Evolution of e-HRM

Antz, a highly innovative movie, directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson was released in 1998. In the

opening scene Woody Allen, a protagonist, named Ant Z-4195 or simply Z is explaining to a

psychoanalyst:

“…and my job, don’t get me started on, cause it really annoys me…I feel physically inadequate, I, I, my

whole life I’ve never been able to lift 10 times my own body weight and when you get down to it, handling

dirt is…yuck, you know is not my idea of a rewarding career. It’s this whole gung-ho super-organism

thing that I, I, you know I can’t get, I try but I can’t get it. I mean you know, what is it, I’m supposed to do

everything for the colony and what about my needs, what about me? I mean I gotta believe there’s

someplace out there that’s better than this! Otherwise I’d just curl up in a larva position and weep! The

whole system out there just makes me feel...insignificant!”

In the above extract from the movie Antz, our discontented and disheartened ant is working for a

customary hierarchical organization, where people are not treated as assets and IT systems are not yet

implemented. The term ‘Human Resources’ is often talked about, but do we really understand what does

it mean? In simple terms, as Finance is all about Money management and Marketing is all about creating

customer interest in the product/service, Human resources management is all about managing “People”.

People are the most valued assets to any organization and all other resources carry meaning because of

the organizations Human Resources only.

The role of an HR can be classified under two broad categories – first is managerial which includes

planning, organizing, staffing, budgeting, coordinating etc. and the second is operational which includes

recruitment, selection & induction, training, performance appraisal etc. In the past, these activities were

done manually and that seized a good amount of employee’s time. To apply for a leave one had to write

an application, go to his immediate senior for permission, approach his manager for approval and then go

to the HR for getting the final go-ahead. There used to be big forms for everything and they all had to be

filled in correctly. Also, this process required a dedicated person just to resolve the queries of people

regarding the manual processes.

With the growing competition and budding needs for optimization, the trend of ‘Survival of the fittest’

came into picture. People insisted on temporary solutions like Overtime, Multitasking and other means of

survival but these solutions led to dissatisfaction among employees. Increasing dissatisfaction among

employees, increasing cost of operations, and the mounting struggle in holding the employees

necessitated Human Resource Management to join hands with Information Technology and fabricate e-

HRM (electronic- Human Resource Management).

e-HRM tells how IT is changing the traditional HRM functions. Considering the same example of leave

application, wouldn't it be easier if that employee could see what dates are available for leave and whether

there are any clashes? And wouldn't it be easier still if the employee could then book leave immediately

online through the company intranet? An e-HRM system makes that possible!

Major benefits of e-HRM:

1. Better productivity and employee satisfaction – Now that the employees had ample time to do

constructive work, the productivity increased.

2. Lower business costs – e-HRM resulted in cost diminution as the productivity increased.

3. Easy collection of information for strategic decision-making

4. Integral support for the HR management and all other basic and support processes within the

company

5. A more dynamic workflow in the business process

6. A crucial step towards a paperless office – Serves as a step towards an eco-friendly office

environment.

7. Improved HR's administrative efficiency – e-HRM resulted in reduction of the administrative

burden hence making this sector more efficient.

8. International companies seem to use the introduction of e-HRM to Standardize/harmonize HR

policies and processes.

Companies which have already implemented e-HRM Strategy:

1. Dow Chemicals

2. ABN-AMRO

3. Ford Motor Company

4. IBM

Slowly but surely many companies are able to gauge the advantages of e-HRM system. The changes may

be gradual than expected but this step is surely going to be one of the best strategies of the future!

References:

1. http://www.allinterview.com/showanswers/61546.html

2. http://www.grafitto.com/private/ebook/business/02.15.05.Idea.Group.Publishing.E-

Human.Resources.Management.Managing.Knowledge.People.eBook-YYePG.pdf