CH-1-8 A Brief History and Overview of Technology in HR – Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions : Book Guide

This Document Contains Chapters 1 to 8 Chapter 1: A Brief History and Overview of Technology in HR Sample Answers to Discussion Questions 1. What are the factors that changed the primary role of HRM from a caretaker of records to a strategic partner? The major factors were as follows: • The mobilization and utilization of labor during World War II had a great impact on the development of the personnel function. Managers realized that employee productivity and motivation had a significant impact on the profitability of the firm. The human relations movement after the war emphasized that employees were motivated not just by money but also by social and psychological factors, such as recognition of work achievements and work norms. • During the Social Issues era, there was an increasing need to be in compliance with numerous pieces of employee protection legislation or suffer significant monetary penalties. This made senior managers aware of the importance of the HRM function. In other words, effective and correct practices in HRM were starting to affect the “bottom line” of the firms, so there was a significant growth of HR departments. • The increased use of technology and the changed focus of the HRM function as adding value to the organization’s product or service led to the emergence of the HR department as a strategic partner. With the growing importance and recognition of people and people management in contemporary organizations, strategic HRM (SHRM) has become critically important in management thinking and practice. SHRM derives its theoretical significance from the resource-based view of the firm that treats human capital as a strategic asset and a competitive advantage in improving organizational performance. The students may or may not mention the importance of HR metrics in answering this question. This factor is implied in the discussion of the cost-effectiveness section of the chapter. For example, one could not complete a balanced scorecard or a cost–benefit analysis without having HR metrics. You should emphasize this point to the students and indicate there is much more detail on this topic in Chapter 6. 2. Describe the historical evolution of HRM and HRIS in terms of the changing role of HRM and the influence of computer technology on HRM. • The role of HRM in the firm has changed over time from primarily being concerned with routine transactional and traditional HR activities to dealing with complex transformational ones. Transactional activities are the routine bookkeeping tasks—for example, changing an employee’s home address or health care provider. Traditional HR activities are focused on HR programs like selection, compensation, and performance appraisal. However, transformational HR activities are those actions of an organization that “add value” to the consumption of the firm’s product or service. Transformational activities increase the strategic importance and visibility of the HR function in the firm. • The historical evolution of HRM can be classified in terms of five broad phases of the historical development of industry in the United States. These phases arePre–World War II, Post–World War II, Social Issues, Cost-Effectiveness, and Technological Advancement Era. • During the Post–World War II phase, it is important to realize that computer technology was just beginning to be used at this time, and it was complex and costly. During the Social Issues phase, effective and correct practices in HRM were starting to affect the “bottom line” of the firms, so there was a significant growth of HR departments, and computer technology had advanced to the point where it was beginning to be used. As a result, there was an increasing demand for HR departments to adopt computer technology to process employee information more effectively and efficiently. This trend resulted in an explosion in the number of vendors who could assist HR departments in automating their programs in terms of both hardware and software. Simultaneously, computer technology was evolving and delivering better productivity at lower costs. During the Cost-Effectiveness phase, to achieve the goal of improving effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery through cost reduction and value-added services, the HR departments came under pressure to harness technology that was becoming cheaper and more powerful. Even small and medium firms could afford computer-based HR systems that were run by increasingly user-friendly microcomputers and could be shown to be cost-effective. During the Technological Advancement Era, the increased use of technology changed the focus of the HRM function. There was a shift to adding value to the organization’s product or service, which led to the emergence of the HR department as a strategic partner. With the growing importance and recognition of people and people management in contemporary organizations, strategic human resource management (strategic HRM) has become critically important in management thinking and practice. Technology is key to the implementation of strategic HRM. 3. What is required for the effective management of human resources in a firm to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace? • The effective management of human resources in a firm to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace requires timely and accurate information on current employees and potential employees in the labor market. With the evolution of computer technology, meeting this information requirement has been greatly enhanced through the creation of HRIS. 4. Describe the emergence of strategic human resources management (strategic HRM) and the influence of computer technology. What are some of the approaches used in HRM to facilitate the use of strategic HRM in a firm’s business strategy? • The development of HRIS helped enable HRM to become a strategic partner in organizations, which then led to the emergence of strategic HRM. While technology is key to the implementation of strategic HRM, strategy is not sufficient. Implementation is critical in the firm’s ability to gain a competitive advantage. A critical aspect of an HRIS in supporting the implementation of strategic plans is using it to make decisions about employees, human capital programs, and initiatives. All of these HRM decisions are aided by the ability of the HRIS to generate reports (e. g. , the number of new employees needed for a specific job). 5. How does technology help deliver transactional, traditional, and transformational HR activities more efficiently and effectively? One of the major advantages of the design, development, and implementation of an HRIS is to reduce the amount of time the HR staff have to spend on transactional activities, allowing the staff to spend more time on traditional and transformational activities. This notion of using technology to process transactional activities more efficiently is the central theme of this book and provides one of the primary justifications for a computer-based system. 6. Describe Six Sigma. • Six Sigma refers to streamlining operations through business process reengineering and has been structured around five key processes: define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (DMAIC). The DMAIC approach uses an assortment of statistical tools to reengineer business processes, improve decision making, and improve customer service. 7. Justify the need for an HRIS. There are several advantages to firms in using HRIS. They include the following: • Providing a comprehensive information picture as a single, comprehensive database; this enables organizations to provide structural connectivity across units and activities and increase the speed of information transactions • Increasing competitiveness by improving HR operations and improving management processes • Collecting appropriate data and converting them to information and knowledge for improved timeliness and quality of decision making • Producing a greater number and variety of accurate and real-time HR-related reports • Streamlining and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of HR administrative functions • Shifting the focus of HR from the processing of transactions to strategic HRM • Reengineering HR processes and functions • Improving employee satisfaction by delivering HR services more quickly and accurately to them 8. Describe and differentiate the major types of information systems. Listed below are examples of the types of information systems and the types of information they provide. Transaction Processing System • Improved transaction speed and accuracy • Improved efficiency in the processing of daily business transactions • Automation of routine transactions • Reduced transaction costs Management Information System • Provides key data to managers • Supports regular and ongoing decisions • Provides defined and adhoc reporting Executive Information System • Provides aggregate, high-level data • Helps managers with long-range planning • Supports strategic direction and decisions Decision Support System • Interactive and iterative managerial decision-making • Supports forecasting and “what-if” analysis • Supports business simulations Expert System • Embeds human knowledge into information systems • Automates decisions with technology Office Automation Systems • Designing documents • Scheduling shared resources • Communication Collaboration Technologies • Supports electronic communication and collaboration between employees • Supports virtual teams Enterprise Resources Planning System • Integration and centralization of corporate data • Share data across functional boundaries • Single data source