Power Interactions in Enterprise System Assimilation

The assimilation of enterprise systems has extensive influence on power interactions within organizations. Previousassimilation research has typically focused on organizational-level assimilation processes, and the impact of individualcharacteristics, including personal power, has been overlooked. Social network analysis provides a useful way to empiricallyexamine the changes to personal power during the acceptance, routinization, and infusion stages of the organizationalassimilation processes. Enterprise system assimilation involves the empowerment of a firm’s employees to utilize thetechnical capabilities of the system, and the employees’ extensive business knowledge, to make effective strategic decisions.Nevertheless, power is multidimensional and the relative prominences of the idiosyncratic bases of power in organizationalinteractions vary asymmetrically in response to system assimilation. A longitudinal examination of the stages of assimilationusing a valued network approach to study the power interactions of individuals within an organization can provide a valuablenew perspective inside the assimilation process

Conservation, Creation, and Evolution: Revising the Darwinian Project

There is hardly anything more central to our universe than conservation. Many scientific fields and disciplines view the law of conservation as one of the most fundamental universal laws. The Darwinian model pivots the process of evolution on variability, reproduction, and natural selection. Conservation plays a marginal role in this model and is not really universal, as the model allows exceptions to conservation, i.e. non-conservation, to play an equally important role in evolution. This anomalous role of conservation in the Darwinian model raises questions: What is the reason for this anomaly? Is conservation really universal, as we tend to believe or is it not, as the Darwinian model suggests? This contribution proposes a new model of evolution that focuses on levels of organization, rather than of species, organisms, or populations. It argues that conservation is central to evolution. Not only does this new model restores the universal status of conservation but it also makes possible to resolve some outstanding problems and controversies that continue to plague the Darwinian model. The article tries to advance the broad Darwinian project that seeks to explain the process of evolution as a product of the spontaneous processes in nature

CHALLENGES AND STAKES OF THE POST-ACQUISITION INTEGRATION PROCESS

Over the last few decades mergers and the acquisitions, both the international and thenational ones, have become strategic instruments of growth and development of enterprises. A sensibleaspect regarding the merger or the acquisition operations is that of integrating the entities had in view.Because it is considered that the high rate of the failure of the operations is due to unsuccessfulintegration of the entities, we have decided to identify the challenges occurring in this phase and thefactors influencing mostly the integration process. Our research tackles aspects regarding thechallenges resulting from a merger or acquisition operation, within the integration phase of the entitiesinvolved. Thus, we analysed the importance of the human and cultural factors and the challengesresulting from this integration process, for we consider that these factors have a strong impact on thepost-acquisition performance and they can ensure the success of the integration. We found that theacquiring firms are affected by changes during the integration process, by retaining the importantresources, the transfer of resources from or to the acquired firms and by eliminating the redundantresources. Yet, in the integration phase, the problems may occur due to human factors, culturalincompatibility and an inappropriate management of the integration process.mergers and acquisitions, post-acquisition integration, organizational culture, human capital

The small scale syndrome : career perspectives of Maltese and Gozitan secondary school students

The ‘Small Scale Syndrome’ is a model meant to conceptualise the experiences of Monopoly, Intimacy, Totality and Emigration by the inhabitants of small, often island, states and territories. This study uses the Small Scale Syndrome as a tool to investigate the career perspectives of students living in the archipelago of Malta, the smallest country in the European Union. Data was gathered through 321 questionnaires answered by students attending two state secondary schools, one on the island of Gozo and another one on the island of Malta. Results highlight the higher level of awareness of Monopoly of students living in Gozo when compared to their peers living in Malta. The study captures the higher assimilation of Intimacy/ Totality of students with only Maltese citizenship when compared to those with dual or foreign citizenship. Besides, this study also points out the greater inclination towards Emigration of students with dual or foreign citizenship when compared to their peers with only Maltese citizenship. The Small Scale Syndrome appears to be more strongly related to citizenship than to whether one resides in Malta or in Gozo, indicating that it might be affected by the level of social integration of the students under consideration. The study also suggests that the root causes of Monopoly may differ from those of Intimacy/ Totality and Emigration.peer-reviewe

Entrepreneurship: economic and social embedding of the production of futures

Entrepreneurship, the practice of creating new economic enterprises through innovation that are sustained by economic performance, is, theoretically, an individualistic account of socio-economic change. If new enterprises and new economies are created by entrepreneurship then to what extent does this activity harbour prescience and to what extent does its creative destruction carry moral responsibility? Although entrepreneurship is socially constructed as an individualistic account of the production of new patterns of organisation, theories of entrepreneurship span a number of ontologies, i.e. individual motives, new firm formation, socially beneficial activity, the production of networks and multi-organisational forms, and even of micro economies. The paper discusses the conception entrepreneurship as a set of socially constructed processes which together produce futures at multiple ontological levels, and seeks to identify relationships between this body of knowledge and anticipating, creating and 'minding' futures

