35. Toward Understanding Contradictions in Enterprise System Implementations: Insights from a Case Study

This chapter presents findings from a study of the implementation of an enterprise system in an organization. The implementation process is viewed from a dialectic perspective, which means thinking in terms of contradictions. This chapter raises the following research question: how can we understand contradictions in enterprise system (ES) implementations? To answer this question, an interpretive research approach was chosen. The empirical part is a longitudinal case study. The system was in this case an innovative combination of collaboration and information management technologies. The main contradiction studied in this case was between an as-is implementation of standard software and an implementation fulfilling the organizational requirements of solution integration and user experience. To understand the issues involved in this dialectic of adaptation, three different perspectives are applied. These are (1) considering ES vendor challenges, (2) exploring contradictions in the chartering phase, and (3) understanding contradictions in the project phase. This chapter contributes to understanding how the dialectic of adaptation may emerge and presents three perspectives for understanding contradictions that may occur as an enterprise system is implemented. This understanding may help to constructively deal with dialectics in future enterprise system implementations. Implications for both research and practice are outlined.