and common technology architecture 9. Using the organizational model presented in this chapter, explain why and how national culture and organizational culture influence the nature and importance of the HRIS function. National culture will impact the laws, competition, government regulations, technology, societal concerns, and HRM research in the external environment of the organization. The organizational or corporate culture will impact all of the internal processes, programs, and functions within the organization, and the heart that will act as a storage and a monitor of these activities is the HRIS. Chapter 2: Database Concepts and Applications in HRIS Sample Answers to Discussion Questions 1. Explain the differences between data, information, and knowledge. • Data represent the “facts” of transactions that occur on a daily basis. A transaction can be thought of as an event of consequence, such as hiring a new employee for a particular position for a specified salary. • Information, on the other hand, is the interpretation of these data. An interpretation of data always has some goal and context, such as making a hiring decision for a particular department or understanding of the performance of the company to make an improvement. • Knowledge is different from data and information. While information refers to data that have been given structure, knowledge is information that has been given meaning (Whitehill, 1997). For example, in HRIS, facts about age, gender, and education are the data. When these data are transformed into average age, gender ratio, and number and types of graduates at the unit level, they become information. More than what and why, knowledge is about how. It is procedural and mostly hidden in the minds of individuals and groups in the organization. 2. What are the main functions of a database management system, and how is it different from a database? DBMS and their associated databases electronically allow organizations to effectively manage data. DBMS turn data into an organizational resource. A database is a component of a DBMS. A database management system is a set of software applications (i. e. , programs) combined with a database. The main functions of a DBMS are to create the database; insert, read, update, and delete database data; maintain data integrity (i. e. , making sure that the data are correct) and security (i. e. , making sure that only the right people have access to the data); and prevent data from being lost by providing backup and recovery capabilities. 3. What were the shortcomings of early file-oriented database structures? Early DBMS were simply data-processing systems that performed recordkeeping functions that mimicked existing manual procedures. These traditional file-oriented data structures had a number of shortcomings, including (1)data redundancy—an employee’s name and address could be stored in many different files; (2) poor data control—if you had access to the file you had access to all the data in the file, which may not be desirable because you may want to restrict the data viewed by a particular user; (3) inadequate data manipulation capabilities—it was very difficult to combine the data across files and to easily update and to add new data; and (4) excessive programming effort—any change in the data required extensive changes in the programming that accessed the data. 4. What are the three types of data sharing? • The three types of data sharing are (1) data sharing between functional units, (2) data sharing between management levels, and (3) data sharing across geographically dispersed locations. 5. Define the key terms in a relational database. • Entities are things such as employees, jobs, promotion transactions, positions in company, and so on. They include both physical things such as desks and conceptual things such as bank accounts. A company must analyze its business operations and identify all of the entities that it believes are important. • Each of these entities is made up of attributes. An attribute is a characteristic of the entity. For example, an employee has a name, address, phone number, education, and so on. • Tables are used to store information about entities. Each table in a database contains rows. Rows are also referred to as records and represent an instance of the entity. • A query is a question that you ask about the data stored in a database. Queries retrieve specific data in a particular order, but it is important to note that queries do not store data! All data are stored in tables. Queries only report on data currently in the table. • A form is an object in a database that you can use to maintain, view, and print records in a database in a more “structured” manner. Although you can perform these same functions with tables and queries, forms can present data in many customized and useful ways. • A report is a formatted presentation of data from a table, multiple tables, or queries that is created as a printout or to be viewed on screen. 6. What is the difference between a primary key and a foreign key? A primary key is the attribute of an entity thatuniquely identifies a specific instance of the data (e. g. , thespecific employee). In a relational DBMS, relationships are created by having the same attribute in each table with the value of the attribute being the same in each table. Most often this is done by taking the primary key of one table and including it in the related table. When a primary key from one table is stored as an attribute of another table, that attribute is called a foreign key. 7. What are the three types of queries? • A select query allows you to ask a question based on one or more tables in a database. This is the most commonly used query. • An action query performs an action on the table on which it is based. Actions include updating data in the table (e. g. , increasing the base salary of all employees who were rated above average in the latest performance rating), deleting records from the table (e. g. , removing employees from the employees table if they no longer work at the company), or inserting records (e. g. , the query may add a new set of benefits to the benefits table). • A cross-tab query performs calculations on the values in a field and displays the results in a datasheet. The reason it is called cross-tab is that it tabulates the data for a set of descriptor attributes, contrasting them or crossing them in a table format. • Select queries and cross-tab queries provide the information that managers and executives expect from IT. These queries can serve as the foundation for MRS and DSS information and decision making. Action queries, on the other hand, improve the operational efficiency of managing and maintaining the database. These tasks are important to the operational staff but of less interest to HR managers and executives. 8. How are forms and reports similar, and how are they different? Forms and reports are similar in that they are both components of a relational database and can be customized to the needs of the user. Forms and reports differ in that a form is an object in a database while a report is a formatted presentation of data. You can print data that appear in forms, but reports provide you with the greatest flexibility for formatting printed output. 9. Take the list of HR database common fields, and group them into tables. This could be a good project by having students work in teams of two to three students to develop the tables and then present their rationale to the class. 10. What are the differences between data warehouses, BI, and data mining? • A data warehouse is a special type of database that is optimized for reporting and analysis and is the raw material for management’s decision support system. • BI is a broad category of business applications and technologies for creating data warehouses and for analyzing and providing access to these specialized data to help enterprise users make better business decisions. • Patterns in large data sets are identified through data mining, which involves statistically analyzing large data sets to identify recurring relationships. Chapter 3: Systems Considerations in the Design of an HRIS: Planning for Implementations Sample Answers to Discussion Questions 1. Identify the various types of users or customers of an HRIS. Individuals who will be using the HRIS can be split into two general groups: employees and nonemployees. The employee category includes the following: • Managers who rely on the HRIS and the data analyzed by the analyst/power user to make decisions • Analysts or power users who use the HRIS to evaluate potential decision choices and opportunities • Technical staff who are responsible for providing a system that is usable and up-to-date for each user and clerical employees who largely engage in data entry • Employees who use the HRIS on a self-service basis to obtain personal information—for example, to look up paycheck information, to make choices about benefits during open enrollment, or to see how much vacation time they have available The nonemployee group includes potential employees, suppliers, and partners. Potential employees are those who might login via a Web portal to search for and apply for a position. Suppliers and partners are organizations that interface with the HR function for a variety of purposes, from recruiting to benefits administration and payroll. 