Use of Technology in Human Resource Management - Example

Use of technology in Human Resource Management Introduction: Technological advancements have had their sheer of impact on every given factor of human life-personal and professional in terms of management and marketing. It would be difficult to define the exact direction that the technological advancements of today would take in the next ten years, just as it is difficult to outline the exact nature and extent of help that the modern professional is able to derive off these technological growth factors. It would therefore be pertinent for one to accept the fact that it is the seeds of the future that one can find in the present. The second thing that one has to understand right at the beginning of this discussion is the fact that there are numerous challenges that a company would face and it is therefore a common belief that one in order to stay abreast of the competition of not forge ahead has to leverage the technological advancements available for gaining competitive advantages. Human resource information systems and HRIS administration comprise a distinct, support within HR (Hendrickson, 2003). Abstract Felix Stroud-Allen, Head of Sales, Recruiter net states while trying to outline the trends in modern recruitments and hiring managements systems, and the impact that these seek to leave on the modern market states, “Organizations are realizing that finally there is technology which does not limit the ability to match and improve a firm’s workflow process”. He further goes on to explain that , “Organizations are constantly facing a daily challenge of fierce competition for skilled resources whilst having to balance that with reductions in recruitment budgets and diminishing numbers of resources to administer the recruitment process. Most systems providing applicant tracking are in essence cost-effective methods of tackling the above mentioned issues.” It is in this context that this paper will discuss the concept of information systems and how the new systems can assist the HR professional. Human Resources and IT: The modern mix The modern trend in human resource management has seen an unprecedented bend towards the usage of technology in the management of the function. There has in fact been an astounding enthusiasm by the HR segment to embrace technology. Evidence of this could be found in many studies that have been undertaken recently, like the SHRM study. The report’s panel of experts identified “expanded use of the web for delivery and utilization of HR applications on a service basis” as a common trend, but the deployment of HR technology runs far deeper Human resource management, many say has been characterized both by some of its practitioners and by a school of outsiders as being as soft or a mostly non-technical profession. Since most organizational members interact with HRM through training programs, policy seminars etc. their sense of the profession is shaped by this limited exposure to what the profession would truly entail. The part of the profession that the organizational members do not see such as selection system development and compensation administration, are quantitatively complex activities that require substantial computed resource and methodology support. The quantitative complexity of the profession coupled with its responsibilities for enormous record-keeping has made the HR function an early as well as an aggressive adopter of information technologies (Townsend and Bennet, 2003). Indeed some of the earliest installations of main-frame computers were dedicated to the Hr function, often to the exclusion of “profit-generating” areas of the enterprise. HRM (along with accounting) frequently has the longest history of information technology experience in a given organization and continues to be a leader in the implementation and use of IT. The idea in the following paper to provide a symposium on the challenges that a modern HR professional would face in the line of developing technological advances, the opportunities that this provides and the issues that crop up because of newer technologies and how the modern organization and its HR deal with these (Shani, 2010). There have been scholars that have attempted to offer a comprehensive view of how technology affects HRM and state that there is an increasing pattern of non-HRM employees in the HRM systems (Lengnick and Mortiz, 2003). They also came up with the three key phases of the use of web-based HRM: 1. A period where the web interfaces were used in providing information (a one-way dissemination of policy guidelines, benefits from program information etc); 2. A continuing evolution of HR/IT toward the automation of HRM procedures where both non-HRM managers and employees generate systems inputs and interact with it; and 3. A continuing transformation of the HRM functions whereby the increasing pervasiveness of HRM (through its web-enabled technologies) creates new opportunities for the HRM function to provide greater value for the organization. There are now software that is available to the HR management areas that seeks to provide aid to the modern HR profession in the performance of functions such as management of the appraisal and evaluation needs, organizational mobility, the change in the organizational structure and hierarchy, planning out succession strategies, review of salary and benefits packages and even a plan for employee development. There are now available in the market softwares that aid the processes of E-recruitment and performance management. These also help in the improvement of the HR manager’s capacity efficiently carry out people relationship management (PRM). The HR Function and Technology: Web based Testing Technology