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Business Accent
With a little help from the management
Ipshita Basu Guha |
Nothing gets people falling in line with an ERP deployment
like visible backing from the top management.
Over the years organisations have changed the way they manage
and conduct business. The one-man-led family-managed business has given way
to a professionally-managed team of individuals to drive business growth. In
this backdrop certain things remain the same. The final decisions for a project
or initiative which will incur substantial cost and employ a lot of resources
remain within the purview of the clique at the top. Many obstacles which occur
due to change can be overcome if there is strong involvement of those who are
in charge of the business. Our topic of discussion in this article is about
ERP implementation and utilising the juggernaut called ‘top management’
to make it successful.
Overcoming initial hurdles
To begin with, management must agree to implement ERP. Accomplishing a top management
‘buy-in’ for an ERP initiative could be either comfortable in the
beginning or extremely difficult. Few projects fall in the middle of the spectrum.
People who manage the helm of a business are normally sceptical by nature. They
do not get overwhelmed with promises made by any product’s sales pitch.
Generally, IT is still mystical for many people. Those who do not use computers
in their day-to-day functions find it difficult to comprehend and are seldom
able to appreciate the importance of information technology.
Considering this, it is tough to sell the idea of implementing ERP. That said,
some leaders are very proactive vis-à-vis the changing business environment;
they understand the benefit of IT-enabling business processes and are open to
ERP initiatives. Even keeping in view all these positive aspects, the final
go-ahead is sometimes elusive to come by. The internal IT chief should do ample
research on the products that are being put up for vetting, apart from answering
the classic question: “Why does the organisation need an ERP application?”
The pros and cons should be analysed and documented.
The art lies in pre-empting the queries of the management
and being prepared to answer them satisfactorily. It is universally known that
ERP implementation is an excruciating and uphill task. The goal of the project
is to implement the application successfully and gain overt and covert advantages
out of it. Everyday is a learning experience, but this happens only if the entire
organisation has committed itself to the project. These projects can be successful
even if there are only a few but strong believers in the product and its capability
to contribute to the organisation. This crew should comprise the higher echelon
of management and the core team.
“The management means business!” This message should percolate from
top to bottom across all functions loud and clear. Cynics in a project tend
to come around when the wish of the management is conveyed to them. Management
support is assured when the project initiators are themselves positive about
the implementation. If the management senses any doubt whatsoever, then the
project plan will be sent back to the drawing board to re-start from scratch.
Lead from the front
That is what the top management is expected to do. Its role does not end with
approving the project. Once the project is agreed upon, the management should
form the core implementation team comprising members plus the IT manager. Management
should subsequently communicate the selection of the team to the rank and file.
This ensures that everyone takes the team seriously and follows their instructions.
If the employees get a clear directive that the management means business when
it comes to ERP implementation, then 90 percent of the people will fall in line
straight away. Down-the-line employees should always get the message that the
management is lock, stock and barrel behind the implementation. Opposition will
dwindle when people see that the progress of the implementation is being regularly
followed by people at the top. There is a proverb: “Caesar’s wife
should not only be above suspicion but she should also appear to be so.”
The same holds true for the management in any organisation. Active visibility
of the management in the implementation is more important than simply monitoring
progress from the background and maintaining a passive stance.
Handling the team
It has been said, “The best executive is one who has enough sense to pick
good men to do what he wants done, and enough self-restraint to keep himself
from meddling with them while they do it.” The top management can ensure
the beginnings of success by getting involved in selecting the most balanced
team in terms of domain knowledge, experience, technical know-how and long-term
vision relating to the business and industry.
The right mix of team is crucial. ERP implementation is like a soccer team,
where the coach, physiotherapist and substitutes have roles that are equal to
those of the players themselves. There are different players in the implementation
like the core team, department heads, actual users and operators, external implementation
consultants, and, of course, the top management. In football each person has
to play a role at a certain time, and then pass the ball to the next person
till the next time his own requirement arises. This is also true for corporate
management. Letting go does not mean falling out of the loop but staying in
the background and remaining aware of events. The core team makes most of the
decisions and facilitates communication between all the players. They address
all ERP meetings and update stakeholders about the progress. The management
should also take part in these meetings to understand what is happening at ground
zero. People develop a feeling of responsibility and accountability when they
are questioned about the project by members of the management.
Peter Drucker had this to say about leaders: “The leaders who work most
effectively, it seems to me, never say ‘I.’ And that’s not because
they have trained themselves not to say ‘I.’ They just don’t
think ‘I.’ They think ‘we;’ they think ‘team.’
They understand that their job is to make the team function. They accept responsibility
and don’t sidestep it, but ‘we’ gets the credit. This is what
creates trust, what enables you to get the task done…”
The power of belief
The beauty of any ERP application lies in its successful implementation and
usage in any organisation. People should go home feeling that it is worth working
with ERP, and that it has definitely helped to improve their work environment.
Sometimes people get disillusioned with such initiatives, and when they are
unable to cope with the rising pressure they quit. This is a negative indication.
The problem is generally inadequate communication and involvement. It is the
management which can act as a catalyst to instill confidence and faith in the
product, and thereby in the individuals themselves. As they say, management
should walk the talk.
A core project team can produce winning results only if there is steady support
from the management. There should be no looking back after the decision has
been taken. The management has to encourage the implementation team throughout
the lifetime of the project. Many people have the notion that signing the agreement
completes their job. Actually that’s where it starts.
The major stakeholders in this project are the top brass. The gains and losses
for them are the highest. Their gain is the integration of all the gains of
users across all functional lines. In a failed implementation, some people are
made the scapegoat for the entire fiasco and might even get fired. Some use
it as a learning experience and move on to greener pastures. For others, life
remains the same. But for the management—they are the ones who face major
setbacks in terms of the organisation’s reputation, and loss of revenue,
opportunities, and in many cases, competitive advantage.
The project should be managed with extreme speed of execution, mobility of skilled
staff, agility of the core team, and finesse in leadership. They must consult
all the people who will be affected by the project to understand their views
and sell the management’s opinion. An ERP implementation’s success
is assured when there is perfect coordination between all stakeholders. Many
projects fail simply because the top management, in its heart of heart, feels
that it is wasteful expenditure and nothing much will come out of it. They still
go ahead with the project because their contemporaries have done the same and
not because they themselves believe in the product and its abilities. This is
the first stumbling block—and the source of a fissure which reaches extreme
and harmful proportions as time goes by. Belief is what sees us through. Belief
in the self, in the team, its abilities and in the product itself is essential.
If the management feels that it can be done, then it can be done.
The author works with a pharma 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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