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Traditional contract vehicles do not align well with enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation methodologies. The purpose of this paper is to identify different contract vehicles and how they map to ERP implementation methodologies. Traditional contract vehicles are more process‐oriented than outcome‐focused. Successful standard software implementations are dependent on the outcome. The misalignment of process‐oriented contract vehicles and results‐oriented implementation methodologies leads to many implementation problems with respect to scope creep and ill‐defined interfaces.

The study is based on research from public and private sector contracting documents, interviews and a review of case studies to show that there is a misalignment between contract vehicles, implementation methods and the eventual project plan.

The research concluded that phased or life‐cycle contracting is the best approach when implementing standard (off the shelf) software in an ERP solution. This approach mimics the recognized life‐cycle approach to product/project management where a large project is broken up into several smaller stages.

The data analyzed are from primary and secondary sources such as direct interviews, case study and contract reviews. The primary focus is based on US Federal Agency acquisition and planning policies.

Identifies different contract vehicles and how they map to ERP implementation methodologies.

This paper presents a structured literature review of studies on IT-enabled organizational transformation to determine the state of the art and to identify areas for future research.

We collect 201 academic publications on IT-enabled organizational transformation and analyze them from three perspectives: a publication perspective, a research perspective and a conceptual perspective.

From a publication perspective, we identify and synthesize the seminal works to provide a brief history of research on IT-enabled organizational transformation. From a research perspective, we show that studies in this area have seldom been grounded in theory and have predominantly used qualitative approaches, while only a few studies have drawn from quantitative data. From a conceptual perspective, we show that most research has studied higher levels of transformation, especially process redesign.

This review presents the landscape of the literature on IT-enabled organizational transformation, which provides a foundation for future research.

The literature on enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation has been dominated by variance theories which have identified numerous lists of critical success factors (CSFs) for managing implementation but there has been relatively little research adopting a process theory approach which explains how change occurs. One such theory, the teleological process, has been criticised in the IS literature for its capability to evolve and learn due to its convergence towards an end goal. Drawing upon the field of organisational development (OD), the purpose of this paper is to illustrate the usefulness of the theory and contend that, whilst it exhibits planned behaviour, events are adaptive and learned and emerge though social construction of actors in organisations.

An in‐depth interpretive study of eight public‐sector organisations is used. During the investigation, two primary methods of data collection were analysed: survey questionnaires (2) and in‐depth interviews (38).

The data were analysed and contrasted with themes and attributes associated with teleological design. The article highlights how the central role of an agent or entity, and its interaction with eight key attributes, is critical to the success of the change process.

The article proposes benefits of applying teleological theory to the context of designing the change, pre and post project implementation. Whilst the data are based in the UK, the framework also provides a useful starting point for further research in ERP implementation in developing and emerging nations of areas likely to be problematic.

Discusses the use of information technology to facilitate communication and collaboration. In this action research project a groupware product called Lotus Notes^TM was implemented to facilitate communication and collaboration amongst the senior management team. Although there was a real need for change, and the project received strong support from senior management on the basis that it would enable radical changes in coordination within the workgroup, these radical changes did not occur. The authors analyse the reasons for failure, and suggest that the project failed because of institutional forces which inhibited dramatic changes in work habits.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of technology on organizational change during an electronic government implementation in a public organization in East Malaysia. It also examines the interpretation and enactment of technology as affecting organizational performance.

The research utilized a case study approach involving semi-structured interviewing with 18 employees representing department heads, middle managers, and technical officers. The data were triangulated by unobtrusive observations of meetings and work processes as well as archival records.

Technology could either constrain or enable change based on the interplay of intended and unintended use. The way actors interpret the role of technology during change also affects their enactment of technology, leading to both innovation and disruption in work practices. In turn, their enactment patterns shape organizational structure, strategy, and performance.

The paper contributes to the organizational change literature by exploring how individual-level change has led to organizational outcomes as a result of technology. It extends the technology enactment and sociomateriality literature by considering technology use as an organizing process to facilitate change in order to understand the interplay of the social and material aspect of technology.

Employees should be made aware of and accountable for the consequences of unintended use or avoidance of technology in order to enable positive change. Collective sensemaking of technology-induced change should be encouraged to transform work practices so as to shape organizational structure, strategy, and performance.

Unlike similar research, this study extends the structuration perspective of technology in work organizations by exploring how technology enables and constrains organizational change through intended and unintended use. It further illuminates the power of human agency to innovate and organize structures of action that modify social relations and organizational strategy influencing organizational performance.

Ethics is an integral part of an organization's overall culture. Designing an ethical organization requires systematically analysing all aspects of the organization's culture and aligning them so that they support ethical behaviour and discourage unethical behaviour. This chapter considers issues related to establishing an ethical culture in an organization, through a case analysis of a major Australian private hospital and its approach to establishing and continuing to define an ethical culture. Key aims of the research were to identify the role of executive and senior management leadership in developing a values-based approach to ethical culture particularly regarding senior management’s own awareness, support and communication of the stated values. The chapter considers the theoretical approaches available to organizations in developing and sustaining ethical approaches in relation to organizational structures, systems and processes that inform cultural type. The paper also critically comments on the situation presented within the case analysis, providing conclusions and insights for further research initiatives related to such case-based field investigation.

The purpose of this article is to examine the structures and business models of electronic metals exchanges between 1995 and 2003.

A dialectical institutional analysis is applied to understand the exchanges’ responses to competing pressures for efficiency and legitimacy.

Although efficiency is enabled by internet technologies that provide greater information transparency and access, public metals exchanges exhibited less ability to survive than private exchanges. It is argued that private exchanges survived because traders regarded them as more legitimate. Private exchange models allowed existing traditional relationships involving trust and privacy to continue, whereas public exchanges did not.

The institutional analysis complements economic analyses of the role and structure of intermediaries in B2B electronic commerce.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Michael Barron and David Targett argue in favour of forecasting playing a relevant part in decision making. They point out that forecasting possesses reliable techniques, it is only when the gap between the producers of forecasts and the users is too great that managerial scepticism intervenes. They suggest ways of overcoming this.