2. What are the three broad categories of data that an HRIS manages? Specific data from the HRIS database fit into three categories: 1. Information about people, such as biographical information and competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other factors) 2. Information about the organization, such as jobs, positions, job specifications, organizational structure, compensation, employee/labor relations, and legally required data 3. Data that are created as a result of the interaction of the first two categories—for example, individual job history, performance appraisals, and compensation information 3. How does network bandwidth affect a two-tier (client–server) architecture? In a two-tier client–server architecture, a large amount of information has to move from the client computer across the network to the server to execute database transactions quickly. This requires the use of significant bandwidth, or the ability to move lots of data quickly between computers. 4. How does an N-tier architecture simplify the IT department’s task of maintaining client software? N-tier architecture simplifies the IT department’s task of maintaining software for the following reasons: • It is expandable to multiple Web servers and application servers to handle load balancing. • Web servers can be geographically dispersed to provide worldwide access. • Additional file servers can be added to save documents, reports, error logs, and so on that are generated on a daily basis. • Multiple print servers or specialized printers can be added as needed. • Additional process schedulers can be added to handle large-batch jobs, such as payroll cycles. These servers offload “heavy” processing from the main application server so that user interaction is not affected. 5. Discuss row-level security. How does this work? Why may this be more valuable to an HRIS than a manufacturing software solution? With row-level security within a particular page or screen, a specific user role retrieves only the data belonging to that user. This may be more valuable to an HRIS than a manufacturing software solution since HRIS information is confidential. Any single employee should be able to view his or her information but not information of other employees. For example, an employee should be able to view his or her own check stub history but not other employees’ history. Row-level security supports hierarchical access—the greater the number of persons who report to an employee, such as a manager or a supervisor, the more the quantity of data that becomes viewable. In some cases, managers may need to allocate bonuses across several departments. Employees can see only their bonuses while managers can edit the bonus data of all employees reporting to them. 6. Research various middleware products from IBM, BEA, or Oracle, and discuss how these products can be leveraged in an HRIS. This may be a good question to assign to a group of students. Each group could report on one of the companies listed and then present their findings to the class. Middleware products from IBM, BEA, and Oracle facilitate seamless integration and data management in an HRIS. For example, IBM's WebSphere enables robust application integration and scalability, BEA's WebLogic offers high-performance and reliable enterprise solutions, and Oracle Fusion Middleware supports comprehensive data integration and process automation. Leveraging these products can enhance an HRIS by improving interoperability, streamlining workflows, and ensuring secure data handling. 7. Research hr-xml. org. How many transactions or interfaces does the standard support? How many software vendors are involved with the organization? This may be a good question to use as a homework assignment. HR-XML.org supports over 80 different transactions and interfaces related to HR data exchange and management. As of the latest information, more than 300 software vendors are involved with HR-XML.org, contributing to the development and adoption of its standards for improved interoperability in HR systems. 8. Take a specific industry, say the K–12 education industry. How might HireRight’s integration with Oracle’s PeopleSoft assist the process of hiring employees such as bus drivers, janitors, or campus security? This may be a good question to assign as an in-class group exercise. Each group could then present their thoughts to the class. In the K–12 education industry, HireRight’s integration with Oracle’s PeopleSoft streamlines the hiring process for roles like bus drivers, janitors, and campus security by automating background checks and verification processes. This integration ensures that pre-employment screenings are efficiently managed within the PeopleSoft system, reducing manual effort and speeding up hiring while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements. 9. When might BOB not be “best”? BOB solutions introduce additional complexity into the software architecture. This complexity adds IT expense in the form of new software licensing and/or programming charges. The justification for the added functionality needs to compensate for these additional costs. So a cost–benefit analysis should be performed by the HR function. If the expenses outweigh the benefits of the added functionality, then best of breed may not be the “best” solution. 10. The systems development process has been discussed by many. Name five discussion topics that need to be completed during the planning process. The topics that need to be discussed during the various steps of the planning process include but are not limited to the following: • Project Manager • Steering Committee/Project Charter • Implementation Team • Project Scope • Management Sponsorship • Process Mapping • Software Implementation • Customization (Vanilla vs. Custom) • Change Management • “Go Live” • Potential Pitfalls The five discussion topics mentioned by students should come from the above list. 11. Discuss the different project manager options, and explain the pros and cons of each. There are three options for choosing a project manager. • The first choice is to hire a consultant to be the project manager. This is the most expensive option and provides the best project management expertise but brings the least knowledge of your organization’s mission, processes, and needs. • The second option is to hire a full-time project manager who has presumably been certified by the project management institute. This option is more affordable, although you must have plenty of projects to justify this position. A full-time position requires project management knowledge/certification and the project manager to have personal knowledge of your organization’s mission, goals, and, to a lesser extent, HR processes. • The third option is to select someone who is involved in the project and temporarily move him or her into a project management role. This person should bring excellent knowledge of the organization’s mission, processes, and needs. However, unless the candidate has a project management certification, he or she may not be the strongest choice to keep a project on time. This decision is largely about the trade-off between cost and existing organizational knowledge. 12. What is a project charter? Why is it important? A project charter is an all-encompassing planning document that defines the scope of and provides a basic “rulebook” to facilitate completion of a software implementation project that will help maintain the guidelines on how the project should function. The project charter is important because it does the following: • Helps keep the entire team focused on the goals for the project by forcing the team to agree on what is critical. • Can also serve as a valuable political document within the organization, as some members of top management are usually asked to participate in developing the charter through an approval process or by helping draft the document. This approval process signifies to other, less involved management individuals that the implementation of this software is an expected organizational goal. • Provides all of the team members with key “talking points” about the project so that the scope, process, and goals can be clearly and consistently shared with those who might have questions. 13. Why is it absolutely critical to have the scope of the project identified? Project scope is defined as those portions of the information system that need to be completely operational to satisfy the needs of the various customers, employees, and senior management. It is absolutely critical since it minimizes the likelihood of project creep. Project creep contributes to increased project costs and late project delivery. 14. Why is project creep not a good thing? Project creep occurs when decisions are made to implement additional functionality beyond what was defined in the project scope. The problem with project creep is that it may lead to huge cost overruns, a failure to complete the project on schedule, and then, in the rush to meet final deadlines, the delivery of a project that fails to meet the needs of the customers. 15. Complete a flowchart of the process you follow to enroll in classes and pay your tuition. Then, apply the process template in the section titled “Planning for System Implementation. ” This may be a good question to assign to a group of students. Each group could report on one of the companies listed and then present their findings to the class. 1. Research and Select Classes: Review course catalog, prerequisites, and schedule; choose desired classes. 2. Enroll in Classes: Access student portal, register for selected courses, and confirm enrollment. 3. Review Tuition and Fees: Check total costs and financial aid status through the student account. 4. Pay Tuition: Choose payment method, complete transaction, and confirm payment receipt. For system implementation, ensure each step has a defined process, automated notifications, and a clear interface for users. 