The report aims at defining HRIS at the first instance and then approaches the definitions from a critical viewpoint. There are various theories and research work of scholars that are available on the subject. The report analyses all the benefits and the challenges that are related to HRIS. The report adopts the case study approach to prove the points and uses eight different case studies of companies that operate in different industries.It could be found that the benefits that are provided by HRIS do not only work for the HR department but also works for all the processes and the organisations.
For the analysis of benefits of HRIS, the report takes the example of NAlCO, Achmea, Nestle and Hills International and ascertains the benefits that are attached with HRIS.For the analysis of the challenges that are ingrained with the implementation of HRIS, the report uses the case study of a public sector company, Malaysian Airlines, Ericsson and British Satellite. The report also describes in brief the e-recruitment process that has been a latest trend in the Coles Market Group. In all it could be concluded from the report that the benefits that are associated with HRIS tools far outweigh the challenges that are ingrained with the HRIS software.In the modern era of globalisation and competition where both HRM and IT are essential disciplines in all kinds of organisations, there is a desperate need for a tool which integrates both the disciplines. Both the disciplines play a vital role in achieving the strategic objectives set by the company.
(Krishna and Bhaskar, 2011) The activities in the human resources department in various industries have no more remained very simple and the management also wants to devise strategic processes to streamline the various operations of human resources and other processes in the organisation.The organisations have been able to handle payroll management, performance appraisal system, benefits administration, recruitment, scheduling of processes and services, etc. with the tools of HRIS. This report takes for example various case studies of different companies that relate to different industries and analyse their performance after they have adopted the HRIS system.
The report analyses the benefits of HRIS that are available to all the processes of the organisation and also the challenges relating to HR, IT and management that are faced in the implementation of HRIS software.The purpose of the report is to emphasise on the benefits extended by HRIS that outweigh the challenges of the software. Definition The Human Resource Information System can be defined as a tool that integrates the activities of information system and the human resource management into a common storage system. It can be briefly defined as “Integrated systems that are used to gather, store and analyze information regarding and organisation’s human resources. ” (Hendrickson, 2003)It could also be defined as the information technology that is used to arrange, store, analyze, correct, retrieve and redistribute the required information. Rai, 2012) Hendrickson (2003) again points out that the system of HRIS does not only mean the information technology that is associated with the organisation but also includes the critical parts of the human resource system that is people, processes and policies.
This system is also concerned with the data that is required to make the HR system in the organisation work effectively. The components of HRIS can be described by the model given below. It suggests, the system of HRIS is concerned of the data management and also with the various processes of human resources.It includes training, payroll management, leave management, employee life cycle, etc. S-o the entire system consist of three steps that is data input, data management and data output.
Here data management includes data analysis, data recording and data providing at the right place at the right time. Source: (Florida International University, n. d. ) Literature Review The HRIS is not just an IT tool in the hands of the organisation to help them manage their databases that relate to HR.
This is much more than just a database management system.It allows the user by a means to utilise the data. This information system assists and helps the HR management department to perform the tasks and the processes in a better way. As pointed out by Trite et al HRIS is used by the people at all levels including the upper level management, the HR professionals, and employees at all the levels, the support staffs and the top executives and the directors. This can be used as management information system which would act as a tool for the management.
Benefits of HRISAs pointed out by Derry, Grant and Wilber (2006) HR is always been considered as a process which would only aid the transaction process but with the help of HRIS, the management immediately can change the focus to strategic HRM. It is most definitely becoming the strategic partner of the system of HR that is followed in the organisation. The reasons for this and the benefits that are associated with HRIS are The information processing is faster as all the systems are automated and are supported by high quality technical tools. Since the system is automated, there are less chances of human error. So, the accuracy of data can be ensured.
All the data are stored in a centrally managed system so the retrieval of data becomes a lot more convenient.The efficiency level of the staff is improved as all the required data and details are easily available. When the efficiency is improved, the overall productivity of the organisation is also enhanced. HRIS software also saves time for the company employees as the employees do not have to waste time searching for data.
HRIS creates a network within the employees and so the communication of the employees is much better than the traditional system.The HRIS tools aid the management in decision making and planning process. As, the management can get all the required data easily. (Torres-Coronas and Arias-Oliva, 2008) Rai (2012) points out that the HRIS system decreases the recurring administrative and HR cost as the automated system assist the management helps in making informed decisions. Case Study 1 The implementation of HRIS improves the flow of information within large organisations.
The case study is of a company namely NALCO in India which is a very large entity. The implementation of HRIS in their huge system initially came as a big challenge but they were able to solve lots of problems of HR that related to timely availability of information. (Mohanty and Tripathy, 2009) Case Study 2 Hill International a professional services firm that mainly catered to construction industry. They implemented a HRIS in the process which has helped the company increase the turnover, managing advanced workflow processes, conducting performance reviews, co-ordinating the processes of the company.
It helped them perform better in their multinational environment and reduced confusion for the employees when they move across countries and projects. (NUView HR, n. d. ) Case study 3 In the case of Nestle, a food conglomerate, they needed to maintain the payroll of the employees and the HR systems for its 22000 employees. They implemented HRIS and used the technology successfully to maintain the workflow, handle the client/server architecture, groupware, data warehousing, reporting etc.
