Decision Line, March 2010
7
Learning Business Process
Integration: Step by Step Is Only
the First Step
by Thomas F. Rienzo and Bernard T. Han,
Western Michigan University
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
software systems are critical to corpo-
rate deployment of digital processes that
are remaking global business competi-
tion (McAfee and Brynjolfsson, 2008) and
ERP-capable graduates continue to be
attractive to industrial employers (Yong-
beom, 2006; Boyle, 2006). The popularity
of ERP software among companies has
prompted business schools to incorpo-
rate ERP software into their curricula
since the late 1990s (Antonnuci et al.,
2001; Boyle, 2007). Business schools have
used ERP to demonstrate horizontal inte-
gration of multiple business disciplines
(e.g., accounting and management)
and connect the so-called educational
silos that often have been criticized
by industry (Crittenden, 2005). While
various ERP-related research issues
(e.g., teaching effectiveness, curriculum
redesign) and teaching pedagogies (e.g.,
simulating on-going business, configur-
ing an ERP systems) have been studied,
little research is available with findings
related to the acquisition of business
process knowledge through utilization
of ERP software. Can students effectively
acquire business process knowledge by
completing hands-on ERP exercises?
This question was the motivation of our
research.
The emergence of the progressive
education movement in the early 20th
century connected academic and voca-
tional knowledge (Braundy, 2004) and
the idea of “learning by doing” became
a familiar education process (Barron et.
al, 1998). This is the pedagogy of profes-
sional training and it focuses on learn-
ing through experience. A corporation
implementing an ERP software system
would use an experiential learning
process. Inexperienced employees would
be trained by workshops using step-by-
step instructions. In our study, a step-
by-step approach was also adopted in
developing ERP hands-on exercises for
t