1. Review of the topic
7.4 Recommendations and implications
124 The findings of this research could be used to support existing literature on organisational and project governance to remind organisations to recognise their own methods of governance, where it sits on the stakeholder versus shareholder and controls versus outcomes continuums of project governance, and the possibly helpful effect that a more stakeholder focused approach to project governance can have on the achievement of ERP project success.
The research of Yazici (2009) discovered that the inherent organisational culture has an influence on the success of their projects, and that organisations that adopt a governance approach that is inclusive of most stakeholder’s interest, promotes connectedness amongst teams, and shows the committed pursuit of shared values have a greater chance of achieving project success. In addition, a governance structure in organisations that favours a stakeholder and shared-values approach is indicative of the principles of stewardship theory existing as an explanation of the dynamics of the stakeholder relationships with the organisation (Donaldson & Davis, 1991; Joslin & Müller, 2016; Müller & Lecoeuvre, 2014).
However, Pitsis, Sankaran, Gudergan and Clegg (2014) explain that beneficial stewardship type relationships can only exist within an organisation that is experiencing positive financial and operational success, and that most of the employees, top management and directors have the relevant psychological capabilities. Organisations that, over time, find their performance declining due to a poor business climate or increase in competition, may opt to change or enhance their governance methodologies through the implementation of extreme oversight of controls and procedures has proven to lead to staff, management and project team members adopting behaviours that are more associated with the negative aspects of agency theory (Müller et al., 2013; Pitsis et al., 2014).
In conclusion, in order to determine the suitable governance methodologies to apply within an organisation and onto ERP projects, the current business environment that the organisation finds itself in, and therefore the governance structure it has adopted to adapt to this environment must be assessed, and the consequences that result in terms of the relationship types that resemble the characterises of either an agency or stewardship perception must be taken into account, as well as the implications mentioned in the following section.
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7.4.1 Practical implications for business and management
Specific project stakeholders, such as project managers, project sponsors, project steering committees, and the heads of departments in which the project is being executed, should be made aware, when designing their project management and governance models, of the significant role that a more stakeholder orientated approach to governance can play in helping to achieve ERP project success. This concept could be in certain educational of training programs at academic institutions and within business, and tailored to project architects, project managers, and business decision makers. This notion should be included in any educational programs that include topics surrounding governance, project governance, management training, organisational design, and the like.
Within all of the above, the managers and decision makers on projects should be educated on the implications that strictly designed control and process structures, or a complete lack of structure with a complete reliance and trust in the experience of the project team members, that leans excessively on either end of the project governance control continuum can have on the chances of the ERP project being successful, as either of these two governance approaches implemented in isolation do not have a correlation with ERP project success.
The findings of this research should also be of interest to human resource department managers and recruiters as they should ensure that current and potential project managers and project team members have the relevant personality traits in line with that of preforming a stewardship type of role that suits the methods pf project governance orientation that favours the stakeholder approach.
Finally, ERP project managers should make themselves aware of their own organisation’s governance frameworks and method, and that of the client’s, and collaborate with that organisations governance authorities in order to refine or adopt these methods to the required governance approach on the project to be executed.
7.4.2 Theoretical implications
This study leveraged off the project success construct questions as presented by Khan et al., (2013), and as grouped into the separate project success dimensions by Joslin and Müller (2016). However, as these questions were adapted by the researcher to be specific to ERP projects, and not projects in general, an exploratory factor analysis on all project success questions revealed a different grouping structure for the questions, suggesting that there are different dimensions for ERP project success.
126 Stewardship theory, as operationalised by Müller and Lecoeuvre (2014) to explain the side of project governance orientation that is swayed towards the interest of all stakeholders and the side of project governance control that is more swayed toward that of a focus on projects outcomes, can be seen as a suitable theoretical lens for deciphering the intricacies of project governance. Stewardship theory, in conjunction with stakeholder theory, could therefore be put forward as suggested theories to be used for the creation and practice of project governance methodologies and principles.
At the same time, there are aspects if this study that show a few of the limits of the agency theory methods of project governance. This theory was also operationalised in this research to explain the side of project governance orientation that is swayed towards the interest just the owners or shareholders and the side of project governance control that is more swayed a strict focus on tight controls and processes. The results of this research show that an approach to governance that resembles the extremes of agency theory dynamic is not likely to have a positive impact on project results.
A pertinent theoretical implication discovered through this research is that for academics to attempt to build a more comprehensive theory for project governance, it should be considered that either a shareholder or stakeholder focused approach to project governance requires that it is employed in such a manner that allows it to thrive. Yet it may be implemented within an overarching corporate governance setting that may not support that approach which can create a conflict or points of resistance. Further academic research then may be required to clarify all the interaction points between organisational governance and project governance, as this can then be used as a method to sync up the two different forms of governance that exist at separate hierarchal levels within an organisation.
7.4.3 Suggestions for future Research
In addition to any suggestions made in section 7.4.2 above, further research around the topic of project governance and ERP project success should be done that focuses on the specific substance of the association between the different project success sub-dimensions and ERP project success. Although all the original (prior to the factor analysis of project success conducted as part of this research) different sub-groups of project success (project efficiency, organisational benefits, project impact, future potential, and stakeholder satisfaction) can be seen as being important, an argument can be made that some are more important than others.
Therefore, studies could be done to ascertain what project governance methods leads to the greatest chance of ERP project success for specific project success factors.
127 Further research could be applied to the confirmation of the applicability and appropriateness of the newly formed dimensions of ERP project success as discovered through the exploratory factor analysis on the original project success factors found in reviewing academic literature for this study.
Based on the relevant literature, this study made the assumption that the governance culture and principles inherent in an organisation is what predominantly determines the project governance orientation to be utilised. New research, both quantitative and qualitative, is required to ascertain if a specific governance structure or culture that is most suited to achieving the successful outcomes of ERP projects can be different to, exist independently of the governance structures adopted and inherent in the organisation as a whole.
Finally, future academics could attempt to explore the influence the different governance methods that have been discovered by past studies has on project success rates at the project portfolio level. This study focus on project governance, that is the method by which individual projects are governed, but by grouping all ERP projects embarked on by an organisation and determining how they are governed, known as the governance of projects (Müller, Zhai, Wang
& Shao, 2016), it can be investigated if the two governance methods are different and which types of governance orientation are most associated with ERP project success and ERP project portfolio success.