PhD Defence: Ann-Kristin Elstad
On Thursday 12 June 2014 Ann-Kristin Elstad will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend her thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.
04.06.2014 - Ed.
Organisational change that includes implementing enterprise systems is one of the most difficult tasks managers meet in their work, and a majority of these projects are characterised as failures.
One condition for exploiting the enterprise system's potential to increase effectiveness of the work processes is that the employees start to use the system as intended.
In spite of the comprehensive research on implementing enterprise systems, few studies emphasise the explicit relationship between the managers and the employees.
Since 2008, Ann-Kristin Elstad has followed the implementation of an enterprise system in four units in one Norwegian organisation. She has in particular studied how the managers' handling of the employees during the implementation affected the employees' use of the enterprise system.
The results showed that the system was used as intended in two of the units; one corporate unit and one business unit. In the two other units, the enterprise system was used to a small degree.
In the literature, the significance of the top management for successful implementation of the enterprise system is emphasised. Elstad' s study shows that the middle managers also played an important role during the implementation; an aspect that is generally ignored in previous research.
In the units that used the enterprise system as intended, the middle managers had ordered their employees to start using the system. They had loyally followed up the strategic decision regarding the change.
Another main finding is the importance of top- and middle managers' effective communication with each other and their employees.
Effective communication means that the top managers have to explain the need for organisational change to each of the units by using context-specific examples of existing problems within the unit.
In the two units that used the system as intended, the middle managers had repeated the need for change and emphasised benefits of the enterprise system in their daily communication with their employees.
The study also reveals that user involvement, context-specific training, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were critical factors when implementing an enterprise system.
Prescribed topic for the trial lecture:
Discuss what we know - and do not know - about successful implementation of enterprise systems. Identify gaps in our present knowledge and discuss theoretical and methodological challenges of filling these gaps.
Time of the trial lecture:
11:15 in Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Centre, NHH
Time and place for the Defence:
13:15 in Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Centre, NHH
Title of the thesis:
Critical Success Factors When Implementing An Enterprise System - An Employee Perspective.
Members of the Evaluation Committee:
Chair: Professor Bjarne Espedal, NHH Norwegian School of Economics
Professor Martin Lindell, Hanken School of Economics
Associate Professor Eli Hustad, University of Agder
Supervising Committee:
Professor Anna Mette Fuglseth, Principal Supervisor, NHH Norwegian School of Economics
Professor Øystein Sørebø, School of Business Administration and Social Sciences, Buskerud and Vestfold University College
The trial lecture and thesis Defence will be open to the public. Copies of the thesis will be available from: bib@nhh.no
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