Utilization of Enterprise Resource Planning Tools by Small to Medium Size Construction Organizations: A Decision-making Model

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) utilization in the Construction Industry has been limited to a few large organizations. Significant segments of the industry are either not aware of or have not been able to adopt this new technology successfully. The largest groups of construction organizations that either have failed in their efforts to adopt this technology, or are not familiar with it are the Small to Mid Size Construction Organizations (SMSCO). Failure in or refusing to adopt ERP by this group, despite all its potential benefits, was the problem that was addressed in this research. This research sets out not only to formulate the reason(s) why SMSCO fail to utilize ERP systems, but also to propose a decision-making model which could be utilized when they decide to adopt an ERP system. After a careful review of existing technology models, a new ERP Adoption Model (EAM) is formulated and projected. This model adopted a new paradigm shift proposed by Bagozzi (2007) and incorporated it's a new decision making core. Prohibitive criteria that are at play and prevent SMSCO members from successfully adopting and implementing ERP systems were redefined as prohibitive/self-regulation criteria and introduced into the model. Utilizing the results obtained from a field questionnaire distributed among industry experts, these criteria were analyzed and ranked in order to increase the understanding of their impact on EAM's processes. A case study to verify EAM in general and impact of prohibitive/self-regulation criteria was conducted. Ultimately EAM, incorporating the study's findings associated with prohibitive/self-regulation criteria was finalized and proposed to be utilized by SMSCO in order to increase the chances of successful implementation of ERP system. The results of this study provides SMSCO members that are currently not utilizing ERP systems, but are contemplating its use, with a decision making tool. ERP Adoption Model (EAM) provides a road map that could be utilized as a decision making tool by SMSCO

Organizational governance to integrate sustainability projects: a case study

Sustainable development represents a major challenge of the 21st century. Organizations use projects to implement strategic corporate objectives, exploring sustainable development from a project management perspective is imperative. While current project management techniques are well defined in terms of content and process to manage the budget-scope-time constraint, availability of organization resources and ability to adopt project governance strategies in a changing business environment, like incorporating sustainability in business process is ambiguous, literature has not explored how to cope with a normative situation like sustainability. We consider Small-to-Mid-Size-Construction-Organizations (SMSCOs), which makes up the largest portion of the project-based industry and are most impacted by new government regulations, as our population of interest. This paper addresses two primary objectives in relation to organizational resources available for SMSCOs: to identify an organization's shortcomings in undertaking a sustainable project, and to identify means for improving organizational readiness to cope with governance of sustainable projects. A case study with a SMSCO to understand activities, resource availability, and how to improve organization readiness to undertake projects related to sustainability is discussed. A conceptual framework is presented for the adoptive project governance process to ensure resource constrained organizations like SMSCO's can align better to govern such projects. First published online: 28 Jan 201

A decision-making model for adoption of enterprise resource planning tools by small-to-medium size construction organizations / Sprendimų Priėmimo Modelis, Taikomas Įmonės išteklių planavimo priemonėms parinkti mažose ir vidutinėse statybos organizacijose

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) utilization in the construction industry has been limited to large organizations. Significant numbers of construction organizations that have either failed in their efforts to adopt this technology or are not familiar with it are the Small-to Mid-Size Construction Organizations (SMSCOs). Failure in or refusal to adopt ERP by this group, despite all its potential benefits, was the problem addressed in this research. We propose a decision-making model which organizations could utilize to adopt Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. After a careful review of existing technology models, a new ERP Adoption Model (EAM) has been formulated and projected. This model has incorporated new elements that have been set as its new decision-making core. Furthermore, weidentified and ranked the prohibitive criteria that were at play and prevented SMSCO members from successfully adopting and implementing ERP systems in order to increase the understanding of their impact on EAM's processes. Finally, weconducted a case study to analyze the decision-making process of EAM implementation by SMSCOs. ERP AdoptionModel (EAM) provides a decision-making tool that construction organizations can use as a road map. Santrauka Įmonės ištekliai buvo planuojami tik didelėse statybos organizacijose. Daugelis statybos organizacijų, kurios arba nesugebėjo pritaikyti šios technologijos, arba nėra susipažinusios su ja, yra mažos ir vidutinio dydžio statybos organizacijos. Ne-sugebėjimas pritaikyti arba atsisakymas naudoti įmonės išteklių planavimą nepaisant visų jo pranašumų – problema, kuri ir sprendžiama šiame tyrime. Siūlomas sprendimų priėmimo modelis, kurį organizacijos galėtų taikyti įmonės išteklių planavimo sistemoms pasirinkti. Naujas įmonės išteklių planavimo pasirinkimo modelis buvo suformuluotas ir parengtas, prieš tai nuodugniai išanalizavus esamus modelius. Į šį modelį buvo įtraukta naujų elementų, kurie ir sudarė naujo sprendimų priėmimo modelio esmę. Be to, identifikuoti ir nustatyti prioritetai tų kriterijų, kurie trukdė mažoms ir vidutinio dydžio statybos organizacijoms sėkmingai taikyti ir įgyvendinti įmonės išteklių planavimo sistemas, siekdami pagerinti šių kriterijų poveikio įmonės išteklių planavimo procesams supratimą. Galiausiai atliktas tyrimas, kurio tikslas – išanalizuoti įmonės išteklių planavimo sprendimų priėmimo procesą mažose ir vidutinio dydžio statybos organizacijose. Įmonės išteklių planavimo pasirinkimo modelis yra sprendimų priėmimo priemonė, kurią statybos organizacijos gali naudoti tarsi kelių žemėlapį. Reikšminiai žodžiai: įmonių išteklių planavimas, statybos informacinės technologijos, sprendimų priėmimo modelis, maža ir vidutinio dydžio statybos organizacij