本研究闡述一個建置及使用企業資源規劃系統超過十年的大型組織個案。採用科技的社會形塑觀點，研究體現於企業資源規劃系統的全域結構與區域結構之間的衝突互動。本個案研究發現，企業資源規劃系統的封閉與穩定化是暫時性的。穩定與顛覆是不停的在循環，它顯示在建置與使用大型企業資訊系統時，所謂的「共識型封閉」絕不是如同過去研究所說的那麼簡單。在達成共識之前，會出現不同類型的封閉型態以暫時結束區域結構與全域結構之間的衝突互動。區域結構傾向於主導使用者早期如何從事企業資源規劃系統的運用，而組織在後期轉向企業資源規劃系統的標準結構。於個案中顯示，結構制定與選用兩種技術使用行為同時存在，並隨著時間而有不同程度的顯著性。藉由科技的社會形塑觀點，同時包含行動者衝突互動與脈絡影響，本研究結果能更深入了解暫時性的穩定封閉是如何及何時被打破、改變而再次達到另一個穩定封閉的過程。

This study reports a case study of a large organization which has implemented and used enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) for more than 10 years. Adopting the view of social shaping of technology (SST) to study the dialectical interplay between the global structures embodied in the ERP and the local structures, the case study finds that the ERP closure is provisional. There is a cycle of stabilization and destabilization. It shows that closure by consensus in the implementation and use of large scale, enterprise-wide information systems is by no means as simple as previous researchers suggested. Our results demonstratethat before reaching a consensus, different types of closure can emerge to temporarily end the dialectical interplay between the local structures and the global structures. While local practices tend to dominate how users engage with the ERP initially, the organization turns to the standard inscriptions later. Both the behaviors of structure enactment and appropriations are found and have different levels of salience over time. This study provides a better understanding of how, why and when the provisional closure is opened, changed, and re-closed over time from the SST perspective including both actor interplay and contextual influence.

Firms often face challenging issues such as organizational change, conflicts, and resistance when they adopt large scale information systems that could have wide range influences on the enterprise. Problems of misalignments between system and business processes and conflicts in laws and cultures, especially when a system is implemented across borders, make the introduction of enterprise system difficult. ERP characterized by “best practices” and powerful functions of information integration nevertheless can become a critical tool for global firms to obtain real-time business information, increase the visibility of value chain, and enhance responsiveness to market changes. This study investigates the dialectical interplay among different actors and the contextual impacts on ERP implementation and usage. Our results help managers understand these processes more thoroughly, reduce the difficulties of system implementation, and thus better utilize the system. Taking a polarized approach (e.g. a vanilla approach versus customization strategy) to ERP implementation and use may be problematic or even impractical. A pure vanilla approach is impractical because there are always local contingencies that the global technology cannot foresee or cope with in advance. In the same vein, taking a customization approach also appears problematic because in so doing one may create another big legacy system that reproduces the dis-integrated social structures and decreases the benefits of process and data integration expected from implementing the ERP system. Therefore, while seeking to resolve the misalignments between ERP and local business processes, managers should know that the resolution of misalignments does not necessarily contribute to organizational efficiency, especially when the customizations are just to satisfy operational convenience of the users or old business routines. Managers are suggested to pay more attention to the nature of misalignments. Mechanisms and classification schemes should be setup to evaluate and classify the misalignments before beginning to resolve them. By deep reflection on the nature of misalignments, managers can reexamine the fundamental assumptions of organizational practices and the global solutions and thereby identify better, if not the best, resolution strategy. Social alliance can have great influence on shaping the resultant ERP. The functional constitution of the social alliance portraying the adoption of the ERP largely defines the scope of ERP implementation and use. The social alliance constituted by IT and user departments enrolls, facilitates, and stabilizes the technology by implementing selective ERP modules within their business scopes. The scoping and stabilizing, however, may come with a price: numerous non-standard interfaces and data inconsistencies as most ERP modules are excluded. Therefore, managers should be aware of both the positive and negative effects of social alliance when trying to build and maintain the actor-network corresponding to the ERP.

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