Today’s dynamic business world is compelling companies to seek state-of-art solutions to gain competitive advantages over their contenders. The intricacy of supply chain management calls for a system that would help the organization seamlessly integrate all the business processes and be able to share information with its stakeholders. This can be done through an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. In the discussion, some advantages and disadvantages of the implementation of such a system were mentioned. The discussion briefly touched upon the factors that determine the outcome, namely the involvement of the top management. This paper further elaborates on the importance of the top management’s actions.
First and foremost, only dedicated managing staff can elaborate a clear and concise strategy. The managers can give the process a wrong start by prioritizing different software features over the company’s needs. Determining essential business requirements will facilitate the choice or in some cases, show the lack of necessity for such software for the said organization. The strategy may be put together by outlining goals, creating a clear business model, or enlisting tasks (Chaushi et al. 25). Implementing an ERP is a significant change that should be meticulously foreplanned which is what involved managing staff is capable of doing.
Furthermore, it is only possible to train employees in a new working environment when managing staff is fully engaged in the process. For instance, according to Shao et al., when an organization implements an ERP system, both exploitative and exploratory types of learning are necessary to help staff adapt (916). The managers should use one-to-one communication and advisory or articulate the new strategic vision, respectively (Shao et al. 917). In this case, the top management’s guidance serves not only to convey the new knowledge but also assuage possible psychosocial stress.
It is indisputable that one cannot eliminate the human factor from the discussion about the virtues and flaws of ERPs. Introducing new software affects the company on many levels, and despite constant attempts to automate business processes, there are always human resources that need to be taken into consideration. A clear, feasible strategy and comprehensive conduction training of the employees are two critical success factors and top priority goals that can be attained through effective management and substantial involvement.
Works Cited
Chaushi, Blerta Abazi, et al. “Critical Success Factors in ERP Implementation.” Academic Journal of Business, Administration, Law and Social Sciences, vol. 2, no. 3, 2016, pp. 19-30.
Shao, Zhen, et al. “Impact of Top Management Leadership Styles on ERP Assimilation and the Role of Organizational Learning.” Information & Management, vol. 54, no. 7, 2017, pp. 902-919.