Pearl Group of India - Case Study Example

TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Task 2 Company Background 2 Project Scope 3 Project Requirements 4 Introduction to ERP 5 Task 2 7 Need for Change Management 7 Strategies 7 Resistance 8 Change Management 8 Changing Organizational Culture 9 Task 3 11 Implementation of ERP 11 The Proven Path 11 Phases of Implementation 12 Barriers to Implementation 13 Task 4 15 Key Issues for System Development 15 Finding Cost of Production 17 Management Information System (MIS) 18 CONCLUSIONS 19 Technology for Individual Goals and Objectives 21 References 23 Task 1 Company Background Pearl Group of India is a leading Apparel Export House with several manufacturing units and a large number of worldwide clients. They manufacture High Fashion Ladies Dresses as well as clothes for daily wear. They have to constantly be innovative in product designs as fashion is an ever changing and evolutionary market. This means change is constant and has to be efficiently organized to produce optimum results. The company is facing several problems both in production as well as in human resource sections. Cost of production keeps increasing and productivity keeps falling and consequently the company is loosing its competitive edge. In the situation where world markets are contracting due to recession the company needs to rectify the situation immediately or it is like to suffer irreversible losses. The company has ample resources but the Board of Directors is convinced that some of its resources need to be reviewed for efficiency and results. To achieve such Functional capability and efficiency, the Board mandated the management to organize all its operations that were spread over a wide geographical area. They were given a time frame of twelve months to complete this exercise. Project Scope The management had at its disposal the following resources to get organized with. Physical Assets – Plant & Machinery – Production facilities Finances – Working Capital Human Resources – Supervisory, Skilled and Semi-Skilled labor Knowledge – Good knowledge of Product requirement and Production Process Technology – Several small software packages for different departments. On examination of resources the management discovered that the efficiency quotient was low due to following factors. There was lack of co-ordination due to the geographical spread There was always a delay in receipt of vital information. Decisions were either deferred or taken on assumptions in absence of facts Production could not be planned properly and either there was idle capacity or overbooking of orders This effected delivery schedules and caused customer resentment. Quotations were way off mark at times due to absence of actual per man-machine costing Human Resources were dissatisfied as there was no incentive to improve. Attrition was high and recruitment cost was exorbitant. In this scenario the management asked of themselves the following questions: • Mission: What are we trying to accomplish? • Competition: How do we gain a competitive edge? • Performance: How do we deliver results? • Change: How do we cope with change? Project Requirements It is understood that the way to achieving efficiencies lies in Technology up-gradation. This was the most important, yet the weakest of all resources they have. To overcome this issue it was agreed that the best option was to have an integrated ERP solution and to discard the several smaller software packages. This would result in seamless flow of data from point to point and instant information will be possible. This would form the backbone of efficient organization. The ERP would provide the required system that was missing and would bring back resilience and efficiency in the organization. Most losses occur due to bad decisions that rely on inaccurate data or on assumptions only; therefore the biggest benefit of an ERP is who ever receives a meaningful report is able to take informed decision and thus ensure increase in productivity and profits. Use of computers has become universal and small packages have been developed to Inventory Management system. These are very versatile and give good and fast results and perform well when used in smaller organizations. When large organizations use them they are found short of requirements on several counts. First they are isolated systems and cannot transfer their data or results to another system that may need it. For instance the finance package will handle payments of purchases but it cannot do so unless it receives information from the inventory management package on the details of materials received, rejected, replaced and debit/credit advices. Similarly the finance module will record payments and receipts on account of advances, dues, debit/credit advices, taxation etc. Such interdependencies require data transfers which are possible only under an ERP solution as it is an integrated package where the design of the data base is such that the software recognizes what data is required at what number of places and makes it available accordingly. Introduction to ERP All manufacturing companies generate enormous data and need to know their inventory, production, rejects and wastages and cost of production. This means that they need to combine data from purchase, finance and human resources. The result of this combination will show returns or profits but that needs data from marketing and customer relationship management as well. The company therefore needs to gather, analyze, report and distribute all of this data in a structured manner so that the recipients get only that data which has meaning for them. This data should not only fulfill the above requirements, but should be able to be used as show trends and needs of the future. Such a huge data management system is what Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) all about. Gupta (2000) describes it as the emerging value based system for organizations. Today business functions in