Above all else, senior management must show belief in and a strong commitment to the change as well for it to succeed (Aladwani, 2001). Best practices in this area are achieved when companies rely on transformational or Coach-based leadership relative to transactional or authoritarian-based means (Ash, Burn, 2003). The greater the belief those most affected by the ERP implementation see the new system as a compliment to what they are doing, the lower the resistance to change. Senior management must take on a leadership role for this to happen however.

Lessons Learned

Based on the lessons learned from successful and unsuccessful ERP implementations, the key success factors of enabling top management leadership to take a role in defining risks and rewards of the new implementation is critical (Aladwani, 2001). Second, the ERP implementation must be "owned" by those most affected by fit for the change management program to be effective over time. This...

Trust is ultimately the most successful catalyst there is in enabling successful change management programs for ERP systems (Kemp, Low, 2008).
References

Aladwani, a.M. (2001). Change management strategies for successful ERP implementation. Business Process Management Journal, 7(3), 266-275.

Ash, C.G., & Burn, J.M. (2003). A strategic framework for the management of ERP enabled e-business change. European Journal of Operational Research, 146(2), 374-387.

Carton, F., Adam, F., & Sammon, D. (2008). Project management: A case study of a successful ERP implementation. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 1(1), 106-124.

Kemp, M.J., & Low, G.C. (2008). ERP innovation implementation model incorporating change management. Business Process Management Journal, 14(2), 228-242.