Conclusion

In conclusion, I see that e-recruitment is an effective recruitment and selection tool in helping the organization to select the right person who is qualified with required skills, abilities and experiences. By having e-recruitment process, it brings many benefits to both organization and applicants. As e-recruitment not only can save cost and efforts of the organization, but it also makes the recruitment process more convenient to enable more potential applicants to apply for the job especially those applicants who are facing geographical problems.

Besides that, I found web-based ELD is a system that allows the employees to improve themselves and enhance learning process using technology. This system provides adequate information for the employees to improve and enhance their interpersonal development. This can eventually help them to achieve higher potential and also better job performance to attain organization goals. However, web-based ELD has its own drawbacks and the organization should think of strategies to overcome those drawbacks to ensure that this system can be fully used by the employees in achieving their goals.

In addition, PMS plays important roles in an organization to plan, measure and control the performance of the employees. This system not only can direct managers’ attention to strategically important areas that translate to organization performance outcomes, but it also can let employees understand their strengths and weaknesses and also ways to improve themselves to achieve better job performance.

With all the lectures I have go through in the class during this semester, I have learnt so much knowledge on HRIS. I hope that my learning process will not only end here with the end of semester. I will continue my learning process about HRIS in the hope that it can help me to success in my future career. Lastly, I also want to grab this opportunity to thanks Dr. Nur Naha for teaching us patiently. Thankyou!

Performance Management System

A performance management system (PMS) is an ongoing process which enables organizations to plan, measure and control their performance, so that decisions, resources and activities can be better aligned with strategies to achieve desired results (Bento and Bento, 2006).

According to Dixon et al. (1990), performance measurement systems (PMS) are designed to provide a set of mutually reinforcing signals that direct managers’ attention to strategically important areas that translate to organization performance outcomes. I see that PMS is very important to guide managers’ behavior toward key organization outcomes.

The main purpose of PMS is to integrate organizational activities across various managerial levels and functions (Sinclair and Zairi, 1995). Besides, I found that PMS also can help the employees in improving work performance to produce desired outcome. PMS is also seen as a recognition and reward for the contributions of employees in achieving organizational goals. By doing so, employees will be motivated to strive for better performance in the future. Additionally, PMS can also increase employee morale resulting from on-time performance appraisals and rewards commensurate with employees’ contributions.

The five major dimensions of PMS are planning, monitoring, developing, evaluating and rewarding. In planning, the performance expectations and goals for employees are set to channel their efforts toward achieving organizational goals. Next, in monitoring, the tasks assigned to the employees are monitored consistently to provide ongoing feedback to their progress. In developing, employees are provided with training to encourage them to perform better, strengthen job-related skills and competencies. Next, evaluating is very helpful for the employees to compare their performance among each other. Lastly, rewards means recognizing employees for their good performance and acknowledging their contributions towards organizational goals.

In conclusion, PMS is very important to improve employee involvement, commitment and motivation (Bevan and Thompson, 1991). It also acts as a communication tool to provide feedback on employees’ contributions to achieving organizational goals (Cheng et al., 2007).

References:

1. Dixon, J., A. Nanni, and T. Vollman, 1990,  The New Performance Challenge: Measuring Operations for World-Class Competition, Homewood, IL: Dow Jones Irwin

2. Sinclair D., Zairi M. (1995), Effective process management through performance measurement Part I, Business Process Reengineering and Management Journal, Vol. No. 1, pp. 75-88

3. Bento, A. and Bento, B. (2006), “Factors affecting the outcomes of performance management systems”, Journal of Information Technology Management, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 23-32.

4. Bevan, S. and Thompson, M. (1991), “Performance management at the cross-roads”, Personnel Management, November, pp. 36-40.

5. Cheng, M.I., Dainty, A. and Moore, D. (2007), “Implementing a new performance management system within a project-based organization”, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 56 No. 1, pp. 60-75.

