شناخت هزینه های در سطح محلی و مزایای ERP از طریق تئوری پردازش اطلاعات سازمانی

Using organizational information processing theory (OIPT), we suggest several factors that influence some of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) costs and benefits that organizations are experiencing. Though we do not attempt to address all important factors that contribute to an ERPs impact, we suggest two organizational characteristics that may have received insufficient attention in other ERP literature: interdependence and differentiation. High interdependence among organizational sub-units, contributes to the positive ERP-related effects because of ERPs ability to coordinate activities and facilitate information flows. However, when differentiation among sub-units is high, organizations may incur ERP-related compromise or design costs. We provide a case study that explores the viability of this framework. The case describes some local-level impacts of ERP and provides some evidence of the validity of the model. Unexpected findings are also presented.

Companies have experienced mixed results when using enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems: along with some inspiring success stories come a considerable number of conspicuous failures. In between these extremes are many ERP implementations that are partly successful and partly problematic. While much of the literature focuses on implementation practices as the critical determinant of success, this paper uses several constructs from organizational information processing theory (OIPT) as a basis for exploring an additional complementary explanation for why some ERP implementations are more successful than others. Our IP-based framework suggests that, depending upon the amount of interdependence and differentiation among sub-units of an organization, ERP systems may “fit” some organizations better than others. To explore these ideas further and to see whether these constructs make sense in the context of an actual company, we conducted a case study of a manufacturing organization involved in a multi-plant ERP implementation. The investigation suggests that OIPT is a worthwhile lens for understanding ERP systems, and the case study provides evidence that the concepts of interdependence and, especially, differentiation may be important in predicting the impact of ERP, particularly at the local level. The goals of our research were to develop some rich descriptions of ERP impacts at the local level and, in particular, to refine our conceptualization of differentiation and the ways in which it appears to affect ERP systems within organizations. Differences among sub-units can be assessed only by examining them. Therefore, this paper focused on lower levels of the organization, specifically, on the manufacturing facility. We acknowledge that concentrating on a limited view of the organization misses important ERP costs and benefits that occur at the organization-wide level. However, we also note that a great deal of the existing discussion of ERP focuses at that level and perhaps under-represents local-level costs and benefits.

As a collection of highly integrated subsystems, ERP systems can be described as ‘‘ tightly coupled ’’ ,in contrast to the ‘‘ loosely coupled ’’ subsystems that make up most of the installed base of pre-ERP systems in organizations. To be sure, tight coupling facilitates coordination among subsystems, and this is typically critically important in today ’ s competitive business environment. On the other hand, Weick [28] argues that loosely coupled subsystems have potential advan- tages as well: They adapt more easily to unique local require- ments. They may provide a more sensitive boundary sen- sing mechanism. They provide more room for innovation and adap- tation to environmental change by accommodating more variety and novelty. A ‘‘ breakdown ’’ in one subsystem is not automa- tically transmitted to others. Finally, since they interact little with one another, changing them requires fewer resources. For many organizations, implementing ERP means moving from a confederation of loosely coupled sys- tems to a tightly coupled one. Drawing on OIPT, we have suggested that tightly coupled systems produce signi fi cant bene fi ts, including better coordinationamong sub-units and administrative ef fi ciencies. The more interdependence among sub-units in an organi- zation, the more we expect this type of bene fi tto accrue. However, we have also argued that in some cases ERP systems will create either compromise or design costs because of the standardization that they require. The severity of these costs increases with differentiation among sub-units. Here, we have pro- vided a description of differentiation in a manufactur- ing context and a better understanding of some of the costs. We do not suggest that the case presented here is representative of all ERP experience. Rather, we argue that organizations differ in the amount of interdepen- dence and differentiation among their sub-units, and that these two organizational characteristics merit consideration. Differentiation does not make it impossible to implement ERP well, but it may make doing so more costly. In most situations, fi rms will fi nd that the bene fi ts of integration are suf fi cient to outweigh com- promise and/or design costs. Occasionally, this will not be the case and wise fi rms may opt for looser coupling by choosing to omit a plant or some other sub-unit from an ERP implementation. However, fi rms are in no position to make such determinations without an understanding of differentiation and its effects in the ERP context