Communication dynamics in SAP ERP teams: An empirical exploratory study

This paper investigates the critical role of communication in SAP ERP teams, exploring the communication dynamics, the balance between technical and communication skills, the dynamics within cross-functional teams, and how often technical issues are mistakenly blamed for project setbacks due to communication failures. Drawing on empirical data collected from SAP professionals, this study examines how communication failures impact project outcomes and identifies key areas for improvement in SAP project management and team collaboration. We used descriptive statistics, frequency counts, and distributions, as well as marginal probability from contingency tables to investigate the association between variables. We measured the relationships by applying chi-squared tests with the Yates adjustments (p<0.05) and applied Cramer’s V as an effect size. We performed hypothesis tests to check for the association between the perception of communication dynamics and variables such as professional role, professional level, working time experience, SAP business line, having international contact at work, and gender. Findings: In our sample, the communication dynamics are, in general, uniform among the SAP teams and are not associated with the professional role, professional level, years of experience, the SAP business line, or having international contacts at work. It seems to be associated with gender, with males having a more critical perception of communication issues affecting project performance. The communication dynamics within cross-functional teams are predominantly positive, although there is room for improvement, as 23% consider it ineffective or challenging. The perception is that there are almost always technical issues mistakenly blamed on communication failures, with 82% of the respondents.