| Leadership effectiveness in organizations can determine business survival, particularly during periods of strategic change. An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system implementation process represents such a period of strategic change, and to ensure success, leading the change may require appropriate leadership with the prerequisite traits identified in this study. A purposeful collation of the effective traits displayed by different leadership styles during ERP implementation processes has enabled the formation of the taxonomy of leadership styles against reasons for the effectiveness. The study approach consisted of ascertaining through the perspective of an assembled expert panel, the behavior that leaders exhibited during ERP implementation processes. A qualitative Delphi method study proved effectual for collecting rich qualitative data over three rounds, this provided deeper insight about the underlying reasons behind the leadership behaviors that influence ERP implementation. Each study expert identified and described five leadership behaviors observed during ERP implementation in round one; in round two, the experts individually ranked 11 leadership traits in the order of most influential during ERP implementation. The emergent top five traits closely resembled the literature leadership traits commonly associated with transformational leadership. The taxonomy created in this study may provide a more appropriate decision-support tool for choosing future leaders of ERP implementation projects. Discussions concluded by exploring the implications of the apparent differences in the way that the males and females in this study perceived the importance of various leadership traits. |