a collaborative environment (Horvath 2001); hence a further use of the ERP is that it not only encircles the entire data of the company but also receives and sends relevant data to its partners across the whole supply chain. This is how production planning becomes streamlined, inventories are kept at minimum, costs are reduced, finances are better utilized, downtime is eliminated, wastages are reduced and rejects controlled through quality examination at the shop floor level itself so that they do not get shipped at all. This will result in better service to customers, reducing returns and creating confidence and goodwill. The essence of the ERP is that it is an enabling tool for making decisions. It has been called a decision making process by Kumar et al (2002) and this captures the nucleus of the system. Once this is understood, the next stage, that of implementation will become clear to all concerned whether internally as in the case of employees or externally as in the case of suppliers and is likely to offer benefits beyond expectations (Scott and Vessey 2000). However introducing ERP in an organization means bringing about a great change not just in operations but in attitudes as well. This needs careful planning and collaboration across all sections and departments to make this a successful effort. Task 2 Need for Change Management Adoption of new work processes brings about a huge change in the organization and has to be carefully managed. Installing and Implementing and ERP system will certainly change the entire working practices and will affect every individual and department. A change of this magnitude requires three kinds of strategies to mange successful change. They can be categorized as Organizational Strategies, Technical Strategies and People Strategies. Strategies Organizational strategy covers the area of developing a change strategy and its deployment, change management techniques, project management, changing organizational structures as well as resources, modifying managerial style and thinking, bringing about co-ordination and emphasizing on Information Technologies (Al-Mashari and Zairi 2000). Technical strategies will comprise of Installation of the ERP, understanding and explaining of the complexities, arranging in-house technical capability besides managing the time and cost of this exercise (Russo et al., 1999, Sarker and Sarker, 2000). People strategies would mean training of staff including management of their attitudes and behavior (Gable and Stewart 1999). Resistance It also appears that there was resistance towards the ERP as it was perceived to be a risk by users as they felt it would eventually displace them or at least reduce their importance in the organization. They were also used to their style of functioning and they considered it to be superior over the ERP system. The two biggest causes of failure are the spreading of rumors or circulation of wrong information. Mostly the sources of these are the outsiders and are a result of communication failure on part of the management. This has been highlighted by Larry Smeltzer (1991) who goes on to say that the worst kind of communication is a lean one which uses a memo as the means of conveying instruction or information. This is too cold and impersonal. They emphasize the importance of face-to-face meetings, the personal touch being vital and convincing. Change Management Strategies are required for survival or improvement of organizations. Strategies are made by leaders who have a vision and a mission to accomplish. For achieving this they need to change the organization’s focus to the future that is more profitable, productive and provides a better quality of life to its stakeholders. All this points towards, and calls for, changes. But the forces of change are beyond managements control and cause a significant shock provoking the organization to adjust internal processes and systems. These changes are met with resistance through clash with the existing culture of the organization that is under threat from these changes. The current beliefs, values and customs form the ingredients of culture. The first two are difficult to break but easier to mould. Changes should be introduced in an adaptive mode to work through existing cultures. This calls for major shifts in the organization’s culture and change management is the prescribed for implementing this change effort. This is what Human Resource Management experts wish for but it is beset with the huge problems. Changing Organizational Culture According to Nelson and Winter (1982) routine interactions within the working environment forms the basis of organizational culture and a predictive pattern emerges. Deal and Kennedy (1982) describe it as “the way we do things here”. The importance of this routine is gaining importance as has been acknowledged by Cohen et al (1972) and Hedberg et al (1976. Ritual activities form another view of practices as shown by Trice and Beyer (1984,1985). Training, assessments and promotions resulting in awards and recognition are other practices. The culture of the organization has been defined by Edgar Schein (1985) and acknowledged at three levels of cultural phenomenon: basic assumptions, values, and artifacts. Basic assumptions are the conditions taken for granted in an organization and considered to be the "correct" way of doing things. These are the foundations and are the deepest level of culture and are the most difficult to change. At the next level are values and these are perceived to be changeable and also that need to be changed. The artifacts are behavioral usages at the front like rules, procedures, communications and technology that are readily changed and indeed do not change values or traditions but are mere change of presentations or mannerisms. The most practical way to bring about any change is to work through the existing culture. This avoids vacuums that are created if one culture is to be replaced by another. This also provides smooth