IPASJ International Journal of Management (IIJM)

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJM/IIJM.htm

Email: editoriijm@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-645X

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2016

BLENDING TECHNOLOGY & HRM OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Chaitali Pandya
Research Scholar, Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

ABSTRACT
Technology has changed the business world many times over. In this digital Age, the advent of computers and the Internet has
increased the impact significantly. Many of the workplaces cannot even function without the use of digitization. This impact is
seen in nearly all areas of business, including human resources, where technology continues to have a significant impact on
HR practices. E-HR is increasingly being used by small, medium and large employers to meet the needs of its stakeholders,
which leads to the high performing organization by collaborating technology with HR practices. This paper has aimed to
explore the impact of information technology on HR deliverables, the upcoming future trends for leveraging technology into
the HR practices and challenges faced by an organization with respect to implementation of E-HR in the organization.

Keywords: about four key words separated by commas Information technology, Human resource management, E-HR,
IT tools and techniques, HRIS (human resource information system).

1. INTRODUCTION
The foundation principles of the HR Profession came into existence more than half century age. As laid out in the
organization man by William whyte, but the world of 1950s is no longer into being. The global economy is now facing
competitive pressures and logistical challenges. The Chinese are now the global economys most fervent entrepreneurs.
Indeed the world has changed. Human resource management has become technology oriented to a great extent over a
last decade. This transformation can be said as E-HR. E-HR can be used to attract, hire, retain and support HR
administration and optimize HR. E- HR supports various stakeholders such as managers, employees and HR
Professionals.
The Present work is aimed to study impact of Information technology on Human resources along with the emerging
opportunities to leverage Information technology on Human resource, and challenges faced by and organization to
implement information technology in HR Deliverables.

2. OBJECTIVES
A. To study the impact of information technology and human resource management in various HR functions.
B. To identify challenges and Opportunities faced by organizations in implementing E-HR in the organizations.
C. To identify the factors to be considered while implementing IT in an organization.

3. METHODOLOGY
The study is secondary in nature and the content of the research paper has been collected through various sources as
journals, books and various relevant websites from the internet.
3.1 Scope of Study
This study explores the areas including:
Impact of Information technology in various HR functions.
Issues and challenges faced by organizations during the strategic use of e-HR technology.
Determining future trends for integration of information technology with Human resource management.
The avoidance of common pitfalls in the technology oriented HR functions and its acceptance by employees.

Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2016

Page 1

IPASJ International Journal of Management (IIJM)

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2016

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJM/IIJM.htm

Email: editoriijm@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-645X

4. LITERATURE REVIEW
4.1 The Paradigm Shift
Human resource Management has been greatly affected by Information technology through one of the effective tool i.e.
E-HR. This tool has not only simplified data processing or analysis but also it has made employee information easily
accessible to the managers. The two prime areas of application of E-HR for managerial decision making process
involves, the increase of digitization in decision making process and the coordination among the various strategic
functions in the organization.
4.2 E-HRM and its role in various HR functions
The concept of E-HRM is trending this days among any organization. However it lacks one clear definition. E-HR is
the internet supported way of execution of HR policies and activities. S. Strohmeier defined E-HR as the planning,
implementation and application of information technology for both networking and supporting atleast two individual or
collective actors in their shared performance of HR activities. TV Bondarouk and HJ Ruel define E-HRM as an
umbrella term covering all possible integration mechanisms and contents between HRM and information technology
aiming at creating value within and across organizations for targeted employees and management.
Researchers have shown that implementation E-HRM is influenced by various macro and micro factors. Micro factors
refer to the individual who perform and use E-HRM, as well as their personal characteristics. Macro factors refer to
organizations groups, organizational units. Based on research HJ Ruel and H van der kaap collected below variables as
follows in the table:
Table: 1 E-HRM variables on micro and macro aspect
Micro Variables
Support from colleagues and managers
Information availability and accessibility
HRM Practices
Employee skills
Employee behaviour
Computer and internet literacy
Personal characteristics of individual
Degree of involvement in E-HRM design and
implementation
Managerial compulsion to use E-HRM
Privacy and data security

Macro Variables
Organization size
Department size
Duration of existence of HRIS department
Computer experience of firm
Cross functional teams
Nationality of the firms
Multicultural context
National culture