16. Why do employees fear change? Give some examples as to how you might eliminate the fear of change. Employees may fear change for several reasons, including general concern with new procedures and plans, fear of job security, and concern with ability to master the new program or system. Training, education, and communication can all help in minimizing fear of the change. Training programs and education can help employees become comfortable and knowledgeable about the new programs or system. Training programs have an added benefit of providing a “safe” environment for the employee to learn and make mistakes. Communication about the change (e. g. , why it is needed, how it will happen, and the resources that are available) can help employees understand, appreciate, and prepare for the change. Chapter 4: The Systems Development Life Cycle and HRIS Needs Analysis Sample Answers to Discussion Questions 1. What are some critical success factors for effectively conducting an analysis of HRIS needs? Effectively conducting an analysis of HRIS needs will require that the company and analysts address where the company currently is with respect to the effectiveness of processes and technology, where the organization wants to get (e. g. , a desired state), and what needs to be done to get to the desired state. Students should discuss the importance of each of the five stages in the needs analysis and the key outcomes of each by tying them back to the success criteria above. Critical success factors for effectively conducting an analysis of HRIS needs include: 1) clearly defining organizational goals and HR requirements, 2) engaging key stakeholders to gather diverse input and ensure buy-in, 3) evaluating current system capabilities and identifying gaps, and 4) prioritizing user-friendly features and scalability to accommodate future growth. 2. Explain how planning and analysis integrate and inform further steps in the system development life cycle (SDLC)? In the analysis phase of the SDLC, an organization assesses its current capabilities, identifies gaps that need to be filled, and provides information that will guide the design and subsequent implementation of a new or upgraded HRIS. Specifically, analysis helps the organization determine what needs to be added or changed to the current system to accomplish HR’s goals for the new (or updated) system. The information gathered and analyzed and the requirements for the new system are used in both the design and implementation phases of the SDLC. Design – As the organization seeks to design the new system, the requirements definition report is used to guide decisions about which vendor to select, to evaluate software offerings, or to determine what capabilities to design into the new system. Implementation – During the implementation phase, the requirements gathered during analysis serve as the benchmarks against which the new system’s capabilities are tested. It is important that the new system meet the agreed-upon requirements identified during analysis. 3. Compare and contrast the different methods of data collection, explaining the conditions under which each is most effective. Chapter 4 discusses four data collection techniques: interviews, questionnaires, direct observation, and focus groups. Interviews – The process of asking questions to representative employees to gather information about HR practices and processes and the HRIS. Interviews can be completely unstructured, where a general topic is introduced for discussion and the interviewer lets the interview progress naturally, or thoroughly structured, where the interviewer asks specific questions in a predetermined order and respondents select from a set of alternative answers. Where Effective – Interviews are most effective when there is a need to capture very specific and more in-depth information about a topic related to the HRIS and there is time available from employees to answer these specific questions. Questionnaires – Structured data collection tools that allow the organization to capture specific information in a very structured approach with predetermined answers. Where Effective – Questionnaires are most effective when you need to reach a large number of employees quickly and easily, where you need to be able to easily statistically analyze the results, or when you do not want to take up a large amount of employee time. Observation – The observation of employees at work by analysts. Where Effective – When analysts need to know what employees do and in what order or when employees cannot clearly explain what work they do or how they do it. Focus Group – A sample of employees that represents a larger population who gather together to discuss a topic related to the HRIS. Where Effective – When there is a need to interview a larger group of people more quickly and there is a need to share greater information. Small discussion groups may uncover needs not previously found and help analysts identify new requirements. Surveys are effective for broad, quantifiable insights across a large group, while interviews provide in-depth understanding from individuals. Observations offer real-time data on behavior and processes, best suited for detailed, context-specific insights. 4. Which prioritization method is most useful in establishing the appropriate values for system requirements, and why? There are multiple ways of ranking the priority for the requirements identified for the system. They can be ranked based upon the following: • Scope • Cost–benefit analysis • Time to implement • Potential impact if ignored • Level of Importance to the firm The question of which prioritization method is the most useful does not have a global answer and may change depending on which organization and which system is being implemented. Each method may lead to a different listing of prioritized requirements, and organizations will need to understand each approach and its value in the context of a specific system. As they do this, they can better determine which approach and which set of requirements are the most valuable to the organization. Chapter 5: System Design and Acquisition Sample Answers to Discussion Questions 1. What is the difference between the data view of a system and the process view of a system? Why is this distinction important when designing a new system? The data perspective focuses on an analysis of what data the organization captures and uses, the definitions and relationships of the data, while ignoring how or where the data are used by the organization. This perspective would focus on the important data but would not be concerned with how the data are to be used within the organization. In addition, the data perspective focuses on the most efficient and effective way to capture the data to ensure accuracy and uses tools that describe the data that the system uses. The process perspective, conversely, focuses on the business processes and activities in which the organization engages and on how data flow through the HRIS. The designer would focus on the specific business processes, including the input of the data into the system, the flow of data through the system, and the storage of the data, not on precisely what data are captured and how they are best organized or stored. The distinction between process and data perspectives is important since each represents a portion of the total HRIS but neither provides the complete picture. By modeling each separately, the organization is better able to understand and communicate its needs to the technical staff. In addition, while processes may change in the future, data generally represent the most permanent and stable part of a system. This permanency of data and the more dynamic aspect of processes suggest the importance of dealing with each separately. 2. Discuss four reasons why a DFD is a stronger tool than a written narrative of the business processes. Kendall and Kendall (2008) argue that DFDs have four distinct advantages over narrative (e. g. , written) descriptions: 1. There is freedom from committing to the technical implementation of the system too early. 2. They provide a deeper understanding of the interrelatedness of systems and subsystems. 3. They allow for stronger communication of system knowledge to the employees, since the diagrams are in pictorial form. 4. They ensure a deeper analysis of the proposed system to determine if all business processes have been identified. 3. How do companies use an RFP when sourcing software? What are the key items that should be included in the RFP? The RFP provides an opportunity for the HR department to systematically record what they will need the system to do. As part of this process, any remaining implicit assumptions should be made explicit. Basically, the RFP will define what is needed and what is not needed in the system. In addition, the RFP begins the communication process and relationship building with vendors. The key items that should be included in an RFP are as follows: • Data about you (e. g. , who are you as a business, business requirements, technical requirements, and delivery timeframe needed) • Requested data from vendor (e. g. , vendor details, system pricing, system details, customer references, and sample contract terms) 4. If you were advising a firm on developing an RFP, what would be some key suggestions you would make to them for improving the effectiveness of the RFP? When developing the RFP, organizations should keep several things in mind. The first recommendation is to focus on the business requirements. Associated with this requirement, the second recommendation is to be specific. With all of the effort placed into the needs analysis and the redesign of business processes, very specific requirements will be available and should be included in the RFP. The third recommendation is to keep it simple. Essentially, this would mean that if it’s not something that is important to the HR department and reflective of the business processes modeled in the DFDs, it is best not to include it. This leads to the fourth recommendation, which is to work closely with the HRIS and IT staff as the RFP is developed. 