The Impact Of Information Technology On Human Resource Practices

And Competencies

ABSTRACT :
Information Technology (IT) as a structural factor and instrument transforms architect
oforganizations, business processes and communication, and is increasingly integrated
intohuman resource management (HRM).

While IT has impacts on human resource (HR), at the same time managers, employees,
customers and suppliers increase their expectancies for HR functions. The importance of
knowledge and human capital make extra suppression on HR functions and newcompetencies
for HR professionals are expected.

In this research, the impacts of Information Technology (IT) on HR practices and

competencies of HR professionals are studied.

KEYWORDS:

IT (Information Technology), HRM (Human Resource Management), Recruitment

INTRODUCTION:

“The HR professionals should remember that employees are the lifeblood of any
company. If we create a great workplace experience for them, they’ll pay you back
one hundred fold in feedback and productivity”, Craig Bryant.

Human Resources are the most significant and vital for the success of any organization. The roles and
skills of HR managers have grown considerably in recent times due to the adoption and use of new
technologies. The managers are now able to perform the traditional functions of procurement,
maintenance, development and utilization more effectively and efficiently. The human resource
managers can now take up more challenging roles in the organizations. The growing use of
information technology in human resource has significantly increased the efficiency of HR
management activities and processes, increased their speediness and reduced cost. It has created an
effective and efficient communication system, employee engagement, talent management, employee

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development, performance management,training and learning. In addition, the use of HRIT provides
value to the organization and raise HR professionals’ status in the organization (Ulrich, 1997).

The traditional HRM style mainly focused on supportive personnel activities for a company including
collecting employee information, monitoring individual performance, and implementing organization
policies. The new role of HR manager should understand the business strategy and formulate the
corresponding management strategy on human resources to improve delivered service, and act as a
strategy partner with top management team (Beer, 1997; Mohrman&Lawer, 1997).

HR professionals should adopt technologies that support organizational changes and create a proper
developmental climate to develop innovative and knowledge-based organizations.

Craig Bryant In his paper “Five Predictions for Where HR Technology Is Going in 2014” observed
that HR professionals at companies large and small should be ready for a few changes and trends that
the new year could bring. A brief description of the challenges before HR is given below:

A brief description of the challenges before HR is given below:

1. Hiring is likely to be on rise and this would mean, competition for talent will increase. HR
managers need to hire people who could increase overall productivity and develop employee’s
perception in relation to company’s overall operations.

2. HR people can spend more time on the human aspects of the workplace, and less time chasing
papers and emails. This would lay foundation of good organizational culture. HR would play a
significant role of helping employees to learn, grow, and contribute which will be a key differentiator
in an increasingly competitive marketplace for talent.

3. Comprehensive HR tools coupled with stunning point solutions for recruiting and performance
management are coming of age and are increasingly accessible to smaller organizations. It will help
small organizations to compete in the talent market. It is good for entrepreneurship, diversity and
innovation.

4. As the technology improves and education makes its way, organizations will have more cost-
effective options and will be able to put more choices into their employee’s hands.

5. As the economy gains momentum again, would-be startup founders will get more as they will be
more confident about throwing their hat into the ring. The newer, tech-centric innovators and
professionals will have better opportunity than the traditional HR consultancies.

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The HR professionals should remember that employees are the lifeblood of any company. If we create
a great workplace experience for them, they’ll pay you back one hundred fold in feedback and
productivity.

LITARATURE REVIEW :

Information Technology
Science that management and information processing such as collecting, organizing,
distributing, transmitting and Security using the tool computers (hardware and software) can
be call the information technology. The application of information technology, knowledge
and awareness Staff in the optimization of complex processes within the organization
Information is based on knowledge. The present era, implementation, development and
maintenance information systems for Human Resource Managements one of the most
important business process management has been managers and organizations in this context
are faced with new challenges. HR managers in any organization to facilitate the affairs be
necessary for the proper use of and provide appropriate information, in other then it may due
to the complexity of information technology, incomplete design information systems and
other appropriate of this technology by reduce the productivity of users in the organization.

