ROLE OF ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SYSTEMS IN MANAGING CHANGE : A CASE OF PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATION

Abstract

Organizational change is a indispensable phenomenon for the development of any organization; and the Enterprise Resource
Planning Systems play a vital role in the development of the modern organizations by integrating the decision making
process. The present study was conducted on 150 executives at NTPC, Rihandnagar, India. In this survey a questionnaire
comprising of three dimensions communication of objectives and process of change, perceived effectiveness of training,
and resistance to change was administered. The obtained data was analysed using percentage and t-test. The results
indicate that communication was the best facilitator of managing change in comparison to other dimensions. The results
also show that the perceived effectiveness of training was found to be satisfactory and at the same time, resistance to
change was low among the executives. The technical and the non- technical executives significantly differ on communication
of the objective and process of change; and the level of the resistance to change was found to be significantly higher in the
non-technical employees in comparison technical employees. The results also indicate that the mean score of the level of
the resistance was also significantly higher in the higher executives than the lower executives. So, it is suggested that the
organisation must communicate the objectives to each and every executive of the organisation as all executives are part of
the organizational system. It was also revealed that the lower executives were not well informed about the objectives of
ERP systems. The supervisors and workers must also be involved in the change process.