transition from one state to another in gradual and regulated fashion. After studies undertaken by Beer et al (1990) they concluded that if work is the focus of change then it will be successful. They suggest that instead of trying to change the culture, effort should be on changing the work. Hofstede (1990) clarifies this as change in work practices. They go on to state that organizational renewals should begin at the bottom for any change to be effective, and not with the top. Direction from top as diktat fails to change the basics. Instead they argue that their study reveals that outside consultants are more effective in bringing about the coordination, commitment and competencies in the staff and departments as compared to the organization’s own specialists. This has been corroborated by Bates (1990) who further states that actually focus on networking and relationships brings about successful change. The ingredients of change are coordination, commitment and competencies. Coordination is the key to improving the organization. Commitment is the key to concerted effort to achieve the vision that magnifies the desired improvement. Competencies are the skills that are required to bring about the change. Task 3 Implementation of ERP The success of an ERP and its eventual usefulness for the industry lies in its implementation. Al-Mashari (2003) points out the fact emphatically that successful implementation is the clue to the success of ERP as a solution. The most difficult aspect of implementation is its acceptance at the employee level. The resistance to an ERP is enormous. It is important to understand that the process of implementation requires the same meticulous planning as the development of the solution itself. Wight (2000) has suggested that the management should prepare a checklist of questions that it should ask itself and its employees and honestly enquire how far each of them is prepared to go along with the process. This means that all the issues need to be discussed threadbare with each section or department and it should be made clear to them that their concerns will be answered by the process. The Proven Path Wallace and Kremzar (1992) have outlined a Proven Path for the success of an ERP. The six steps they suggested are; education and training, vision and objectives, defining of new process and statement of requirements, system selection and contract negotiation, implementation planning and finally Implementation process. It can be observed that the path is vertical and each step is either a product of the previous one or a supportive act. This clearly demonstrates the various activities required at people, technological and process level, all of which need to be worked with for eventual successful deployment. The Proven Path is an easily understood guideline on how to approach and adopt the ERP with success. Wallace and Kremzar ( 2001) have further suggested that an ERP is not a software; rather it is a system that enables the people to work with hardware and software. In other words it is a replica of what people do in the normal course in a business; the difference being that they can now use both hardware and software to do the same work more efficiently and easily. Kapp et al (2001) state that implementation of an ERP is possible only when the following five viewpoints are understood. They are; first of all the ERP is a databank that contains huge and complete data of a company and its associates; secondly the central database is connected to a number of modules that define a specific type of activity; thirdly it consists of a manufacturing (or service) philosophy (process) and is not a software programme; fourthly it is a business process tool; and lastly it is a knowledge system that contains all knowledge about the running of the business it has been made for. Once this is understood by all stakeholders, implementation becomes possible as they can then see and accept its usefulness to them. Phases of Implementation Essentially the Implementation should be done with a plan that envisages the introduction of the ERP in either a phased manner; module by module; or a simultaneous manner by introducing all modules at a time. Those in favor of the first method argue that this allows for both adoption and adaptation in a systematic way and is an easy replacement of existing legacy system. This method ensures that there is no chaos. The drawback of the method is obvious as the company works in an integrated environment. If one module say inventory is adopted, it will fail to work optimally as data to and from it needs to go from purchasing and towards production planning. The seamless flow will not occur until all modules are adopted. This is one big reason of frustration and eventual failure. The simultaneous or the Big Bang method has its merits but requires a greater effort that means greater disruptions while adoption takes place. However the befits are clearly seen at early stages that take the pain away and creates enthusiasm amongst the participants as they can get to use the data for their benefit, and also for the company, at a very early stage. This issue can and should be taken up on a case to case basis and the suitability will depend on company size, location, ability and preparedness of the stakeholders that has been taken care of through change management programmes and training. Barriers to Implementation The greatest barriers to implementation are the people. They always resist change as it is perceived that ERP will make them redundant. This is due to the misunderstanding of ERP as the end and not the means. Once it can be explained that it is a tool for enhancing efficiency it will be a lot easier to implement it. Whenever change is contemplated it is the management which has to show the way. The leaders of the company, be they at management level or supervisory level, need to demonstrate that change from status quo is essential for both increasing productivity as well as realization