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Business Accent
The human factor in ERP implementation
An analysis of the relationship people involved in an
ERP project have with the software, and a discussion of techniques to overcome
their resistance and get their support.
To examine the human angle in ERP, let us revisit Newton’s laws of motion.
The first law states, ‘Every object in a state of uniform motion tends
to remain in that state unless an external force is applied to it.’ The
third one states, ‘For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.’
But what has this to do with ERP? Everything, when it comes to dealing with
your human resources involved in the ERP project. Generally, people tend to
remain in a state of inertia. When an external force (for example, an ERP project)
is applied on them, the most expected and immediate reaction is resistance.
To be successful in an ERP implementation, it is important to overcome this
resistance which manifests in various forms. Let us try to analyse this aspect
from the end users’ point of view.
What happens to the human resource when a company decides
to implement ERP?
Change is inevitable in every aspect of life, whether business or individual.
Organisations have the option to either change and survive, or remain in a state
of entropy and perish. The ERP initiative of a company is always an attempt
to change and adapt to a dynamic business environment to improve efficiency
and increase profitability. But many companies fail to deal in depth with the
magnitude of the organisation-wide changes required to implement ERP successfully.
The fact is that everyone is afraid of change. Change leads to a multitude of
adjustments. We are used to functioning in a particular way and tend to avoid
newer work patterns or responsibilities, although these may be simpler or lesser.
This is the basic reason for resistance.
In general, people do not like to rock the boat. Over a period of time, complacency
sets in and the learning curve becomes asymptotic (S curve). The will and effort
to learn newer techniques or methods reduce drastically. If you look around,
it will be evident that a person does not put in additional efforts unless his
position is threatened by any change factor. There is a fear of learning new
techniques and a lack of confidence in the ability to use these techniques efficiently.
Working continuously in a repetitive fashion leads to some level of comfort
in human beings.
What’s in it for me?
People often ask this question when they are required to do anything besides
their routine work. The issue needs to be addressed to get people enthusiastically
involved in the implementation.
Organisations have a certain structure. Employees are expected to function as
per their position in the organisation chart. But a covert structure (undocumented
or not communicated explicitly) exists in all companies, especially in those
which are multi-layered and bureaucratic. Change is perceived to be threatening
to those who belong to such positions of power. These are the people who are
opinion makers and they influence the mindsets of the workforce. They feel that
their hold will be lost if a newer system sets in.
Being sceptical about another’s initiative, however promising it might
be, is normal human tendency. The spectrum of scepticism ranges from people
feeling that they can do better to others who feel that it cannot be done. There
is also a lack of in-depth information among these people, which further compounds
their negative thoughts.
In the beginning of the implementation, users have to put in a lot of hard work,
time and effort to enter the necessary data without getting any promising output.
This leads to feelings of uncertainty and confusion. Users’ minds are clouded
with various doubts about the application; this directly affects their motivation
level.
Such issues need to be overcome if a company wants to be successful in its initiative.
The answer
Different companies employ different techniques and systems to overcome resistance
and get the support of their manpower to attain the desired results.
Calculated empowerment of users will bring in a feeling of being important,
and generate seriousness about the project. At the same time, it will not lead
to undue interference [by unhappy staff]. ERP, if restricted to a select few
in the organisation, will prove harmful. People might feel shunted out, not
capable enough for the job, or that their involvement does not matter for the
company. It is essential to deal with your human resource with compassion and
care.
Vested interests
Some people, over a period of time, due to the nature of their job, start wielding
lot of clout within the company. They slowly become indispensable for certain
functions until the application makes their function and position less important.
These people will definitely spike any change initiatives because in the process
they will be the losers. The company should have a detailed plan to deal with
such people. There should be a provision for retraining and modified job profiles.
Identify the covert leaders
There are some people who have a lot of influence on others, whether they belong
to the same function or not. These are opinion makers, and they strongly influence
the thought process of their colleagues. The ERP team should rope in the support
of these leaders who will then secure the support of others. If identified and
nurtured properly, these people will prove to be an asset for the implementation.
Flat organisation
In the early 1980s, GE’s Jack Welch analysed his organisation structure
and went about reducing the pyramid structure to a flatter, more efficient and
more effective one. This kind of trimming helps in faster decision-making and
execution of plans. It also reduces the pockets of covert power. Authorities
and responsibilities are defined and understood in a better manner.
Passionate and energetic leadership
Introducing ERP in an organisation is nothing short of bringing in drastic change.
It is not enough to have a supportive management; what is required to bring
in this change is a leader. He should be someone with a vision of the future,
an ability to build teams, and faith in the project. He should be self-motivated
and energetic enough to drive the entire team to a successful conclusion of
the project.
Build confidence
How do you build confidence in a group of people who are sceptical about the
outcome? The easiest way is to achieve small but concrete milestones. Trying
to implement all modules at the same time is suicide. There should be a plan
to implement the modules in phases. The success of one module will instill a
lot of confidence and positive vibes in the minds of other end-users. Small
achievable milestones also work wonders for the ERP implementation team. They
ensure that the implementers focus on the details of the module.
Communication plan
This is an issue that people talk about but rarely follow. There has to be a
detailed communication plan. End-users as well as the implementation team should
have healthy communication. People should be allowed to speak out their minds.
Many problems can be avoided if we give some time and thought to what is said.
It also creates a feeling of belongingness among the end-users.
Training and retraining
Users need concentrated and reinforced training programmes to sharpen their
skills and learn the new methods. Retraining is necessary mainly to refresh
earlier training and to ensure that users are attentive and focussed.
Documentation
There has to be a detailed documentation of the entire application—user
as well as technical manual. There is a limit to what we can retain in our minds.
A good documentation can reduce many consultant man-hours and thereby affect
the implementation cost. It also demonstrates to users how the system will function
when operated in entirety.
Intranet
Many companies use their intranet facility for communication and training. They
also use it to share stuff like documentation, the client list of the ERP vendor
(it matters when your users come to know who else is working with the same application),
blogs on the project, milestone achievements and other general information about
the implementation.
Incentive
Last but not the least, money talks. Companies should have some reward programme
for users who are instrumental in making the application go live. Get the HR
to be innovative in this regard.
It is important to remember that ERP has to be implemented through all odds,
but we should aim for a win-win situation. Chanakya wrote about saam (equality),
daam (reward), dand (punishment), and bhed (division). This philosophy really
works when you go in for ERP.
I urge all ERP project initiators and managers to read Stephen Covey’s
7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Understanding the message of the book and
incorporating the same during the implementation will work wonders as far as
managing your human resources is concerned.
The author works with a pharmaceutical company as Business
Systems Analyst. The views expressed here are her own and not necessarily those
of her employer. She may be reached at ipbasu@rediffmail.com
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