Calimlim, Jeninah A.

2LM1
HRM

EFFECTS of TECHNOLOGY on HR

Technology is all over the place, whether in a developed or growing market, giving immediate
access to information and people. Companies use technology as a technique to expand
competitive edge in the market. In case of Human Resources, technology helps in all processes
of HR functions but also with disadvantages. In addition, it has significantly changed the way
employees and managers get access to the human resource data.

Technology is the practical application of science to commerce or industry; the study of or a
collection of techniques; a particular technological concept; the body of tools and other
implements produced by a given society (Luck, 2010). Technology is here and will continue to
progress. To understand the role technology plays on todays HRM we first have to understand
business technology. According to Luck (2010):
Business technology refers to the integration of computer and communications
technologies in support of administrative applications and procedures within an
organization.
Business technology is constantly evolving.
Business technology is required for a successful business.

It is no longer enough for HRM to preserve a narrow operational focus, view its activities as
restricted to the limits of its own organization, or limit itself to traditional human resource (HR)
responsibilities (Lengnick-Hall & Lengnick-Hall, 2003), HRs should go beyond.

The HR field has evolved over time and nowadays HR is under more study and is more
accountable than ever. There is little room for mistakes, which can be overwhelming
expensive. HRs these days and in the near future have a greater importance in the strategic
business partnership with the organization, and for this challenge to be won, there is an
increasing need for technology to be placed in its every day operations and on its decision-
making considerations.
Impact of technology on HR functions:
It is important to look forward for the changing trends in technology, which can have an impact
on the HR practices. Understanding these changes will help managers to adapt and flourish.
Once you exploit these changing trends, you can very well have the advantage over other
players in the global market. The wide range of impact of technology on HR can be clearly
viewed on the HR functions such as:

Recruitment
Training & development
Performance management
Payroll & attendance records
Employee benefits etc

a. Advantages

In case of Recruitment, IT has a highly positive impact (Menon, 2011). E-recruitment is the use
of technology or web based tools to support the recruitment process. The major ways of
recruitment, which companies commonly use are by displaying the career opportunities on
their websites, depending on the job portals for making the potential hires and using social
networking sites (SNS) for getting the database. The major advantages of this e-recruitment
are:

Economical way to publish job openings
Greater reach
An easy tool to get connected to people with function skills
Speeds up the recruitment process (faster posting of jobs, quicker applicant response,
and speedy hiring)
24/7 access to the online resumes

Ivancevich (2001) wrote that prior to the Industrial Revolution most people worked either
close to or in their homes. However, mass production technologies changed this since people
began to travel to work in locations or factories (p. 52). Today, with increased computer
technology, there is a move for many to work from anywhere; people are no longer necessarily
anchored to one place. The trends in technology that directly or indirectly affects HRM are:
Growth in knowledge needs. World trade is growing over three times faster in
knowledge-intensive goods and services such as biomedicine, robotics, and engineering
(Ivancevich, 2001, p. 52).
Shift in human competencies. Some predict that in 2015 almost all net employment
growth will be in knowledge workers (Ivancevich, 2001, p. 52).
Global market connection. Technology is dissolving borders and creating an
interconnected marketplace (Ivancevich, 2001, p. 52).
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 (Ivancevich, 2001, p. 52).
Rapid response. Technology permits quicker communications, which allows faster
decision-making (Ivancevich, 2001, p. 52).
Quicker innovation. Teams of marketing, engineering, and production personnel
working in parallel with computer provided files, data, and information develop
products faster (Ivancevich, 2001, p. 52).
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 (Ivancevich, 2001, p. 52).

The usage of Social networking helps in getting faster response and interactions but the safety
and credibility of the data continues to be a serious question. Corporate have started using
these sites for business and finding out potential talents in few minutes. (Menon, 2011).

In the case of Training & development, e-learning is an intense opportunity provided by the
companies for their employees, which help them increase their knowledge level. The training
materials are provided online; employees can utilize these materials and are trained. In the
case of e-learning, employees have an advantage that they can learn at their own pace.
(Menon, 2011).

Several customized HR-IT solutions are available off the shelf for performance management,
payroll maintenance and attendance that have a positive impact. These functions have become
a part of the customized software packages like ERP solutions. CPM (Computerized
performance monitoring) system used by companies helps in data collection by counting the
number of work units covered by each one per time. At a time, it helps in calculating the
performance of approximately ten million people. (Menon, 2011).

In the case of Employee Benefits, the use of ESS (Employee Self Service) has helped HR
managers to dedicate more time on strategic issues like workforce management, succession
planning, and compensation planning etc and ensuring that the employees data are accurate
and updated. Through this ESS solution, employees get access to their data, pay roll
information, training materials etc online, which allow them to keep their data updated.
(Menon, 2011).