of the true potential of the worker. After all the company comprises of its workers who are the human capital and on whose competency the company depends upon for delivery of quality products. When the leaders can express this in convincing terms it becomes evident to the workers to appreciate the effort by the management to deploy a major tool like the ERP which will benefit them too. Senge (1990) has put it across quite candidly that when the management offers this vision to the workers, it enthuses them and their confidence grows. They realize that the objectives envisioned and explained by the leaders are indeed achievable and that the ERP is a tool through which this can be done. In fact the workers cannot be coerced but they can certainly be persuaded by a display of facts and encouraged by performance related compensations. The other significant, although smaller, barriers are the cooperation required from collaborators and partners in either furnishing data or acting on data received from the ERP system. This can be overcome by explaining the necessity of action through education and training. More often than not it will be the people at the other end of the spectrum who will be resisting the intrusion by ERP in their normal way of functioning. Here too the leaders of the partnering organization have to come to the fore to explain and induce action as stated above. The cost of implementation can become a barrier too. However the solution to this problem is to get hold of a domain expert who can also understand the ERP architecture for supervising the implementation. The other requirement is to make sure that the ERP vendor has the required domain expertise of the industry vertical that he is trying to serve through his ERP development. Task 4 Key Issues for System Development Developing the right system for the company is a major task and the Project Managers should understand the requirements of the Fashion Industry. In this industry availability of correct and current information is of utmost importance for improving output and productivity. An industry specific ERP should be acquired and implemented throughout the organization with a central database at the company Headquarters where all information becomes available to the management to help them in making informed decisions. The immediate effect of this move will be that the latest information will become available across the company. However the first step in this direction is to define the workflow between different departments. The ERP Project Managers will plan a system and then provide activity based objectives in form of MIS (management information system) reports. These dynamic reports, which will be prepared by the system on the fly by picking data as soon as it is recorded, will offer the management current status of each activity. They are indeed an end-to-end report management system. These reports can be accessed from any location enabling management to spot problems quickly and address them without delay. The Human Resource Department requires overhauling with the aid of the ERP system. The entire work force from managers downward is to be trained to work on the ERP format. Performance and Productivity will become the principal guidelines of future pay packets. This will generate higher self-esteem among workers. Better teamwork will lead to better co-ordination between the workers and middle management. Attrition is expected to fall as workers will see an opportunity in the company itself and relocation will no longer be an attraction. Production Planning and Control (PPC) is to be introduced at the various production units of the company. This will result in identifying the resources available and then distributing the orders between them based on available capacity. The ERP can forecast this based on Knowledge Inputs like Output of dresses per style, size wise Number of dresses (or parts) produced per machine per hour Number of dresses (or parts) per worker per hour. This will result in eliminating idle capacity as better co-ordination will ensure utilization of all capacity due to quick and accurate information on available capacities. In-Production wastages will also came down due to pre-setting style requirements based on productivity. Within the production units the Maintenance programme will also be planned through the ERP. Each machine will be allotted a unique number and all its replaceable components are to be catalogued. All venders of these components, whether local or overseas, will be identified. An inventory will be raised for each item giving due respect to its possible delivery time. This will ensure that all items will be available at least 15 days ahead of normal requirement. As a result scheduling of all maintenance in an organized manner will become feasible. This will eliminate downtime to zero level in due course of time as machines due for maintenance will be taken out of active production lines as per schedule. Finding Cost of Production Another important result will be that costs will became known at the PPC stage itself. It is simpler to calculate intermediary costs like cost of a semi-finished product as well as the finished product as soon as the product comes off the assembly line. Control over cost overrun can now be exercised at the Production stage itself. This offers an excellent opportunity for management to improve the bottom line. Prior to this cost of a product was forecast either as a historical cost of an identical or similar item produced earlier, or in case of a new product, it would be based on inventory cost alone. Now the element of production cost (even a process cost within the production programme) will contribute to making this pre-shipment cost or sample cost more accurate. Finance management without a proper system is usually subject to unknown factors. With the implementation of ERP system and introduction of costing at all levels of Human resources and Physical Assets, it will become