Dispersed agency and improvisation during the strategic management of change

This study explores the successful design and global implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in a Multi-national Corporation (MNC). It examines the notion of dispersed change agency and investigates the part played by change teams focussing on the roles, interactions and competencies of change agents tasked with managing ERP change. A processual research methodology was used in the collection of of data through participant observation, face-to-face interviews, documentary evidence and telephone interviews. This article draws on data collected as part of the Paris case study and examines how their ERP change strategy was designed and globally implemented in SUND. A key finding centres on questioning conventional notions of leadership in highlighting the importance of dispersed change agency and clusters of competencies in facilitating the improvisation of strategies during processes of change.