Project Team Composition Research Articles

Examining ERP implementation success from a project environment perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify factors that are crucial for the successful implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Although there are many factors that influence the success, this study focuses on factors related to the ERP project environment, namely, project management, team composition and competence, and business process reengineering.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted using a survey questionnaire distributed to ERP users in Iranian organizations. In total, 384 responses were collected and analyzed.FindingsA significant relationship was found between project management and team composition with ERP implementation success. The better the project management activities the more likely the implementation will be successful. Likewise, the possibility of successful implementation is higher when the ERP team is more coordinated and experienced.Practical implicationsERP adopting organizations and managers could gain an understanding of the complexities inherent in ERP installations to avoid barriers and increase the likelihood of achieving desired results. The outcomes of this study are also useful to ERP vendors and consultants to prepare some strategies to overcome the misfit between their ERP products and ERP adopting organizations in developing countries.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few that examine the success of ERP implementation from the perspective of key stakeholders (operational/unit/functional managers). It has contributed to academic research by producing empirical evidence to support the theories of critical success factors and ERP implementation success. The findings may be useful to ERP vendors and other organizations in other countries, as they could be used as a guideline for future ERP adoption and implementation.

MULTI-FACTOR ENTERPRISE METHODOLOGY: AN APPROACH TO ERP IMPLEMENTATION

As further investigation on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investment especially in Indonesia showed that a larger capital of investment does not automatically bring more benefit for the company, for example Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation. The present research was aimed at developing a methodology for ERP Implementation which was fundamental problem for achieving a successful implementation. This methodology will be contained some factors that influenced ERP implementation success (technical or non-technical) as an activity each phase. Because, some of methodologies that common used by consultant more concentrating on technical factors without considering non-technical factors. Non-technical factors were involved in the new proposed of ERP implementation methodology, such as: top management commitment, support, and capability; project team composition, leadership, and skill; organizational culture; internal/external communication; organization maturity level; etc. The conclusion of the study was expected to be useful for private or public sectors when implementing ERP in order to gain optimal return value from their investment.

Reasons for management control systems adoption: Insights from product development systems choice by early-stage entrepreneurial companies

Recent theoretical and empirical work indicates that management control systems (MCS) are an important element in enhancing innovation. We extend this research thrust examining the adoption of MCS in product development, arguably one of the business processes where innovation plays a major role. Using a sample of 69 early-stage entrepreneurial companies, data are collected from questionnaires and interviews with each of the CEO, financial officer, and business development managers pertaining to product development MCS. We examine seven different systems: project milestones, reports comparing actual progress to plan, budget for development projects, project selection process, product portfolio roadmap, product concept testing process, and project team composition guidelines. We address three distinct questions: (1) What are the reasons-for-adoption of these systems? The nature of our sample allows us to trace back to the adoption point and develop a set of reasons-for-adoption from the analysis of the data. While MCS fulfill certain roles as described in the literature, these reasons-for-adoption are distinct from these roles. Results indicate that certain events lead managers to adopt these systems and address the challenges that they face. They include contracting and legitimizing the process with external parties and internal reasons-for-adoption such as managers’ background, learning by doing, need to focus the organization, or reaction to problems. (2) Are these reasons-for-adoption associated with differences across companies in the time from their founding date until these systems are adopted (time-to-adoption)? Prior research has looked at the covariance of various organizational variables with this timing; this study goes a step further by looking at the effect of different reasons-for-adoption on this timing. Our evidence finds an association between these two variables. (3) Are these reasons-for-adoption relevant to performance? We find that the reason-for-adoption is associated with the on-time dimension of product development performance.

Managing the Implementation of Business Intelligence Systems

The implementation of a BI system is a complex undertaking requiring considerable resources. Yet there is a limited authoritative set of CSFs for management reference. This article represents a first step of filling in the research gap. The authors utilized the Delphi method to conduct three rounds of studies with 15 BI system experts in the domain of engineering asset management organizations. The study develops a CSFs framework that consists of seven factors and associated contextual elements crucial for BI systems implementation. The CSFs are committed management support and sponsorship, business user-oriented change management, clear business vision and well-established case, business-driven methodology and project management, business-centric championship and balanced project team composition, strategic and extensible technical framework, and sustainable data quality and governance framework. This CSFs framework allows BI stakeholders to holistically understand the critical factors that influence implementation success of BI systems.

Managing team entrees and withdrawals during the project life cycle

A well-known PM axiom is that the composition of project teams must reflect the needs of the projects. Such needs typically change over the course of the project. Moreover, project members may enter or withdraw from projects due to ‘natural’ causes. Projects thus undergo shifts in terms of the composition of teams during the project life cycle. This paper focuses on managerial challenges related to the complexity and multitude of entry into – and withdrawal from projects on the basis of a single case study. This case study and a literature study are employed to identify issues and, henceforward, managerial tasks that project managers ought to be especially aware of. Drawing on these managerial tasks, we advocate that the project manager ought to handle transitions in the composition of the project team. Furthermore, we suggest that (s)he introduces rites marking such transitions. Finally, we advocate the appointment of a formal mentor to assist new team members in becoming acquainted with the project.

New product development benchmarks: The Japanese, North American, and UK consumer electronics industries

This paper presents the results of a study into new product development (NPD) in the high-end audio industry in Japan, North America, and the UK. A total of 38 companies were visited and interviewed, and detailed benchmarks of product development performance and practice were obtained from 21 companies and 31 NPD projects. Performance was gauged by several measures including lead times, cost and schedule adherence, internal and external quality, and product profitability. The organization of the development process was assessed through measures of project team composition, linkages between key constituencies of the development process (e.g., development, manufacturing, and suppliers), and processes of information capture and exchange. UK projects were generally executed more quickly than those in Japan and North America, but displayed a higher incidence of postlaunch problems. Japanese lead times were the longest, and Japanese companies performed relatively poorly on measures of development productivity. However, their manufacturing performance was vastly superior to that of Western companies. The paper concludes that organizational and national context significantly shapes NPD practice and that this is reflected in patterns of product development performance.

The relationship between project leadership, team composition and construction project performance in Nigeria

The study was on the effect of project leadership and team composition on construction project performance in Nigeria. A total of 60 questionnaires drawn from project team leaders comprising 12 each from architecture, building, civil engineering, estate surveying, and quantity surveying were collected and used for the study. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson product–moment correlation. The tests of the hypotheses led to the conclusion that there was significant relationship between the project leader's professional qualification, his leadership style, team composition and overall project performance. No significant relationship was found between the project leader's profession and overall project performance.