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management methods and measures needed Part of the task is to implement
management Employees who work with those aspects of the most important asset and
organizations are the main source of depends on especially for doing affairs of Such as
recruitment, training and staff and create a healthy environment for staff in order to achieve
the organization's goals are. In addition to human resource management having principles and
concepts of personnel management, new approaches are more general and more considers the
human resource management and procedures related to personnel management.

HRIS (Human Resource Information System)

HRM generally uses IT as HRIS. HRIS is an integrated system acquiring and storing data
used to make analysis, make decisions in the field of HR.A HRIS, which is also known as a
human resource information system or human resource management system (HRMS), is
basically an intersection of human resources and information technology through HR
software. This allows HR activities and processes to occur electronically.

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To put it another way, a HRIS may be viewed as a way, through software, for businesses big
and small to take care of a number of activities, including those related to human resources,
accounting, management, and payroll. A HRIS allows a company to plan its HR costs more
effectively, as well as to manage them and control them without needing to allocate too many
resources toward them.

In most situations, a HRIS will also lead to increases in efficiency when it comes to making
decisions in HR. The decisions made should also increase in quality—and as a result, the
productivity of both employees and managers should increase and become more effective.

e-HRM (electronic Human Resource Management) :

e-HRM is the use of web-based technologies to provide HRM services within employing
organizations. It embraces e-recruitment and e-learning, the first fields of human resource
management to make extensive use of web-based technology. From this base e-HRM has
expanded to embrace the delivery of virtually all HR policies. Within a system of e-HRM, it
is possible for line managers to use desktop computers to arrange and conduct appraisals,
plan training and development, evaluate labour costs, and examine indicators for turnover and
absenteeism. Employees can also use a system of e-HRM to plan their personal development,
apply for promotion and new jobs, and access a range of information on HR policy. Systems
of e-HRM are increasingly supported by dedicated software produced by private suppliers. 

E-HRM is the (planning, implementation and) application of information technology for both
networking and supporting at least two individual or collective actors in their shared
performing of HR activities. 

E-HRM is not the same as HRIS (Human resource information system) which refers to ICT
systems used within HR departments. Nor is it the same as V-HRM or Virtual HRM - which
is defined by Lepak and Snell as "...a network-based structure built on partnerships and
typically mediated by information technologies to help the organization acquire, develop, and
deploy intellectual capital." 

E-HRM is in essence the devolution of HR functions to management and employees. They

access these functions typically via intranet or other web-technology channels. The
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empowerment of managers and employees to perform certain chosen HR functions relieves
the HR department of these tasks, allowing HR staff to focus less on the operational and more
on the strategic elements of HR, and allowing organisations to lower HR department staffing
levels as the administrative burden is lightened. It is anticipated that, as E-HRM develops and
becomes more entrenched in business culture, these changes will become more apparent, but
they have yet to be manifested to a significant degree. A 2015 CIPD survey states that “The
initial research indicates that much-commented-on development such as shared services,
outsourcing and e-HR have had relatively little impact on costs or staff numbers”.

Definitions:
Information Technology
Some IT experts to gather, organize, store and publish information, including sound, image,
text or numbers knows that computing and communication takes place using the tool.

Human Resources Management

Human Resource Management (HRM) is concerned with the people dimension in
management. Since every organization is made up of people,acquiring their services,
developing their skills, motivating them to higher levels of performance and ensuring that
they continue to maintain their commitment to the organization are essential to achieving
organizational objectives.[3]
According to Flippo “The personnel function is concerned with the procurement,
development, compensation, integration and maintenance of the personnel of an organization
for the purpose of contributing towards the accomplishment of that organisation’s major
goals or objectives”.[4]

Objectives of the Study

Experts opinion that one of the biggest impacts of technologyon human resource management
comes from the way inwhich technology alters industries and lifestyles. Keepingthis view in
mind an attempt is made to answer to the following questions

 What are the benefits of Information Technology in Human Resource Management

 What is the role of HRM in information technology for developing, Recruiting and Idea
management tool

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 The impact in information technology on HRM
 Competence of HRM in Information Technology

Benefits of Human Resource Management in Information Technology

The rise of technology has transformed HR departments as they can now collate a range of
information about the workforce.