Learning & Development System

Web-based Employee Learning and Development (ELD) is a system used in certain organizations to plan and observe the employees training, career development and employees performance. Colin (2003) stated that ELD using some form of technology to deliver training and other education materials. Web-based ELD can be used to provide the required information without face-to-face interaction that will be useful in the learning and development process. To obtained positions and increase competitive advantages, the organization needs to create new knowledge (Jelena, 2007).

I see that such web-based ELD bring benefits for both employees and organization. According to Qasem et al. (2011), web-based ELD can prepare employees’ knowledge and skills to enable them adapt new technology that is happened inside their working environment. I also found that such system is very cost effective and accessibility. Therefore, this system can help the organization to get adequate training information and with low cost. It also helps to empower and facilitate the employees. By obtaining the information from this system, the employees can make assessment and development by themselves. Therefore, employees can improve and enhance their interpersonal development by their own. Lastly, web-based ELD can improve employees’ computer skills because employees are mainly using computer during the training session.

However, web-based ELD also bring disadvantages. Certain contents are not suitable for the employees as not all employees are facing the same problem. Besides, this system requires the employees to know basic computer skills. Therefore, the employees who do not have basic computer skills may face difficulties in joining the training program. Moreover, such web-based ELD also lack of human contact. This is because the employees only facing the computer during training and they may not able to ask questions when they do not understand about the content.

In brief, web-based ELD is a global phenomenon and is central to many industries as an additional method of training that complements more traditional methods of learning (Kirsty and Anna, 2004).

References:

1. Jelena Vemic (2007), Employee Training and Development and the Learning Organization. Facta Universities. Series: Economics and Organization Vol. 4, No. 2, 2007, pp. 209-216

2. Colin Barrow (2003), E-training and Development.

3. Qasim Saleem, Mehwish Shahid, and Akram Naseem (2011), Degree of Influence of Trainig and Development on Employees Behavior. International Journal of Computing and Business Research ISSN (Online) : 2229-6166

4. Kirsty Vaughan and Anna MacVicar (2004), Employees’ pre-implementation attitudes and perceptions to e-learning A banking case study analysis

Recruitment and Staffing

(Dysart) 1999 and Taylor (2001) define e-recruitment as the online process of attracting suitable candidates via electronic means. It instantly matches candidate’s qualification, skills, experiences with job description, consequently informing candidate for its selection prospects. I see that the usage of e-recruitment is effective as it can help the organization to find the right people to the right place at a right time by matching with their capabilities.

E-recruitment not only brings advantages to an organization, but also the applicants. Galanaki (2002) concludes that e-recruitment can help the applicants in e-benefits of time, cost, efforts, and analysis with convenience. It also helps the applicant for a remote interview and tests. Besides, e-recruitment also enables the information to be transmitted to the candidates in more convenient and reliable fashion. Therefore, I see that e-recruitment can benefit both parties of the applicants and the organization. This can ensure that the selection and recruitment process can be carried out more effectively and smoothly in organization.

However, there are also disadvantages in using e-recruitment in an organization. One of the disadvantages is reducing applicants’ ability to express his/her individuality and character, and most of the time these are things that companies should look for in an applicant (Corsini, 2001). A further negative point is that many unnecessary resumes could be received from people who actually do not qualify. In this way a company may waste a lot of time going through all the non- qualified resumes. Additionally, since everyone does not have access to Internet, it will not reach all potential candidates (Plessis and Howard, 2012). For my understanding, although e-recruitment brings advantages for both applicants and organizations, but it has its own drawbacks which might cause organization loss of time, effort and potential candidates.

In conclusion, nowadays, most of the organizations have move from the traditional recruitment and selection process to e-recruitment as it is very convenient for applicants and organization. Organization should solve the drawbacks in such system to ensure that e-recruitment process can be run more effectively.

