Introduction
This study, which is going to be described in this report, is about the implementation of enterprise systems in different organizations. The selected article used critical factors to analyze how organizations implement enterprise systems. For effective learning about organizational enterprise systems, it analyzed two different organizations and how they implemented enterprise systems. Both selected organizations have recently implemented enterprise systems in their operations and culture, but both have different results from the implementation of enterprise systems (Ke, 2016).
Based on empirical evidence, this study has provided the main reasons for the different results of the implementation of enterprise systems. It has concluded that enterprise systems are the most important factors that create differences in results and outcomes of different organizations by implementing the same system. There are four most important factors discovered, which include knowledge acquisition, distribution of information among staff and management about the implementation, different interpretations of the information in different organizations, which create different outcomes and results for both, and the memory of the organization. Every organization has a different memory, so the outcomes of the system implementation are different from each other.
Multinational Organizations And Global Organizations
Multinational organizations are companies that operate in some countries but not in all countries of the world. These organizations have geographical representatives of their presence, and they are running their operations at the national level in different nations. Multinational companies are linked with the main headquarters in the home country, and these are financially linked. Most multinational companies have adopted the same strategies and decisions as headquarters and home-country organizations. They have different cultures in different nations because organizational culture needs to adopt country-specific culture.
On the other hand, global organizations are companies that operate at the international level in all countries of the world. The main difference in global organizations is that they have the independence to operate and deliver products and services. These can deliver their products everywhere and anywhere in the world. The projects of global organizations are not bound to the home-country operations, and these have robust knowledge of the management system. These companies share information when there is a need to share the most important information among different nations’ companies linked as global organizations (Johnson, 2017). This study includes one global organization and one multinational organization.
Knowledge Management System
The knowledge management system is the complete process of creating and sharing important information among organizations. It is also about managing and using important information while protecting hidden information. It uses a multidisciplinary approach for achieving organizational goals and objectives with the best use of information.
Information And Knowledge Management System
This system is about creating relevance among information and different knowledge management systems of different organizations. It is about any kind of information system that is an information technology system for collaboration, for locating knowledge resources, and for using knowledge in organizations (KMT, 2016). This management system has the responsibility to use information in a secure form so that it is not revealed to competitors in the market.
About Organizations In Case
This case is about organizational learning through the implementation of the enterprise system. It has used two different organizations in this study for evaluation purposes. These two organizations have different cultures and different locations.
The first organization used in this study for the analysis is CPM Company, which is a PC organization. It is a personal-computer and computer-peripheral manufacturing organization that has almost 800 employees. It is located in South China. It is an international organization that performs its services and deals with international customers.
The second organization used and selected by this study is MEM, a publicly listed multinational company and an electronics manufacturing organization. It has 750 employees in its organization and is located in North China.
Both selected organizations have different structures, as one is a multinational company and the other is a global company. Both have different numbers of employees and locations. Because both organizations have different locations, their cultures differ by location. Both organizations have implemented the enterprise system, and both have been evaluated by outcomes after the implementation of the enterprise system to determine which has better performance and what factors are the main causes of different results, as both are manufacturing organizations and have implemented the same system in recent years.
Current State Of Organizational Strategy
According to the CIO of the CPM organization, the management faced many difficulties before the implementation of the enterprise system. It adopted the enterprise system during the crisis. Management decision-making and interdependency for coordination increase the strategic problems for the company. Due to the fast expansion in business, it became ineffective in its early adoption of enterprise systems. There was a lack of information support among management, and data on business was located in different departments.
There was chaotic coordination among the different departments. For example, the accounting system of this organization did not record sales for a long period and missed delivered goods, and that system was corrected by physical count.
The other organization, MEM, has a goal to cut down costs and reduce the lead time in the organization. It focuses on the integration of databases which are located in different countries. By following the current strategy, this organization is required to adopt the enterprise system in its organization, mainly in its headquarters, as it is a multinational company and has a link with headquarters operations.
The implementation of this system has reduced costs along with the lead time of the company to provide the products after manufacturing. Knowledge sharing in this organization is from the company’s headquarters to the sites, and it provides training by an expert team about different languages and different cultures. Trainers provide training in the different spoken languages of employees. Although training is provided in different languages, the employees and management faced the issue of the language barrier, which was resolved by the personnel manager, who described and explained the matter to the employees effectively.
