Value of Technology in HR (Essay Sample)

Value of Technology in HR
NAME
DEPARTMENT NAME
COURSE NAME
PROFESSOR’S NAME
The most crucial, prosperous, and continuously developing venue of an organization is its Human Resource. Human resource is the leading force of the organization which manages daily operations of a firm like recruitment, selection, training, development of personnel, performance management, monitoring, controlling, motivating employees and providing feedback on a regular basis (Ensher,2002).
For the past few decades, technological boom and evolution have significantly impacted the working of organizations, and it has led to a change in the department of Human resources. It has changed the communication patterns. For instance, advertising has been changed due to the internet and social media. Most jobs are now being advertised online, and traditional methods of personnel recruitment are being replaced. Performance appraisal and management methods have also been altered by technology. Employee’s performance is gauged by user ratings instead of evaluation of in-house managers. This paper will help us understand how technology is essential in Human resources and what are the pros and cons of using it.
Human resource:
Hiring and development of employees in an organized effort to make them assets for the organization is collectively known as Human Resource Management (Foster,2010).
Personnel Management and Human Resource Management:
Both concepts differ in their fundamental essence. HRM is viewed as better and proactive approach while considering long term strategic decisions. In contrast to it, personnel management is short-lived and reactive in nature. Employee’s commitment to the organization is facilitated through HRM, while Personnel Management is concerned with managerial directives geared on employees (Johnson,2016). Personnel management focuses on running a business through employee representatives and members of the family in management operations. HRM, on the other hand, focuses primarily on individual workers and line management through members of the family. PM is critically right for bureaucratic organizational structures, whereas the HRM is suited more to organic and soft enterprises (Gardner,2003).
HRM was seen as limited to remuneration and recruitment in the past. However, there has been a significant shift in the training and development of employees. It showed flexibility. This shift ensured maximum competency and providing quality services to customers through empowered employees.
Now let us observe how technology has evolved the various activities and components of human resource management:
1-Recruitment:
Technology has changed the way businesses operate in the modern world. One of the main components of HRM is the recruitment of employees. Technology has introduced new ways of E-recruitment, and the corporate world has utilized the website as a means to host the candidates on virtual platforms. Internet aided software now help organizations in modernizing the process of recruitment. E-recruitment calls for the use of technology and resources of the web in particular by recruitment managers for searching, attracting, screening, assessing, and conducting interviews of potential candidates for a job (Shrivastava,2003). This kind of recruitment attracts individuals who seek employment and filtering qualified applicants for a job. It diminishes the chances of any discrimination. Social media is one such platform of e-recruitment. Social media tools like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook have revolutionized this e-recruitment process. Most companies put advertisements for jobs online either on their own website or in e-newspapers and other social media platforms to attract candidates. Few firms even conduct e-tests, and results are displayed instantly in few clicks. For example, Marks & Spencer utilize this method by giving online job details, followed by test questions, and it removes discrimination by giving additional marks to those who are having a disability or have any learning impairment. Once rejected, a person cannot re-apply for the next six months.
Performance & Reward Mechanism:
Technology is used to monitor and assess the performance of employees in an unbiased way. This requires the involvement of supervisors, employees, and entire working lineage to collaborate and work together in the best interest of the firm. Marks and Spencer also exercises a similar system of appraisal. All the staff members discuss the positives, identify areas of improvement, and invite recommendations to workers on a regular basis. A bonus system is also present in a few firms that ensure that whenever extra profits are earned, a slight share of that goes into the pockets of dedicated workers. Depending on the type of organization, employees also get discounts on various products of the employing organization. This keeps employees motivated, and high productivity is also ensured.
Childcare benefits, holidays, car lease options, and work-flex hours help employees to save tax money and gain national insurance. Sometimes, a full medical allowance is offered, or discount on medicines is given to employees based on an electronic database of their leave and performance record.
Static organizations adopt the status quo and resist change. Dynamic organizations invest in the training and development of their employees to reap the benefits of a new concept, data sciences, and analytical tools to uplift productivity and attain organizational goals. Employees are offered an induction, post-induction, and promotional courses to build their capacities in performing their jobs efficiently and effectively. Few organizations have a ranking system to gauge employee performance, and when an employee reaches a benchmark level, he gets promoted and receives the benefits of that scale. For example, employees who are trainee managers and have A-levels qualification attain training for 24 months period while graduates get training of 12 months at Marks and Spencer. Competency profiling is another method used by organizations to give relevant skills training to employees based on their current level and experience in a field (Groe,1996).
Financial Management:
Specific tools like SAP finance help in the financial management of all the resources and their costing. This includes pays, pensions, compensation, personnel welfare, public relations, logistics, benefits, and allowances of all kinds (Karakanian,2000).
Advantages of using technology:
HR staff can easily stay intact 24/7 with the advent of text, emails, and message apps. If a supervisor wants to share an update on a program or introduce a new program, he can simply email the whole thing to all employees. This saves time and avoids unnecessary long meetings (Parry,2011).
Employee performance can be measure through data analysis schemes. Technology can help in breaking down the data of personnel’s efforts and improvements for a given time period. If any improvements are needed, they can be made on a real-time basis (Panayotopoulou,2007).
Harassment on the job is becoming common. HR used to suffice a lot of litigation costs in such matters involving two parties. Now with the use of security cameras, such incidents have been kept in check and evidence-based management has been put into practice.
Employee records were previously locked up in cabinets, but now the security of this data has been efficiently managed through digital databases. All files and employee data is protected by firewalls and network systems.
Biometric attendance has improved the presence of employees and restricted absence from the job. This ensures punctuality and discipline on the part of employees.
Challenges/Risks:
* There needs to be a system to keep check of what activities or processes require automation and those which do not. Some processes require human presence, and technology cannot replace this fact.
* There is an excess of data and information in the digital age. HR finds it difficult to manage all this data, and filtration is also an issue. This calls for curating the information.
* Metrics have to ensure that senior management also gets trained with advancements in place. Otherwise, resistance to change comes into play (Schramm,2006).
* Workplace fatalities and injuries are often not reported on digital databases. They should be recorded to evaluate employees on equal terms. Similarly, unsafe working conditions should be replaced with healthier workplace environments.
* Digital records should be backed up by manual evidence as the digital records can be stolen or wiped off.
* When evaluating employees entirely on machinist systems, the element of empathy are ignored. It is duty of HR managers to to motivate employees.
* Conflict management is an interpersonal issue, and it requires delicate handling on the part of HR managers. Technology can rarely help with such issues.
Conclusion:
Technology has undoubtedly changed the ways and means of doing business. Technology is seen as a competitive edge in the modern digitized world. Without technology, a lot of issues related to human resource management would occur and cause considerable losses to firms in the form of high turnover, employee dissatisfaction, and conflicts. Technology has its benefits, but it has certain limitations. It should be used cautiously while maintaining employee databases and sensitive company data. Technology should always be backed up with manual evidence for verification and reliability. Those organizations who...