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Organizational structure and enterprise systems implementation: Theoretical measures and a benchmark for customer teams

Carlo Gabriel Porto Bellini (Graduate School of Management, UFPB, João Pessoa, Brazil)
Rita de Cássia de Faria Pereira (Graduate School of Management, UFPB, João Pessoa, Brazil)
João Luiz Becker (Graduate School of Management, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil)

Information Technology & People

ISSN: 0959-3845

Article publication date: 1 August 2016

2997

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the structural design of customer teams (CuTes) working with external teams to implement customized information systems (IS). Design consists of theoretically based measures and a first set of real-world, empirical values.

Design/methodology/approach

A search in the organizational literature suggested that the adhocracy is the preferred structure for CuTes. Adhocracy-like measures were then developed and applied to a high-performance CuTe to reveal a first benchmark for a team’s adhocratic design.

Findings

High-performance CuTes do not necessarily implement the adhocratic principles to the highest degree.

Research limitations/implications

It is still open whether all the structural measures described here are necessary and sufficient to describe the adhocracy-like structural design of CuTes.

Practical implications

The CuTe is highlighted as the key incumbent of cooperation with the technology supplier and consultants in terms of project authority and responsibility. A psychometric instrument and real-world values are proposed as a reference for the structural design of high-performance CuTes.

Social implications

The performance of IS projects is a social concern, since IS products should be aimed at serving people better both inside and outside the organization. Professionals who work in CuTes to develop better IS should receive institutional recognition and management attention.

Originality/value

This study seems to be the first to discuss the structure of CuTes in customized IS projects from a theoretical and applied perspective.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the organizations involved in their research and to the interviewees who kindly provided the empirical data. The authors are also in debt with IT & People ' s editor, Dr Robert Davison, and two anonymous reviewers for the very profitable learning experience. The authors also thank Dr Doncho Petkov (Eastern Connecticut State University), Dr Daniel Lacerda (Unisinos), Dr Juliana Herbert (Unisinos), Dr Denis Borenstein (UFRGS), Dr Angela Brodbeck (UFRGS), Dr Pedro de Moura (UFPB), and PhD Candidate Rony Rodrigues (UFPB) for commenting on earlier drafts of this paper.

Citation

Bellini, C.G.P., Pereira, R.d.C.d.F. and Becker, J.L. (2016), "Organizational structure and enterprise systems implementation: Theoretical measures and a benchmark for customer teams", Information Technology & People, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 527-555. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-04-2014-0076

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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