References:

1. Dysart, J. (1999). HR recruiters build interactivity into Web Sites. HR magazine. 44, 3, 106 - 111. Elkington, T (2005), Birght future for online recruitment personnel today 18  January Page 9

2. Taylor, C. (2001). Windows of opportunity. People management 7(5), 32 - 36.

3. Zulqarnain Malik and Dr. Razaullah (2013), The Role of E-recruitment Towards Attraction of Workforce:  A Case of Telecom Sector Organization

(http://64.17.184.140/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/V6I1-9.pdf)

4. Galanaki, E. (2002). The decision to recruit online: a descriptive study. Career Development International, 7(4), 243 – 251.

5. Corsini, S. (2001). Wired to Hire. Training, 38, 6, 50-54

6. Dr. A J du Plessis and Prof. Howard Frederick (2012), Effectiveness of e-recruiting: empirical evidence from the Rosebank business cluster in Auckland, New Zealand

(http://www.sjpub.org/sjbm/sjbm-126.pdf)

Conclusion

In conclusion, I have learned quite lots of knowledge about Human Resource Information System (HRIS) in this few weeks of lectures which some I don’t even heard about before.

In week 1 of lectures, I understand that HRIS is the integrated system used to gather, store and analyze information about organization’s human resource.  HRIS helps an organization to improve the hiring process, quality of the workers hired and quality of the organization as a whole.

In week 2 of lectures, I have learned that a business must develop suitable strategies to counter competitive forces in order to succeed. There are five competitive strategies which are cost leadership, differentiation strategy, innovation strategy, growth strategy and alliance strategy. By studying all these strategies, I found that different products, different markets and different timing will need different type of strategies to overcome the forces. For example, global markets such as Dominos Pizza have to use growth strategy to diversify into new products or service.

In the week 3 and week 4 of lectures, I have got the knowledge about four different types of HRIS models which are multinational model, global model, international model and transnational model. In my opinion, I think that transnational model is the most wide and most effective model among the four HRIS models. This is because transnational is the combination of multinational model, global model and international model which including centralized and decentralized operations. It acts as resources distributors that facilitate knowledge sharing among different operational units.

In future lectures, I hope that I can learn further knowledge about HRIS so that I will be able to use all these knowledge in order to be an effective human resource practitioner in the future.

On Globalizing HRIS

There are four types of models in HRIS. The first one is multinational models. According to Beaman (2002), “Multinational HRIS” comprises a portfolio of separate, distinct organizations that are delineated by national boundaries. For my understanding, multinational model of HRIS is the organizations that located separately around the world which given autonomy and responsibilities to operate according to local culture.

In the contrast to the multinational model, the head office in the global organization has a great deal of power and puts a strong emphasis on global standardization and operating efficiency. (Beaman and Guy, 2003) I see that this model is using one-size-fits-all approach which the organizations in different places must follow the decision fixed by the head office.

According to Martin and Beaman (2009), the international organizational model is one that takes a more balanced approach between centralization and decentralization. A key characteristic of this organizational model is that it seeks to understand the needs of its local business units and to share and leverage best practices across the organization. In my opinion, I think that international organization is better than multinational and global organization model as international organization is the combination of centralization and decentralization and it also allows sharing cross-border learning and innovation.

Lastly, a transnational organization is a chaordic, networked structure with no centralized “controlling” unit per se, but with a well-defined set of centralized “coordinating” and “cooperative” processes that govern how the organization functions. (Beaman, 2003) In my opinion, I think that transnational organization is the best as this model is the combination of the other three models of flexible and sensitive to local conditions (multinational),  competitive and effective (global) and sharing knowledge between local units (international).

References:

1. Karen V. Beaman (2002), Boundaryless HR: Human Capital Management in the Global Economy
http://books.google.com.my/books?hl=en&lr=&id=czzY2gccsnQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA11&dq=multinational+HRIS+models&ots=dnPLvFtNLm&sig=DL1hNVcGrLxn60CnXiRLTeistI0&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=multinational%20HRIS%20models&f=false)

2. Karen V. Beaman and Gregory R. Guy (2003), Transnational Development: The Efficiency-Innovation Model

(http://72.249.20.152/resources/karen_beaman/TransnationalDevelopment.pdf)

