Human Resource Information System in ABC Plc - Research Paper Example

Human Resource Table of Contents Project proposal 3 Theory and Practices 4 Stakeholder Analysis 6 Secondary Research 8 Different types and sources ofsecondary data 9 Qualitative and quantitative research 10 Primary Research 11 Presenting my Findings 12 Persuading Stakeholders 14 Reference List 15 Project proposal ABC Plc is a leading retailing company in the global market. It aims at providing best quality products to the customers, which ranges from necessity to luxury products. To remain competitive in the market the company has to maintain a large base of customers and take care of their needs. It focuses on increasing its productivity by emphasizing on the performance of employees and whether they are capable enough to meet the requirements of the customers. Both customer and employee related information is vital for successful operation of the company. Thus, it maintains a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) to store, manipulate and extract information pertaining to the employees. With the help of the software, the company takes care of number of activities that are related to financing, human resource, payroll and management. It helps ABC Plc to plan an effective HR cost structure as well as control them. The effectiveness of the HRIS can be measured with the help of a rigorous research examining the information system of the company. The main aim of the project is to decipher the effectiveness of HRIS in the company with the help of primary data analysis. However, secondary data are also used in order to understand the importance of HRIS in the contemporary world of management (Kovach and Cathcart, 1999). This specific area of research is very important and interesting, as it highlights the performance of the company based on its human resource. Presently, HRIS has become an essential part of management of every company as it gives easy access to data pertaining to performance and productivity of employees. The main issue that is highlighted in the research is related to the ineffectiveness of the HRIS due to lack of dedicated resources, poor quality of data, unrealistic time frame and complexities pertaining to management of the software. Theory and Practices According to Tannenbaum (1990), HRIS is defined as the technology based system that is employed to store, acquire, analyze, manipulate, distribute and retrieve relevant information pertaining to human resource of a company. He has highlighted that in hyper-competitive era, organizations have felt the need of employing information system to control human resources. Companies have used information system and human resource as the two main strategic weapons for becoming competitive in the market. According to Hall, Mark and Moritz (2003), HRIS aims at providing opportunities to the human resource professionals to improve their performance strategically so that it can increase the productivity of the company. HRIS automates and devolves the routines prepared for human resource jobs aligned for the line managers. It provides with the time needed by human resource professionals for directing their attention towards the strategic level tasks such as talent management and leadership development (Kavanagh, Thite and Johnson, 2011). According to my understanding, HRIS not only helps in determining the performance and productivity level of the employees, but it also identifies the areas of improvement. Information pertaining to daily work schedules of the human resource personnel is also prepared with the help of HRIS. It aims at formulating programs and policies that are related to the development of the human resource of an organization. It facilitates decision making in different areas such as nomination, transfer, retirement and gratuity of the employees. The leaves taken by the employees, travel concessions and provident fund information are recorded with the help of HRIS. Thus, it can be portrayed that effectiveness of HRIS in an organization is very crucial for its success as the performance and details of employees are maintained (Panayotopoulou, Vakola and Galanaki, 2007). Ineffectiveness of HRIS originates from the lack of responsiveness of the system due to any operational failure. These operational failures are basically created by individuals working in the company. These operational failures often lead to loss of data and important information pertaining to the human resource department. Hence, lack of adequate knowledge of the employees regarding this software is vulnerable for companies. The unrealistic time frame that is required by the system to fetch data has also become an obstacle for the management of the companies to extract information whenever required. This information helps them to take relevant decision regarding any change or improvement of the present scenario of the company (Krishna and Bhaskar, 2011; Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright, 1997; Haines . and Petit, 1997). In this present research, it is worth mentioning that HRIS of ABC Plc requires a thorough investigation in order to eliminate the inefficiencies and difficulties encountered by it. It is examined whether ABC Plc need to modify its information system to sustain in the competitive market. The practices that will be adopted by the company are detailed after analyzing the current scenario of the HRIS (Kossek, et al., 1994). According to Wright et al (1998), there are many activities that are associated with the HR programs such as record keeping, extracting, recruiting training, selecting training and compensation. This activities or practices can be defined under three broad headings: traditional, transactional and transformational. The transactional practices takes into account daily operation of the company such as record keeping of the status changes of the employees, payroll information and supervision of employee benefits. The traditional activities comprise HR programs, which includes recruiting, planning, selection, compensation, training and performance management. These practices have significant value to the company if the results are aligned with its strategic goals (Ball, 2001). The transformational activities add considerable value to the well being of the company such as organizational or cultural changes, strategic redirection, structural realignment and increase in motivation (Wright et al., 1998). Thus, these three practices are very important for a company to sustain in the long run. According to my understanding pertaining to the HRIS, there is no single process or practice that can bring in successful result. However, combination of the above mentioned practices can be deemed relevant for the success of a HRIS in an organization. HR related data is required for accomplishing the main aim of the research. In order to get the data, I have collected information on the following areas of ABC Plc: 1) Qualification of the employees concerned with the application of HRIS. 2) Efficiency of the employees pertaining to data entry of human resource related information. 