easier to forecast financial requirements. It will also be possible that this department can now manage itself more efficiently. Extreme situations, like tight cash flows or flushing with funds, will give way to a more stable cash management. This will certainly bring down the cost of funds as interest rates are bound to go north with a sluggish economy in sight. Management Information System (MIS) The MIS reports, as stated above, are the greatest tool that have been developed and will certainly empower the management to take all challenges that come their way. It is important that the ERP addresses areas that are likely to affect the company’s performance. They go to show to what extent technology has been able to match the industry requirements. Status of individual Orders – Current stage of Production with prediction of completion date based on current productivity level of the individual order Production Status – both combined and for individual units Time & Activity Report – showing the now-status of each activity against planned targets Daily Production Report – for each individual order with productivity achieved per man-machine per day and per hour Wastage Report – created for each activity like dyeing, cutting, sewing etc. actual versus planned (showing savings or loss on this account) Sample Catalogues – with dynamic sample cost sheet (can do a fresh cost exercise by changing item values and prices on existing cost sheet) Cost Analysis – Immediately on shipment the analysis provides budgeted and actual cost broken down to Material, Production, Process, Labor, Machine, Shipment and Overheads. (Shown separately for each style/order). Every organization has a distinct advantage over others due to its internal competencies. These competencies are developed over a period of time and offer the firm a unique place in the market place (Schermerhorn 1996). The competency is a special skill, unique in nature, one that cannot be copied easily by rivals in the same trade and can be developed through the use of technology, human skills or other resources that can make it different from other companies in the same field and they should be unique to it and not easily imitable by others (Pitts and Lei 2003). CONCLUSIONS It is necessary to have ERP systems in manufacturing and service industries as the quantum of data handled by them these days is enormous. Added to that is the fact that all large industries and many small and medium sized industries are located at multiple locations. This aggravates the situation as all need data at the same time to continue their respective operations. Planning is an essential part of business but unless these plans can be communicated to the relevant stakeholders in time the realization or outcome cannot be ensured. Beyond planning execution of the plans and their constant monitoring for adjustments, failures and changes are all too demanding and time lost will result in lost production, quality losses and even rejections. These will all effect bottom lines as competition is very intense. Hence the need of the ERP cannot be ignored. However the ownership of the ERP is not meaningful without proper implementation. The barriers and resistance has to be overcome through good understanding, sharing of visions and enabling change management. The supply chain also needs to be secured onto the same system to ensure seamless flow of information so that all partners can offer optimum performance that contributes to the cost advantage of the product or service offered. Lastly but most importantly the vendor of the ERP needs to be selected with great care. Unless he has the domain expertise his analytical capability and the benefit of the business intelligence tools he offers will go waste. The company also needs to understand that ERP is an evolving concept and that they need to upgrade themselves to changes, in similar fashion as they upgrade for other technological changes in their production process. In the context of ERP the evolution that began with MRP I have now entered the ERP 2 phase and this latest improvement is comprised of business intelligence. It may well be added here that this may be a forerunner to use of Artificial Intelligence as is already being observed on the shop-floor through robotization of work processes. Deployment of an ERP solution is a long and difficult exercise but one that is essential for survival and growth of Fashion business. The reason is that this business is dynamic as trends and designs change very frequently. It was earlier thought that ERP deployment was more suited to standardized products, like automobile parts. But it has been proved without doubts that the more dynamic the product, the more need to control costs and productivity. This being the ground reality ERP is the only solution that can gather and disseminate data intelligently over vast geographical locations. Technology for Individual Goals and Objectives It would be an omission to ignore the benefits of technology to every individual of the organization; as it is the team of individuals that support the organization with their combined knowledge. ERP provides a platform for fulfilling objectives and reaching goals easily for all. Here are some of the ways that ERP will help Pearl achieve its goals. CEO—Goal: Increased sales & Control of all activities: Increasing global competition, particularly from companies manufacturing in other low-cost countries, creates downward pressures on costs. The CEO knows the importance of increasing customer value, and that retaining existing customers is less expensive than winning new ones. However some of the company’s operations are still non-value adding and they do not contribute directly to customer value. The main reason is that true value is not flowing through the factory. To compete successfully in the future, it is necessary to change the company’s mindset and philosophy—minimize non-value-adding activities in order to eliminate unnecessary costs and