3. Lexy Martin and Karen Beaman (2009), Leveraging HR Technology: From Global Savings to Transnational Value

(http://www.jeitosa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Leveraging-doc.pdf)

4.   Karen V. Beaman (2003), The New Transnational HR Model: Building a Chaordic Organization

(http://www.jeitosa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/New-transnational-doc.pdf)

Competitive Advantages

In recent years, there has been marked increase in competition in virtually all areas of business. The five competitive forces are rivalry of competitors within its industry, for example, Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza, new entrants into an industry or markets, substitute products that may capture market share, bargaining power of customers and suppliers. The ability to outperform competitors and produce above average profits lies in the pursuit and execution of an appropriate business strategy. (Hsieh and Chen, 2011)

According to Porter (2008), in cost leadership, a firm sets out to become the low-cost producer in its industry. The firm has a broad scope and serves many industry segments, and may even operate in related industries – the firm’s breadth is often important to its cost advantage. I see that cost leadership is the technique that reduces the cost of suppliers or customers to the competitors to increase its competitive advantages.

Besides, in differentiation strategy, differentiator incorporates one or several of those features into its product offering to encourage buyer preferences for its brand over the brands of rivals. (Collins and Porter, 1985)  I found that this strategy can catch the buyers who are strongly attracted to the differentiating features and gain greater buyer loyalty to its brand.

Moreover, innovation strategy is also one of the strategies to overcome competitive forces. According to Shin (2001), by using the direct access to consumers enabled by the Internet, companies can collect information, identify target consumers, and better introduce products or services to meet consumers' needs. I see that this strategy is very useful nowadays because people can easily access to the Internet everyday.

Next, Growth strategy increase market share, acquire more customers, or sell more products to strengthen a company and increase profitability in the long run. (Hemmatfar, 2010) 

Lastly, alliance strategy means working with business partners in partnership, joint ventures, or virtual companies. This strategy creates synergy, allows companies to concentrate on their core business, and provides opportunities for growth. (Hemmatfar, 2010) In my opinion, using this strategy can help businesses to work together as a team to strive for a common goal while the disadvantage is the conflict may occur.

References:

1.                  Michael E. Porter (2008), Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance 
(http://books.google.com.my/books?hl=en&lr=&id=H9ReAijCK8cC&oi=fnd&pg=PR15&dq=five+competitive+strategies&ots=p79CRFeX8L&sig=E5XWiV-mIPHv6Pd9_FJ6apJNBhc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=five%20competitive%20strategies&f=false)

2.                  John Collins and Michael E. Porter (1985), Strategy and Competitive Advantage (http://www.montana.edu/brester/agbe445/readings/Strategy%20Newer.pdf)

3.                  Namchul Shin (2001), Strategies For Competitive Advantage In Electronic Commerce

(https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CD0QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fxa.yimg.com%2Fkq%2Fgroups%2F19572407%2F1409938480%2Fname%2FSTRATEGIES%25252BFOR%25252BCOMPETITIVE%25252BADVANTAGE%25252BIN%25252BELECTRONIC%25252BCOMMERCE.pdf&ei=q3toUsOdC4j-rAfHxoCICQ&usg=AFQjCNH1GXot7MEk60PZg0Gq9tI_YiOhmQ&bvm=bv.55123115,d.bmk)

4.                  Mahmood Hemmatfar, Ph. D. (2010), Competitive Advantages and Strategic Information Systems

(https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&ved=0CFQQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fccsenet.org%2Fjournal%2Findex.php%2Fijbm%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F6631%2F5247&ei=q3toUsOdC4j-rAfHxoCICQ&usg=AFQjCNEu-XT6ySY9ueuCqzIOHlgG_ZMQig&bvm=bv.55123115,d.bmk)

5.                  Yi Hua Hsieh and Hai Ming Chen (2011), Strategic Fit Among Business Competitive Strategy, Human Resource Strategy, And Reward System

(http://www.alliedacademies.org/Publications/Papers/ASMJ_Vol_10_No_2_2011%20p%2011-32.pdf)