Article Summary and Critique Paper

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July 25, 2011

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Article Summary and Critique Paper

Summary

As the name suggests, O’Leary’s article Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems: An Empirical Analysis of Benefits outlines the various gains that a business organization realizes upon the adoption of the mentioned technology. General benefits applicable to both large and small organizations are outlined and empirical information as a tangibility aspect is offered in support of the gains (O’Leary, 2004). O’Leary holds the view that ERP systems are highly significant within the present trading sectors and institutions and the inclusion of statistical evidences is towards revealing the potentiality of the technology. This is in a bid to enhance the usage across non-compliant institutions for trading efficacies.

Critique

O’Leary exemplifies his preceding viewpoint in an excellent manner as noted by the article structuring. The initial section offers the article’s foreword and purpose that act as the objective and thesis statement. Additionally, this is followed by a rationale and the supporting goals within the publication. O’Leary adopts a balanced approach into the issue by appraising past empirical investigation by various individuals and the outcome documented in each (O’Leary, 2004). Articles leaning towards his viewpoint comprise of supports to his hypothesis whereas contravening articles work in favor of the contrasting perspectives. Note that all given outcomes within this section are empirical in nature and therefore acting as credible assertions within the article (Fuchs, 2011).

Additionally, O’Leary infuses a diverse nature of investigation by also incorporating interview outcomes given by Deloitte Consulting and this enhances the investigation scope and subsequently the appraisal. The use of such information also enhances the reliability on the collected information as hinged on the institution’s credibility (Lodico, Dean & Katherine, 2010). For the interview, O’Leary incorporates tables documenting the realizations within the article and thus breaking the monotony that tends to be created upon the use of a single delivery style. This enhances goal relaying to the reader by inhibiting boredom, mostly noted in prose writings.

O’Leary presents his case within the results section by noting that ERP systems afford at least one hundred and thirteen advantages to business organizations and thereby bearing high congruence to previous researches conducted by various individuals and/or institutions (O’Leary, 2004). The outcome is convincing since it refrains from individual bias. This is achieved by the inclusion of empirically evaluates’ results that are contrasted against the Deloitte Consulting findings. Dissimilarities arising between the two studies in terms of the outlined gains are noted in terms of numerical information upon data set standardizations and thereby creating consistency within the given standpoints as identified in the discussion (Fuchs, 2011).

The comparison overcomes the duration gap noted within both cases as Deloitte Consulting information is acquired within the period 1998 while O’Leary conducts the same within the period 2004 (O’Leary, 2004). The differences thereby noted are a tangible reflection of the goals that have been noted by different commercial players primarily attributable to the heightened entry of such in the utilization of ERP packages. In conclusion therefore, O’Leary succinctly meets his desired goal within the publication be outlining the various benefits and infusing the document’s reliability throughout the discussion (Lodico, et al., 2010).

The article is a read for all students first because it is very educational in the identification of the ERP benefits from various perspectives. Secondly, the given information is highly reliable and therefore quite valuable in research requirements. Thirdly, the article is pleasant in terms of reading since it overcomes the issue of monotony by the incorporation of recapitulated information and tables for easy skimming and studying.

References

Fuchs, C. (2011).Foundations of Critical Media and Information Studies. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

Lodico, M. G., Dean, T. S., & Katherine, H. V. (2010). Methods in Educational Research: From Theory to Practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

O’Leary, D. E. (2004). Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems: An Empirical Analysis of Benefits. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, 1, 63-72. Retrieved from http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~oleary/Papers/Empirical%20Benefits.pdf