and the internet are having a major and growing impact in the manner in which organizations select employees using the selection devices such as integrity testing devices like the polygraph test. An increasing number of assessment devices could be administered over the Internet rather than requiring the job candidates to come to a central testing site (Fisher, Schoenfeldt and Shaw, 2008). Bio-data forms an experience records are well suited to being administered and instantaneously scored over the Internet as the first steps in the selection process. Some firms also conduct ability testing over the Internet but also often require a follow-up test for qualifying individuals in a monitored testing center. A web-based call center aptitude test would for example in a pre-selection procedure have recently been developed and validated. The test consists of a bio-data form, a cognitive speed test, a personality inventory, and a multimedia situational judgment test. Those who pass the best would continue on to additional section steps before final hiring decisions are made. This is just one in a line of many innovations that are generating substantial savings in terms of time and money both for the company HR and the applicants. Another manner in which technology assists testing a particular skill is to have the computer create a customized test for each test taker by selecting items from the item pool on the basis of correctness of past answers (Green, Maxwell and Watson, 2004). For example if a moderately difficult item is answered correctly, the computer would next present a more difficult item. If the test taker were to fail this item, the computer would chose a question in a range somewhere in between the first and the second in terms of question difficulty. This is also known as adaptive testing. The method quickly zeroes in on the person’s true ability level by selecting the most diagnostic items for the person being tested. This method can provide an accurate test score in about half the number of items needs to produce an equally accurate score via non-adaptive methods in which everyone answers all questions. The second phase of the testing process i.e. the interview is also a phase where technology has managed to make life comparatively easier for the HR professional. A recent trend in interviewing is to conduct preliminary interviews with distant candidates via videoconferencing or telephone. International executives search firms like Korn/Ferry have been using videoconferencing for several years and find that this speeds up searches by two to four weeks as well as saving travel costs. Yet others like the Gallup organization have developed and validated procedures for structured telephonic interviewing for a number of jobs. Their procedures allow all screening interviews for large multisite organizations to be conducted centrally from a single office using highly trained interviewers and scorers. (It must be stated here however that as far as the interview phase of the recruitment process is concerned, most applicants prefer the face-to-face interviews rather than the ones that rely too much on technology). Training and Leadership development: It was concluded by a Cisco report in 2001, that the “organizations that implement e-Learning provide their work force with the ability to turn change into an advantage.” It has been found that there are many instances where e-Learning has as a genre not been able to be a replacement for classroom guidance in terms of the preferred method employee training in the modern organization (Mumfoird, 2003). One would also have to accept the fact that in terms of training and leadership development there would always be a case to be made for classroom development. However, the discipline has witness stable and remarkable growth. It has in fact been stated by one estimate that the size of the global e-Learning market has blown up to more than $30 billion. There are several factors that determine the effectiveness of the e-learning method of leadership development in the modern corporate organization. These could be enumerated as follows: 1. The fact that the world wide web has an instant far reaching ability to connect, there is a definite case that one can make for e-Learning and the development of leadership programs that are focused on this method especially in an environment that is characterized by huge overseas market and operations in an increasing number of companies. 2. One cannot belie the fact that a well-planned and thought out online course would be able to present itself time and again to every involved party on a day-to-day basis. This would have a growing relevance as far as the benefit to an organization having a culture that is focused on excellence and lean process approaches. This would also mean that there would be the ability on the part of the organization to train and develop its professional team cutting across the border constraints of multiple time zones and international borders. 