Learning Organization Strategy
CPM, as an international organization, does not focus much on educating its employees. This organization has no specific learning strategy, as it has very little information about the implementation of the enterprise system. With the implementation of this system, they accept that they have no knowledge about it, as it is much different from the other old system which was implemented in the organization.
They have started to get consultancy about the use of this system from an external consultant, as there is no management member who has knowledge about the enterprise system. By getting consultancy from an external consultant, it has started its learning about this system, and it is very difficult to convey the same learning to its employees.
In MEM, at the very start of ES implementation, employees started to complain about the increasing difficulties in learning, and it was suggested that there was a need to hire a native-speaking consultant who would reduce this complaint of the employees about learning. It focuses on learning strategies for reducing the organizational problems of employees.
However, after the investigation, it was analyzed that it would be a waste of time to hire external consultants, which would increase costs, while the strategy of the company is to reduce costs. So, it was decided that employees should focus on reducing the language issue, and it did not hire the external consultant.
Learning Organization Leadership Issues
Both organizations face some leadership issues regarding learning. In the CPM organization, the leaders participate in decision-making in an effective way, and every decision is finalized by the active participation of management and leaders. This organization has a complete structure for sharing information and learning, but MEM leaders have not participated in decision-making. It has left the most important decisions to the expert teams, as leadership has a smaller role in the organization because it focuses on external and expert teams to make important decisions about learning.
It faces leadership issues as it has no control scheme for effective management in the organization. It also faces the language barrier, which is a leadership issue because every employee requires special attention to understand the information. Leaders in this organization face the issue that they have little information about decisions of the organization, and there is a low level of communication.
National Cultural Issues
CPM has international employees, but the national employees are in the respective national organizations. It focuses on the culture and has organized social gatherings in the organization in which it offers free lunches. It believes that social gatherings allow employees belonging to different cultures to share their values and increase trust. So, it has a trusted culture in the organization. The culture of this firm enables the employees to share different opinions and increases organizational learning.
Although MEM does not face cultural issues at the national level, it has been facing many cultural issues. Employees in this organization belong to different cultures, so they do not want to share different ideas. When discussing cultural problems in meetings, employees remain silent and do not express their problems.
In this way, the organization faces the issue that it does not understand the real problem and considers that it has no open sharing of ideas. The general manager explains that the employees can speak in his presence, but he is not free at all times to be present in all meetings. So, it is not covering its national cultural issues.
Learning Organization Structured And Cultural Issues
CPM has not been facing cultural and structural issues as it has shared the culture and structure in which leaders and managers participate with employees. MEM has been facing issues of culture, which are described above, as well as structural issues, as it has a competitive structure and mistrust among its employees. This mistrust is a big issue for this organization.
National Cultures Issues By Using Knowledge Index And Knowledge Economic Index
The rating for cultural issues will be 10. All the issues which are common are defined in the table under the cultural issues heading. The knowledge index and the knowledge economic index have been evaluated for cultural issues.
| Companies | CPM | MEM | ||||
| National cultural issues | Language barriers | Leadership issues | High employee turnover | Language barriers | Leadership issues | High employee turnover |
| (KI) Knowledge Index | 2.3 | 2 | 1 | 7.8 | 8.5 | 9 |
| Knowledge Economic Index (KEI | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 7.6 |
Conclusion
It is concluded that this study has evaluated the different issues related to the implementation of enterprise systems in both companies that were selected for this study. It is analyzed that CPM has little effect and a low rate of cultural problems, as CPM has the best culture that is supported by the employees.
It is also evaluated that MEM has problems with employees’ cultural differences. There is no sharing of information among employees, and the employees in this organization face the issue of language barriers. There is low cooperation from the management side, and there is no cooperation from the employees. It has also been evaluated that MEM has increasing barriers in its organization.
References
Johnson, W. (2017). Differences Between International Organizations & Multinational Corporations. Retrieved from https://bizfluent.com/info-12079644-differences-between-international-organizations-multinational-corporations.html
Ke, W. (2016). Organizational Learning Process: Its Antecedents and Consequences in Enterprise System Implementation. Retrieved from DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-630-3.ch017
KMT. (2016). What are Knowledge Management Systems? Retrieved from https://www.knowledge-management-tools.net/knowledge-management-systems.html
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