Systems and Organisational Change considers both the social and technical perspectives on this phenomenon. It is necessary to analyse not only the influence of the software on the organisation but also how the different uses made of these systems result in an unpredictable mutual adjustment between those in the organisation and the tool. The book illustrates various aspects of this mutual adjustment, with contributions by engineers, computer scientists, consultants, sociologists and economists which, together, provide a unique and comprehensive view of the problem. Without trying to build an artificial consensus, several case studies are commented upon alternatively with a technical and social view, showing how the same facts can have different interpretations and thus contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon in question.

ERP Systems and Organisational Change is a must-read text for students and researchers in management, engineering science and sociology, as well as for technical and human resource managers and consultants in charge of implementation projects.

Autorentext

Prof. Bernard Grabot teaches production management, industrial organization and ERP systems at the National Engineering School of Tarbes, France. He is member of international research groups on "knowledge-based enterprise" and has been involved in several projects on implementation of ERP systems, leading him to develop one of his research axes on the problem of implementation and adoption of these systems. He belongs to the Strategic Council that pilots the relationships between SAP and the French Universities for teaching purposes.

Prof. Anne Mayère's teaching activities mainly concern project management, communication in organizations, the evolution of information and communication activities and information systems in contemporary firms. She is the Head of the research team "Organizational Change, Communication and Quality" of the LERASS research laboratory, France, and her main research topics are on conditions of use of information technology in small and medium firms, and rationalization of information production and system design in contemporary firms.

Dr Isabelle Bazet is Associate Professor in Information and Communication Sciences at the Institute of Technology, Tarbes, France. Her research interests focus on information and communication rationalization in organizations, with a specific emphasis on ERP systems, including a three-year research program concerning the relationship between organizational change and information system transformation in firms dealing with ERP implementation projects.

Zusammenfassung

ERP Systems and Organisational Change considers both the social and technical perspectives on ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, which are now the backbone of the information systems in public and private sector organisations. It is necessary to analyse not only the influence of the software on the organisation but also how the different uses made of these systems result in an unpredictable mutual adjustment between those in the organisation and the tool. The book illustrates various aspects of this mutual adjustment, with contributions from experts from a broad range of disciplines which together provide a unique and comprehensive view of the problem. Without trying to build an artificial consensus, several case studies are commented upon alternatively from a technical and social view, showing how the same facts can have different interpretations and thus contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon in question.

Inhalt
The Mutual Influence of the Tool and the Organisation.- ERP Systems in the Extended Value Chain of the Food Industry.- Integrative Technologies in the Workplace: Using Distributed Cognition to Frame the Challenges Associated with their Implementation.- ERP Implementation: the Question of Global Control Versus Local Efficiency.- Why ERPs Disappoint: the Importance of Getting the Organisational Text Right.- Contradictions and the Appropriation of ERP Packages.- Exploring Functional Legitimacy Within Organisations: Lessons to be Learnt from Suchman's Typology. The Case of the Purchasing Function and SAP Implementation.- How to Take into Account the Intuitive Behaviour of the Organisations in the ERP?.- Process Alignment or ERP Customisation: Is There a Unique Answer?.- Process Alignment Maturity in Changing Organisations.- A Cross-cultural Analysis of ERP Implementation by US and Greek Companies.