Enterprise resource planning systems and communicative action

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems represent a quantum leap in integrated, entity-wide information systems. Managers are implementing these enterprise-wide systems in organizations of all sizes and types. Ironically, by implementing such all-encompassing and prespecified systems, organizational managers in effect lose control of the strategic and operational processes and models that frame and instantiate the enterprise's management information system and ultimately their actions. These systems are designed and developed by the software vendor and the “best-practices” are embedded in the standardized software by the vendor's system developers. We develop a framework grounded in Habermas’ theory of communicative action that provides a description of the context within which ERP systems are developed and implemented. The framework also facilitates a critique of the underlying ideologies and assumptions associated with, and incorporated into, the ERP system design. The presentation opens with a discussion of ERP systems and the extent of their proliferation over the organizational landscape. The implications for the management and control of work organizations are also considered. Next, a Habermasian framework is developed and used in analyzing the cultural and social context within which ERP systems are developed and implemented. The efficacy of the system is illustrated using a reported system implementation.