Modern technology and the internet

The Impact of Modern Technology on Human Resource Management

The business sector has been repeatedly impacted by and changed by the Internet and modern technology. What's more, many corporate processes have been significantly impacted by these technology advancements. Human Resource practices are one area that has been greatly impacted. Human resources are essential and critical for the success of any firm. The abilities and responsibilities of human resource managers have expanded significantly in recent years as a result of the use and adoption of new technology. The traditional tasks of utilization, development, maintenance, and procurement can now be carried out by managers more effectively and efficiently thanks to technology and the internet. Additionally, the managers of HR are now able to take on more difficult roles in the particular organizations they work at. The continuous use of internet and modern technology in Human resource management has made it become more efficient regarding its processes and activities among other benefits. This paper will discuss how modern technology and the internet affects human resource planning, internal labor relations, performance management, health and safety and the recruiting process of the Human resource in the process highlighting the risks, challenges and the benefits that are experienced.

HUMAN RESOURCES FUNCTIONS

Recruiting

The responsibility of recruiting is solely mandated to the Human resource and is key to the success of any organization. In all the functions of Human resource, the recruiting process is one that has been arguably more affected by the current technological developments and the internet. Before the internet came and before several technological advancements were made, the Human Resource used to rely on the various print publications, for instance, the newspapers to get the prospective candidates and post the jobs that are available. The importance of getting the best employees can never be denied, and that is why when the internet and advanced technology came organization used them to their advantage. Currently, organizations are using more creative and elaborate methods as they sought out the best employees from the decreasing labor pool.

In most cases, Human resource managers use the internet and technology to promote effectiveness of recruiting. About 98 percent of companies depend on the internet and various technological platforms to hire their new employees (Thatcher, Dinger & George, 2012). Corporations use internet for receiving resumes and posting jobs, and they receive various applications via the e-mail services. One of the significant benefits of using technology in recruiting is that turnaround time and cost of hiring is significantly reduced because of the simplicity of technology. Without technology, processing of applications becomes complicated increasing the value of the entire process. Additionally, the internet opens organizations from all over the world instead of just the local and hence a better opportunity of getting the best employees. Some of the challenges that recruitment of this sought face includes high volume of responses, poor website, logistical problems, technology issues and it is also said to be too impersonal (Thatcher, Dinger & George, 2012).

Health and Safety

Maintaining employee health and safety is a vital concern for all organizations today. Workplace compensation and injuries claims linked to the employee stress are at most times very costly for various organizations. High level of job stress is concerned with all the overall health of the employee, the probability of getting a headaches and stomach upsets and sleep disturbances. All these can lead to absenteeism and low job performance hence the HR is very concerned when it comes to health and safety of employees. The increase in the use of computers has raised much distress about the safety and health of employees. It is therefore essential for organizations to be alert and ready to manage injuries that come as a result of using computers and other forms of technology.

It is the responsibility of the Human resource to ensure that the environmental and workstation design do not enhance or create injuries. Excessive computer use has been proven to affect employee's' health in the long run (Cresswell & Sheikh, 2013). Additionally, the increased use of the internet and modern technology has significantly brought up new types of stressors that now the human resource has to deal with. However, technology can be used to an advantage to promote health and safety via the use of training. The HR can organize some training meant to educate the employees how to maintain safety in the workplace and also how to avoid health-related issues when using computers and other types of technology.

Performance Management

What differentiates between poor, great or average manager is the level at which they can evaluate performance levels and define proper performance outcomes for different employees. The task of performance management is always not an easy one and requires both skills and commitment from the HR. The internet and technology have helped the HR professionals mostly in the distribution of materials that evaluate performance (Mithas, Ramasubbu & Sambamurthy, 2011). These evaluation materials are made primarily available online evading the hustle of hardcopy documentation though some organizations do still prefer these old methods. The HR depends on technology to obtain data relating to performance so that they can process rewards to hardworking employees.

Many organizations also use online testing when they are conducting various assessments. This is beneficial regarding obtaining better results, and it is much cheaper considering it minimizes time wastage. Also, the HR can use technology to get feedback from their employees without contacting them personally. Additionally, various performance metrics are used to make sure that employees meet the set performance standard. These standards then help to identify the employee who might not perform according to the expected standards of the company. However, technology is never perfect and issues to do with data collection can be a significant challenge. Sometimes technology cannot always tell where performance is done appropriately or wrongly as managers would manually.

Internal Labor Relations

One of the most effective ways of reducing an organization's personnel costs is by avoiding litigation and treating all employees in a fair manner. Furthermore, it is crucial for any organization to be keen on the legal trends that relate to e-business and technology. One major responsibility of an efficient supervisor is to ensure that they have proficient interpersonal relationships with an organization's subordinates (Bratton & Gold, 2012). When there is a good relationship, then employees production improves as there is harmony among every member of an organization. Many supervisors have utilized the internet and technology to ensure that internal labor relations are improved.

The internet and technology have enabled both the supervisory and subordinate members to have a close relationship. This happens in that the supervisor can closely monitor what is happening to his subordinate members using the various technological platform thereby building a good relationship that can drive the organization to success. Communication is key to the success of any Internal labor relations and technology happens to provide the best form of communication between the supervisory and subordinate (Eberly, Holley, Johnson & Mitchell, 2011). Challenges can exist when the employees are not willing to open up their issues.

Human Resource Planning

Human resource planning is key to any organization. It is what holds the future success of any organization as it ensures that an organization properly utilizes the most valuable asset it can have, that is the Human resources. Human resources use different technologies and tools to attain its goals when it comes human resource planning. One of the modern technologies utilized by the HR professionals is social media. Here, appropriate social media sites and formats are used to make the value of an organization. Social media can be used as a way of recruiting, engagement and collaboration and some like Google plus, Facebook and LinkedIn have been proven to be effective (Lee & Kwak, 2012).

Additionally, many organizations also use Management information systems commonly referred to as MIS to support the activities or plans of a company. The business world has advanced them, and they belong to the HR department where they are known as the HRIS (human resource management systems), and they assist HR professionals to train, coach, hire a replacement, record management and managing payroll and attendance (Boxall & Purcell, 2011). These technologies have become a part of new HR because of how positively they impact performance and success of an organization. However, some of these technologies can be costly at times affecting performance.

References

Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2012). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.

Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2011). Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Eberly, M. B., Holley, E. C., Johnson, M. D., & Mitchell, T. R. (2011). Beyond internal and external: A dyadic theory of relational attributions. Academy of Management Review, 36(4), 731-753.

Lee, G., & Kwak, Y. H. (2012). An open government maturity model for social media-based public engagement. Government information quarterly, 29(4), 492-503.

Mithas, S., Ramasubbu, N., & Sambamurthy, V. (2011). How information management capability influences firm performance. MIS Quarterly, 237-256.

Cresswell, K., & Sheikh, A. (2013). Organizational issues in the implementation and adoption of health information technology innovations: an interpretative review. International journal of medical informatics, 82(5), e73-e86.

Thatcher, J., Dinger, M., & George, J. F. (2012). Information Technology Worker Recruitment: An Empirical Examination of Entry-Level IT Job Seekers' Labor Market. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 31.