5. When evaluating vendor offerings, what are the key factors that will help your firm determine the best software product to acquire? After receiving the vendor responses, there is an opportunity to evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of each vendor. Key factors that will help your firm determine the best software product to acquire and the associated questions to ask within each factor are listed below. Functionality • How fully does the functionality of the HRIS meet the HR needs? • Can the HRIS implemented today change as the organization grows? • Is an HRIS that will meet your organization’s needs with minimal customization for actual use more attractive than one that will require significant customization? IT Architecture and IT Integration • Is the HRIS a stand-alone system or a networked system or a Web-based one and so on? • On what technology or platform has the HRIS been developed (e. g. , UNIX, Linux, Windows, etc. )? • To what extent can the HRIS integrate within the broader corporate IT architecture? • If functional HR systems are being considered from multiple vendors, to what extent can they be integrated and communicate with each other? Price • Price should be secondary to the goal of finding a system that meets your process needs. At the same time, price will ultimately determine which system is selected. • The ultimate cost of the system will include the visible costs as well as the less visible costs. Vendor Longevity and Viability • As with any purchase decision, it is important to evaluate the quality of the vendor itself. 6. Even if a system pays for itself financially, an organization must conduct a thorough feasibility study. What types of feasibility should be assessed, and what information does each type of feasibility provide the organization? Even if a system pays for itself financially (i. e. , economic feasibility), technical, operational, human factors, legal, and political should be assessed. Technical feasibility focuses on the current technological capabilities of the organization and the technological capabilities required for the implementation of the proposed system. The HR staff would work closely with systems analysts and technical staff to determine whether or not the current technology can be upgraded to meet the needs of the organization or whether an entirely new technological architecture will be needed to implement the proposed system changes. Operational feasibility focuses on how well the proposed system fits in with the current and future organizational environment and the extent to which the project fits within the overall strategic plans of the HR and IT departments, as well as the organization’s overall strategy. An assessment of the human factors feasibility of the system focuses on how the employee uses and works with the system, the system’s usability, and the training the employees receive. Legal feasibility looks at if the system violates existing laws and regulations. Political feasibility focuses on the organizational political environment in which the HRIS is being implemented. Issues such as power redistribution involving loss of individual or department control can have major political implications that can affect the effectiveness of the implementation. Chapter 6: Change Management and Implementation Sample Answers to Discussion Questions 1. Discuss each of the theoretical change models introduced in this chapter. How can we use them when planning an HRIS implementation to increase our chances of success? This discussion question presents a good opportunity to have the students form groups. All groups can be handed the same HRIS change case. Each group is assigned to a theoretical change model introduced in the chapter. Each team then discusses how the organization would approach the HRIS change following the model they have been assigned (e. g. , What information would they gather? What steps would they follow in the change process?). Theoretical change models like Lewin’s Change Management Model, Kotter’s 8-Step Process, and the ADKAR Model offer frameworks for guiding organizational change. Using these models during an HRIS implementation helps structure the transition, address resistance, and ensure clear communication, thereby increasing the likelihood of successful adoption. 2. Analyze the main reasons for HRIS implementation failure. How can we prevent these from happening to us? While technical challenges will always remain in implementing complex HRIS systems, the major challenge to successful implementation is more behavioral than technical. Lack of employee and user involvement has been one of the central problems with the reported failures. Increasingly, the failure to successfully implement information systems has less to do with the hardware or software aspects of the new system and more to do with the skills of the change leader and the people and organizational issues related to the change. In order to overcome this reasons for failure, employees such as informal ambassadors and power users should be involved in the change. The change team should include representatives from departments that will be impacted by the change. Communication and training need to be included in the change plan to help communicate the vision, create a sense of urgency, unfreeze mindsets and behaviors, and reduce resistance to change. Key causal factors related to HRIS implementation failures can be grouped into five main categories: leadership, planning, change management, communication, and training (Lorenzi & Riley, 2000; Kandel, n. d. ; Blanchard, 2007, pp. 203–204). Therefore, preventing change means that we must address these categories in implementing the HRIS: • Leadership: Executive support is critical for success of HRIS implementation. A team of individuals that includes a mix of key executives, department heads, managers, and frontline employees who are committed to the change and who can work together as a team is important for success. • Planning: All successful projects have a clearly identified project scope and strategy that outline key business requirements and project goals. Adequate funding and staffing are also needed for project success. • Change Management: Change management is an ongoing challenge for HR leaders and organizations. • Communication: Effective change communication can make the difference between success and failure of an HRIS implementation project. Managers and employees must embrace the vision but also change their beliefs and thinking to move in the new direction—a huge communication challenge. • Training: Ongoing, effective training is essential in any change management initiative, particularly when new technology and work processes are involved. At the beginning of the project, a training plan should be developed. This plan should include a complete assessment of the current skills and future requirements for all who will be affected by the change. 3. Discuss the importance of communication in managing a technology change. What roadblocks might an organization face if it fails to create a good communication plan? Communication plays a vital role in the success of change programs. If an organization fails to create a good communication plan, there are several roadblocks that may be faced, including the following: • Employees failing to use the new technology • Employees exhibiting resistance to change • Employees actively avoiding or harming the change efforts and communicating this negative response to other employees 4. If you were asked to develop a training plan for an HRIS implementation, what kinds of things would you include? Why? The kinds of things to include in a training plan would be as follows: • A complete assessment of the current skills and future requirements for all who will be affected by the change • Some training early in the process with full training just before the system will be used • Advanced training in phases, as users become accustomed to performing routine tasks • Training as part of new employee orientation programs • The use of power users who adapt to the new technology quickly to provide one-on-one on-the-job training to those who do not learn the system as rapidly • Communication that training will be an ongoing process and not just an isolated event to help manage expectations and acceptance of the new technology 5. Discuss the role of culture in HRIS implementation. How might two different organizations with very different cultures approach the same HRIS implementation differently? Successful implementation of the HRIS often requires a change in the organization’s culture. Culture can be a great help or hindrance to the HRIS implementation. Culture can be defined as a complex set of shared beliefs, guiding values, behavioral norms, and basic assumptions acquired over time that shape our thinking and behavior; they are part of the social fabric of the organization—its genetic code. As such, culture drives the organization and guides the behavior of everyone in that organization—how they think, feel, and act. In other words, the culture forms a behavior template. The behavior of everyone in the organization will impact how the HRIS is accepted and used in the organization. For the second part of this question, it could be useful to have a case of an organization implementing a new HRIS. Students can be divided into groups. Each group can then be given a cultural profile of the organization they represent. Groups will then discuss how their organization, based on its culture, would approach the HRIS implementation. Each group presents to the class, and then a short discussion of the similarities and differences, based on culture, can follow. 