Information Technology and HR functions

A. Recruitment and selection:
Recruitment and selection process has been transformed with existing technology solutions, which has reflected
changes in the pattern of collecting, using and disseminating information about employees and candidates. The aim of
recruitment is to attract employees to apply on job advertisements. Many job ads, job boards and interactive job fairs
have taken recruitment on next level. E-recruiting attracts great number of candidates but quality of applicants is still a
concern unlike traditional recruitment methods. Social media recruiting is a buzz this days, surveys has shown, 93% of
recruiters have used social media as a active recruitment tool.
B. Training and development:
Learning and development plays a vital role in the organization in attainment of organizational objectives and to make
substantial investment in training and development, benefits all the stakeholders of the organizations. Nowadays
organizations are looking for innovative forms of learning and development activities. Studies have shown that
organizations use more and more IT tools indicating over 25% of corporate training hours are now online and nearly
40% of these solutions are technology supported. This also justifies the fact that employee gain knowledge and
satisfaction is positively related to post training motivation. Studies have shown that e-learning provides greater
flexibility, efficiency and convenience for trainees and cost effective in comparison of traditional training methods.

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IPASJ International Journal of Management (IIJM)

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2016

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJM/IIJM.htm

Email: editoriijm@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-645X

C. Performance appraisal:
Performance appraisal plays a vital role in human resource management because it has an implication on improvement
and increase of employees result and compensation which helps organization to look for new methods and solution for
the process. Online performance appraisal is software which helps in completion of employees performance evaluation
online. It can be either MSS (only accessible to managers) or ESS (accessible to employees for feeding up the data) or
combination of both. Now-a-days organizations are going social eliminating the traditional 360 appraisal system to an
extent. Using social groups and communities for employee assessment supports to provide goal alignment, appreciation
and goal support. Enabling collaborative goal defining using social media for team based collaboration and work
updates on goals. Performance management has the highest percentage of Mobile enabled HR process, which will
increase its adoption to 40% by next year.
D. Other Personnel operations:
Employee self service (ESS) is defined as a corporate web portal that helps managers and employees to view, create and
maintain relevant information. For eg. About benefits, attendance, leave policies and payroll. The study of UK konradt
et al has shown that organizational support and information policy were positively related ease of use, usefulness was
positively related to satisfaction and system usage. SAP is one of the leading company to provide self-service for
employees and managers.
4.3 Issues and challenges while integrating IT with HRM:
A. Employee Orientation:
The Employees of the organization should show the adaptability for the usage of technology in the process will help in
generating better and improved results compared to the existing process.
B. Organizational culture:
Organizational culture affects the acceptance of the implementation of new system in the organization. The dimension
of better results can be timely and accurate information, ease of use and time saving.
C. Accessibility and security:
A system or a technique designed varies from organization to organization. Accessibility and implementation issues are
the challenges to data privacy and data movement across the departments.
D. Cost factor:
Cost is an important factor that has to be taken into consideration before implementation of the E-system. The
companies must pre-plan and prioritize and take the decisions execution of E-systems on the basis of essential and
desirable operations.
E. Training and E-learning:
The process of training and adaption of new E- HR systems can be cumbersome and time consuming process, hence it
should be user friendly enough to make user adapt that system without any reluctance.
F. Technical limitation:
An organization cannot depend on technology or software completely to handle every issues related to HR. Software
cannot completely replace a skilled professional. Employees may not be able to make sense of choice from the website
and may need to personally discuss with HR experts in case if doubts faced by them.
4.4 Future trends for integration of information technology with Human resource management:
A. Move from Quantity to Quality:
Author says, currently organizations has deluged with technological advances, and many Leaders and HR departments
have embraced some, or if very innovative, many of them. Only to later find out (after spending money and resources)
that some are a terrible match for their organizations. I see much more selectivity in the year ahead. Instead of asking,
Is this amazing technology?, the question will become, Is this technology a good match for us?
B. Traditional HR Technologies Will Diminish:
In the second decade of the computer revolution, which has indeed changed the way we live and work. But even
something as epic as the computer reaches its limits. What were seeing now is a welcome emphasis on refinements of