3) The specification of the human resource information. 4) Duration of extracting data by the data operators. 5) Data extraction speed Stakeholder Analysis In order to execute the research successfully, the key stakeholders of my project are identified and established. They are as follows: HR Director HRIS operators Manager Employees CEO Accountants Finance executives Stakeholder Map CEO (Keep Satisfied) HR Director Manager (Manage closely) Employees HRIS operators (Monitor) HR Community Accountants Finance executives (Keep Informed) The Power-Interest grid signifies the level of power and interest of the stakeholders that are chosen for the research. It identifies the priority of the stakeholders for the completion of my project. The challenges, which is to be encountered during the performance of the research is also depicted in the grid. The individual grids signify the level of priority and the associated challenges with the research. In the “Keep satisfied” grid, I have placed CEO of ABC Plc, as my recommendations and the results are dependent on their feedback. In the “Manage closely” grid comprise those stakeholders who update the regular progress and knowledge regarding the daily details of the company. The managers and HR Directors have the responsibility to keep track of the company performance by ensuring that the employees are performing well. Both of them have vast interest in my report as it will help them to make changes in the policies prior to my recommendations. In the “Monitor” grid, the stakeholders will encounter the main impact of my recommendations, if they are implemented. The employees have the desire to get the details of their performance whenever they want and if my recommendations are accepted by the management then these employees will encounter the change of rules and regulations. My report will recommend the changes that are required in the HRIS of the company and this help the HR and payroll services to get the notifications regarding the pay scale change and MRC benefits. In the “Keep informed” grid of the stakeholder map comprise the accountants, finance executives and HR Community. This group of stakeholders will help me to gather data pertaining to expression of their opinions and I will help them to receive information related to regular updates. Secondary Research In this research, secondary information plays a significant role; here, secondary data relates to the source of information that is already provided by other authors regarding the topic. Thus, it indicates the summary, collation and synthesis of the existing information that are either gathered through primary or secondary research. It is widely used in market research as well as others such as health and legal. The secondary data can be divided into two broad types. In this particular research those types are: 1) Data gathered pertaining to the implementation and efficiency of HRIS 2) Available statistical data from commercial services. For the successful implementation of the research, secondary research is executed. The research will provide information required for understanding the efficiency of HRIS in general. This secondary source of data provides a background of the topic and highlights its importance as well. In this context, if data regarding different companies’ HRIS are gathered, then comparison can be drawn in order to understand whether the issue is global or national. Different types and sources of secondary data The following table highlights the types of secondary sources that are used for the completion of the research: Academic Professional Industry Company Theory based X Best Practice X Tackles current issues X X X Industry Specific X X Industry Analysis X X Provides company insight X X Accepted in wider community X X X X Analysis potential X Reliable X X X Credible X X X Application of different sources Understanding the academic concept of the selected topic of research. Potential new ways of approaching the problem. Review of the best practices that are implemented by the professionals for avoiding any malfunction in HRIS. Statistical reasoning to support the academic work. Data are used for benchmarking the performance of HRIS. . Industry opinion regarding the efficiency of the current HRIS. Details of the company provide information regarding its operation. Establish the reason for pursuing the research. Helps to identify those areas in the HRIS which requires significant changes and modification. Qualitative and quantitative research In order to complete the research, both qualitative and quantitative research is taken into account. Qualitative data is referred as the measurement that is not expressed in numbers instead it is described in natural language. In statistical analysis, this type of data is used interchangeably with the categorical data (W. Goodwin, and L. Goodwin, 1996). Data represents the nominal scales such as socio – economic information, gender and religious preferences. However, quantitative data can be expressed in terms of numbers, which are in form of interval ratios, percentage and many more. It is always associated with a scale of measure. The quantitative data used in this research relates to the efficiency of HRIS used in ABC Plc. The data required for the successful completion of the research are as follows: 1) Qualification of the employees concerned with the application of HRIS. 2) Efficiency of the employees pertaining to data entry of human resource related information. 3) The specification of the human resource information. 