Human Resource Management Information Systems - Term Paper Example

Human resource management information systems Executive summary Since time immemorial, human beings have been looking at the ways in which he can make his work easier. As time went by and man began to develop very complex social and economic systems there was the ever increasing need to come up with tools that will aid in the more effective use of the resource. The advent of computers and the internet has been regarded as one of the greatest achievements in the history of human kind. This is simply because computers have not only made work easier; it has also made man to be more efficient in his activities. They have also enabled the increased ease of the flow of information in the world transforming the world into a global village. The adoption of computer technology has occurred in all sectors of life. This has made almost all the organization to be forced to incorporate this information technology or perish. One of the sectors more increased use of the information technology is the human resource department. The effectives, reliability, accuracy, speed of the computers have seen the continued use of them to come up with suitable systems to aid in the management of the human resource in a given organization. Abstract This research paper aims at looking at what is Human resource management information system (HRMIS), its influence that it has had on the human resource, some of its challenges and also their recommendations. Human resource management information system is based heavily on information technology. The information technology has seen its continued use in almost all sectors of the organization .The human resource management has not been left behind with the adoption of the information technology. This has led to the automation of some of the activities such as recruitment, payroll services among others. We shall try to understand this in detail by looking some case studies. In this study it has been found that indeed the HRMIS has had a very great impact of how the activities of the human personnel are being now carried out. The human resource management information system is a recent field which has come up as the result of the integration of information technology with human resource management. The result of the use of the machines was due to the labour intensive nature of human resource department. This started way back in the 1940s with the use of machines for activities such as the payroll system in order to make the work much easier. With the introduction of computers this has seen then rise in complexity of how the machines are being used perform activities which were only previously done by man such as the recruitment process. We are going to discuss in detail the impact the adoption of information technology have had on human resource management. Several definitions of the term ‘Human resource management information system’ have been put forward by several people. According to Bondarouk and Ruel 2009, p.507, they define it as an overall term which covers all mechanisms that can be possibly integrated and the contents that can be found existing between information technologies together with human resource management(HRM) that has the ultimate goal of creating value among and also across institutions for the management together with employees who have been targeted. Goel 2003, p. 446, thinks in the same line when he gives his definition as a method used by an organization to collect, make analyses and make reports concerning information on people and also on jobs. It is basically a data base system that helps in the management of the human resource in a given organization both at micro and on macro level. It generally refers to all the processes together with the systems at the point of their intersection between the management of human resource in an organization and the information technology. What human resource management information system does is that it tries to merge the human resource management(HRM) as a discipline and more particularly so activities and also the processes found in human resource with the field of information technology. For an organization to be able to run smoothly it requires a very effective management of all her resources which includes the human resource. As the size of the organization increases, most of there is the need to adopt a more effective means of managing her human resource. Most of the organizations are taking the advantages that have been brought by the advancing technologies in information hence the evolving of the human resource management information systems (HRMIS) in the recent decades. The use human resource information system in management has several potential advantages which increase in speed of the information system, improved accuracy in information and also employee communications are enhanced (Beaddles, Lowery and John, 2005, p. 39). The use of HRMIS has indeed greatly impacted on how the activities of the human resource management are being carried out. One of the areas which have witnessed this total transformation is in the hiring of staff which has been automated also referred to as e-recruitment. This basically involves the shift from using the traditional methods which are manual hence labor intensive, to an automated where the application is done online (Leftley 2007, p.8). In discussing the success of his company in the automation of the hiring process, known as The DML Group based in the UK, where he works as the recruitment manager, he says that in deed his company has benefited a lot from the implementation of the hiring management system. The success of the process has made the company to even think of expanding the e-recruitment to other areas of recruitment. The company intended to include even external recruitment where it hoped to reach about 60 percent of the hired staff on permanent basis done through e-recruitment in the near future. The emergent of e-recruitment has also resulted to the emergence of third party recruiters who are specialized in the recruitment of workers through online and also the providing their clients with hiring solutions which are professional(Tong and Sivanand 2004, p. 104). There also exist international companies who provide this service of e-recruitment to companies. The reason some of the companies opt to use the services of another company specialized in e-recruitment is the saving in cost, wide number of resumes to choose from, among others. In their study, they found that there is also the movement of the third party recruiters towards providing hiring solutions to their client companies. This process involves outsourcing the functions for hiring management, to the client company. This has the advantage of the client company being involved directly in the recruitment process as opposed to where it has to depend entirely on the third party