An Examination of E-HRM as a Means to Increase the Value of the HR Function - Article Example

Human resource management An examination of E-HRM as a means to increase the value of the HR function The above article focuses on a certain study to determine the effectiveness of E-HRM in the modern business and industrial arena. Human resource management is a very important department in our workplaces. A lot of researches have been conducted to ascertain the most convenient methods or strategies for improved human resource management (Mathis, 2008). There are several benefits associated with good relations between the employees and the top management team or the employer. This work would evaluate the research philosophies, strategies and methods employed in some human resource research journals/articles. There are some philosophical principles that were used in the research to make it more effective. The principle of social constructivism was well applied when the researchers set a friendly atmosphere before engaging some workers in some interviews. The researchers understood the fact that each organization has policies which limit some workers from handling some questions or duties within the organization. The research team had to be clear on the intention or purpose of their research as well as the assurance that it would have no negative implication on their career. However, the principle of participation was not well utilized since the research team only involved employees from specific departments and left out the rest, they should have sampled their respondents to represent the entire organization to limit biasness (Wilkins, 2009). Positivist and constructivist principles are important for any research, they help one judge the quantitative and qualitative implications in any research. Quantitative research is that which figures can be used to back or support its finding while qualitative research is that which cannot be quantified or rather based on facts or theories. E-HRM research considered the constructivist principles when the employees were asked to give their thoughts or verdicts with the technology concerned. The majority were for the idea that it would improve the effectiveness of human resource in the organization. The technology requires a few IT specialists and a smaller space to operate and furthermore, it simply records all income and expenditure details in terms of time of transaction and amount among other details. It also saves on organization resources spent to recruit, train and supervise workers in various departments (Parry, 2011). The technology also promotes self-service management system in the modern workplaces. Here the employees convey their complaints or concerns through secured web-channels to the top management team or the employer. Researchers tried to compare the E-HRM and the traditional human resource and they found out that they were labor and technology oriented respectively. Furthermore, E-HRM depends wholly on advanced software to manage and monitor some of the important human resource elements in a certain organization. Traditional human resource, on the other hand, uses human resource managers, directors and secretaries but oversees major human resource issues. However, positivist principles were not effectively applied in the research. The article ought to record numerical values of the findings. For instance, the researchers should have recorded the number of human resource employees in E-HRM system and compared with that of traditional human resource management. The article is not clear on some of the research strategies employed. However, from the findings, one can depict that the researchers must have prepared research questions about the kind of findings they expected. The questions could have been withdrawn from prior similar research and internet sources among others. They ought to have indicated how they conducted their pre-visit study to converse themselves with the study environment. This would also enable them to get to know the estimate population of the study area. This would guide the researchers in decision on the appropriate method to sample the population. One cannot judge the accuracy of the research findings since the researchers do not clearly indicate the merit used to select the correspondents. A good research should be bias free; in other words, the findings should represent the entire organization or area of study. Method research is another important factor that determines the accuracy of the findings. The article records that questionnaires were issued to the employees in various departments to fill in. They were to give their opinion on the application of the E-HRM as opposed to the traditional human resource management. Some top organizational leaders were also involved in short interviews to give their opinions on the benefits of E-HRM within the organization. The research findings indicated that organizations in the developed nations will part with huge amounts to settle the human resource personnel salaries and allowances compared to the E-HRM where only three or five personnel are involved. E-HRM is also meant to improve the general delivery in the human resource sector. The system engages less supervision but ventures more into human resource strategy implementations. Workers from other departments can be taught or trained on the E-HRM technology so that they can access their employment records, raise any complaint or concern, record their entry and departure times access their performance reports and apply for leave days among other basic human resource related issues with a click of a button. The system is result oriented, meaning the response is faster compared to the case of traditional human resources. The system also enables global management in that one can oversee some important management issues in the company while several miles away (Schuler, 2007). However, the most important outcome of implementation of E-HRM is the reduction ratio of human resources personnel of the rest of other workers in the organization. The journal compares the findings of some business researches with that of the E-HRM to strengthen some of the results. The article talks of a certain human resource research conducted in the Middle East oil and gas companies. It is clear that social or cultural belief determines the kind of human resource management in a certain locality. The Middle East prefers the traditional HRM because it is socially and culturally accepted. The Arabs lament that a mere computer or software should not direct human beings, since they have no human feelings at all. However, the E-HRM research indicates that the economic advantages of the technology are far much better than its negative social implications for the employees and the society as a whole. The technology is thought to reduce the number of workers in the human resource department. It was clear that e-HRM based companies have a ratio of 2:5 of human resources workers to other workers in average (Plaisance, 2008). But the transition human resource based companies have a ratio of 3:5 human resource employees to other departmental employees. The researchers ought to have applied a variety of research methods for more comprehensive results. They should have applied mail survey to attain large size documents from authorized employees. This could be employees’ registers, payrolls and expenditure sheets among others. This would help verify the ratio of human resource department employees to that of the rest of the employees. Changing HR functional forms in the UK public sector