3. There is an entire group of contemporary professionals that have become used to the usage of computer in the office space. Moreover, over a period of the past ten years, there has been an incorporation of the e-mail and the Web into the daily mode of work often in manners that are essential to work. 4. the world overall then is one that is increasingly virtual-it would thus be natural that leadership work along similar lines. One of the most rapidly growing needs in the field of leadership development is how to help leaders be more effective in a virtual role. Expatriate management: Expatriates are employees assigned to work in another country. Although in developing countries, there is a tendency for employees to want an American expatriate manager in charge, because there is a common belief that this would aid in the ultimate system of communication, the ultimate goal of numerous foreign operations are to keep as limited a number of nationals in permanently in international locations as is possible (Noe, 2008). This however is not easy given the fact that much of globalization is a recent phenomena especially in many third world countries where the economies have been open to world trade not more than two decades. It would therefore mean that there is a need for advanced models of technology management as far as the senior expatriate employees of a given company are concerned. The factors that would have to be kept under consideration here are those of evaluation, management, training, problem solving and even long term operational decisions, for example, training and skill development in case of expatriates would have to break through the moulds of the time and space. The employee's learning needs have to be assessed through a computer dialog and they would in turn have to access the same in order to gain customized training via interactive multimedia, the Internet, computer conferencing and satellite broadcasts (Franzterb, 1998). This would also then mean an alteration in the dynamics of formal organ9izational training given the fact that the HR professional would spend less time the development of the training procedure and more effort and time in designing it. Similarly, computer-based expert knowledge would be used on a daily basis in assisting the formulation of decisions related to personnel management the task of employee schedule, conducting performance diagnosis as far as individuals are concerned and dealing with the larger organizational issues would be a lot more virtual than the physical in as much as these would be handled through the technology enhancements available to HRM. Mentoring and online problem solving: Human resource professionals have been traditionally concerned about the tradeoffs associated with on-line problem solving. The belief in conversation and communication extends to corporate settings where managers are eager to teach employees how things are done and to capture and share lessons across time and space (Sleezer, Wentling and Cude, 2008). Core competencies-or the collective learnings of an organization are the essence of competitive advantage. Unlike physical assets, competencies do not deteriorate as they are applied ad shared. In fact they grow. If one was to apply to this scenario the processes of technology and the World Wide Web, the possibilities would become endless. The technology makes it possible for people to create and define different social environments and interact online. CMC for example facilitated the development of community by providing opportunities for people to inform, question, socialize and engage in serendipitous exchange. Group interactions would enable people to exchange ideas, negotiate and debate. The organizational map as far as established structured procedures for carrying out problem solving is concerned would be understood in five phases: 1. Getting started 2. Gathering data 3. Identifying solutions 4. developing these solutions 5. Wrapping up These are all possibilities over the net as this allows the variables involved in the problem solving exercise in voluntary notes exchanges, on-line chat sessions and brain storming meetings, creation of logs, posing schedules and questions along with other work-relate messages, thereby facilitating the process of employee problem solving without the pressures of a one-on-one interaction. Case Study: Use of technology in HR Strategies at IBM IBM’s HRM stated strategic objective is to “attract, motivate and retain the best talent in the industry”. In order to do this, five HR areas of focus have been selected by IBM: 1. talent 2. leadership 3. climate 4. performance; and 5. HR capability These are based upon the IBM’s business principles and priorities and can be of use if one was to deduce the challenges of HR. the essence of the external challenges facing HR at IBM are the fierce competition in the e-business global market and further globalization along with the forces of continuous change intense competition for talent. The growing diversity and changing demographics of the workforce and increased expectation of a balance between work and personal life. The internal challenges at IBM as far as the HR department is concerned is the huge workforce, the complex matrix based management structure, the relative lack of a tenured workforce, the dispersed workforce (one that is increasingly remote-working), the business diversity, workforce diversity and the virtualization of the work environment. The kind of human resource management structure that is visible at IBM is a product of the turbulent 1990s when the organization faced a crisis backed by a budget that was tightened and had to compete with a larger workforce and fewer people to manage it with (Ruël, Bondarouk, Loosie, 2004). The HR function was centralized and the organization was characterized by decreasing levels of satisfaction with the HR department. The idea was then to switch from the country-oriented focus to business oriented focus. A new model was therefore developed that centralized the HR organization and in which information technology played a core role regarding service delivery towards management and employees. The basis of the model was the new HR Intranet-in keeping with the already existing HR-related online information and tools which had been put in place before 1998. the idea was to allow employees and management a structure wherein they could access extensive and advanced HR information and tools. Alongside