SCIENCES DE LA SOCIÉTÉ - N° 61 - février 2004
The myth of an integrated organization. The case of ERP
Edited by Denis SEGRESTIN, Jean-Louis DARRÉON and Pascale TROMPETTE

Denis SEGRESTIN, The ERP between the return to normalty and the invention of possibility  [Text in french]
Patrick GILBERT, Pierre LECLAIR, Embedded management systems : an illusion of modernity ?
Jean-Luc GUFFOND, Gilbert LECONTE, ERP, a powerful device for organizing industrial change
Laure LEMAIRE, Gérard VALENDUC, Inflexibility and malleability : the duality of ERP
Bénédicte GEFFROY-MARONNAT, Redouane EL AMRANI, Frantz ROWE, Information system integration and cross-functionality. A comparison between the approach used by SMEs and by large companies
Marie BOITIER, ERP : a means of company control ?
Isabelle BAZET, Anne MAYÈRE, Trade-off between management performance and industrial performance :
setting up an ERP
Dominique VINCK, Igor RIVERA, Bernard PENZ, Good reasons for the failure of a technical project : the social implications of its impact
Emmanuel KESSOUS, Céline MOUNIER, Coordination and exchange in a sales group : a case of the implementation of a customer relation management tool
Sylvain THINE, The effect of ERP on the field of consultancy

ARGUMENTS
Philippe JEANNIN, Penser l'évaluation de la recherche. Le cas des sciences humaines et sociales en France

NOTES DE LECTURE

FORUM EN LIGNE

 
Patrick GILBERT, Pierre LECLAIR, Embedded management systems : an illusion of modernity ?

Abstract
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems are vaunted as the ultimate in modernity. Based on the most advanced technologies and best practices, this would indeed appear to be the case. Appearances however can be deceptive, as with the « trompe-l'oeil » in the world of art. In the same way that a computer generated image presents the viewer not with reality but with an idealized form of reality, ERP produces an image of a company in all its modernity. However, efforts to transform the reality of the company (via Business Process Reengineering), in order to conform to this ideal, are faced with significant obstacles.

Keywords : ERP, strategy, structure, management system.

 
Jean-Luc GUFFOND, Gilbert LECONTE, ERP, a powerful device for organizing industrial change

Abstract
Today it is well understood that the introduction of ERP into a firm is a vector of organizational change. What happens, however, once the use of ERP has become part of the routine ? This precise question is tackled here, through the detailed observation of some ten firms which adopted ERP some time ago. Results show that if the qualities which such tools are cut out for ­ basically standardization and integration ­ are still effective in the everyday working of an organization, these effects are always complex, even paradoxical. Work activities are nonetheless profoundly modified. Undoubtedly, ERP constitutes a powerful and sturdy system for industrial change.

Keywords : ERP, information systems, computer integration, tools management, industrial change.

 
Laure LEMAIRE, Gérard VALENDUC, Inflexibility and malleability : the duality of ERP

Abstract
What is the impact of ERP systems on the quality of work, workers' skills and their training needs ? This is the focus of research carried out in Belgian enterprises in 2001-2002. The results are based on case studies and on a register of events in the implementation of ERP. Factors on which the success or failure of ERP implementation depend emerge from the research. Success factors are related to management strategies for mastering organisational change and acknowledging users' new skills, while failures are linked to the rigidity and vulnerability of the technical system and to the uncertain cost/ benefit balance. Managing the risks for enterprises and employees entails an increased investment in training at all levels. Could the structuring power of ERP systems be seen, in the end, as a resurgent technological determinism ? Not really, in so far as fatalism in decision-making does not imply determinism in technology. We suggest distinguishing the different roles of technology in order to understand how and why ERP systems entail specific kinds of interaction between technology and work.

Keywords : NIT, work, factors of success and failure, interaction.

 
Bénédicte GEFFROY-MARONNAT, Redouane EL AMRANI, Frantz ROWE, Information system integration and cross-functionality. A comparison between the approach used by SMEs and by large companies

Abstract
With the arrival of ERP systems, companies can finally aim at reconciling the integration of their information system and a process approach. In this article, the authors show that the organisational context of smes and large companies results in different forms of information system integration and that smes can obtain a cross-functional vision of the organisation more easily. Based on five case studies, the authors highlight certain systems which give rise to cognitive and managerial integration associated with the ERP system.

Keywords : ERP, information system integration, cross-functionality, large companies, SME.

 
Marie BOITIER, ERP : a means of company control ?

Abstract
ERP was created during the 1990s in response to a need for rationalizing company information systems. However, apart from the technical aspect, the question of the model of organisation and of control in this system needs to be addressed. In that perspective, the purpose of this article is to examine the kind of control ERP can be used for, taking into account structuring mechanisms of a technical and economic type and the socio-political interplay characteristic of the adoption of this kind of technology

Keywords : ERP, management control systems, financial accounting, organisation models.

 
Isabelle BAZET, Anne MAYÈRE, Trade-off between management performance and industrial performance : setting up an ERP

Abstract
The dynamics involved in the setting up of ERP fall within the field of organization. This article presents different organizational steps and scenes based on a selection of interviews, observations and documents collected on the premises of a big industrial group. The identification of noticeable tension leads to the analysis of problems of understanding, domination and legitimatisation which in turn reflect on the different levels of performance which co-exist.

Keywords : organizing, structuration theory, control, interpretative scheme, contemporary productive organization.

 
Dominique VINCK, Igor RIVIERA, Bernard PENZ, Good reasons for the failure of a technical project : the social implications of its impact

Abstract
This paper concerns the introduction of ERP in an industrial company. It describes the on-going dynamics : preparation, decision, choice and implementation. The situation examined turned out to be a failure ; the publisher went bankrupt and the company had to relinquish its initial project. The inquiry is based on direct observation of the field. The case study is exposed as a means of reconsidering the relations between techniques and organisation, the dynamics of socio-technical changes and learning. The paper offers a new analysis in terms of distributed action.

Keywords : technical determinism, learning, anticipation, mediation, distributed action, failure, impact.

 
Emmanuel KESSOUS, Cécile MOUNIER, Coordination and exchange in a sales group : a case of the implementation of a customer relation management tool

Abstract
A customer relation management tool can primarily be evaluated in its daily use by professionals. The wealth of their information input is just as important as the coherence between the process and the technical system. By analyzing the outline of a crm project, this article highlights the tension inherent in striving to include its two domains : one dedicated to ongoing business and the other to long-term management of client files.

Keywords : cooperation, coordination, control, service relationship, customer relationship, CRM, information system.

 
Sylvain THINE, The effect of ERP on the field of consultancy

Abstract
In this article, we analyse the impact of ERP on the consultancy field. This technical and managerial innovation boosted the consulting business in the 90s and modified many aspects of this field. The ERP consulting profession came into being and now accounts for about 12,000 consultants. Whereas ERP enabled the major consulting firms with a capacity for big projects to consolidate their position it edged out smaller firms whose role in ERP is limited to that of project management. The origin of the consulting firm is a decisive factor which differentiates those set up by Anglo-Saxon audit offices, management agencies, data processing firms and freelancers. However, the major strategy consulting agencies seem to have been hardly effected by the arrival of ERP. Finally, the significant changes mentioned have not modified the field structure.

Keywords : ERP, consulting, consultant, software editor, strategy, management.