IMPLEMENTATION KNOWLEDGE AND THE ASSIMILATION OF ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Based on the organizational learning perspective, we present an empirical model to explain the assimilation of complex enterprise systems. We conceptualize systems implementation capability of organizations in terms of two types of knowledge – artifactual knowledge and inter-unit coordination knowledge. We propose that these knowledge dimensions are directly related to the degree of assimilation of enterprise systems. Further, considering that assimilation of IT innovations is steeped in the institutional environment, we also consider the moderating effects of mimetic and normative institutional pressures on the relationship between implementation knowledge and the degree of assimilation. Analysis of survey responses from ERP implementations in seventy-seven organizations reveals support for our main hypotheses that both the implementation knowledge dimensions directly affect assimilation. We also confirm that while mimetic institutional pressures positively moderate the impact of ERP-specific artifactual knowledge on assimilation, normative influences positively moderate the effect of ERP-specific coordination knowledge on assimilation. However, surprisingly mimetic pressures negatively moderate the impact of ERP-specific coordination knowledge on assimilation. The negative moderation suggests that organizations with greater interunit coordination knowledge are more ‘mindful’ towards ERP assimilation and therefore mimetic pressures play a lesser role in affecting assimilation levels. Our findings offer interesting implications for theory and practice

A holistic approach for ameliorating the effect of ‘valley of death’ in technology assimilation

Technology assimilation is an increasingly important topic in modern manufacturing industries. Successful technology assimilation not only supports the development of better products, but also can provide a competitive edge in fast-moving markets, such as the automotive industry. Technology assimilation is a complex process, with a high failure rate, with technologies that seem promising in the research phase, failing to be assimilated into the final product. This high failure rate for technology assimilation is costly, in both time and other resources, and so has resulted in the effect of the Valley of Death . Tools and methods for technology assessment are essential enablers of successful product development, a process that requires collaboration from both engineering and business professionals to be successful.This thesis presents research that was aimed at ameliorating the Valley of Death effect during technology assimilation, particularly in the environment of the automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The research was undertaken in close collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover Limited. Such collaboration provided first-hand information and direct engagement that supported and enabled this research.A review of the relevant theoretical concepts and the process of technology assimilation was undertaken, with a focus on the tools and methods that have been applied. The literature review resulted in an identification of the gaps and challenges among current technology assimilation approaches. This work also resulted in a conceptual model being developed to represent three different viewpoints that it is argued are essential to understand for successful technology assimilation, namely: Natural Technological Viewpoint, Social Technological Viewpoint and Human Technological Viewpoint. These three viewpoints were then further elaborated in a Hexahedron Model of Technology, alongside consideration of technology assimilation complexity, capability of technology and the contribution of a potential technology, allowing six different perspectives to be considered during the process of assessing if a specific technology is suitable for assimilation into a complex product.In this thesis, the Hexahedron Model of Technology, as the name suggests, allows consideration of six different facets for successful technology assimilation, and can be further elaborated to include more aspects of technology based on the future work. This model can also support an enterprise to understand how to develop the technology in a direction that might increase the likelihood of successful assimilation.The approach to technology assimilation presented in the thesis first sets out a Technology Assessment Framework and methods for populating and applying it. The Hexahedron Model of Technology provides a structural platform for assessing the subjective factors that need to be considered during technology assimilation in a structured way. This process helps to reduce the number of technologies that are considered for assimilation; by pre-eliminating some relatively weak technologies and taking forward only those more likely to succeed. A Technology Refinement and Modification Algorithm was then developed that provides suggestions, at a high-level, for the direction for technology improvement to help make the technology better match the requirements. This algorithm hence helps to further increase the chances of successful technology assimilation.The Technology Assessment Framework and Technology Refinement and Modification Algorithm were applied to two case studies. One of these cases was conducted to demonstrate the process of the proposed approach whereas the other one was part of a real-world project in collaboration with the Jaguar Land Rover Limited. Overall, this research demonstrates a two-step holistic approach to technology assimilation that first reduces the number of technologies considered for assimilation and then establishes the direction for development of new technology to improve the likelihood of successful technology assimilation.</div

An Institutionalisation View of the ERP in Large Organisations

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a highly complex information system. Contemporary information systems research on ERP technology focuses on factors influencing success of its organizational adoption. However, adoption is largely discussed in terms of technology implementation rather than its assimilation within the organization. ERP implementation, however, is not a one off endorsement of technology; instead its implementation is a continuous process of technology assimilation aimed at organisational evolution with and within the technical, organisational, and cultural context of the organisation. This process of institutionalisation maintains legitimacy, power, and social and economic fitness of the organisation on an on-going basis. This paper investigates ERP implementation challenges through various stages of ERP assimilation process considering institutional pressures, institutional change, and other technology implementation/ assimilation theories. It draws out a framework to guide ERP institutionalisation research in large organisations in Australia

Institutionalisation of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems: An Integrative Framework

The importance of studying institutional view and theories in the context of contemporary business organisations have been emphasized by many researchers. However, the literature overlooked the institutional elements which are influencing technology implementation in organisations. This study aims to investigate the issues posed to ERP implementation through the lens of technology institutionalisation perspective by considering institutional theory, institutional pressures, and other organisational and technological factors. This research in progress paper describes the research framework for ERP institutionalisation that provides an integrative view of how ERP is implemented, assimilated, and institutionalised within the organisations. This framework brings together the effects of various well-defined IS theories into a unified and integrated structure. Moreover, this paper looks at a broad sample of current IS literature on ERP systems’ successes and failures over various stages of institutionalisation process. Based on the results of literature analysis, tackling an ERP institutionalisation, for any organisation, requires some introspection and true assessment of priorities, objectives and external business environment of the organisation