6. Create recommendations for an organization that is facing resistance to change from their own HR department. What are some of the likely causes of this resistance? How can they be overcome? Fear and resistance from HR staff is common. HR staff may be concerned about job loss due to the more efficient processes, or they may fear the new roles, responsibilities, and uncertainty that will result from the change. Communication can be used as a way to overcome resistance to change being expressed by the HR department. Telling the reasons for the change, explaining how the change will be helpful to the HR department, reassuring employees that training will be provided and that jobs are not being eliminated (assuming this is true) can help reduce the resistance to change. Training sessions early on and especially just before the system is going to be used can also be helpful. Having a few employees in the HR department involved in the change and acting as advocates of the change may also help fellow employees understand and accept the change more easily. It may be helpful to have the most resistant users involved and perhaps, with a greater understanding of the change, these employees could become advocates (rather than resisters) of the change. 7. Discuss how informal leaders within the organization might be used to increase user acceptance. Informal ambassadors or change agents can help influence the rest of the organization and can make or break the acceptance of the new system. Informal ambassadors can explain the reasons for the change and the change process to fellow employees. Other employees may be more likely to accept the message from these informal ambassadors rather than from the formal change team. Informal ambassadors could be identified within departments that will be affected by the change. This may help to make the change process more personal and interactive and thus reduce user resistance and fear—and increase user acceptance. Chapter 7: Cost Justifying HRIS Investments Sample Answers to Discussion Questions 1. How has the use of HRIS evolved over the past 10 years in organizations, and how might this influence an organization’s evaluations of additional or an updated investments in HRIS? Ten years ago (1990s), the use of an HRIS was primarily focused on cost savings (e. g., reducing transaction time and costs) and risk avoidance (e. g. , having accurate data to generate reports in EEO litigation). In recent years, the use of an HRIS has been focused on providing support and contributing to the organization’s strategic objectives. Given this new focus of the use of an HRIS, the CBA for an investment in additional or updated HRIS functionality must be tied to the strategic objectives of the organization (i. e., improvements in organizational effectiveness). Of course, cost savings and risk reduction should also be included in any CBA for all HRIS investments. 2. Why is it important to estimate the benefits to be derived from new HRIS functionality before you estimate the costs? If costs were estimated first, how might this change the analysis? Estimating benefits first provides a critical aspect of the business plan for the new HRIS and sets the boundaries for its functionality. Thus, this allows costs to be directly derived from expected benefits. Estimating costs first might lead to overestimates or under estimates since the benefits of the system are unknown. It might also lead to early rejection of the investment since management may see the investment as another sunk cost without clear benefits. 3. Organizations have traditionally used employee time saved as the primary source of benefits in justification of HRIS and other types of information system investments. Why can this be problematic? Give several reasons, and relate them to conducting a CBA. Frequently, organizations measure employee time saved by estimating an employee’s value as equal to his or her cost to the organization. In nearly all cases, employee cost dramatically underestimates the average employee’s contribution. Two methods discussed in this chapter, average employee contribution and employees’ variance in work outcomes, are more accurate but are infrequently used. This lack of use of these two methods is probably due to the difficulty of collecting the needed data and/or the complexity involved in using them. Using time saved in a CBA does not directly relate to a benefit unless employees use the time saved for increased productivity. 4. What are the direct and indirect benefits of a new HRIS that decrease the transactions of the HR department by creating employee portals (see Chapter 10) and allow HR employees to work on other projects like talent management or online recruiting? Referring to Figure 7. 1, the direct benefit would be that the other projects would be available sooner than expected and the project quality should improve. The indirect benefit would be the increased potential for more effective usage of projects like talent management. If these projects were being done by an external vendor to create the employee portals, the direct costs savings are obvious (i. e. , no vendor fee). The indirect hard costs are similar to the new implementation costs in Figure 7. 1. The indirect (soft) costs may be both increased technical needs and training for employees on the portals. 5. What makes indirect benefits so difficult to include in CBA? What techniques might be used? Indirect benefits are more difficult to obtain than the hard data for direct benefits. Estimating indirect benefits requires assumptions about the impact of a specific HRIS functionality without any direct impact of the functionality. For example, employee self-service can reduce employee transaction time (and thus costs) over having the HR department enter these transactions (a direct benefit). However, it is more difficult to estimate the effect of employee self-service on absenteeism or turnover. Techniques that can be used to estimate indirect benefits are direct estimation, benchmarking, and internal assessment. 6. When should benchmarking be preferred to direct estimates of the magnitudes of benefits? When should direct estimates be preferred? Is it appropriate to use both? The primary limitation of direct estimation is that the accuracy of the analysis depends on the expertise of the estimator. Without this expertise, it is difficult to get accurate estimates. On the other hand, benchmark data (as seen in Table 7. 1) on the magnitude of indirect benefits achieved in other firms can be used. The advantage of benchmarking is that it allows an organization to build on the experiences of others. These data can provide evidence that a specific outcome can occur, as well as evidence of its potential magnitude. It is appropriate to use both types of estimates and determine which is the best estimate for the specific organization developing a CBA for increased HRIS functionality. 7. Why does average employee contribution offer a better estimate of the contribution of individuals to an organization than total compensation (wages, incentives, and benefits)? It provides a measure of the contribution of each employee to the organization’s financial success, whereas other measures, such as total wages, only provide a general measure of the costs of all employees. 8. What are the factors you would have to use in calculating a cost–benefit ratio to support a decision to purchase a new HRIS when the organization already has an HRIS that was acquired 10 years ago? Be sure to mention the factors that would comprise the costs, direct and indirect, and the benefits, direct and indirect, of the current system versus the proposed system. Direct costs: Employee time on a task force to develop a project plan for the acquisition; costs of new software and hardware; cost of hiring an external vendor to assist in the implementation phase of the project. Indirect costs: Increased technical support; training programs for employees who will be using the new system; establishment of an HRIS Center. Direct benefits: Improvements in the use of all HR programs (e. g. , less costly procedures to hire new employees); decrease in the use of vendors or e-HR contracts for HR functions. Indirect benefits: Improved managerial decision making that can affect the bottom line; reduced staff time on HR transactions. 