ERP Systems and Organisational Change: A Socio-technical Insight (Springer Series in Advanced Manufacturing) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1848001827 ISBN 13: 9781848001824

Publisher: Springer, 2008

Synopsis

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems are now the backbone of the information systems in public and private sector organisations. Yet difficulties remain. This book provides a unique and comprehensive insight into ERP systems, from both a social and a technical viewpoint. 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.

About this title

From the Back Cover

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.

About the Author

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1848001827
• ISBN 13: 9781848001824
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 223
• Editor: Grabot Bernard, Mayère Anne, Bazet Isabelle