With data-mining, talent search and hiring tech all now available, organisations are keen to
roll out these systems in an effort to improve the functionality of HR.

Laurence Collins, director of HR and workforce analytics at Deloitte, has already urged HR
leaders to embrace analytics or risk being left behind by other departments such as finance
and supply chains. Indeed, research by his company found that only eight per cent of
businesses currently have strong HR analytics capabilities.

He added the technology has the potential to add real value to the HR function, as long as it is
implemented in the right way. For example, he thinks it will be a while before HR analytics
can be used as a predictive tool.

With a survey by Bull Information Systems finding that 66 per cent of business decision
makers feel they currently have poor quality data, it's clear there is room for improvement in
this area.

Improved employee user experience

By selecting the right technology, HR departments can deliver a simpler, faster and smarter
user interface as part of a human capital management (HCM) system. According to a report
by the Information Services Group, more than 50 per cent of survey respondents have chosen
or plan to choose a cloud-based software-as-a-service system when it comes to HCM. Doing
so allows organisations to put productivity and engagement at the heart of the process, which
in turn should foster staff loyalty. Developing a simple and intuitive user interface that can be
accessed either by desktop or mobile means employees can interact with each other and
management in an effective and useful manner.

Real-time talent assessment

The annual review has been a staple of talent assessment for a number of years, as it provides
both staff and management with the chance to catch up, review progress and set out some

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future goals. However, in today's digital age it means valuable learning opportunities can be
missed. Thanks to big data analytics, companies can now carry out continuous real-time
assessment of their staff and feed this back immediately. It means HR departments can
identify areas of improvement and develop plans to address these issues straight away. By
effectively harnessing data, staff members can always be improving, while companies will be
ideally placed to provide the resources and support they require in order to achieve their
goals.

Coordinating secondary benefits

With employee benefits packages being scaled back by many organisations, companies are
looking to keep staff happy by offering a range of secondary benefits, including food deals,
flexitime and gym memberships. By developing a hub that offers information about all of
these perks online, it's much easier for people to take advantage of them. This in turn should
boost staff morale as individuals are more likely to feel cared for and about. Focusing on
perks that promote good physical and mental health is advised.

Use of technology in human resources management

Human resources management is among those professional occupation segment that

technological changes had influenced. Technology has transformed the role of human
resources management professionals to a large extent. More and more human resources
management functions within the human resource department are being performed
electronically to improve the administrative efficiency and responsiveness of human
resources management to their internal clients, employees and managers. Web-based
technology is also being used extensively for almost all key human resource activities. Some
them are employment application creation, employee benefits enrollments and training using
e-learning based resources (Mathis and Jackson, 2010)

Due to the above mentioned automation of human resource activities the human resource
professionals are getting more time for other aspects of their jobs. In this way technology is
assisting organizations in amending the time management practices of their human resource
department and subsequently enhancing their efficiency.

The HR role in IT Human Resources Development

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Career planning tool is a generic, learning, knowledge-based system that helps top leaders to
manage the personal development and path career of employees. One of the most important
online supports within Human Resources is tracking the Human Resources Development
Core Processes. The tool should provide all necessary information about individual
succession planning of employee, next development measures or evaluation of overall
performance and review of the potential. Experience from many companies points out that
the essential part of the tool is agreement of individual goals between employee and
supervisor which should be directly connected to a business target. This is also connected
with the fact that companies use determination of individual goals for employees in the full
range in order to reach strategic goals of the company. One big advantage of the tool is that
entered data are stored in database which provides attainability and visibility of the history
anytime and simultaneously online system can provide a considerable cost saving. The tool
should also include the reporting, it means provide information about needed trainings for
employees, report about ideas for further employee’s personal development. The above
mentioned reports make easier the work of the Human Resources department.

The Human Resource Role in Information Technology recruiting

In nowadays, managers realize that human capital has become the last competitive benefit
and IT recruiting can broadly support efficient hiring together with forming the workforce. In
order to attract the best candidates, it is vital that both HR and IT departments cooperate
together. The HR role in IT recruiting is of key importance, including time of crisis. The ”war
of talents“ carries on, despite the current crisis. The HR IT tools can support hiring and
retaining a high potential. It begins with launching the career website what is a very good
promotional tool.

