IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCES
The use of technology within human resource management has grown considerably over the last decade with the majority of organizations now using some form of HR information system (HRIS).
What is HRIS; does your company use this?
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HUMAN RESOURCES INFORMATION SYSTEM (HRIS)
- Computerized system that provides current and accurate data for purposes of control and decision making.
- Benefits:
- Stores and retrieves of quantities of data.
- Combines and reconfigures data to create new information.
- Institutionalization of organizational knowledge.
- Easier communications.
- Lower administrative costs, increase productivity and response times.
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- For instance, in Europe, Watson-Wyatt (2002) found that 70% of the organizations surveyed used the Internet or Intranet to deliver HR services to employees with most respondents planning to enhance substantially their e-HR capabilities over the two years after the survey.
- Do you know what the intranet is; does your company have one?
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EMBRACING NEW TECHNOLOGY
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EMBRACING NEW TECHNOLOGY
- Knowledge Workers
- Workers whose responsibilities extend beyond the physical execution of work to include planning, decision making, and problem solving.
- The Spread of E-commerce
- Brick and click or strictly online businesses
- The Rise of Virtual Workers
- Look at as now…..
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MAJOR USES FOR
HR INFORMATION SYSTEMS
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TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY THAT DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY HAVE AN IMPACT IN IHRM
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Growth in knowledge needs-World trade is growing over three times faster in knowledge-intensive goods and services such as biomedicine, robotics, and engineering.
Shift in human competencies- Soon net employment growth will be in knowledge workers.
Global market connection-Technology is dissolving borders and creating an interconnected marketplace.
Business streamlining- Easy to use communication, electronic mail, electronic conferencing, and databases are creating instantaneous dissemination of data to make better decisions to geographically dispersed workers.
Rapid response- Technology permits quicker communications, which allows faster decision-making.
Quicker innovation- Teams of marketing, engineering, and production personnel working in parallel with computer provided files, data, and information develop products faster.
Quality improvement-The concept of building quality into the entire process of making, marketing, and servicing is enhanced by computer monitoring systems and through robotics.
POSSIBLE RISKS THAT TECHNOLOGY MAY PRESENT TO THE IHRM
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The risk to the security of data
Information access and control- information is outdated or poorly maintained
Cost control
Updating software
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IMPACT OF IT ON HRM
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Transformational
Impact
Operational
Impact
Relational
Impact
HRM
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SHARED SERVICES
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Shared services refers to the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the providing department effectively becomes an internal service provider. The key is the idea of 'sharing' within an organization or group.
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Traditionally the development of a shared-service organization (SSO) or shared-service centre (SSC) within an organization is an attempt to reduce costs.
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Shared services are more than just centralization or consolidation of similar activities in one location.
Shared services can mean running these service activities like a business and delivering services to internal customers at a cost, quality and timeliness that is competitive with alternatives.
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Shared services have the potential to bring significant value to the firm. The model:
Can lower firms’ operating costs by reducing the number of service employees and gaining efficiency.
Can enhance firms’ architectural agility by facilitating their transformation toward new organisational forms such as “shared service organisation” and “service-oriented enterprise”.
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May improve organisational learning and innovation by concentrating technical and managerial expertise and facilitating knowledge sharing.
May increase service quality by forming a customer-service mindset within the service organisation and professionalising service delivery.
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May also bring political advantages such as enhancing credibility and solving internal conflicts.
In a global economic downturn like today’s, the need to leverage the benefits of shared services becomes increasingly urgent.
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IMPLEMENTING SHARED SERVICES INCURS A NUMBER OF RISKS
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Over-standardisation of systems and processes.
Lack of operational flexibility.
Unbalanced power concentration.
Increased system complexity.
Unclear service accountability.
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Dampened employee morale.
Ineffective communication.
Unexpected implementation cost escalation.
Long project timelines.
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ENHANCEMENT OF COMMUNICATION
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Employment, placement and personnel planning.
Training and development.
Compensation and benefits.
Health, safety and security.
Employee and labour relations.
Personnel research.
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HRM IT INVESTMENT FACTORS
- Initial costs and annual maintenance costs
- Fit of software packages to the employee base
- Ability to upgrade Increased efficiency and time savings
- Compatibility with current systems
- User-friendliness
- Availability of technical support
- Needs for customizing
- Time required to implement
- Training time required for HR and payroll
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BENEFITS FOR IHRM IN THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY
- Lead to faster, more accurate and more efficient processes and reduced HR costs.
- Technology can also be used to provide HR information and to enable managers and employees to perform simple HR tasks themselves.
- The use of HRIS to reduce the administrative and transactional burden on the HR function can lead to a change in the structure of HR and allow the function to play a more strategic role in the organization.
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- To facilitate efficient processes or cut costs
- Improve communication and customer service
- The desire to create a shift in the role of the HR function from one that is mainly administrative to one that is more strategic.
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CONSTRAINTS ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TECHNOLOGY IN HR GLOBALLY
- Connectivity and cost issues
- New HR coordination needs
- Availability of support systems for maintaining global strategy
- Local labour laws, practices and information availability
- Local resistance to the use of Technology
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