Appunti Human Resources Management - Modulo 2

HRM.

E-HRM Implementation factors

All identified implementation factors could be categorized into technological, organizational or

people factors:

➢ Technology factors include requirements of the new or existing technology;

➢ Organizational factors reflect the ‘hard’ organizational characteristics;

➢ People factors refer to the ‘soft’ or individual factors influencing e-HRM implementations.

TWO STREAMS IN E-HRM RESEARCH The success of adoption and the one of

implementation represent the two extremes. Engineers work in the first part.

Digital tools to support the workflow: e-HRM applications

e-HRM deals with the needs of a company, in order to then go to vendors to understand how they can

support the firm. The role of HR professionals has evolved over time, starting from the II industrial

revolution (1890-1913) where they were welfare officers. During 1914-1939, their role was the labor

managers. Between these years and the 1945-1979 period (i.e., World War II), we refer to the

personnel management. Since 1980-1990, their role evolved in HR Management. Between those

years and the 2000 till now (i.e., globalization), there is the strategic human resource management.

The first technology was applied to HRM in 1945-1955, while the first HRM practice supported by

it was recruitment. Indeed, the latter is the easiest (much easier than talent and performance

management) and the most tangible practice to measure. The second technology was in 1955-1965,

the first practice was the payroll. The third technology was applied to HRM in 1965-1975, since the

HRM practice applied was the training. Finally, during 1975-1985 the applied technology supported

the performance management.

Waves of applications of high-tech to HRM

Technology of focus A motivation to buy and implement e-learning package is also the

reputation issue, which is very important.

Effectiveness criteria

Efficiency is about costs, not just those financial but both indirect and direct; while, effectiveness is

about goals achievement. The latter deals with the commitment of employees towards the company’s

goals, also goals are influenced by the external scenario and they often need to be changed after they

have been set.

These criteria are: strategic orientation - service delivery – standardization - operational efficiency –

empowerment – organizational/reputational image - compliance with regulatory requirements.

Effectiveness for whom? Candidates – Employees - Line managers - Top managers - HR managers –

IT - The whole organization - External actors (e.g., customers).

EXAMPLE 1: E-RECRUITMENT

▪ E-recruiting practices and activities carried out by an organisation, through electronic means,

for the primary purpose of identifying, attracting and influencing the job choices of competent

applicants in order to fill vacancies effectively and efficiently.

▪ E-recruitment involves advertising on websites, advertising on internet job boards and internet

directories, hiring management systems for the collection of applications, data management

and coordination, search engines and online résumé databases for identifying and attracting

potential applicants.

▪ E-recruitment is increasingly used as a mean of marketing the organization and is even

integrated into overall marketing and employer-branding campaigns.

When we employ technology, the expectations and

promises are the same. This system is reliable in 25% of the time, 75% is the mistake rate that is quite

a lot. The old model of the recruitment and selection was characterized by 20 applications per job

position; now, with the new model, there are 100/150 job applications per job post. This model is not

cheaper, since there are soft skills assessment, video interviews, webcam pre-recorder interview and

job tryouts. However, it is fancy.

Rationale behind e-recruitment

1. E-recruiting permits employers to communicate to a wider group of potential applicants

without drastically increasing costs.

2. E-recruiting is known to reduce administrative burdens in the hiring process, freeing resources

for assessment and selection

3. It is significantly more cost-efficient than a paper-based recruitment process.

4. The technology enables managers to combine recruitment with more strategic tasks, such as

employer branding.

5. Apart from rational considerations, employers switch to e-recruitment due to the social and

technological pressures of their societies, where most applicants expect recruitment to take

place online.

Technology cannot build a reputation, it can just spread the word. If a person has a bad experience

with a company, of course he will share it on the web.

Employer branding and social media

It is a long-term strategy to build a unique and desirable employer identity and managing the

perceptions of perspective and current employees, to gain competitive advantage. Companies

compete the one with the other, in order to be the best place to work in the perception of employees.

Hence, building employer identity in order to attract people is fundamental. The main function is to

attract job seekers, to increase the org reputation. It is a three-step process:

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1) The value proposition of an employer brand is developed which values are promoted within

the organization and why people should work for such a company;

→

2) The employer brand is marketed external the target of employer branding is external, to

the potential candidates;

3) The employer brand is marketed internal and becomes a part of the organizational culture.

