Knowledge Integration as a Key Problem in an ERP Implementation

While previous studies have focused mainly on the potential benefits and critical success factors associated with ERP implementation, very few have explored the important issues of impediments encountered, especially from a knowledge integration perspective. We have adopted a knowledge integration view that focuses not on the distribution and adoption of particular technological artifacts (ERP systems), but on the knowledge integration processes involved in implementation. The focus of this case study is to understand the nature, structure and process of knowledge integration that occurs during ERP implementation. The paper has identified the integration of knowledge as a key problem in ERP implementation. We discovered four reasons: (1) knowledge is embedded in complex organizational processes; (2) knowledge is embedded in legacy systems; (3) knowledge is embedded in externally based processes; and (4) knowledge is embedded in the ERP system. Based on our analysis, we further suggest that to overcome these impediments to knowledge integration requires the development of interpersonal relations (one-to-one based) and community relations (group-based).