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!!