The management of cross-functional inter-dependencies in enterprise resource planning implementations: emergent coordination patterns

This paper reports a study examining cross-functional coordination in enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects. We collected primary data related to ERP implementations at four large organizations representing different industries and implementation strategies. These are presented through rich descriptions organized on the basis of an emergent process theory framework. Our case studies suggest that there are three main patterns of managing functional inter-dependencies: (a) A lean coordination pattern that involves intricately planned ‘vanilla’ implementations using reference process models and strong methodologies, (b) A rich coordination pattern that is based on managing inter-dependencies through organizing arrangements and cultural interventions, and (c) A mediation pattern that is based on executive mandate or a dominant functional unit laying out the rules of engagement. This study provides practical implications for industry managers engaged in large-scale enterprise system implementations. It also significantly advances theory by outlining and characterizing cross-functional coordination patterns. Our findings confirm that studying surface regularities as well as the underlying situated phenomena, in combination, can help in generating new insights for guiding ERP projects.