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Figure 2. Assessment of the assimilation level in companies A, B, C and D
tem deployment at managerial activities and the
degree of employees' ownership of the system.
systems and redundant data, and a strict control of
system use could eliminate deficiencies and force
system deployment for at least basic user tasks.
Another lesson learned from this research is that
middle managers' involvement and ownership of
the system is crucial to encouraging system assimi-
lation in their departments (Yu, 2005). Also, users'
involvement during the post-implementation stage
is a valuable ingredient for system acceptance and
assimilation. With their situated practice, users
learn more about the system limitations and start
suggesting changes and modifications to satisfy
their needs. Elements such as education level,
seniority, IT proficiency, and openness to change
are factors that could moderate the impact of us-
ers' involvement.
Our analysis highlights the organizational
culture, as an important factor for promoting
assimilation and system success (Ifinedo, 2007).
ERP assimilation would be greater and easier
if the organizational culture values IT and IT
strategies and objectives. Our data analysis also
showed that open cultures that promote learning,
transparency, knowledge and information shar-
ing, innovation and cooperation are more likely
to assimilate the system well than those that lack
these characteristics.
Another important insight is that a skilled and
competent internal IT/ERP team is a significant
discussion
The primary objective of this study was to explore
the determinants of a successful ERP assimila-
tion. A relative commonality exists across the
studied companies regarding the determining and
constraining factors for achieving a high level of
ERP assimilation. First, this study affirms that
regardless of national differences, top management
financial and moral support is strongly related to
effective ERP assimilation. Top management's
knowledge about the system, its potential for the
company, and its requirements should be regu-
larly reviewed and updated. Clear and effective
communication is also necessary between the
ERP/IT manager and top management in order to
dispel any resistance, lack of trust in the system,
or confusion resulting from the challenges of the
post-installation stage. A main task of top manage-
ment is ensuring the continuous alignment of the
system with the business vision and strategy, and
communicating the latter clearly in the firm. In
order to reinforce the effective deployment of the
system across the organization, top management
could reinforce the policies prohibiting parallel
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