9. Develop an argument for the implementation of an HRIS using a risk reduction strategy and an organizational enhancement strategy. Risk avoidance strategies are used when investments are believed to eliminate or mitigate significant future risks faced by the organization (e. g. , generating reports of the gender and racial diversity of employees). The potential obsolescence of legacy computing systems was a prototypical risk avoidance scenario. The old system simply needed to be changed to avoid Y2K problems and also simply because it was out of date. The need to comply with laws and regulations—for example, equal employment opportunity—as well as changes to these laws, is another circumstance in which justification based on risk avoidance is popular. Organization enhancement strategies stress how effectiveness of the firm will be improved by the addition of a new or improved HRIS—as measured by increases in revenues or reductions in costs such as employee turnover. Organization enhancement justifications are often more challenging to “sell” to decision makers than risk avoidance because enhancements do not carry the threat of real loss if no action is taken. Hence, there is often a reduced sense of urgency. Chapter 8: HR Administration and HRIS Sample Answers to Discussion Questions 1. Discuss the theoretical bases for the four HR administrative approaches introduced in this chapter. Are such theories useful to HR professionals in their efforts to improve transactional performance? Why, or why not? Students should be able to identify and discuss two theoretical bases for the four administrative approaches. First, the resource-based view of the firm (Barney, 1991, 2001). Barney, in delineating the resource-based view of organizations, argued that organizations are bundles of resources, identified as physical capital, organizational capital, and human capital. Physical capital includes an organization’s technology, geographic locations, physical assets (e. g. , plants and money), and access to raw material. Organizational capital includes its formal reporting structure; its coordinating, planning, and organizing systems; and its internal/external group relationships. Human capital includes the experience, capabilities, relationships, and insights of individual employees. Taken together, these resources are combined and managed to determine an organization’s opportunity to win sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. Second, transaction cost theory (Coase, 1937; Williamson, 1975)suggests that organizations can choose to purchase the goods and services they need in the competitive marketplace or make those goods and services internally. Transaction costs are the expenses associated with an economic transaction, whether internal or external. Managers can compare the transaction costs required to purchase products or services from external providers, such as contract administration, licenses, and delivery services, with those incurred in providing the same product or service internally by using, for example, additional personnel, retraining employees, and purchasing hardware or software. Thus, they can make optimum economic decisions for their organizations. This is the classic “make-or-buy” economic choice facing rational economic actors. Behaving rationally, organizations would make such decisions based on total costs, choosing to “buy” from external providers when total costs were lower and products or services were readily available or choosing to “make” the products or services internally when total costs from external sources were higher or products or services were not readily available. Both resource-based and transaction cost theories can explain the different choices organizations make in their preferences for HR administration approaches. For example, the increasing internal transaction costs of recruiting and hiring employees may lead to the search for an external vendor who specializes in recruitment and selection of new employees. Organizations may then decide to compare those internal transaction costs and benefits with external transaction costs and benefits from the specialized recruitment and selection providers, leading to outsourcing. Alternatively, strategic concerns about the security of having external providers inadvertently “share” crucial talent-positioning information with competitors, coupled with the decreasing costs of technology, might lead organizations to focus on internal innovation involving physical and organizational resources (e. g. , self-service portals coupled with SSCs) to reduce transaction costs while increasing spending on strategic talent management issues (e. g. , hiring and development) to achieve a sustainable competitive position in its industry. The four HR administrative approaches—strategic, operational, tactical, and transformational—are grounded in theories of organizational behavior and management. These theories help HR professionals align HR practices with organizational goals, optimize processes, and drive performance improvements by providing structured methods for managing and evolving HR functions. 2. Why is service-oriented architecture enhanced by XML important to HR administration? Choose two HR administrative approaches, and discuss how each is facilitated by this architecture. SOA is focused on providing overall service that is well-defined, self-contained, context- and platform-independent and adds value to the organization’s business purpose rather than simply addressing the technology itself. In effect, SOA is a collection of internal and external services that can communicate with each other by point-to-point data exchange or through coordination among different services to achieve a business purpose HRIS capabilities are leveraged dramatically by SOA and XML (Lublinsky, 2007; Walker, 2001), such that SOA is enhanced by extensible markup language (XML), described in Chapter 3. XML combines text and other information about the text, such as its structure, allowing data sharing across different information systems across the Internet. XML underpins SOA such that SOA is ineffective without it. Specifically, XML improves interface technology through plat form independence and protocols, such as security and transactions, previously unavailable in interfaces (Erl, 2005). Platform independence refers to software that does not rely on any special features of any single platform (e. g. , Windows), or if it does, it handles those special features such that it can deal with multiple platforms. HRIS capabilities are leveraged dramatically by SOA and XML (Lublinsky, 2007; Walker, 2001), such that • security is improved—this is especially important because of the privacy protection issues associated with HR data and applications; • performance is enhanced—this aids in reduced transaction costs and increased customer satisfaction; • auditing capabilities are added—this supports increased requirements to demonstrate compliance with corporate quality and policy mandates; • change capabilities are enhanced—this improves reaction time to better meet business-driven change requirements; and • alternative HR administration structures (e. g. , self-service portals, SSCs, and outsourcing) are facilitated—this encourages HR managers to consider multiple approaches to meeting the HR administration goals of cost reduction and service improvement. Students should choose two of the following and discuss how each is facilitated by SOA/XML: self-service portal, shared service center, outsourcing, and offshoring. 3. What are the primary advantages of HR portals and shared services centers? Give examples of how HR professionals might use each to better achieve cost controls and service enhancement. Students should be able to identify and discuss the primary advantages of HR portals and shared services centers that have been discussed in this chapter. HR Portals: First, they improve the speed and quality of service to employees and managers for routine inquiries and changes. Reduced inquiry transactions requiring direct HR staff involvement facilitate keeping information current. For example, changes in the doctors and hospitals allowed for each medical plan or status of hiring a new employee are more likely to be updated as required. In addition, self-service portals enhance employee satisfaction by permitting employees to control when and where such access activities occur. This empowers employees; increases their productivity, especially for those who travel frequently; and offers privacy for those who prefer to handle such matters without the presence of coworkers. In addition, self-service portals facilitate easy, increased access to HR information, helping employees ensure that important personal data, such as individual job performance appraisals used by managers in making decisions about employment rewards, such as salary increases or promotions, are accurate and up to date. Moreover, executives believe that having managers use this more accurate, timely information contributes to improved managerial decision making (Gueutal & Falbe, 2005; Walker, 2001). Finally, self-service portals help reduce the number of transactions for HR employees and, correspondingly, overall HR costs. Shared Service Centers: First, SSCs permit HR administration managers to focus on delivering timely, high-quality transactions necessary to fulfill corporate requirements, such as mandated governmental reporting, particularly for MNEs that have to respond to labor laws of multiple countries. In addition, by combining such transactional responsibilities in a single business unit, organizations can encourage a focus on customer satisfaction for specific user interactions, such as responses to employee questions or requests for assistance, freeing specialists to focus on more strategic activities. Moreover, SSCs encourage efficiency and standardization to support strategic cost control goals by consolidating individuals responsible for transactions, providing motivation for redesigned and more effective procedures. Finally, such centers facilitate development of measures of efficiency, quality, and customer responsiveness necessary to demonstrate appropriate contributions to strategic goals. 4. What are the primary purposes of ESS and MSS? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Students should be able to explain the primary purposes of ESS and MSS. Employee self-service (ESS) HR portals provide an electronic means for a company’s employees to access its HR services and information. Such portals provide a single sign-on capability for employees, who can complete transactions based on data previously established in records and/or knowledge bases, without HR assistance. ESS portals can range from simple intranet websites that allow employees to access static HR policies, such as safety requirements, to sophisticated Internet websites that allow employees to access and change their individual records. For example, adding a new child to an employee’s medical benefits, from any computer location on a 24-hour, 7-day basis, would be possible with ESS portals. A partial list of information and services commonly available via ESS portals is given in Table 9. 