The Practices and Challenges of

The case study of Selected Public Sector Organizations

By: Markos Mulat (MBA)

Human Resources Management (HRM) is the means to enhance the operations of organizational functions which directly contribute to the company's profitability and determine company's success in gaining a competitive advantage. Human Resources Information Systems play significant role in supporting all operations inside of the HR division.

Human Resource Information System is a set of people, forms, procedures and data utilized to store, analyze, distribute and use information of human resources. HRIS goal is to provide accurate information for the use of persons making human resource related decisions and to reduce the manual work of HR executives.

HR Information Systems (HRIS) have the potential to transform HR into a more efficient and strategic function by allowing HR to move beyond simple administrative tasks to strategic applications.

The study aims to find out the contribution of Human Resource Information System (HRIS) to HR division throughout its various subsystems such as recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation, performance management and employee information administration within the perception of senior HR Executives.

Background….cont’d

The study arises from the need to manage the HR division of the organizations more effectively.

With the changing world and constant new technology that is available and environment of increasing in competition locally and globally, organizations must become more adaptable, resilient, agile, and customer-focused. Managers need to be aware of the technology that will increase effectiveness and improve efficiency in their organizations.

Statement of the Problem

HR used to have a manual system where they had to collectapplications from employee and maintain a ledger foreach and every employee in order to keep their record.This entire process was extremely time consuming andmore over it had high probability of data discrepancies.

In addition, issues relating to continuous poor employee management systems, delayed personal data aggregation, poor talent management and poor staff file management continue to hinder human resource service delivery in theorganizations.

Statement of …cont’d

Main objective:-

The main objective of the study is to investigate thepractices and pinpoint the challenges associated withhuman resource information system adoption andimplementation in selected public sector organizationin Addis Ababa and suggest possible recommendationsfor further improvement.

Objectives of the Study

Specific Objectives

To evaluate the current practice of the HRIS recruitmentsubsystem and pinpoint strong area and areas thatneeds improvement.

To explore how human resource information system(HRIS) employee information management sub systemare contributing to an organization’s performance.

To assess the current practices of training subsystem of HRIS and shows what Process improvements will support HR division in providing the highest quality of service to the employees.

To examine the level of HRIS compensation subsystem practice and indicate the main success and failure factor associated with it in the organizations.

Specific….cont’d

To have insight to the present practice of HRISperformance management sub system of the firmsand show possible ways of further improvement.

To locate problems, gaps, lapses, failings in thepractices of HRIS and to see areas of wrong ornon- implementation that hindered achievementof its predetermined objective & activities.

Specific….cont’d

Recruitment is the process of discovering potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies or, from another perspective.

E-recruitment refers to the practices and activities carried out by the organizations through internet with primary purpose of identifying and attracting potential employee.

Training is a tool for improving the skills in need such as sales skills, communication skills, service skills, etc. for the productivity and effectiveness of employees.

HRIS training subsystem includes data on an employee’s skills and competencies, training courses taken, developmental activities, and career planning in terms of which positions might be most appropriate for employee based on their skills and competencies.

Compensation management is the process involves all forms ofpay or rewards accrued to employees arising from theiremployment.

Policies on allowable when an employee receives a promotion,data regarding pay grades and ranges for each position andbonus structure included in the HRIS compensation subsystem.

Definitions…cont’d

Performance management is an integrated and ongoing process by which an organization involves its employees in improving effectiveness in the accomplishment of organizational mission and strategic goals.

HRIS web based performance appraisal subsystem helps the organization quickly create high value performance appraisal for all employees. It is a powerful, easy to use tool for cultivating a high performance workforce that is completely aligned with the organizations goals and priorities.

In order to generate the primary data, the questionnaire survey was the basic research design.

A questionnaire were designed and distributed to 90 HR executives of selected public sector organizations in Addis Ababa.

Non probability purposive sampling was used during the selection of the sample.

Data were collected through qualitative and quantitative methods and method of data analysis was descriptive.

Feedbacks received from 64 respondents were analyzed and the overall response rate was 71.1 percent.

