HR Technology Curve: Will it rise to new heights?

- Kunal Kirti*
Human Resource Management has undergone tremendous change in this fast and competitive business world. Since long, HR professionals are talking about changing HR role from traditional record keeping, personnel administration, system policing to that of a strategic business partner. The knowledge economy has based the human aspect of business management primarily on communication and collaboration. This is the reason why competing in the internet economy of today requires very powerful HR systems and services. Although HR intelligentsia has been talking about these concepts frequently, very few have successfully gone to implement this theory into practice. This answers the question that why most of the organizations are in early stages of technology transformation in relation to HR? The reason for failure is lack of holistic view on the part of HR leadership. It would be futile for HR leadership to take a piecemeal approach to technological changes in the various HR functions. HR has to take lead and use information technology as a weapon to create value and help the organisation achieve its business goals. It may not sound great to many HR intelligentsias in the organisation but one has to be realistic in this environment. Systems will not improve overnight as nobody can provide one time solution for system improvement. It will take its own time and HR has to play its role as facilitator and change agent.

Creating an integrated system

We all know that disparate systems create a nightmare situation that chokes the flow of information within and around the HR function. HR should have its own integrated system of database, business logic and presentation to contribute to and collect information that is necessary from other parts of the enterprise and create an information reservoir on the enterprise network as well as create information links with the external vendors. The need of the hour is to upgrade HR systems by having effective Human Resource Information System. The objective behind having HRIS is to develop & manage information resources to support the office of human resources in its role of developing & implementing programmes, policies & services for the effective management of the organizations human resources.

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* Mr. Kunal Kirti is working as Personnel officer in Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., Gurgaon. Please e-mail your feedback to kkirti@powergridindia.com.

HRIS is a comprehensive offering for managing core human resources. Companies can improve the speed & cost effectiveness with which they perform key human resource processes, such as hiring, appraisal, salary planning. It also helps in decision making. It is probably not unfair to say that many HR managers are proving to be myopic in their approach. Human resource management, as opposed to the traditional view of the personnel function, should be considered a total system that interacts with the other major systems of the organisation viz. Marketing, Production, Finance & the external environment. Indeed, the primary purpose of HRM is to service these major systems. Forecasting & planning the personnel needs of the organisation, maintaining an adequate & satisfactory work force, controlling the personnel policies & programmes of the company are the major responsibilities of HRM.

Culture Change- A prerequisite for information system

When any change is introduced in an organisation, it should be done keeping human resources in the forefront. Result of a research study reveals that major problems which occur while implementing an information system in organisations are a result of communication breakdown. More strong is the impact of an introduction of newer technology. Organisations which have an open and adaptive culture would welcome introduction of newer techniques and technology. Adaptive culture would encourage more sharing of information which would be a consequence of change in information system. Such culture would breed highly motivated employees who would embrace change whatever be the nature and extent of change involved. Probably, all organisations cultures suffer from varying levels of technology phobia. One is concerned not so much with the direction of change, but with the rate of change. Rapid changes have a very unstablizing effect on people and these effects are manifested in a variety of unusual behaviour patterns. Management, therefore, should realise that information system development is controlled not only by technical, economic and schedule constraint but also operation that deals mainly with the people element in the organisation. For successful design and implementation of MIS, understanding human behaviour and culture of the organisation is an essential prerequisite.

E business flow : Recruit to Hire (Fig-1)

Organisations strive to hire the best & brightest. In order to create efficient business operations during the hiring process, companies need to get new employees up & going on day one. The business flow from recruitment to hiring has been shown in Figure-1. To streamline & facilitate the on- board process, the HR systems must be integrated with the finance & purchasing systems so that business best practices can be coordinated & executed with ease. Identify Opening HR
Charge Update Cost Accounts Centre Payable

Describe Job/ Position

Initiate Personnel Requisition

Prepare Job Offer

Establish New Employee

Analyse Staffing and Hiring Information

Financials HR Specialist Business Intellect Manage Requisition of Office Suppliers Procurement

Issue Purchase Order Issue Staffing and New Hire Reports

Fig 1 : Creating an integrated system with HR

Business Flow : Recruitment to Hiring

From Individual to serving the whole enterprise

The HR focus is shifting from individual employees to serving the entire enterprise and successful technology integration is the key to it. Once new technology processes are in place, HR can begin to use these systems to offload administrative tasks and focus on strategic initiatives that add value to the organisation.

Benchmarking HR
People in organisations think that HR functions can not be quantitatively measured. It may look appropriate up to some extent where qualitative aspects are more required but saying that HR can not be monitored effectively merely due to this reason, seems inappropriate. The question arises that how can we utilise Information Technology to quantitatively measure and improve the performance of HR? While generating various reports, HR managers have to keep in mind the performance parameters and get involved in the design and development of systems that perform as people want rather than performing as the system wants. This will help HR professionals judge their own performance as where we stand and make their own way for reaching new heights in the organisation. Every section of HR has to define their parameters of achievement and should review these parameters periodically for improvement e.g.- performance of recruitment section of an organisation can be measured on the following parameters. Success Rate of Recruitment %[ (Candidates Attended/ Called)* 100] Success Rate of selection % [( Candidates joined/ Vacancy)*100] Total Expenses per selection Average time to fill one vacancy Company rank in terms of its reputation in professional institutes during campus visits

Adaptability and agility

Virtual offices, dispersed personnel and expanded access to information will require more flexible business rules. It is evident that Web portals, video conferencing and other IT tools have revolutionized the way HR services are offered to employees. The HR framework must adapt to situational changes resulting from the external environment, new technologies, business patterns and changing requirements. In short, HR systems of the future should enable managers to evaluate what if scenario based on a number of internal and external factors to determine the best mix of available people from the total force to optimize organizational performance and reduce cost.

In todays scenario the challenge is both for employees and employers. While employees find it difficult to find the right employer and perform to stay in their jobs, employers face the challenge of not only finding the right employees but also training and retaining them. Organisations following traditional ways of HR management will have to use information technology effectively to take care of the communication and collaboration needs and ensure the optimal utilization of the human capital to achieve organizational goals.