Employer can present all necessary information related to job, careers or personal
development of each applicants there. The career website should focus not only on potential
employees, but target group should also include the students, graduates or school pupils in
order to have a possibility to ”raise“ new employees for the future.

Impact of technology on human resource personals

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As technology is establishing its presence within the human resource department,
professionals have experienced more clarity, transparency, and comprehensiveness of
information employed by them (Gardner, Lepak and Bartol, 2003).

In addition to information responsiveness, human resources management also includes

professionals to be aware of latest trends in policy making, activities, and employment
practices in their industry. Additionally, they need to have current information on the relevant
laws and regulations because this helps them in expressing flexibility in the event of
unanticipated changes. Further, this characteristic enhances the value and contribution of the
human resource department to the organization.

Therefore, in order to keep pace with the constantly changing laws the information must be
consistently sought out. Technology has enabled organizations to connect to the internet to
interact with other professionals in organizations in their industry. It has helped many human
resource professionals in gathering information that they need to remain informed to
demonstrate the desired characteristics and ability. These facts also suggest that technology
has not only enabled human resource professionals to access and distribute information but
also has influenced their expectations.

Human Resource Competencies

Competencies are defined as an individual’s demonstrated knowledge, skills or abilities

(Ulrichetal). Competencies are personal characteristics about people; who they are, what they
know and what they do, or personal characteristics cause superior performance (Yeung).
Dynamic trends in the external business environment that companies face, and nature of HR
demand that HR professionals develop new capabilities and competencies (Quinn and
Brockbank). In this context development of technologies in work place, internet and web
based IT have very important impact on HR professionals and affects their functions and
activities (Benson). To respond new role expectations HR professionals must learn and
develop new skills (Gardner et al. 2003).
Technological Competencies:

Service applications via the internet

One important way that HR technology is opening up the HR space is through accessing
standard business applications on the Internet via the use of the application service provider
model, which involves using a third party to manage and distribute software-based services.

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This type of “software-as-a-service” was one of the top trends identified by the SHRM
Technology and HR Management Special Expertise Panel in 2006 [7] Many technology
experts point to this as a significant trend because it has lower upfront costs than licensing
software and because it concentrates responsibility for the management and upgrade of
computer systems in the hands of the service provider rather than the buyer. This is
particularly important in an environment where the speed of technology development is
getting faster every day. Instead of organizations investing in licensed software and adding
their own customized features and upgrades, which can take a long time to test and
implement, the service provider uses the continuous developments in technology to enhance
service on an ongoing basis and make updates immediately available to its customers.
Advocates of this model say that this encourages faster innovation from service providers and
also helps keep costs down in a competitive market.

Until now, only the largest companies were able to afford the costs of a major investment in
licensed HR software. In addition to the initial license fee, companies pay annual technical
support and upgrade fees that frequently amount to millions of dollars for the largest
companies. According to Forrester Research, maintenance fees will account for more than
40% of company spending on enterprise resource planning (ERP) software in 2006 [8] At the
moment, the licensed ERP software market is relatively competitive, so larger organizations
will potentially be able to benefit from cost savings on software and on maintenance fees in
the short to medium term. But even though their emphasis will continue to be on licensing
standardized platforms to their largest customers, now some of the biggest HR licensed
software providers are also experimenting with different types of Internet based services.
Here, some of the most important developments may occur in on-demand software aimed at
small and medium-sized businesses.

One reason that small businesses may hesitate to use some types of on-demand software is
because the prices are often based on the number of expected users. For this reason, rather
than small businesses interfacing directly with on-demand HR software service providers,
they may instead benefit from the shift to on-demand HR software mainly through the
companies they outsource their HR tasks to. On-demand HR software providers may
increasingly work together with HR outsourcing companies to enhance their services.

It could take some time to see how the on-demand or software-as-a-service HR software
market will influence the management of human resources in small and medium-sized

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businesses. If on-demand HR software reaches a point where it is easily bundled into on-
demand software packages aimed at small businesses or through low-cost outsourcing
services that use on-demand software to keep costs down, many small businesses may benefit
from more efficient HR processes than they ever had access to before.