e-recruiters. The use of e-recruitment has also enabled many companies to be able to get the best workers. For example a company called Xerox Europe is using e-recruitment program to identify the correct people for its sales network known as Xerox Concessionaire (Pollitt 2004, p.33). The recruitment software that is used enables the respective employers to be able to create a one-to-one relationships with his or her recruits, make the recruitment process to be faster and also ensure the control of costs. It also enables the employer to be able to reach a much wider scope, reduce errors, the implementation of a continuous improvement through the use of a performance monitoring together with reporting. All these factors have indeed enabled the recruitment of a better workforce by the client company. This is contributed by the fact the e-recruiting companies are able to offer to the recruits hence helping them to brand themselves to a possible employer. This has the advantage to the prospective employer as he/she is able the best employee who is well suited for the job. The use of e-recruiting also enables the employment of better ways of HR teams to be able to screen the applicants.(Nusair and Dickson ,2011,p. 86). This will enable the HRM to reduce the workload on the number of the applications to review. This is because the system is programmed such that those who does not meet the lowest qualifications are automatically rejected by the system. It is generally accepted that one of the most important components of any given organization is its human resource. For the organization to be successful the human resources have to be properly managed. (Boxall 2007, p. 27) contends that HRM is indeed a very important activity in any particular organization in which human beings are hired as workers. The importance of human resource management originates from the functions it undertakes. The functions includes varying activities, central among them is the decision on the level of staffing based on the needs of the organization, recruiting together with training of the most qualified employees, ensuring that the employees are delivering on the given duties, and also making sure that the rules and regulations are being adhered to among others. These activities bearing in mind their importance have to be managed effectively for them to enable the organization to be successful. In most organization the HRM is not usually a specialized field but it is found under the human resource department. The need to adopt information technology is very essential in any given organization. Human resource management have always have functional focus which have been specific which includes hiring of workers, remuneration, issues concerning health together with safety in work places among others(Kramar 1998, p.48). The use of HRMIS has enabled effective management of personnel. In an effort to carry out effective management of the human resource, several systems have been evolved over time. This started way back in the 1940s with use of machines which were able to sort and also tabulate hence activities such as payroll together with administration of personnel, improve significantly due to modernization (Beulen 2009, p. 273). The period after this saw the introduction of computers in the human resource department although on a small scale. The increase in the efficiency of the computers saw a more increase use of the machines in all the areas of the organizations and the human resource management was not left behind. The continuous integration of the computers in the personnel department enabled a more efficient system which minimized the loss incurred due to human errors in a given organization. A study carried out in the UK over 94% over the interviewed confessed to use HRIS due to its effectiveness in human resource management(Hussain and Prowse 2004, p. 35) Another advantage that the use information technology brings is the retention of staff. The retention of staff is very important in any given organization. The movement of staff from one company to another has always been there over the years. The most common one is whereby the workers migrate from a smaller organization to a bigger organization in search of better pastures. There are several factors which contribute to this which may include remuneration, search for better working condition, among others. It is generally believed that the influence in staff turnover is as a result of the growth of other companies. If a new company is established in a given location normally workers from the already established companies, move to the new company. This is because normally the new company will look for those workers with relevant working experience and they often offer a more attractive package. The human resource manager uses the HRMIS to be able to retain his/ her workers by using it to provide better working conditions such as proper employees evaluation, and not overburdening them by allowing them to use information technology in their work. Another major advantage of HRMIS is the ability to be able to reduce the cost and also the company’s staff (Kovach and Cathcart 1999, p.275). In regard to this view the incorporation of HRIS in personnel department is very important due to the movement towards what can be regarded as paperless technology. This will indeed improve the profitability of the organization due to less incurred costs. Although a lot of cost is incurred initially, the use of human resource information system contributes to cost reduction as well as customer satisfaction. (Boateng 2007, p.77) In conclusion since the time of the evolution of HRMIS it was generally viewed as a common form of office automation. However with increasing emerging of the advantages that came as a result of its adoption, it now held a very significant place in the organization. The increased use of the HRMIS has also had its challenges. From its onset, the use of the HRIS is commonly a very expensive affair to purchase and also to implement (Shani 2010, p. 35). It is evident that the designing and the implementation of a customized HRIS results to an enhanced functionality of the organization, however it will lead to increased software and also hardware costs incurred. In addition to the initial cost, the process of implementation is also very involving as it usually occurs in stages which are implemented over a long period of time. There may also be the need for the employees of the take some training courses for them to be able to use the new technology effectively. In order to reduce the cost the organization can opt to purchase the off-shore applications for example data base software’s that can be used for the general use in the organization. They can also be encouraging their employees to take refresher courses so as to be in tune with the new technology. 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