HR FUNCTION IN THE ERA OF e-HRM - Meenu Singh
Ever
since the Industrial Revolution changed the way the world and enterprises
looked at the production – labor relationship, there has been an ideological
debate on whether technology is just an enabler or whether it has the potential
and the power to replace human effort, intelligence and sensibilities. The
revolutionary strides technology has made especially in the last decade make
the discussion on the role of IT in managing Human Capital equally extensive
and perhaps even more interesting.
To
what extent can technology be used to manage the labor force? Can computers and
software programs be used to organize, guide and as many would argue, enhance
effectiveness, efficiency, productivity and performance of the same hands and
brains that created it in the first place..?!
e-HRM is
one of the most pronounced ways that technology is influencing and changing the
way Human Resources are managed by organizations. Before discussing the impact
of e-HRM on the HR function, it is important to lay down a basic, well accepted
definition of e-HRM :
e-HRM may be defined as a way of
implementing HR strategies, policies, and practices in organizations through a
conscious and directed support of and/or with the full use of web-technology-based
channels.
The
above definition makes it amply clear that e-HRM in many ways aims to improve
the way the HR department functions by supporting or in many instances
replacing the activities that were hitherto carried out by HR personnel. To
what extent and degree this can happen, does e-HRM put technology in conflict
with human endeavour or are they complementary to each other is the scope of
this discussion.
The
HRM function in most modern organizations can be said to have the following
broad functional families: - Operational,
- Relational and
- Transformational.
It is
increasingly evident that the heightened prevalence and integration of e-HRM is
beginning to cause a textural change in the “focus” of the HR department and HR
practitioners. The
empowerment of managers and employees through e-HRM in directly performing
certain chosen HR functions – especially operational and administrative ones is
a key impact. This “dis-intermediation” of HR personnel is beginning to imply
lesser administrative tasks for the HR department. These include work such as
information processing, administration, registration and information
distribution. Thus activities that can be termed as “transactional” are leading
the early adoption process of e-HRM as they are the most logical and easiest to
cut-over. Like self service ATMs and phone banking revolutionized the way we
bank, e-HRM is revolutionizing the way such basic, routine activities are
managed effectively and efficiently by employees themselves. This is a win-win
situation – more empowerment for the employee and cost saves for the
organization.
As far as relational activities
are concerned i.e. those that involve training, performance management and
recruitment, it is observed that e-HRM can be effective to a very large extent
if not absolutely replace human intervention in all cases. For these
activities, the HR intranet can come in very handy both for disseminating
information on the one hand and in capturing factual data on the other.
The fact that Operational
activities almost fully and Relational to a very large extent can be taken over
by e-HRM implies that the HR function will increasingly have more time and
energy to focus on the Transformational or strategic goals of the organization
wrt to Human Capital. In these non- transactional HR activities, a continuum of
e-possibilities exists. The conservative point on the continuum would suggest
that no electronic mechanisms should be used to replace “people” activities,
while the radical view on the continuum would suggest that technology could
replace all direct human interaction with the HR customer.
So what does all this mean for
the HR practitioner? Freed from the HR administrative workload, a company's
newly streamlined HR function can act more strategically both in policy
formulation and in business partner roles. Empirical studies on this topic –
even though few - suggest that an investment in e-HRM will result in companies
reducing the number of HRM employees. However, based on the earlier arguments,
it is likely that this concerns primarily the operational/administrative HRM
workers. At the transformational and strategic levels, HRM staff will remain
necessary, but HR professionals will do well to orchestrate a shift in their
expertise from face-to-face skills towards intranet and internet activities.
In conclusion, it is a given that
E-HRM will play an active role for line management and employees in
implementing HRM strategies, policies, and practices. In terms of the more
operational and information processing work, such as administration,
registration and information distribution, there will be less demand for HR
people. However, as far as strategic activities like policy formulation is
concerned, “HUMAN” HRM expertise will continue to be necessary – not just to
partner with business but also logically to implement e-HRM itself!!
Thank you Meenu to throw some light upon all 3 views of looking into HRM and then analyzing their respective roles wrt eHRM. The concept, scope and expectation setting from such e-enabled functions got more clearer after reading your blog!Very effective analysis! Thanks to share !
ReplyDeleteRgds
Surabhi