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IPASJ International Journal of Management (IIJM)

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2016

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJM/IIJM.htm

Email: editoriijm@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-645X

the core technologies. Nor organizations will Look for smart technologies that are user-friendly and deliver targeted
results and Optimum ROI.
C. Implementation
Smart people are shutting out all the clutter and asking themselves: Is this technology going to be easy to implement
and will be my employees actually adopt? Ignore all the bells and whistles, the shiny toys and pretty graphics. In the
end its about usage, smart data and building stronger teams. Will this product be worth the effort and expense?
Deconstruct the technology down its core deliverables.
D. Analytics will be a big picture:
Software analytics, single stack software and any tool that enables relevant data to be collected and shared between
departments with ease and consistency is basically good. It allows everyone to be on the same page, speaking the same
language. Its a fantastic Leadership and HR tool.
E. Social Media And Continuous Learning Continues To Grow In Significance:
Social media is one area that has lived up to its hype. Its an amazing talent management, branding and employee
engagement tool. For example by creating a 3-dimensional profile of an applicant (Google the persons name-Wink),
talent simply leaps out. Peoples quirks, interesting detours, offbeat skills all come to life as we learn more about
peoples personalities and real lives. As do certain negatives like rigid ideology, or a tendency to be snarky or
combative. Within an organization, social media, social learning and big data are an unparalleled communication and
cohesion tool if understood and utilized correctly.
F. Real Time Talent Management:
Tools that allow continuous monitoring of performance are better for everyone. A formal employee review every six
months is fast becoming obsolete. What is far more important is software that enables us to stay on top of things in real
time. Problems are nipped in the bud and the good stuff like recognition, gamification and rewards are in place to offer
more productive employee relationships that can be nurtured. No more playing catch-up. Real time monitoring gives
HR and Leaders more power to do more good and weed out the people who are not a good fit.
G. Going Mobile:
Theres a new generation of talent coming up that views desktops as a relic from the past. The world is growing
evermore global and mobile and HR has to be, too. To reach the right talent, you need to be mobile-friendly in design
and ease of usage. HR should always go where the talent is and these days its on mobile.
4.5 Considerable factors while integrating Information technology with HR
A. Cross cultural training of HR department:
Strategies should be developed to ensure cross cultural training of personnel in the HR department so employee can
understand the work culture and inculcate themselves to the culture and avoid conflict of interest.
B. Adaptability:
HR should adapt itself to the changing environment and technology and should opt for sufficient and sustainable
technical support of equipments and resources.
C. Flexibility:
The E-HR systems should be agile and flexible to accommodate the changes, at the time of paradigm shift. The
demands of changing economy should take care while developing new policies.
D. Technical training:
To get acquainted to the new technologies in organizations demands the additional training to the employees. As it is a
part of HR department, HR managers should develop a concrete planning to get employees adaptive to the new systems
introduced in organization.
E. Communication:
To ensure smooth functioning of the system, organization must address potential issues and training plans to the
employees.

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IPASJ International Journal of Management (IIJM)

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2016

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJM/IIJM.htm

Email: editoriijm@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-645X

F. Monitoring and Feedback:

There should be accurate monitoring for implementation of system with pre-defined stipulated time period, to
accommodate new changes for the improvement in the system.

5.CONCLUSION
Implementation of E-HR in an organization with adaptability, if planned in with a correct perception it can lead an
organization to better growth alongwith high performance. E-HR will provide mangers with real time metrics which
will be helpful to them to track and spot trends effectiveness thus leading to effective management of the workforce.
Effective HR transactions increased speed, lesser paperwork and cost effectiveness are definitely some of the advantages
ensuring better transparency but also effective decision making for Top management. E-HR requires a fundamental
change in the way HR professional look up to their roles. Hence, Information technology plays a vital role in executing
HR functions and there are immense opportunities for IT leverage in HRM function.

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AUTHOR
Chaitali Pandya received the B.C.A. and M.B.A- HR degrees from Saurashtra University and
Gujarat Technological
University, respectively. During 2007 - 2012, currently pursing Ph.d in
Management branch from Gujarat Technological university and has also been associated with
corporate sector on Managerial level in Human Resources Department.

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