Understanding Role-Oriented Enterprise Systems: From Vendors to Customers

Enterprise Systems (ES) are generally considered the price of entry for running a business. With the increased scope of ESs to encompass nearly every function or business process of a modern organization, an increasing number of different users are adopting and using the systems. These users occupy a number of different organizational roles which include a wide variety of different tasks in organizations and have very different requirements for ESs. To ensure a better fit between users and ESs, a number of ES vendors have begun to focus on reflecting the concept of organizational roles of users in their systems. Limited research has, however, addressed these “role-oriented” ESs; this dissertation attempts to provide a better understanding of them by studying their design, implementation, and use. The research design for this dissertation is based on Case Studies and the Grounded Theory Method with qualitative empirical data collected across three types of actors in an ES ecosystem: Vendors; partner companies; and customers. The findings are primarily presented in six appended research papers that are aimed at both researchers and practitioners. The main contribution of the dissertation is an improved understanding of: Representation of organizational roles in the deep and surface structures of ESs; the mapping, configuration, and tailoring of predefined systems roles to fit actual roles of users in organizations; and the potential benefits and role-related misfits of role-oriented ESs. Through discussion of the findings, the dissertation also illustrates how the design of role-oriented ESs is influenced by the different actors in an ecosystem. The dissertation also illustrates how systems, organizations, processes, and roles can be aligned during implementation by shifting basis and conceptual focus in the requirements analysis. Finally, the dissertation explains the impact of roleoriented technology on organizational performance and how this technology may influence the existing perception of the role taking process in organizations.