Mis-Institutionalization: Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)and Decision Making in Higher Education

• In Event: Risk Management and ERP

Abstract

This aim of this paper is to identify factors that contribute to effective use of Enterprise Resource Planning systems to align with strategic goals. This study seeks to build a model-based theory of factors which emerged from the lived experiences of higher education finance and technology executives. In the higher education sector external forces are influencing sources of funding that impact both public and private schools, and schools need to react to this “new normal” which we face. Yet in the wake of a rapidly changing environment, slow-moving organizations often find it difficult to respond. Although institutions of higher learning recognize the need to create better uses of data, this study demonstrates that the degree of decentralization prevalent in schools hinders the ability to do that effectively. Higher education seems to create problems for itself that may stem from an institutionalized culture which distorts the ability for schools to think systematically about strategy and implementing change. Schools rely heavily on data that has been mined from their core systems for decision making, yet the evolution to business analytics remains a struggle.

Author

• Cory A Campbell, Case Western Reserve University