Paper Type
Research-in-Progress Paper
Abstract
Many companies struggle with implementing and calibrating prepackaged and configurable enterprise resource planning (ERP) business process workflows, especially master data creation and maintenance. The objective of this paper is to refine the understanding of ERP process workflow adaptability and usage through the lens of sociomateriality. The research aims to explore the degree and the associated consequences of employees’ resistance to packaged ERP workflows. Presenting research on agencies and assemblages derived from ERP system utilization, we conducted a content analysis of 98 interviews, made up of 50 ERP users dealing directly with ERP workflow usage and 48 ERP users involved in master data workflow usage, programming, and administration, to explore how material agencies emerge temporally in practice through a dialectical process of resistance and accommodation. The insights gained from this research may be particularly valuable in researching the expansion of management knowledge related to ERP best practices in everyday organizational life.
Recommended Citation
O'Farrell, James M.; Purchase, Sharon; and Letch, Nick, "Ameliorating ERP Workflow Using a Sociomaterial Lens" (2013). AMCIS 2013 Proceedings. 2.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2013/EndUserIS/RoundTablePresentations/2
Ameliorating ERP Workflow Using a Sociomaterial Lens
Many companies struggle with implementing and calibrating prepackaged and configurable enterprise resource planning (ERP) business process workflows, especially master data creation and maintenance. The objective of this paper is to refine the understanding of ERP process workflow adaptability and usage through the lens of sociomateriality. The research aims to explore the degree and the associated consequences of employees’ resistance to packaged ERP workflows. Presenting research on agencies and assemblages derived from ERP system utilization, we conducted a content analysis of 98 interviews, made up of 50 ERP users dealing directly with ERP workflow usage and 48 ERP users involved in master data workflow usage, programming, and administration, to explore how material agencies emerge temporally in practice through a dialectical process of resistance and accommodation. The insights gained from this research may be particularly valuable in researching the expansion of management knowledge related to ERP best practices in everyday organizational life.