As organizations strive to remain competitive despite economic pressures and the rapid pace of technology innovation, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems provide businesses with the functional best practices and customisable capabilities they need to adapt to these changes. However, the high rate of failure of these Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems remain a challenge for the managers who are usually tasked with ensuring the huge investments achieve its purpose and yield a return on investment. In attempting to explain the reasons behind these Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation failures, previous research has identified user adoption as one of the main drivers of ERP implementation success. An abundance of technology adoption theories and change management models have been proposed as solutions to user adoption, by measuring different factors they consider are important to the adoption of these systems. However, ERP systems still fail to achieve their intended purpose because these theories have not been able to explicitly explain how these factors impact on adoption. To address this gap, this research takes a comprehensive approach to identifying the change management influences on user adoption by integrating change management and technology adoption constructs. The main contribution of this research is a common-sense perspective of the realities of user resistance. The study provides a causal model derived from Structural equation modelling, which explains the multiple influence relationships between the measured constructs. An adoption tool is also developed for managers to use as a yardstick to benchmark the effectiveness of an implementation strategy. Using a structural equation modelling approach, a theory was developed from a survey of 616 ERP users across 6 organizations. Six constructs were identified as the key influences of user adoption – Trust, Communication and Engagement, System Qualities, Training, Organizational Benefits and Resistance. The theory explains the multiple influence relationships between these constructs and Adoption, and assists in the pinpointing of failure points that need to be addressed by Enterprise Resource Planning project managers. The resulting theory developed indicates the multiple influence relationships between these constructs as determinants of Adoption of ERP systems. In addition, the theory assists in the pinpointing of failure points that need to be addressed by Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project managers.

The dissertation discusses the impact of change management during the implementation of an IT system. The theoretical part of the dissertation is aimed at gaining information about human performance, and the implications during the implementation of the system, and also post-implementation. Literature suggests that the human factor is the key to the successful implementation of system projects. The study, which is qualitative in nature, makes use of face-to-face interviews for the collection of evidence, as well as questionnaires as add-on tools to support the underlying constructs and research questions posed within the study. The use of data obtained from the research interviews, as well as survey data, has provided the research study with the necessary validity, reliabilityand trustworthy data to support the research results, findings – and to be able to make some recommendations. The reason for the failure of system implementation projects is often due to poor implementation during the project. It is important to place the importance of people on a par with technology and processes. A holistic approach would be the most likely to result in the acceptance – and the efficient and effective use of the implemented system. Communication, training and management participation are common means of addressingany fears of change, and to build trust. This information should be utilised by project teams during implementation projects, as it should help to provide the necessary framework to ensure the success of the change initiatives.

The dissertation discusses the impact of change management during the implementation of an IT system. The theoretical part of the dissertation is aimed at gaining information about human performance, and the implications during the implementation of the system, and also post-implementation. Literature suggests that the human factor is the key to the successful implementation of system projects. The study, which is qualitative in nature, makes use of face-to-face interviews for the collection of evidence, as well as questionnaires as add-on tools to support the underlying constructs and research questions posed within the study. The use of data obtained from the research interviews, as well as survey data, has provided the research study with the necessary validity, reliabilityand trustworthy data to support the research results, findings – and to be able to make some recommendations. The reason for the failure of system implementation projects is often due to poor implementation during the project. It is important to place the importance of people on a par with technology and processes. A holistic approach would be the most likely to result in the acceptance – and the efficient and effective use of the implemented system. Communication, training and management participation are common means of addressingany fears of change, and to build trust. This information should be utilised by project teams during implementation projects, as it should help to provide the necessary framework to ensure the success of the change initiatives. / Human Resource Management / M. Tech. (Human Resource Management)