The impacts of charismatic leadership style on team cohesiveness and overall performance during ERP implementation

Though several key enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation factors, including top management commitment and support, change management, and consultants' support haven been broadly discussed in literature, other factors such as leadership style and team cohesiveness have recently received more attention in technical project implementation [Thite M. Leadership styles in information technology projects. International Journal of Project Management 2000:18;235-41; Jiang JJ, Klein G, Chenoun-Gee H. The relative influence of IS project implementation policies and project leadership on eventual outcomes. Project Management Journal 2001;32(3):49-55]. The charismatic leadership style has often been adopted by organizational leaders, primarily in Asian countries including Taiwan. The present study, based upon the team leadership theory proposed by Zaccaro, Rittman, and Marks [The sociology of religion [Transl. Ephraim Fischoff]. Boston: Beacon Press; 1963], serves as an initial step towards understanding the impacts of charismatic leadership style on ERP implementation. Three-hundred companies listed in the “Top 500 of The Largest Corporations in Taiwan 2001,” that have implemented ERP systems, were surveyed. The results confirm that leaders should demonstrate more charismatic behaviors to establish the ERP project team members' cohesiveness and, thus, improve team performance. The positive relationship between team cohesiveness and overall team performance was also statistically supported. Implications on future study are discussed.