The development of an automated decision-making framework through the utilisation of the latest Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technologies for organisational change

In this project I develop a change management framework that has succeeded in automating processes and decision-making through the utilisation of the latest Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technologies for organisational improvement. As Chair of an organisation comprising 3000 employees with 15 firms in various lines of business and a history of ERP implementation failure, I demonstrate how we were able to create and maintain the mass changes required in accordance with the strategic objectives, implementing a full ERP suite successfully, optimising and automating processes and generating integrated information for the first time in the organisation’s specific cultural and geographical context. More specifically, I present a change management framework that overcomes organisational resistance and allows the strategic objectives of the organisation to materialise. This fundamentally involved the implementation of the ERP to monitor and automate newly composed processes and generate consolidated data to facilitate change. Implementing the ERP was itself a change. The project report shows how I use the three ingredients of change management, action research and new technologies to present a plan for implementing this framework. I demonstrate that not only were we able to reduce the organisation’s resistance, but, in fact, were able to transform it into a catalyst and supporter of change. The novelty lies in the creation of a change-embracing organisation through this framework, which relies on the Cochlear Cycle of Continuous Improvement (CCIP) as a process within the organisation that itself facilitates the implementation and maintenance of the momentum of change within the framework. Critical recommendations include the use of appropriate pilots; organisational architecture restructurings; and, in particular, external and internal change teams; the pre-implementation steps described; and the use of CCIP as the backbone of all change.