Factors Constraining the Exploitation of Enterprise Systems: a Research Program

An ERP implementation is a significant intervention in organisational life. As such, it affects and is affected by many variables including the organisation\u27s culture, decision-making strategies, risk taking orientation, leadership strategies and perceptions of the value of Information Technology. ERP implementations are fundamentally agents for organisational change, and such change requires effective leadership practices, beyond the focus of personal qualities and technical skills. ERP benefit lies in achieving business performance improvement and this requires effort for process redesign. Any such process change involves risk and the organisation\u27s orientation to risk in terms of adoption or failure avoidance may be a critical variable in an ERP success and exploitation. In addition, the adoption of a large alien system replacing homegrown systems is a significant change to the enshrined organisational practices and sense of ownership. This paper reviews constructs associated with cultural change and systems implementation. It proposes a research program that seeks to develop appropriate models that assist organisations in exploiting their Enterprise Systems Investments

The Use of Gowin\u27s Vee to Improve Post-Graduate Critical Analysis of Research Papers

Teaching critical reviewing of\u27 research papers to budding post-graduate students is a difficult process.A method that focuses on the match of the theoretical and methodological components of well constructed research is invaluable in assisting students in a structured review of research papers. Gowin\u27s Vee heuristic is such a method. This paper reports on the use of Gowin\u27s Vee to post-graduate students of Information Technology in critiquing research papers and formulating their own research project. Preliminary results show an increased appreciation by students of critical elements of a well formulated pape

Perceptions of Ideal Leadership held by IT Executives, Business Executives and IT Managers

Leadership of the IT unit appears to be a critical success factor in strategic planning and implementation of technology by organisations. One moderator of successful leadership seems to be the perception of leadership held by the senior business executives. This study evaluated the perceptions of ideal leadership held by the deputy CEO, his first line reports, the CIO and his first line reports and to key IT and business unit managers. This paper shows that the perceptions of ideal leadership held by the organisation exceed those behaviours observed in practice. It shows that though the same model of leadership is held by these communities, the IT executive has higher expectations of leadership behaviour than the Business Executive does

Organisational Readiness for ERP Implementation

An ERP implementation is a significant intervention in organisational life. As such, it affects and is affected by many variables including the organisation\u27s culture, decision-making strategies, risk taking orientation, leadership strategies and perceptions of the value of Information Technology. For organisations to achieve business benefit in their ERP implementation, the implementation must be short, raise appropriate issues for business to make decisions on, and effectively implement those decisions.. This paper describes the research program being undertaken to identify the variables that inhibit an ERP implementation

Developing an engaging IT Degree

Curriculum renewal is a constant activity in Information Technology (IT), Information Systems (IS), Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Computer Science (CS). Guiding documents from curriculum authorities such as AIS, IEEE and ACM assist in this process, as do those from professional societies, but these are often out of date when the institution seeks to refresh its approaches to learning, and position its graduates for emerging roles and technologies. This paper describes and discusses a curriculum renewal project undertaken in response to changing government requirements,student interests and the adoption of a learner-centric, active learning paradigm utilizing new physical collaborative learning facilities. This paper presents the stimulus for change, describes the use of reference resources and discusses the resulting degree structure, its majors and learning approaches

Variations in Perceptions of Leadership Held by IT Executives: A Qualitative Analysis

Leadership of the IT unit appears to be a critical success factor in strategic planning and implementation of technology by organisations. One moderator of successful leadership seems to be the perception of leadership held by the senior business executives. This work is part of a research project designed to bring the perceptions and practice of leadership into alignment with corporate expectations and needs. . The paper reports on a study in which a semi-structured interview was conducted in a large public service agency to the CEO, his first line reports, the CIO and his first line reports and to key IT managers. A total of 26 interviews were conducted. The results of the interview are analysed using phenomenographical techniques to determine the variation in the variation of perception of leadership between the business executive and the IT executive communities