How would you describe the mood around your enterprise? Better yet, if you brought in outside consultants to answer that question objectively and constructively, would their surveys and analysis describe your organization as progressive, supportive and collaborative? Or fearful, back biting and petty? Would employees feel trusted and respected? Or ignored and micro-managed? Is retention high or turnover rampant? Do people embrace progress or resist change?

ERP Implementation

Can Corporate Culture Doom an ERP Implementation?

What’s does all this have to do with ERP? Experience has shown that’s it’s seldom either the software or the consultants that doom an ERP implementation. It’s the enterprises ability to master organizational change management to transition the workforce from the old way of doing things to the new. Organizational change management starts with creating the kind of culture in which ERP can thrive. In fact, organizational change management should be the top line on your ERP implementation budget, one with an asterisk that says “*Do not reduce this line item under penalty of failure.”

ERP systems break down the silo mentalities that separate one department from another. All data is available to all authorized users, so there’s nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide if you are underperforming. The nature of an ERP environment is open, collaborative and apolitical; the organization needs to get there beforehand.

At the very least, employees need to be expecting change, understand why it is happening, be enthusiastic about the prospect of wiping away redundancies, obsolete and inefficient procedures and miles of red tape. They need to be aware of how the new system will affect their individual jobs and the organization on a whole. But even in organizations that realize the value of change management and endeavor to assuage, convince and educate their work force as effectively as possible around the ERP system implementation, there is often a steeper hill to climb first: a repositioning of overall corporate culture.

Here are a handful of ways to get you started thinking about aligning your corporate culture with the essence of an ERP system and adjust and modify the overall values of an organization.

It starts with leadership.  Corporate culture emanates from the corner office. Always. And since nobody has more at stake with an ERP implementation than the CEO, he or she must be the one delivering messaging about the values, vision and overarching purpose of the organization.

Reward the change agents. Make sure your priorities are clear by rewarding those who reflect them. Recognition is effective at all levels, from a simple card to a public display, and serves to put your money where your mouth is by showing that the organization truly values and supports the people who help it achieve its vision.

Make change part of continuous improvement. Organizations that “do it right” revisit and restructure their corporate culture again and again. Nothing is stagnant. Instead, leadership analyzes competitors and clients within its industry and successful companies outside of its industry to establish benchmarks and best practices and then makes adjustments.

You ERP system will ultimately transform the enterprise. For it to achieve that, however, corporate culture needs to be the touchstone that shows employees the right way before, during and after implementation.