Answer to the Question: The variety and types of user resistance to ERP systems are many. There are some questions which the top management must ask themselves if they want to control user resistence to an ERP system and they are:
- Who are the resisting individuals and groups?
- What are their needs?
- What beliefs and values do they have?
- What are their interests?
User resistance to an ERP system can cause many problems. In Short- term, it may hamper the many undergoing production processes which are monitored by the new system. This is due to the user not knowing about ohow to use the system. Thus, no new input of data is not given to the system to obtain information about the production processes. Long-term crisis may include a huge loss of profit to the company due to the stoppage of production and not meeting the desired requirements of the orders which are issued by other big companies and trading houses. The company may lose profit due to the hamper of rpoduction and also the implementation costs behind the ERP system because of user resistance. Users’ can raise many questions regarding the huge change which the ERP system has brought in and they are that some users’ might point out computer illiteracy or, may say that they have done a good job for a long time without the help of the ERP system. Other users’ might think that their jobs are at stake or, they will not know how to the use the system within a completely different environment. Some users’ might question about power and authority values which can be destroyed by the new ERP system. Although, an ERP system strengthen a company’s position in the marketplace, some companies experience failures by implementing ERP systems because some organizations are not properly aligned with their business processes to chieve potential benefits from the ERP system. Many companies which wish to implement ERP systems experience difficulties because the organization is not yet organized enough for the integration with the ERP system and the departments within the company also have their issues which leads to conflict with one another. Companies such as Cisco Systems, East Man Kodak and Textronix have achieved benefits from their ERP systems but companies like FoxMeyer Drugs almost experienced Bankruptcy. Companies have to change their business processes in order to adapt with the ERP system because that is what the ERP system is there to improve the business. It is important to know the configurations of the ERP system while implementing. The main business processes of the business needs to be identified before the implementation so that it best suits the functionalities of the ERP system. User resistance can even cause a company majorly hamper its processes and lose profits because simply he or she does not want to adapt with the changes which the ERP system brought into the organization. This can avoided by giving proper training to the employees and give them some tiime to adapt with the new ways of doing things and also with the new functionalities of the ERP system so work processes can go on smoothly afterwards.
