Maximizing Return on Investment Using ERP Applications

THE JOURNEY

First, however, let’s start with a definition of leadership. Leadership journeys have evolved over the years by analyzing successes to discover what seems to have worked and what has not. John Kotter developed his approach to leadership and change management principles and tools that started with his book A Force for Change: How Leadership and Management Differ and has followed that book with several others about leadership principles in change programs.1 We will adopt Kotter’s basic model of leadership as the starting point for this discussion. Kotter talks about the three components of effective leadership as being able to

1. Develop a compelling vision for the organization.

2. Align organizational leaders to the collective vision.

3. Motivate and inspire the organization.

Kotter’s second principle requires the leader to align his or her staff with the vision that has been created. There is an assumption implicit in this that the leadership team has sufficient skills to execute its functions in support of this vision, both individually and collectively. This assumption, however, is often incorrect when it pertains to the relationship between business processes and the IT applications that define and institutionalize them. Although this may seem like artificially adding another element to Kotter’s basic model, we believe that this is far from the truth. There are some business visions that may not rely heavily on IT changes in order to achieve them, but it is ...