Impact of Information Technology on HR Practices

Introduction

The rapid increase in the integration of information technology in the human resource practices proves how information technology is critical in the delivery of professional HR functions (Dawra, 2014). That happens because various organizations and companies make use of the human resource information systems for the storage and acquisition capabilities in analyzing and making decisions regarding HRM issues (Dawra, 2014). Therefore, the increasing integration of the information technology into human resource management is integral in the transformation of the organizational, business processes’ and communications’ design (Dawra, 2014).

Given the tremendous impact of information technology on the human resource practices, there is a concerted effort by managers, employees, suppliers, and customers in increasing their expectancy for human resource functions (Dawra, 2014). IT enhances the knowledge and human capital and in the process, there is a raising eed for innovations in the field of HR to gain competencies (Dawra, 2014). In this paper, the discussion is on how the human resource practices are impacted by information technology, thus bringing about competency in the HR profession.

In particular, there is increasing use of the human resource integrated system (HRIS) by businesses and organizations. The usage is primarily in the acquisition and storage of information about the employees. Furthermore, it includes the applications requirements, biography data, job characteristics, recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, corporate structure and professional improvement (Kumar & Kumar, 2013). An example of the HRIS use in human resource practices is the use of electronic human resource management or eHRM in the connection of the collective players in the participation of human resource activities.

New Processes

The adoption of information technology in the human resource activities has resulted in the creation of new HR process, Firstly, there is the creation of the e-learning or web-based training HR application, through which the employees receive informal education activities while on-job (Fang, 2013). That is evident in the growing use of dashboards, web pages, mail lists, online courses, and different media applications in support of workplace learning.

Secondly, the adoption of information technology has created the virtual recruitment in that human resource offices now engage in web-based recruitment, CV searching, online job advertisements, virtual interviews and online psychological tests, thereby speeding the hiring process (Fang, 2013). In addition to this, the virtual recruitment applications have removed the obstacle of reaching a larger pool of candidates.

Thirdly, the integration of IT in human resource practices has resulted in the creation of Self-service HR and Portal applications, through which the HR managers can access HRIS (Obeidat, 2013). Therefore, self-service activities by the employees, through the use of technology, are critical in the updating and verification of the employee personal information and any other information relating to training programs (Obeidat, 2013). Managers also use these applications in analyzing candidate profiles as well monitoring absentee trends in the company in addition to the management of performance appraisal (Obeidat, 2013).

Fourthly, IT HR portals are critical in each employee arranging or customizing their portals in accordance the job responsibilities or preferences (Kim, 2012).  The developments of a process like teleworking are caused by the adoption of IT in the human resource practices and as such, they help in collecting people with similar skills to work on specific projects (Kim, 2012). That results in lower absenteeism and turnover among other benefits.

Benefits of IT

The integration of information technology in human resource practices comes with many advantages as they provide functionality to the realization of the goals and objectives of human resource. The first benefit of IT in the practice of HR is that it leads to a reduction of process and work costs (Gilda Rusu-Zaga et al., 2013). That becomes possible because the use of an application such as self-service by the management of the employees helps in the reduction of HR processing costs. In addition, the use of e-Selection is critical in the reduction of staffing and selection costs because there is employee turnover and the increased hiring efficiency (Gilda Rusu-Zaga et al., 2013). Furthermore, the use of self-service applications by employees enables the employees to attend to the assigned duties; thus, professionals spend less time on routine tasks (Gilda Rusu-Zaga et al., 2013).

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The second benefit of using IT in HR practices is that it saves time since the professionals have less time to attend to routine tasks, which makes it easier to acquire and analyze information relating to the organizational recruiting processes (Kumar & Kumar, 2013). There is also increased efficiency in the use of informatics in the standardization of routines by the human resource professionals. That enables the HR professionals to dedicate more time on the interpretation of information and less time on administrative activities (Kumar & Kumar, 2013). That gives them ample time to respond to challenges in the organization, especially those that are complex in nature.

The third advantage in the adoption of IT in the practice of human resources regards effective communication and collaboration (Kim, 2012). That is evident in the use of various modern communication tools such as virtual teams, e-mail, teleworking, and messaging for communication and collaboration activities in the workplaces, thereby making the environment more suitable for employee interaction even in their physical absence in the workplace (Kim, 2012). That results in improved employee skills in communication and collaboration as well as decision-making. That extends to the sharing of responsibility for decision-making over the internet and increased capacity reporting in the organization (Kim, 2012).

The fourth benefits concern competency in management in that the information technology tools are helpful to the HR professionals in their reach to a wider pool of candidate from where they will select the best fit for the available jobs in their organizations (Liang-Hung, 2011). The fact that IT shortens and improves the recruitment process is a clear indicator that there is competence for the incumbents’ work quality. That is attainable by using tools in the development of effective organizational human capital (Liang-Hung, 2011).

The fifth benefit of IT tools in the HR practices is knowledge management in that it (knowledge management) is an extension of human resource information system and as such, there is the need for the HR professionals in integrating the traditional functions in this systematic process (Obeidat, 2013). That is done in the effort to ensure there is a loss of the best organizational knowledge and skills. Knowledge management is also critical in facilitating and empowering the critical tasks in the organization, as there is access to and dissemination of information by the HR professionals in an efficient manner (Obeidat, 2013).

Lastly, the HR managers use IT as an impetus for the strategic structuring of human resource (Menon, 2012). Information technology is critical to building stronger human resource units, thus allowing the management to carry out significant strategic roles and, at the same time, freeing up the administrative tasks. That provides for more time in the interpretation of information and development of organizational strategies (Menon, 2012).

HR Competencies

The primary rationale is that the HR professionals use IT for acquiring data. The enumeration here is that they must be in possession of critical competencies that will enable them to transform the very data into strategic valuable (Reihaneh et al., 2013). In the effort to leverage on technology, HR professionals use web-based applications such as e-HR in adding value to the organization effectively as that offers the opportunity to focus on strategic partnership (Reihaneh et al., 2013).

Another competence caused by the adoption of IT in HR practices regarding change management is in that there are changes in corporal routines and business processes (Sheehan, Garavan, & Carbery, 2014). Such competencies in change management are critical in for HR professionals in the organization of members for the goal of attaching importance to the industry. That means that the HR professionals will be in a position to manage the cultural, organizational transformations in support of the self-service human resource systems (Sheehan et al., 2014).

There is the need for the HR organizational managers to adopt new competencies in information technology and knowledge facilities so that they improve on their past skills and in the process be in line with the changing technologies (Sheehan et al., 2014). All these are proof of how the adoption of informatics in human resource functions significantly affects the practice of human resource.

Conclusion

In summation, information technology significantly affects both departments and professionals function of the human resources because information technology equips the players in the industry with necessary IT skills that they competitively apply in the market. As such, the enormous impact of IT on HR practices calls for the integration or implementation of the training programs in institutions and businesses so that the employees fit within the technological market niche.

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