this web-based facility for a shared service centre that was established centrally. This was the place where the HR generalists could take care of 70 per cent of all HR-related requests, questions and information. The idea therefore was to ensure that the HR function with the aid of technology became easy to access for all and cost effective. For the 30 per cent of the work not covered by this scheme, HR specialists and experts had to remain available. The first step to the achievement of the system was the HR Intranet that has to be considered as the e-workplace. All IBM employees had to have easy access to the fully personalized HR Intranet site so that information and tool regarding careers, skills management, training, development plans, personal data, knowledge management etc could be easily managed and accessed by all. The idea here was that technology was used as a tool to ensure that IBM was projected more and more as a global player, also internally and therefore the basic design digitalization of the HR function was such that it tried to align and make clear procedures to harmonize and standardize processes, across country borders-a feet that would have been impossible without the application of technology to the management if the human resource function. A shared service center was established in UK that opened in September 1998. One would conclude the discussion of the use of technology in IBM HR is that there are in essence two goals to the process: 1. To reorient HR from country to business and 2. To increase strategic value, while decreasing HR costs. For this reason therefore, technological solutions were seen as both very helpful and necessary. Analysis: The stated goal of the Hr function at IBM according to the website is “provide strategic support and guidance to the organization while, simultaneously, delivering high-quality administrative services. Often, HR organizations give priority to the administrative services that are directly visible to the employees they support (e.g., payroll, benefits administration) rather than the strategic initiatives that can have a much more significant impact on the employees and the organisation. Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) are under significant pressure to deliver this entire package of capabilities, and to drive more value to the organization through strategic HR activities (e.g., talent management) while being forced to reduce headcount and costs.” The effort of change instituted at IBM could be viewed in essence as an effort of downsizing that worked only because of the fact that the new system seeked to institute a change from the unorganized and the largely physical distribution of Hr networks to an organized, centralized and a largely technology-based human resource management system (Noe, 2004). The key to the successful downsizing was the emphasis on marching site changes with changes in structure and the substitution of technology for labor. Instead of interacting face-to-face with the local human resources offices, all communications were technologically mediated and directed to the centrally located Raleigh facility via telephone, e-mail or fax. Moreover, user friendly software was developed for helping employees answer their questions without any human involvement. Technological efficiency versus personal interaction. Reducing stress levels for employees and managers. Managing immigration issues and local employment laws. Tracking results. It must also be noted that a company like IBM is far ahead of the competition in terms of tradition e-HR plans like online training programs. As of 1996, while just 6 per cent of training for most MNCs happened online, for IBM the number was as high as an online training program for 5000 of its employees saving the company as total of $16 million in 2000. this meant that IBM was producing five times he content at a third of the cost that ultimately helped convince all IBM units to adopt the model. The idea in essnce was a corporate e-university that meant corporate training at very little cost and served to provide employee motivation and leadership development (Noe, 2004). The company also made use of the more traditional theoretical developments of technology in HR to come up with the concept of virtual offices that increased employee productiviuty by 15% through the mobility program (Heneman and Greeenberger, 2002). This was followed by meticulous documentation- an extensive document that covered every conceivable aspect of the conversion to a virtual office was kept in mind. A standardized course of training helped get all employees off to a good start in the virtual environment. The employee was introduced to the usages of a laptop and the access of information remotely. Conclusion: Providing that this balance is maintained, and that technology doesn’t usurp the human qualities so central to HR, there is much evidence to suggest that emerging technologies could be a perfect partner for human resources – and could even improve the human element. This would ultimately mean that the use of technology in the management of human resources is the future-one that no company could move too far away from. The ones that are the most pragmatic will adopt soon and utilize this availability in terms of enhancing the company’s competitive advantage. Reference: Frantzerb R, 1998, Keeping up with changing technology - human resource management, pub, Human Resource Magazine, March 15, 1998 Boudreau, J., W., Broderick, R., 1992, Human resource management, information technology, and the competitive edge, pub, The Academy of Management Executive, ISSN: 0896-3789 Townsend, A., M., and Bennet, J., T., (2003). 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