Understanding misalignment and cascading change of ERP implementation: a stage view of process analysis

Received: 26 January 2005 Revised: 24 May 2005 Accepted: 30 August 2005 Abstract When adopting an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, experiencing misalignments between the functionality offered by the package and that required by the firm is common. Implementing an ERP package often necessitates disruptive organizational change, and the outcome of implementation is largely determined by the resolution of misalignment problems. This study draws upon data from a case study to understand the misalignments of ERP adoption and the associated change dynamics from a stage view. The results reveal that industry-, company-, and regulation-specific misalignments often occurred in the chartering phase; misalignments of input, control, data, process, output, and schedule are the major problems in the project phase; misalignments of information and new business requirements are the main concerns in the shakedown phase and onward and upward phase. The cascading effects of misalignments and change actions are illustrated, the misalignment resolution strategies examined, and the implications discussed. European Journal of Information Systems (2005) 14, 324–334. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000547