4) Duration of extracting data by the data operators. 5) Data extraction speed Qualitative data signifies the opinion of the individuals who are interviewed during the process of primary data collection. Quantitative data provides precise results pertaining to a topic whereas; qualitative data helps in identifying the behavior and opinion of the individuals. Qualitative data is difficult to analyze compared to quantitative data. In qualitative data analysis there is significant amount of biasness, which originates from responses of the respondents of the interview. Qualitative data is also used in the research so as to figure out the opinions of the employees and management of ABC Plc regarding the efficiency of HRIS. I want the opinion of the employees so as to examine whether they are able to extract data on time from the HRIS and whether the data entry personnel have done their work properly. The opinion of the management is also significant for the research as they are main user of HRIS. Primary Research Primary research refers to the collection of data by the researcher and is not dependent on any source of data that are previously analyzed by other authors. The table provided below, highlights the advantages and disadvantages of the methods that are used for the collection of data for the primary research. The advantage and disadvantage of data are analyzed along with its validity, reliability and authenticity. Advantages Disadvantages Currency Validity Reliability Authenticity 1) The data takes into account wide range of respondents. 2) Offers effective data for analysis. 1) The respondents vary to great extent. 2) The sample size can be very small if majority of the targets refuse to respond to the questions. 3) The respondents does not have enough to read the detailed questionnaire, thus they can give biased answers. Current data is used to get information pertaining to the topic. Examine the questions whether there is any scope of misunderstanding. Target the right group of respondents who can give potential data pertaining to the effectiveness of HRIs of ABC Plc. Time constraints are taken into consideration. Interviews Advantages Disadvantages Currency Validity Reliability Authenticity Obtain individual and in-depth responses and explore it to identify potential issues. It is time consuming as well as costly. The questions are prepared based on the recent activities. Avoid controversial questions which may cause misunderstanding. Interview relevant respondent and avoid scope of biasness. The responses are reviewed latter. Presenting my Findings Method Type Benefits Features Use it Why? Report Narrative Includes all the relevant information that is required for obtaining the effectiveness of HRIs of ABC Plc. Previous studies are taken into account as reference so as to define and summarize it in a concise manner. Yes The report is used in order give my opinion and recommendation pertaining to the effectiveness of HRIS. Presentation Narrative The findings are in from of responses that are obtained from the previous researches and also from the respondents of the questionnaires. The findings are summarized to provide opinion and recommendation. . Summary of the main points that elaborate the effectiveness of HRIs in ABC Plc. Yes The findings and recommendations of the research are delivered to the HR department of ABC Plc. Table Narrative Huge number of data that can be easily analyzed. The details are clears. Yes The easiest way to obtain and analyze data. Line Graph Diagram Useful for showing variation in data over the years. Identifies the variation in data over time. Yes Will portray the effectiveness of HRIS with time. Pie chart Diagram The percentage is clearly delivered. Shows relationship between different information. Yes The colored areas depict the response of the respondents. Scatter Graph Diagram Significant for displaying relation between different variables. Identifies the relationship between the different variable (X and Y) Yes To analyze effectiveness of HRIS in ABC Plc. Persuading Stakeholders The report offers recommendations to the Board of Directors regarding the cost benefit analysis pertaining to the successful implementation of HRIS in the company. I recommend that the stakeholders should adopt a scale for measuring the performance of HRIS of the company. This will identify the areas, where modifications are required. Reference List Ball, K. S., 2001. The use of human resource information systems: a survey. Personnel Review, 30(6), pp. 677-693. Goodwin, W. and Goodwin, L., 1996. Understanding quantitative and qualitative research in early childhood education. New York: Teachers College Press. Haines, V. Y. and Petit, A., 1997. Conditions for successful human resource information systems. Human Resource Management, 36(2), pp. 261-275. Hall, L., Mark L. and Moritz, S., 2003. The impact of e-HR on HRM function. Journal of Labor Research, 24(3), pp. 365-379. Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P. M., 1997. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. Chicago: Irwin. Kavanagh, M., Thite, M. and Johnson, R., 2011. Human Resource Information Systems. New York: Sage Publications. Kossek, E. E., Young, W., Gash, D. C. and Nichol, V., 1994. Waiting for innovation in the human resources department: Godot implements a human resource information system. Human Resource Management, 33(1), pp. 135-159. Kovach K.A. and Cathcart, C.E., 1991. Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS): Providing Business with Rapid Data Access, Information Exchange and Strategic Advantage. Public Personnel Management, 28(2), pp. 275-282. Krishna, C.Y.S. and Bhaskar, S.V., 2011. Assessment of support and benefits of HRIS in medium-scale textile industries. International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Sciences, 1 (2), pp. 48-57. Panayotopoulou, L.,Vakola, M. and Galanaki, E., 2007. E-HR adoption and the role of HRM: Evidence from Greece. Personnel Review, 36(2), pp. 277-294. Tannenbaum, S.I., 1990. HRIS information: User group implications. Journal of Systems Management, 41(1), pp. 27-32. Wright, P., McMahan, G., Snell, S. and Gerhart, B., 1998. Strategic human resource management: Building human capital and organizational capacity. Ithaca: Cornell University. Read More