Abstract

As globalization rises, so does the need for organizations to connect disparate processes and integrate information technology systems together. These activities are needed to unite all areas of a business and speak the same organizational language across geographic locations. As a result, the need for enterprise technology is on the rise. However, enterprise technology implementations are usually massive, complex, and expensive (up to $500 million for large multinational companies). Further, only 10% to 33% of these projects succeed. While 35% are cancelled, the remaining exceed their budgets by 178% and schedules by 230%, on average (Martin & Huq, 2007). Just as there is a need for enterprise technology, there is also a need for organization development practitioners to know how best to approach large technology change. This case study analyzed the implementation of enterprise technology at a major media company. The enterprise tool used was a Hewlett Packard product called Project and Portfolio Management Center (PPMC). The focus of the implementation was to gain visibility of all active projects across the organization, implement a single process to execute projects, use one tool to track projects (thus, eliminating the need for multiple tools), use one tool to allocate resources to projects, track time spent on project tasks, and measure all project teams against the same set of metrics. The research questions addressed in this study were: (a) What attributes are necessary to have a successful implementation of enterprise technology? (b) Was the PPMC enterprise technology implementation successfully adopted by the end users? Answers to these questions were used to assert whether the PPMC project was considered a success or a failure. The study used a mixed methods design. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through an electronic survey and two focus groups. The data provided a deeper understanding of the PPMC implementation and of employees' attitudes toward the PPMC project. Findings indicated that the project was successful in the areas of leadership support, training, and presenting a clear organizational strategy. The project was not successful in the areas of engaging bottom-up support, executing minimal disruption to the business, and providing a tool that was easy to use. As a result of implementing a project that was not "first time right," there was high employee resistance to the tool. This meant that the project management office needed to invest more time, money, and resources to mitigate resistance by (a) making the tool easier to use and (b) mirroring the current business processes rather than mandating processes that didn't fit the organization. It was concluded that if an organization wants to pursue an implementation of enterprise technology (such as PPMC), then extensive business process analysis should be conducted to determine if it is the right process for the organization. Additionally, extensive tool analysis needs to be conducted to determine if the tool can be aligned with the current business processes within the given project budget.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Research projects (MSOD); Information technology; Organizational change

Date of Award

2011

School Affiliation

Graziadio Business School

Department/Program

Business

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Masters

Faculty Advisor

Egan, Terri;

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