1. MSS portals are specialized versions of ESS portals designed to allow managers to view extensive information about their subordinates and perform many of their administrative tasks electronically, including traditional HR functions. For example, in typical MSS applications, managers can complete job requisitions and view résumés of prospective applicants. In addition, managers can view performance appraisals, subordinate salaries, productivity, training histories, and model annual salary increases. However, MSS is not limited to HR functions and may also include budgeting and tracking, reporting, and staff policy/procedure development (Gueutal & Falbe, 2005; Walker, 2001). Students should be able to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of ESS and MSS. The primary advantages include the following: • Overall improvement in the speed and quality of services to employees and managers • Reduction in the number of inquiry transactions that require direct HR staff involvement • Can help to increase job satisfaction, empowerment, productivity, and level of privacy • MSS can lead to improved managerial decision making The primary disadvantages include the following: • Opening up the possibility of security breaches, and many issues that can stem from such an occurrence • Employee may feel like they are taking on extra work that should be done by HR 5. Define outsourcing and offshoring. Compare and contrast the two as HR administrative tools. Give examples of the decision factors to consider when choosing one over the other. Students should be able to define outsourcing and offshoring and be able to compare and contrast the two. Additionally, students should be able to give examples of the decision factors that should be considered when choosing one over the other. Outsourcing is the practice of contracting with vendors to perform HR services and activities. Outsourcing is not new in HR administration. Obviously, HR administration managers would require significant assistance from multiple groups such as the legal, operations, and information systems departments within the organization to establish and monitor the contract, ensuring that the organization is adequately protected from incompetent or unethical outsourcing providers. • Offshoring is an expansion of HR outsourcing that includes sending work outside the U. S. to vendors located in other countries. Technological capabilities and global competition have combined to make HR outsourcing a global business, and offshoring in MNEs is quite complex. Esen’s (2005) survey showed that HR managers reported that their organizations consider offshoring primarily for financial reasons, including lower labor costs (76%), increased profits (50%), and reduced health care costs (23%). For example, researchers found that labor costs for a software developer in India were $6 per hour as opposed to the $60 per hour for the same job in the U. S. (Chiamsiri, Bulusu, & Agarwal, 2005). In addition, some firms were seeking skilled employees (16%) or productivity (10%) and service improvement (7%). Only 7% considered offshoring for strategic reasons. In fact, 40% of HR managers reported that their organizations would not consider offshoring because it was inconsistent with strategic direction (Esen, 2005). When their organizations pursued offshoring, HR managers reported that manufacturing (43%) functions were most common, followed by IT (29%) and computer programming (22%), customer call centers (29%), and HR functions (16%). Such organizations used both offshore ownership and offshore outsourcing (Esen, 2005). Offshore ownership may include opening a new subsidiary in the foreign country, entering into a joint venture with an existing firm in that country, or purchasing an existing firm. By comparison, offshore outsourcing is a traditional contractual relationship with an existing firm. Outsourcing involves contracting HR functions to external providers, while offshoring relocates these functions to a different country. Outsourcing offers flexibility and local expertise, while offshoring can reduce costs but may face challenges related to time zones and cultural differences. Decision factors include cost, quality, control, and regulatory compliance. 6. Using the EEO-1 report as an example, discuss the purpose of government mandates. Give examples of penalties that organizations incur when they fail to comply with government mandates such as EEO and OSHA reporting. Students should be able to express that the purpose of government mandates is to prevent discrimination in the workforce. Failures to comply with such government mandates include loss of government contracts, substantial fines, and jail sentences for employers. That all individuals should be considered for employment based on knowledge, skills, and abilities rather than irrelevant factors (e. g. , sex, race, or religion) is the general principle of equal employment opportunity (EEO). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides the requirements for such equal employment opportunity. Under the statute, it is illegal for employers with 15 or more employees working 20 or more weeks per year to do the following: “(1) fail or refuse to hire or discharge any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, or (2) limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way that would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. ” In addition, employers who engage in business with the federal government and have contracts valued at $50,000 or more must comply with additional requirements that include providing a written affirmative action plan (AAP) to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Procedures (OFCCP). This report details how the employer is actively seeking to hire and promote individuals in protected classes. Specifically, the AAP must provide (1) detailed comparison of the available labor force to the employer’s workforce by race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, (2) specific goals and timetables for achieving workforce balance if underutilization exists, and (3) specific action steps to be taken to attain goals to erase underutilization. Congress expanded protection against illegal discrimination in employment in 1967 on the basis of age(i. e. , persons over 40) by the passage of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and in 1990 protection to individuals with disabilities with its passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The EEO-1 report mandates organizations to submit data on workforce demographics, aiming to ensure compliance with equal employment opportunity laws. Failure to comply with such government mandates can lead to penalties like fines, legal actions, and damage to the organization's reputation. For instance, non-compliance with EEO reporting can result in substantial monetary penalties and restrictions on federal contracts, while failing to meet OSHA reporting requirements may incur fines and increased scrutiny. 7. Based on information in this chapter, recommend the most effective HR administrative approach or approaches for the owner of a small business with fewer than 50 employees and infrequent staffing needs. What would you recommend for a business with 5,000 employees and high turnover? Defend your position with information from the chapter. This is a good question for students to break up into small groups and discuss. Once groups have had time to work on this question, the groups should then share their suggestions with the class. While individual groups are not likely to come up with the same answers, they should be able to grasp that HR administration is not meant to be “one size fits all. ” For a small business with fewer than 50 employees and infrequent staffing needs, a strategic HR administrative approach, focusing on streamlined and cost-effective solutions, is ideal. For a large business with 5,000 employees and high turnover, a tactical and transformational approach, emphasizing robust processes and proactive talent management, is more effective to handle complex HR needs and drive continuous improvement. 8. Identify and explain the purpose of each of the four perspectives included in the balanced scorecard. Give two examples of HR measures for each of the four areas that would demonstrate the value of HR in achieving the strategic goals of organizations. • Kaplan and Norton (1996) defined the four components of the balanced scorecard as financial, customer, internal business processes, and learning and growth. Inclusion of these components reflects an organization’s commitment to balance its strategic goals, reflecting expectations of its multiple stakeholders. An overview of all four components can be seen in Figure 9. 11, along with the key question associated with each of the four. • There are a number of different measures that can be used for each of the four areas to demonstrate the value of HR in achieving the strategic goals of organizations. Students should be able to identify two for each of the four categories. 9. Return to the vignette that opened this chapter and answer the questions posed there. The vignette in the beginning of the chapter is recommended to be utilized to facilitate an insightful group discussion after the instructor has covered the chapter. While students are likely to have different answers, they should be able to back up their reasoning based on what they have learned in this chapter. Solution Manual for Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions Michael J. Kavanagh, Richard D Johnson 9781506351452, 9781483306933