As cost barriers come down and familiarity with the technology grows, the small and
medium-sized business consumer of HR technology may grow more sophisticated and use a
wider array of HR technologies. This could, in turn, free up small businesses from the
administrative side of HR and, by improving the decision-making tools available to them,
such as workforce analytics, encourage them to consider the more strategic possibilities of
successful human resource management.

A Growing Demand for Simplicity

But HR technology can only help open up HR processes and tasks to a wider audience—
employees and managers via self-service applications or small and medium-sized businesses
through lower cost on-demand HR software—if it is user friendly. For this reason, the
demand for simplicity will continue to be a key driver in the development of HR
technologies, especially as the market for these kinds of tools broadens. Providers will need
to consider wider consumer demands when it comes to technology because they can no
longer assume that customers will be technology or HR specialists. According to the
Consumer Electronics Association, 87% of people rate ease of use as the most important
characteristic of new technologies.(9 )When it comes to HR software applications, simplicity
and ease of use may continue to be a challenge for providers to offer. Elegantly linked
systems of software that work together in a simple, intuitive way are in reality extremely
complex and difficult to design. Not only that, but different software providers have an
economic imperative to prevent their systems from being easily interoperable with those of
their competitors. Some IT analysts believe that this may be one reason why the open-source
software movement may play a growing role in the development of several kinds of
technologies, because many kinds of open-source applications may have more
interoperability and lower costs associated with them. Others point to industry consolidation
as a driver in bringing together different kinds of HR software under a single platform.
Regardless of how they go about it, it seems likely that organizations will continue to try to
link together different systems in a way that makes them simpler and easier to use.

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According to Nucleus Research, one of the top IT trends will be that “enterprises will clean
house: Several trends are converging to compel businesses to shed unnecessary and
redundant systems. Companies are increasingly using integration technologies such as Web
services and service-oriented architecture to rebuild patchworks with more elegant
solutions.”[10]

EVALUATION

Beside IT is an important instrument for realizations of HR functions, widely use of IT in the

HR functions affects HR management in many aspects.

Traditional HR functions: Use of IT within the HR functions increases effectiveness and

efficiency of HR practices, decreases time and costs. Moreover, IT facilitates distributions of
information along the organizational hierarchy, it empowers organizational decision making
and knowledge management.

New HR process: Self service HR, e-learning and e-recruiting are new processes. These are
possible only with IT tools. These new processes regarding effectiveness, efficiency and cost
create more value than traditional HR processes do for the organization.

New types of working: Widely use of IT in the business creates new types of works such as
teleworking and web based project contracts.

Strategic impact: IT is a very important force for the transformation of HR functions. IT

decrease transactional burden on the HR functions. So HR professionals devote more time for
the strategic issues to be a strategic partner.

New Competencies: Transforming HR management from administrative functions to

Strategic focus defines new competencies of successful HR professionals. These
competencies are business knowledge, change management and technological competencies.
HR professionals can be unsuccessful in adaptation of IT in business although they know
about technology. In order to be an important player in an organization and to create value for

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the organization HR professionals need to know about business and its environment.
Adaptation of IT also changes the routines, business processes and work habits. So HR
professionals need to have the competencies of change management. HR mangers need also
new competencies on IT and more knowledge on facilities of IT before they had in the past.
As a result, applications of IT in the HR functions both affect HR practices and make HR
professionals develop new competencies.
Future Work

In addition to creating new HR technology specialist roles, the interface between HR and IT
processes and the growing complexity of managing HR technology systems could also
influence the types of competencies required within existing HR specialist areas and also
including HR role in IT Development and recruitment and also training including idea
management tool.

Conclusion

The role of Human Resource Management in IT (Information Technology) is very useful for
developing IT and Growth the Recruitments and also process of recruitment strategy as well
as managing tool, so impact information technology on Human resource management
competences provide HR technologies as well as new roles for professional Human Resource
Technologies.

References

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6. HR Technology Competencies:New Roles for HR Professionals By Jennifer
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