The Impact of Using an Erp System on Organizational Processes and Individual Employees of an Italian Regional Government Organization

The impact of using an ERP system on organizational processes and individual employees of an Italian regional government organization Alessandro Spano* Benedetta Bellò*
This paper reports the results of the second phase of a research project started in 2008-2009 on the impact of the introduction of an ERP system in a public sector organization. The research aims at investigating the impact of ERP systems on organizational processes and individual employees by analyzing a case study of an Italian Regional Council that has introduced such a system. In the previous phase the research findings of an exploratory pilot survey provided important suggestions for a further in-depth analysis of the impact on both organizational processes and individual employees. The research provided confirmation of findings, available in the literature on ERP system implementation, such as the fact that ERP helped to increase work quality and efficiency. However, it also shown that ERP systems did not have a significant impact on business processes, so contradicting one of the most common research findings related to ERP system implementation. The aim of the exploratory survey, carried out through a questionnaire, was to identify constructs and sub-constructs relevant to the study context (Sedera et al., 2003). The second phase of the research, aimed at increasing the understanding of the constructs found and the relations between them, will be conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, such as: Focus Groups; they will provide a significant amount of qualitative data (Krueger, 1994) that will be analysed through an ethnographic and systemic methodology. Criteria to select participants, prepare the focus-setting, collect and analyse data will be defined in advance; they will involve a selected sample of employees from different departments; data will be analysed using software programs such as AtlasT (content analysis); Structured questionnaire, based on the

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