تاثیر سبک رهبری کاریزماتیک بر انسجام تیم و عملکرد کلی در طول پیاده سازی برنامه ریزی منابع سازمانی (ERP)

Though several key enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation factors, including top management commitment and support, change management, and consultants’ support haven been broadly discussed in literature, other factors such as leadership style and team cohesiveness have recently received more attention in technical project implementation [Thite M. Leadership styles in information technology projects. International Journal of Project Management 2000:18;235–41; Jiang JJ, Klein G, Chenoun-Gee H. The relative influence of IS project implementation policies and project leadership on eventual outcomes. Project Management Journal 2001;32(3):49–55]. The charismatic leadership style has often been adopted by organizational leaders, primarily in Asian countries including Taiwan. The present study, based upon the team leadership theory proposed by Zaccaro, Rittman, and Marks [The sociology of religion [Transl. Ephraim Fischoff]. Boston: Beacon Press; 1963], serves as an initial step towards understanding the impacts of charismatic leadership style on ERP implementation. Three-hundred companies listed in the “Top 500 of The Largest Corporations in Taiwan 2001,” that have implemented ERP systems, were surveyed. The results confirm that leaders should demonstrate more charismatic behaviors to establish the ERP project team members’ cohesiveness and, thus, improve team performance. The positive relationship between team cohesiveness and overall team performance was also statistically supported. Implications on future study are discussed.

Many firms view standard ERP packages as a key to overcoming the problems of their legacy systems and to increasing global competitiveness [16]. ERP systems have been adopted by over 60% of Fortune 500 companies in the USA [31]. However, studies have indicated that the implementation of an ERP system could be an extensive, lengthy and costly process. For example, the Standish Group reports that ERP implementation projects were, on average, 178% over budget, took 2.5 times as long as intended and delivered only 30% of the promised benefits [23]. Due to its complexity and scope, ERP implementation is handled by a cross-functional team, composed of members of diverse backgrounds and interests. As a result, the ERP leaders’ effectiveness and the cohesiveness among ERP team members have become critical success factors for ERP implementation [14]. Unfortunately, it is generally recognized that technical employees lack the leadership skills necessary to effectively manage people [18]. In spite of its importance, little attention has been paid to the nature of IS project leaders’ leadership styles [33]. Leadership is critical to any group environment. Several studies have highlighted the essential leadership qualities and skills required by IS project managers to ensure success, such as the ability to manage people, stress, emotions, bureaucracy, and communication. Charismatic leadership behaviors are identified as among the most critical leadership behaviors in terms of satisfaction [33]. Weber [34] first introduced the term “charisma” and described it as a somewhat super-human attribute, or “an endowment with the gift of divine grace.” According to Weber, a charismatic leader is viewed as a mystical, narcissistic, and personally magnetic saviour [5]. Attributed personality traits that others consider extraordinary define one characteristic of charisma [8]. Some researchers argue that charismatic leaders fuse each member’s personal goals with the team or organizational mission. Team members identify at a personal level with the purposes and goals of the collective as a whole and therefore feel more team commitment and cohesiveness, which improves subsequent performance.

ERP implementation projects often require intensive cross-functional coordination and cooperation. As a result, ERP project success is heavily dependent on human factors such as project leaders’ and team members’ efforts and commitments. Jiang et al. [18] and Thite [33] found that project leadership is an important factor to the successful delivery of an information system. Specifically, the charismatic leadership style of ISD project managers has been argued as an effective management behavior for fusing team members’ personal goals with team missions and, thus, establishing the group’s cohesion [7]. Zaccaro et al. [35] also argued that the charismatic leadership style has direct effects on team task cohesiveness and subsequent performance. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of empirical studies on the impact and role of charismatic leadership style in ERP implementation. The present study serves as an initial step to explore the impacts of charismatic leadership style on team cohesiveness and, thus, team performance in the context of IT implementation. The results indicate that the ERP project leader’s charismatic leadership style significantly influences the level of team cohesiveness, which, in turn, affects the overall project team performance. This result is consistent with Cheung et al.’s [7] findings that charismatic behavior has a significant influence on project team members’ behaviors and efforts. The result also confirmed with Thite’s [33] study that charismatic leadership style can have significant effects on project performance. Given that the culture studied in Cheung et al. [7] and this study is similar, confirmation of the earlier study provides evidence of the external validity of the findings of this study. To further examine the generalizability of this finding, two additional demographical variables (i.e., project managers’ experience and industry type) were included as control variables. The results did not change significantly. Interestingly, while industry type did not have a significant influence on project outcomes, the project managers’ experience had a significant, positive impact. This result indicates that, regardless of the leadership style adopted by the managers, the project managers’ experience has a positive influence on the final project outcomes.