The SPSS computer package was used to analyze the collected data.

Pilot survey

The pilot survey was done with four Heads of HR of selected organizations using semi-structured interview to clarify the research arena and their experiences, knowledge, & personal views on HRIS were documented

Redesigning Questionnaire

Questionnaire was redesigned and developed to address research questions in order to collect primary data for further analysis. The questionnaire cover the areas of HRIS functionalities.

Evaluating the current practices

Organizations' HRIS documented policies &procedures that support the responses of questionnaires were reviewed

Analyzing the Data

After collecting the information, analysis was done to indicate strengths and opportunities for HRIS further improvement..

Procedures of Data Collection

Extent of overcoming Challenges encountered in the Implementation

of HRIS Subsystems

Automated & integrated HR system

Effective and Efficient HR Division

Facilitated decision-making process

Commitment of the organizations in

implementing HRIS to the full extent

HRIS Subsystems

Recruitment Subsystem

Performance Management

Subsystem

Compensation& Benefit

Subsystem

Training & Development

Subsystem

Employee Information Subsystem

Conceptual Framework

Thirty one percent of the participants replied unfavorably with statement that their organizations HRIS eliminates unsuitable applicant early and focus on promising candidates, while 43.1% of them agreed.

In addition, 46.1% of respondents believed that their HRIS performs comprehensive reporting and tracking of applicants efficiently while 20% disagreed.

Almost more than half of participants responded neutral suggestion with statement that their HRIS leverages employee's talent in the right place and at the right time and uses exams and personal profiles in the process of selection and e-recruitment of new candidates.

Finally, 35.4% of the executives believed that their HRIS recruiting subsystem are better utilized and it had met their expectations, while 36.9% disagreed.

Responses Regarding HRIS Training & Development

Responses Regarding HRIS Performance Management Subsystem

For statement that HRIS performance appraisals do reflect an employee's positive behaviors as well as results, 33.8% of them agreed, while 41.5% felt neutral.

Fifty percent of participants respond unfavorably with statement that all evaluations follow the written schedule described in the employee handbook & company HRIS Performance policy while 23.1% of them agreed.

Majority of respondents agreed with statement that their HRIS has improved the quality of work performed and resulted with less error and cost reduction.

Insufficient financial support

Poor ICT infrastructure

Lack of commitment and involvement from top managers and all employees

Resistance from employees because of they prefer traditional methods,

HRIS not perceived as an advantage at all

Fear of keeping data protected all the time from being accessed by unauthorized persons

Lack of expertise in IT

Inadequate knowledge

Lot of paper work that is difficult to computerize

Responses Regarding Challenges of practicing HRIS

Subsystems

Conclusions

Human Resource Information System benefited the organization as a systematic procedure for collecting, storing, maintaining, retrieving, and validating data of their human resources, personnel activities & organization unit characteristics. It provides accurate information for the uses of persons making HR related decisions.

The organizations gained competitive advantage by implementing the system which intern facilitates healthier HR decisions and enhanced supervision and control of their manpower.

Conclusion….cont’d

Because of their HRIS, organizations improved the efficiency and effectiveness of their HR department activities. These activities include training and development of management, succession planning, applicant tracking in recruitment and selection and employee information and identification management, salary planning, competency assessment, benefit administration, and performance appraisal.

Conclusion….cont’d

Since human capital plays a larger role in competitiveadvantage, HR executives of the organizations should needto revise their existing HRIS recruitment and selectionsprocedures to provide various functionalities to meet theirunit’s and organizations goals and objectives.

The organizations should have to identify the right staff and undertake them through HRIS development and training as a means of imparting their knowledge and skills that are desirable for the operation of the HRIS.

The organizations need to develop an HRIS system that clearly links individual performance to corporate business goals and priorities. Each employee should have well defined reporting relationships and evaluation becomes fairer if it is based on the records of periodic counseling & achievements of the employees tracked over the year.

The organizations need to put strategies forward to counteract the challenges, and managements of the organizations should carry out a lot of benchmarking from more experienced organizations that had already have operating the system and should seek advices on how to effectively carry cost effective HRIS implementation.