Enterprise Resource Planning and Organizational Knowledge: Patterns of Convergence and Divergence

Authors

R. Baskerville, Departement of Computer Information Systems, Georgia State UniversityFollow
S. Pawlowski, Department of Inforlation Systems and Decision Science, Louisiana State UniversityFollow
E. McLean, Departement of Computer Information Systems, Georgia State UniversityFollow

Abstract

This paper reports on a qualitative research study to investigate how enterprise resource planning systems impact organizational knowledge. Cognitive mapping methodology was used to capture and analyze the perspectives of senior managers from the IT and user organizations of a major corporation. The results indicate that ERP systems produce effects that make business knowledge become more focused or "convergent" from the perspective of the organization and more wide-ranging or "divergent" from the perspective of the individual. Other important effects include changes to the organization's core competencies and changes in the risk profile regarding the loss of organizational knowledge. The research contributes to the knowledge-based view of enterprise systems.

Recommended Citation

Baskerville, R.; Pawlowski, S.; and McLean, E. (2006) "Enterprise Resource Planning and Organizational Knowledge: Patterns of Convergence and Divergence," Systèmes d'Information et Management: Vol. 11: Iss. 4, Article 2.
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/sim/vol11/iss4/2