They also used the HRIS to manage the payroll. Henson, 1996) Case Study 4 Achmea a credit management company operating in insurance industry wanted to reduce credit management expense ratio, integrate the processes and rationalize the legacy systems, wanted to have access to customer data in a systematic but fast way and they opted for SAP for a solution to these problems. They could conclude that they could achieve much from the change in the obsolete software and they are expecting much more from the new system. (ACHMEA, n. d. ) Challenges of HRISThe challenges that are faced by HRIS in its various stages of application are the implementation HRIS needs high level of commitment from management as most of the processes experience a change and also the implementation of HRIS requires some initial capital investment.
There are many times when the implementation of HRIS has not been successful for the lack of commitment by the management.Before implementing the HRIS, there has to be a proper and detailed analysis of the situation. The management has to ensure that all the processes in the organisation are ready to experience and face the change.The failure to do a proper research and analysis leads to failure of the implementation of HRIS.The management must firstly ensure that the key people and the entire team of the project support the implementation.
The implementation would only be successful when the entire team and the people are ready to accept the changes and put in extra efforts to adopt the changes. * The implementation of HRIS would be successful only when the management is able to involve the significant and the concerned group of people in the process. All the people who are significant to the success of the implementation must get involved with the process.There should not be any security, discrimination or privacy issue. * There has to be a high level of communication in the process of implementation of HRIS. The HRIS implementation has highly sophisticated and technical tools which the people in the organisation may not be used to.
So, they need to communicate, train and learn together. * Sometimes, HRIS is implemented not only for the benefits that are derived from the use of the software but also for some hidden motive.In this case the commitment would be low and the implementation may not be successful. In some cases where people are not convinced about the benefits of the HRIS and oppose the changes that are brought in the processes, there could be internal politics which may destroy the purpose of the implementation.Also, the timing of the HRIS implementation has to be correct. Listed above are some of the benefits and challenges that are attached to the implementation of HRIS.
Case Study 1 There are many challenges that relate to the technological, organisational and environmental factors that create problems in the implementation of HRIS in organisations.As pointed out by Troshani et. al. (2011), the challenges are greater when the implementation is done in a public sector organisation where resistance are more than the private sector.
This could be because people are generally slow in responding to changes in these organisations and large levels of bureaucracies’ exist in the system. So, due to multiple reporting points, large number of employees and also multi levelled structure, it is a big challenge to implement HRIS in public sector organisation.Case Study 2The role of management and their commitment is a big challenge for HRIS implementation. According to the case study by Mat Zen, Demetrius (2011), of Malaysian Airlines, top management involvement and organisational commitment are the two main coefficients for success of the HRIS implementation.
The case study chooses 10 variables to establish and analyse the reactions of the employees towards a planned change and the role of management is of great importance in motivating the employees to adopt the planned changes. Case study 3The case study of Ericsson as created by Eli and Bjorn Erik(2005)emphasises on the benefits that are associated with the HRIS in a company that is IT-supported and need to have strategic competence management in their HR system. The Global telecommunications company case study reveals how the performance is enhanced and the challenges encountered could be faced with the company’s knowledge of networking strategy and by knowledge sharing and transfer. (Hustad and Munkvold, 2005) Case Study 4 British Satellite Company needed to manage two employee database management system, the payroll systems and the HR in a way that was totally automated.
They were constantly having problems with the master data change in the HR department which was creating problems and dissatisfaction and the HR department could not get an access to the correct set of data. This problem was solved by implementing some of the SAP ERP HCM concepts they could resolve the issues to a large extent. (SearchSap, n. d. ) E-Recruitment in Coles Super market After Wesfarmers acquired Coles Group, it became Coles Super market. This group operates 740 stores and employs over 92000 people in Australia.
They have gone in for extensive recruitment as reported by Phillips(2012).They have gone on recruitment spree for their new expansion projects and want to bring in new talents. They want to use the e-recruitment process making the process of hiring less tedious and cumbersome. They have also made their online presence felt in recent times and are experiencing growth in online business.
During the recruitment process they make sure that they hire people who are energetic and enthusiastic, team worker, flexible, committed, motivated, etc. (Dawe, 2002) Conclusion According to the above analysis, the definition of HRIS suggests that a merging of information technology to the human resources create HRIS.But the benefits that are extended by HRIS are not limited to the human resource department only. The critical analysis of the literature suggests that the proper implementation of HRIS aids the management to take strategic decisions that are based on the information provided by the system. The HRIS software arranges, retrieves and analyses the data.
Makes arrangement to store the data in a proper sequence and then retrieve them as and when needed. There many benefits and challenges that are attached to the implementation of HRIS.The benefits relate to all the areas of the organisation and the challenges that relate to HR issues, the management issues and also the technology issues. But the above report with the help of the case studies that relate to different industries proves that the organisation that have been able to overcome the challenges that are associated with the implementation of HRIS have able to perform significantly well. So, it could be concluded easily that the HRIS is one of the most strategic tools that is available in the hands of management to manage the data and information and also the processes in the organisation effectively.