This journal article is about human resource research to ascertain its relationship to the social capital, strategic implications and work place evolutions among other elements in the public human resource department. The article is based on a case study report with regards to the human resource management in the public sector. United Kingdom is one of the developed nations whose economy is a reflection of its workplace management in both the public and private sector. However, this work would majorly focus on the public/ governmental sector. The government of the UK established specific labor or industrial laws or policies to guide the overall management of the human resource. The public sector is keen on some specific human resource strategies, like increased income to expenditure ratios on the human resource management, appropriate time utilization within the public sector and employees motivations among others. Some research principles were employed in the case studies. Qualitative methods were employed to ascertain the relationship of worker motivations and their productivity. It was evident that worker motivations come with an appreciation of some social implications within the organizations. Human resource department ought to be run by human and not technology, so that the social values of workers are appreciated. The study touches on the cultural and religious beliefs within a certain work place (Catherine, 2009). The constitutions of the United Kingdom provide total rights of worship and culture to all citizens. Such rights encourage free or friendly working environment which comes to increased productivity among several workers in different departments. The country public sector appreciates the idea of the application of advanced technology to manage human resource in the organizations, but the prime minister of the United Kingdom intervened into the complaints that have been raised by different workers in different organizations with regard to this issue. The argument of those opposing the idea is that advanced technology would kill the social elements to be observed by the human resource managers. For instance, there is software to determine how serious a certain work is sick and the duration of sick leave to be allocated to him or her. But it requires a fellow human being to understand the health condition of other workers for appropriate decision making. The main research strategies in the studies was to engage the actual workers of public organizations in the research. First, the research team used media platform like the internet and local broadcasting to announce the scope and intention of their study. The government of UK appreciated the need of the research since it would have positive implications on the national economy. Secondly, the researchers pre-visited the actual public organizations to concern themselves with the actual environment. Here, they approximated the number of employees to be interviewed or assessed during the actual study or research, approximated their research budget and introduced themselves to the workers among other activities conducted in the pre-visit phase. Then, they actually visited the public organizations and asked questions with regard to the applied human resource management methods. Some employees from sensitive departments were offered with questionnaires, since they could not leave their work stations due to the sensitivity. A mail survey was used to acquire large size electronic documents to assist in the decision making. A telephone survey was used to acquire some information from top esteemed leaders who could not be face –to-face interviewed due to their tight schedule. However, the research did not categorize the feedback of each method used so that readers can appreciate and predict the final verdict of the study. It was clear that the ratio of human returns to expenditure is really important in almost all public organizations, hence the UK public sector insists on high returns versus reduced expenditure in terms of wages, allowances, motivations and trainings among areas of expenditure (Walkins, 2009). The public organizations have specific business yard sticks to ascertain the productivity of the human resource against all liabilities attached to human resource. However, UK appreciates the benefits of extra hospitality of the workers within the public sector. First, the country has established methods to identify workers’ needs through human resource assessments and studies. We live in a generation where technology changes every day and night. It would be unproductive to stick on the old technology or management methods while the private sector is embracing the advanced technologies. The research team asked different public organizations on some of the methods used to determine the need of technological advancements among the public employees. Interviews and questionnaires were used to collect and record such information. Out of 5 public companies, 3 uses regular workers’ assessments to determine to advance their workers as far as technology and advanced management skills are concerned (Moffatt, 2006). The research also touched on the importance of worker motivations in the public organizations. This is to create good working relationships between the employees and the top management team, hence increased productivity. The research team also compared and contrasted companies with and without worker’s motivational schemes. It was evident that those companies with end year parties, best workers’ and departments’ awards performed better than those without. However, some business analysts lament that motivational strategies have little impact on the productivity of a certain worker but the general working environment. The argument is based on the fact that motivations come once or twice a year, while good working environment is there to stay the entire year. Furthermore, motivations would only be provided to workers whose departments made remarkable returns and leave out the rest. This might spark unhealthy departmental competition other than working as a team within the public organization. To conclude, some of the elements of the E-HRM and traditional human resource is not fully implemented in the current businesses or organizations. This is because of lack of adequate technology knowledge and experience among the majority of workers within the private and public sector. There is inadequate capital to cater for the technology installments and operations as well as maintenances of the advanced technology in the human resource sector (Walsh, 2009). The United Kingdom’s public sector has stuck to its traditional human resource management due to its effectiveness in social and workplace diversity management among other advantages. Bibliography Catherine, T. (2009). Changing HR fundamental forms in the UK public sector. International Journal of Human Resource Management , 717-737. Mathis, R. (2008). Human Resource Management. New York: Cengage Learning. Moffatt, J. (2006). Employment Law. London: Oxford University press. Parry, E. (2011). An Examination of e-HRM as a means to increase the value of the HR function. International journal of Human Resource Management , 1146-1162. Plaisance, P. (2008). Media Ethics: Key principles of responsibility. New York: SAGE publications. Schuler, R. (2007). Strategic Human resource management. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Walsh, D. (2009). Employment law for human resource practice. New York: Cengage Learning. Wilkins, L. (2009). Handbook of media ethics. New York: Taylor & Francis. Read More