Managing Change through the Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning in a Global Industrial Organisation

Abstract: Abstract   Change is an alteration from one state of being to another, brought by individuals or organisations as a result of different types of internal or external forces. The change phenomenon, when discussed in context of the organisation, is referred to as organisational change. Organisational change is all about restructuring and re-engineering business processes so as to assist organisations in the growth and development process. This research paper aims to gain further insight and knowledge about change and the change management process. The research paper focuses on understanding the concept of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and its impact on organisations. The study also focuses on gaining insight in the change that is introduced when the ERP project is initiated in an organisation. Various change and change management models are explained and studied. Moreover, the case study method of research design was followed for further research and knowledge, and the empirical survey was conductedwithin the company of Siemens. The empirical survey was conducted with 20 respondents, and the results indicate that it is very important for a global industrial organisation to successfully implement the ERP system so as to survive and sustain in the global competitive environment. To achieve successful ERP implementation, the organisation must clearly understand the need for change and its implications. Changes need to be properly communicated to all affected employees of the organisation. In order to have successful implementation, it is important that employees do not fear and resist the change process. Proper support and training from the management need to be provided to the employees to increase their motivation for change. In conclusion, it was identified that in order to reach a successful outcome, an efficient change management process needs to be followed. To support this, a change management model was proposed with the intention of helping the organisation to successfully manage change during implementation of the ERP system.