develop the ability to react quickly to customer demand. With ERP the manufacturing process becomes more efficient and, as a result, sales increase. Again since all activities are visible through planned reports and time and activity status, the CEO is able to exercise complete control over all events. Production Manager—Goal: Increase bottom-line profitability The Production Manager strives to minimize capital employed throughout the business. He wants to minimize stock and work in progress (WIP), and vitally, increase throughput that can be invoiced quickly. Therefore, waste needs to be eliminated through minimizing re-work. In addition, the movement of stock with no resultant added value around the factory has to be reduced. The answer is deployment of ERP. It manages inventory, reduces wastages and increases the return on capital employed. This in turn means additional capital is available for strategic investment, margins are improved and the bottom line takes on a more healthy appearance. Logistics Manager: Goal, On-time Dispatches As all activities from Purchase to Productions are pre-planned through ERP it becomes possible to plan and execute dispatches. Financial Adviser: Goal, Budgeting & Forecasting Since all transactions are integrated, all payments are controlled by debit and credit notes which are automatically generated with every movement of raw materials and semi-finished products to and from suppliers and processors. This secures the transactions and saves valuable time for your core activities of forecasting and budgeting. Managers at all levels: Goals; To meet deadlines. Output increases as the managers can now plan all activities through a pre-designed and approved system that offers great job satisfaction. The stress level is thus reduced, they get more organized and are able to meet deadlines. Ordinary worker: Goal, To achieve targets. His/Her productivity increases as their activities are preplanned and evaluated. This increases their appetite to perform better to advance in their chosen careers. References Al-Mashari, M., (2003), “Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems: A Research Agenda” Industrial Management & Data Systems 103/1 2003 pp. 22-27 Al-Mashari, M. and Zairi, M., (2000), ``Information and business process equality: the case of SAP R/3 implementation’’, Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol. 2 (http://www.unimas.my/fit/roger/EJISDC/EJISDC.htm) Bate, P., (1990), "Using the Culture Concept in an Organization Development Setting," Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 26, 83-106. Beer, M. Eisenstat, R.A and. Spector, B., (1990), "Why Change Programs Dont Produce Change," Harvard Business Review, November-December, pp. 158-166 Cohen, M.D., March, J.C., and Olsen, J.P., (1972), A Garbage Can Model of Organization Choice, Administrative Science Quarterly, 17: 1-25 Gable, G. and Stewart, G., (1999), ``SAP R/3 implementation issues for small to medium enterprises’’, 30th DSI Proceedings, 20-23 November, pp. 779-81 Gupta, A., (2000). “Enterprise Resource Planning: The Emerging Organization Value Systems” Industrial Management & Data Systems 100/3 2000 pp. 114-118 Hedberg,B., Nystrom, P., and Starbuck, W., (1976), Camping on Seesaws: Prescription for a Self- Designing Organization, Administrative Science Quarterly, 21: 41-65. Hofstede, G. B., Neuijen, Ohayv, D.D. and Sanders, G., (1990), "Measuring Organizational Cultures: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study Across Twenty Cases," Administrative Science Quarterly, 35 286-316 Horvath, L. (2001). “Collaboration: The key to value creation in supply chain management.” Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. Vol. 6, No. 5, 2001 pp. 205-207 Kapp, K.M., Latham, W.F. and Ford-Latham, H.N., (2001), Integrated Learning for ERP Success: A Learning requirements Planning Approach, NY, The St. Lucie Press Kumar, V. Maheshwari, B. and Kumar, U., (2002), Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Adoption Process: a survey of Canadian Organizations, International Journal of Production Research, 40(3), pp509-523 Nelson, R., and Winter, S., (1982), An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Cambridge, M.A: Harvard University Press Pitts, R.A. and Lei, D. (2003). Strategic Management: Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage. 3rd ed. Ohio: Thomson South-Western Russo, K., Kremer, A. and Brandt, I., (1999), ``Enterprise-wide software: factors effecting implementation and impacts on the IS function’’, 30th DSI Proceedings, 20-23 November, pp. 808-10 Sarker, S. and Sarker, S., (2000), ``Implementation failure of an integrated software package: a case study from the Far East’’, Annals of Cases in IT Applications and Management, Vol. 2, pp. 169-86 Scott, J.E. and Vessey, I., (2000), Implementing Enterprise Resource Planning Systems: The role of learning from failure, Information Systems Frontier, 2(2), 213-232. Schein, E., (1985), Organizational Culture and Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Schermerhorn, J.R. (1996). Management and Organizational Behavior Essentials, Ohio Senge, Peter M., (1990), "The Leaders New Work: Building Learning Organizations," Sloan Management Review, Fall, pp. 7-23. Smeltzer, L.R., (1991), "An Analysis of Strategies for Announcing Organization-Wide Change," Group and Organization Studies, 16, 5-24 Trice, H., and Beyer, J., (1984), Studying Organizational Cultures through Rites and Ceremonials, Academy of Management Review, 9(4): pp 653-669. Trice, H., and Beyer, J., (1985), Using Six Organizational Tires to Change Culture, in R.H. Kilman et al, (Eds) Gaining Control of the Corporate Culture, London: Jossey-Bass. Wallace, T. F, and Kremzar, M. H., (2001), Erp - Making It Happen: The Implementers Guide to Success with Enterprise Resource Planning, Wiley, John & Sons. Wight, Oliver., (2000), ABCD Checklist for Operational Excellence, Fifth edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY) Read More