With the help of these HR IT solutions, a single person, leading to cost savings, can do a job
done by 2-4 persons. The increased impact of technology has cut down the employee head
counts, in turn achieving cost effectiveness.

Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS)
Mathis and Jackson (2003) explained HRIS as an integrated system providing information used
in HR decision making (p. 57). An HRIS serves two major purposes in organizations: (1)
improves the efficiency with which data on employees and HR activities are compiled; (2)
having accessible data enables HR planning and managerial decisions making to be based to a
greater degree on information rather than relying on managerial perceptions or intuitions
(Mathis & Jackson, 2003).
b. Disadvantages

E-recruitment also has its pitfalls. Even though e-recruitment helps in speeding up the whole
recruitment process, there is danger of short listing stage becoming an extensive one. As large
volume of resumes are posted online, screening and short listing of resumes take long time for
the HR department. In addition, if the screening is not done properly, the Company might lose
the right application and will have to continue with the GO-Error, thus leading to inadequacy.
(Menon, 2011).

The major disadvantage of using social networking sites is that many job seekers post their
confidential data on these sites and end in serious issues; hence, the safety of these data is an
unanswerable one. Risk of mistaken identity is another problem faced by the recruiter. Even
though all these risks exists, major IT services companies in India like HCL, Wipro, TCS etc hire 7-
10% of their overall employees through SNS and these companies have a separate recruiter
team for coordinating these activities. It is due to the reduced cost and greater reach of SNS to
the younger segment, which makes major corporate, use SNS as a tool for recruitment.
(Menon, 2011).

Even though these CPM or Computerized Performance Monitoring software systems have been
made to make the flow of information between different departments to be smoother, they
have disadvantages also. Inadequate testing of the application and poor implementation can
lead to problems in the system, also inexperienced employees using the system can add to
confusions leading to lower productivity. (Menon, 2011).

Managing the expectations of the surviving knowledge workers becomes a major area of
concern for the HR managers. Managing virtual organizations in this technology driven market
is going to cause hard challenge for HR managers. (Menon, 2011).

Virtual organization
Virtual organization is the network of companies or employees connected by computers. Virtual
workers can work from wherever they want, from home, car or abroad. Human resource
department has significant role in virtual organizations. As the employees in a virtual
organization do not meet face to face, it is the HR managers responsibility to create a
psychological connection between various units and their workers. HR department has to take
care of the alignment of the organizations vision, mission and goal with the workers
objectives. Finding potential hires with the requisite skills for the virtual organization becomes
another challenge for the HR department. Creating a feeling of belongingness among the
workers and managers can help in meeting their responsibilities in an effective way.
The major disadvantages of the use of technology on HR are: (Menon, 2011)

When organizations depend more on technology as a substitute to human interactions,
loss of potential talents may happen.
HR is all about managing people, which requires human interaction and face to face
communication, and as human element will always remain significant in HR, a balance
should be maintained between the IT and the human aspect.
Technological obsolescence also poses to be a problem. Obsolescence occurs very fast
that the information relied on obsolete technologies becomes inaccessible in certain
cases. Hence, the ROI for the HR technology systems, if not estimated and measured will
lead to problems.

Conclusion:
HRMs are presented with the challenge of becoming more effective and productive, and they
are accepting this challenge by turning to technology as a mean to improve their performance;
however, technology presents its own challenges as well. The role technology plays on HRM is
most fundamental when used as part of an organizations business strategy. There are specific
technology designed for HRM decision-making, on the other hand the efficiency of these
decisions remain dependent on the human training and skills. Technology is incorporated on
the fiber of our lives because of its overwhelming presence on e-business, as Internet continues
to have an exponential growth.

In this fast growing market, if you are not aware of the latest technologies in HR, ensure that
you are not left back in the dust, as your competitors are already experimenting new
technologies. In particular, Companies need to look at adopting technological assistance in the
major HR functions such as recruitment, training, performance management, pay roll,
employee benefits etc. HR personnel need to be updated on the technological options that are
available, select the best options that will make significant difference to their functioning and
leverage them to bring efficiencies. Hence, HR managers have to be keen and farsighted; dont
let the opportunities pass you by, only because you were not updated on technological
offerings and its impact on doing better business. (Menon, 2011).








Ivancevich, J. M. (2001). Human resource management (8th Ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-
Hill/Irwin.
Lengnick-Hall, M., & Lengnick-Hall, C. (2003). Human resource management in the knowledge
economy. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Luck, B. (2010). Innovation of technology: Business for a new century [PowerPoint slides].
Retrieved October 5, 2012 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/27947709/Innovation-of-
Technology-in-Business-Slides.
Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. (2003). Human resource management (10th ed.). Mason, OH:
Thomson/South-Western.
Menon, Morison. (2011). HR & Technology. Retrieved October 5, 2012 from
http://www.morisonmenon.com/hr-and-technology.php.