Klara Nelson

A taxonomy of players and activities across the ERP project life cycle

An important problem in probabilistic description is to understand who are the key players, which activities associated with enterprise system implementations are important, and when their effect is most prevalent across the IT development stages. Using an information theory approach, we analyze the fit between their importance, as noted in the current literature, and the experiences reported by a cross-section of 116 organizations that completed an enterprise system implementation experience. Our results suggest that the early literature- and case-based research on enterprise systems does not take into account the importance of several key variables. These findings provide guidance to managers on how best to utilize their limited resources by employing such factors at the stage in the projects life cycle when they will have the greatest impact.

Examining Factors Associated with IT Disaster Preparedness

Despite its importance, IT disaster recovery and preparedness remains an under researched topic. The purpose of this paper is to explore variables associated with different levels of disaster preparedness. Evidence from a survey of U.S. organizations supports the notion of viewing disaster recovery in a strategic role where organizational commitment and support are critical for all levels of preparedness. In companies that are not legally obligated to have a disaster recovery plan, a more innovative technology strategy was significantly related to greater disaster preparedness. Finally, the role of top management resistance was evident in a comparison of organizations that regularly updated their plans versus those that did not. The research also showed the need for an approach that links disaster recovery planning research to specific business strategies and objectives when examining reliance on IT. Both operational as well as strategic reliance were significant antecedents of disaster preparedness in this study.

Exploring Emotions during ERP Adoption: A Stakeholder Analysis

Emotions play a central part in a persons work experience and have been a topic in organizational behavior for about two decades. Nowhere is there greater potential for emotion-eliciting events than in conjunction with large-scale organizational transformations such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. However, little research exists regarding the role of emotions in information systems development and implementation. This research is a case study that seeks to explore affect and emotional reactions from the perspectives of the different stakeholders involved the selection of an ERP package. The results show that ERP selection is a very emotional phase during the ERP implementation life cycle. There are however differences in the emotional experiences of three different types of stakeholders: experts, representatives, and users. These results may have important implications for the proper staffing and management of cross-functional teams in information systems development and implementation.