Stakeholder Assessment and Management for Enterprise Systems Implementation Projects

Enterprise systems (ES) implementations are difficult to govern successfully due to the degree of organizational change involved for a diverse set of stakeholders. These stakeholders typically have multiple and often conflicting interests and rarely agree on a set of common objectives. Prior studies have highlighted the need for stakeholder engagement, but have provided few details on the types of stakeholders and their roles in enterprise systems implementation projects. This paper describes an assessment of the various stakeholders involved in complex enterprise systems implementation projects with the purpose of surfacing the differences that exist in the perceptions, influence, and expectations. By gaining this insight into key stakeholders, project managers can more effectively anticipate, understand, and react to the evolving needs of the various stakeholder groups. The paper concludes with a discussion of contributions to the literature and a call for further research to extend and refine the knowledge provided.