An example of a company that does greatly in this is L’Oréal.

e-HRM implementation

E-HRM implementation is the adoption of an application during the transition period between the

technical installation of a new technology and its skilful and task-consistent use by employees, line

managers and HR professionals.

THEORIES TO UNDERSTAND THE DYNAMICS OF E-HRM IMPLEMENTATION

Sociomateriality - an umbrella term, since its notion is extremely theoretical: “there is no social that

is not also material, and no material that is not also social”. Sociomateriality challenges the deeply

taken-for-granted assumption that technology, work and organizations should be conceptually

separated. It insists that the social and the technical aspects are inherently inseparable.

Consequences of e-HRM: main findings

E-HRM SUCCESS FACTORS

All identified implementation factors could be categorized into technological, organizational or

people factors

▪ Technology factors include requirements of the new or existing technology.

▪ Organizational factors reflect the ‘hard’ organizational characteristics.

▪ People factors refer to the ‘soft’ or individual factors influencing e-HRM implementations.

The core promises behind e-HRM are:

• Cost reduction (HR ratio);

• Strategic re-orientation;

• Improvements in HRM Services

Line managers can perform HRM tasks, HR pro’s can be more involved in strategies & policies and

employees can up-date their personnel data. However… it is unclear whether organizational members

grasp these opportunities and whether HR provides better services with the e-HRM.

Appropriation of e-HRM

Users do modify technological properties while working with the e-HRM

Appropriation of e-HRM: activities that users carry out while making a selection from the potential

set of intentions and technical functionalities of e-HRM.

HRM Service Quality

Integration of the ‘Nordic’ and ‘American’ models: interaction quality, Environment quality,

Outcomes quality

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IT Strength employees’ perceptions about the relevance of the technology and the quality of the

data that is delivered by the e-HRM application.

HRM Strength: distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus.

✓ Distinctiveness - how HRM stands out in the organizational environment and captures

attention and interest.

✓ HRM Consistency - whether HRM establishes an effect over time and HR practices.

✓ Consensus - the degree of mutual content in the HRM, referring to the features of the HR staff

and/or HR practices that foster consensus among internal customers in their view of the event-

effect relationship.

Strong direct effects of the IT and HRM strengths on the perceived quality of the HRM services

(consistent over various conceptualizations of the dependent variables and over different

conceptualizations of aspects of IT use). The perceived quality of HRM services is the same

regardless of:

- the extent of appropriation and the amount of time spent with the e-HRM system

- which components of HRM service quality are chosen as dependent variables (environmental

quality, interaction quality or outcome quality).

Technological properties:

- Did affect the perceived environmental quality or the interaction quality of HRM services

- Contributed to the perceived HRM service outcomes

Strategic value of e-HRM

▪ Enhancing of a “new way of doing HRM”:

HR professionals see themselves more as HR advisors than administrators

o Line managers and employees perceive HR specialists more as Business Associates than

o People Managers

Line Managers get more involved in (Strategic) Personnel Management

o Employees take responsibility for some HR administration

o

▪ Improving HR information management:

Transparency of HR-related information

o Sharing of HR-related information

o

▪ Enabling Strategic HRM:

Enabling strategic and analytical HRM discussions

o Strategic workforce planning

o Strategic organizational and employees’ performance management

o Strategic re-orientation of HR professionals

o Simplifying administrative HR processes

o

Practical implications

▪ Communicate early and often, emphasize benefits!

▪ Clearly distinguish e-HRM implementation and net benefits

▪ Keep in mind different cognitive maps but develop congruencies.

▪ Assist managers in the transition! Address them first!

▪ Before starting with e-HRM, conduct research into readiness of your organization for e-HRM

To go for e-HRM:

Not because…

- Others do it

- It is cheaper

- HR becomes quickly strategic

- “No need to take care anymore…”

But because…

- It fits business strategy

- It is a conscious choice

- HR activities are standardized and mature

- A need for flexibility

- Risks are manageable AI and Data in HRM

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Automation Using computer software, machines or other technologies to carry out a task which

would otherwise be done by a human worker.

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Robotics Branch of engineering which incorporates multiple disciplines to design, build, program

and use robotics machines (robots).

SOFTWARE AUTOMATION

1. Business Process Automation (BPA)

▪ High-level strategy to streamline business processes, it involves formalizing and

standardizing all processes that will enter into automation software. Us