Organisational politics and enterprise resources planning implementation: an examination of the influence of political skills

This study shows how ERP implementers' political skills influence the ERP implementation in a higher education institution. It employs a qualitative case study methodology, using semi-structured interviews with ERP implementers and employees from a single organisation. It demonstrates how political skills, such as coalition building, the use of power, networking abilities, the use of narratives, and compromise, all play a role in, and influence, the success of ERP implementation. This study employs social influence theory, to inform the data collection and analysis methods, in order to demonstrate how political skills influence the success of ERP implementation. The results demonstrate that political skills primarily influence the decisions made in the implementation of an ERP, and also when facilitating the acceptance of the relevant systems by connecting the goals of all the actors involved, thereby helping to achieve the organisation's satisfaction with the ERP.