CONCLUSION

As a conclusion, these three topics are about the technology in human resource management. Using technology especially through the internet is very benefit to the human resource field. With this kind of advanced, it may help the HR practitioner to do their work easily and also help the organization to run smoothly. There are a lot of advantages that can get through this advanced, but there are also got the weakness while using this technology. So, as a human resource practitioner, we must know and be smart on how to use this technology wisely and try to overcome the weaknesses. In order to have an effective result in all of the activities in HR field likes, recruitment and staffing, web based employee self-service, and also the information and competitive advance, we must alert with the technological changes and try to adapt with this new technology. With that, we as a HR and organization as a whole can get the fully benefits while using this new technology. 

INFORMATION AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

A competitive advantage is significant and long-term benefit to a company over its competition, and can result in higher-quality products, better customer service, and lower costs. Establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage is complex, but a company’s survival and depend on its success in doing so. An organization often uses its information system to help achieve a competitive advantage.

There are five competitive strategies in HRIS, which are cost leadership, differentiation strategy, innovation strategy, growth strategy and alliance strategy. In cost leadership, the objective by doing this strategy is to become the lowest-cost producer in the industry. The traditional method to achieve this objective is to produce on a large scale which enables the business to exploit economies of scale.

Second is differentiation strategy. This strategy is to differentiate firm’s product from its competitors. Product differentiation is a competitive business strategy whereby firms attempt to gain a competitive advantage by increasing the perceived value of their products and services relative to the perceived value of other firm's products and services.

Example of differentiation strategy:

On the Dell Inc. Web site, customers can select the options they want and order their computer custom built to these specifications. Dell’s assemble-to-order system is a major source of competitive advantage.

Third is innovation strategy. To me, innovation means offering things in different ways and creating new combinations. Innovation is about finding new ways of combining things generally. This innovation is to find new ways of doing business, means that unique products or services, unique markets and radical changes to business processes to alter the fundamental structure of an industry.

Forth is growth strategy. The growth strategy is the best plan and decision of the company in order to enlarge their company capacity to produce and expand it into a global market. To do well in any business organization must develop a long-term strategy. Making consistent decisions in all aspects of a firm's operations is difficult without a well-defined and clearly integrated strategy. By far the most widely pursued corporate directional strategies are those designed to achieve growth in sales, assets, profits or some combination.

Last is alliance strategy. This strategy is to establish linkages and alliances with customers, suppliers, competitors, consultants and other companies. It also includes mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and virtual companies.

References:

1) Ralph Stair and George Reynolds, (2009). Fundamentals of Information Systems 5^th edition. 

    

WEB BASED EMPLOYEE SELF SERVICE

What I understand about this topic is Employee self-service (ESS) actually is a web-based application that provides employees with access to their personal records and their payroll details. The most common features of ESS allow employees to change their own address and contact details. This portal will allows employees to access key information 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Some examples of ESS web-based that has been used in UTM:   

    

This web-based is like employee kiosks. It will provide updates in employee status and other information initiated and made by the employee themselves via these kiosks. This ESS benefits administration and will certainly speed up services delivery and ensure that the employee data is updated. An alternative to this ESS application is to use of interactive voice response systems. This service is a web delivered application, so if the employees have access to the internet, they can changes in their address, marital status, phone numbers, answer their own questions and resolve their own issues quickly, easily and conveniently. Passwords, documents approval, and role assignments ensure that only authorized employees and personnel have access to the records which assures confidentiality. 

Others functions for this web-based are learning about employee benefits online, enrolling in benefits as a new hire or at open enrolment, viewing paystubs, tracking time off information and requesting days off, clocking in and out or filling out an online time sheet, setting goals and completing performance reviews.

The benefit of implementing ESS is cost savings. In terms of cost savings, the primary gain is in reduced costs for delivering human resource and payroll services to employees. When employees have access to self-service, they are able to answer many questions independently, thus lowering the number of phone calls to the HR and payroll departments. When employees and managers are able to update information online, less money is spent on paper forms. Because employee information is captured electronically and sent to the appropriate approver or database, less time is spent processing employee transactions. There is no rekeying of data from paper forms.

In summary, there are many high-tech components to a human resources management system. But, a huge amount of value can be achieved through effectively setting up and maintaining an employee self-service portal.

References: 

1)Nancy Anheier, SPHR, Sharyle Doherty December (2000). Employee Self Service. http://www.hrrevolution.com

2)Crispina Rafol Corpuz (2006). Human Resources Management (Revised Edition). Rex Book Store, inc. 

RECRUITMENT AND STAFFING

Recruitment and staffing is a topic that interesting to discussed, that’s because in the recruitment process there are several technique that can be used to implement in order to make the recruitment process effective. Nowadays, the most popular technique that had been used in the recruitment process is by using the internet. It’s well known as e-recruitment system which is stands for online job application and processing system for employers to advertise their job opening and for candidates to submit their application via the internet.

The goals of the recruitment function are to identify, attract and hire the most qualified people. However, this task has become quite challenge in today’s world because there are growing competition for talent in the labour market. In order to find qualified talent, many companies are increasingly being required to expand their search for applicants beyond local and domestic area. As a result, they have begun using the internet to attracting job applicants.

Using online web based information in recruitment process has several numbers of impacts on the recruitment objectives. It’s include the cost, speed of filling job vacancies, psychological contract fulfilment, satisfaction and retention rates, quality and quantity of applicants and also the diversity of applicants.

In my opinion, there is a good step for each company to implement this system in their organization. From the previous research, it shows that using the online recruitment does reduce the costs. For example, one study shows that organizations saved 95% of recruitment costs when they used online recruitment as opposed to more traditional methods like newspaper. With these different costs, it has prompted many organizations to replace more traditional systems with online recruitment. So it appears that online recruitment can save companies money when compared with traditional methods, but these cost savings are not necessarily apply in all organizations.

Through this system, it also can help to speed up of filling the job vacancy. Research has shown that online recruitment can decrease cycle time and increase the efficiency of the process by allowing the organizations to spend less time gathering and sorting data. The quantity of applicants also include in the impact of using online recruitment. Online recruitment is extremely convenience for applicants and is available to them 24 hours per day. So, it may result in a large number of applicants for every job opening.

In summary, I think e-recruitment and selection system need to be taken into the organization in order to always keep pace with the technology advancement.  

Reference:

1)Michael J. Kavanagh, Mohan Thite, Richard D. Johnson, (2011). Human Resource Information Systems 2nd Edition, Sage Publications, Inc.  

ABOUT MYSELF

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. and welcome to my blog :)

Hello, I’m Nasuha binti Abdullah,22,  I’m originated from Johor Bahru, Johor. I was born on January 4^th 1990. My background studies were start in an Islamic Primary School. Then I take my O-level (SPM) in SMK Dato’ Usman Awang. I had offered to Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar or English College to take my STPM (A- level), and now I get the opportunities to further my study in Bachelor of Sciences in Human Resources Development at UTM. Alhamdulillah, this is my 3^rd year studying this course and I found that HR is the most important department in an organizations and HR can also be called as the HEART of an organization. Without good HR team or Department, I am sure that it is hard for the organization to run their business smooth and will be less effective, not efficient and also unproductive.