Studying Human Resource Information Systems from an
Integrated Perspective: A Research Agenda
Rodrigo Magalhães and Huub Ruël
Kuwait-Maastricht Business School, Dasma, Kuwait
Abstract. This paper aims at setting an agenda for HRIS research from an
integrative perspective. This perspective assumes that organization and
information systems cannot be separated. By first elaborating on this integrated
perspective in terms of a web of causes and consequences of the
implementation of ICT in organizations, a list of new organizational
phenomena is presented. Subsequently, research on HRISs up to date is
summarized, resulting in the observation that HRIS research needs to be
broadened and deepened. In section three, we combine the list of emerging
phenomena with how HRISs are being implemented and used in mainly large
global companies. We raise a number of critical questions for HRIS research
per each emerging phenomena and suggest a number of appropriate research
topics.
1 Introduction
Human Resource Information Systems are a subject of study for two about two decades.
The first studies on Human Resource Information Systems date back to the mid-1980’s
[1]. However since the end of the 1990’s this subject has grown in importance as the
widespread application of web technology has given a boost to further development of
web-based HRISs. With the use of web technology, HRISs have crossed the borders of
the HR department and have began to target the wider organization: senior management,
line managers and last but for sure not least employees. With this development studying
HRIS has become more complex, with HRISs evolving into information systems
entangled with all aspects of organization. In other words, HRISs are not a technology,
but are the result of the integration of ICT and organization. This perspective provokes a
whole new array of research topics for the field of HRISs.
In this paper we try to set out a research agenda for studying HRISs. Once again, the
basic assumption is that HRISs are an integration of information and communication
technologies (ICT) and organization. More specifically the integration of HRISs within
organization can be considered as an intricate web of causes and many consequences.
HRIS cannot be studied separate from its organizational context they are interwoven.
So far, the study of HRIS has resulted in a limited number of perspectives and issues
that have been studied. With the first international e-HRM workshop being held in Oct
2006 the research area got a certain fundament. However, it should be considered as just
a first step. The goal of this paper is to provoke researchers and practitioners in IT and
Magalhães R. and Ruël H. (2007).
Studying Human Resource Information Systems from an Integrated Perspective: A Research Agenda.
In Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Human Resource Information Systems, pages 130-146
DOI: 10.5220/0002423701300146
Copyright
c
 SciTePress

HR. For researchers this paper aims at giving input for research topics and perspectives,
for practitioners this paper aims at outlining the complexitiy of HRISs and the
consequences for HRIS implementation and further development.
The structure of the paper is as follows: first we elaborate on the integration of ICT
and organization. A list of phenomena will be presented that have emerged from the
point where information systems started to be employed on a large scale in organizations.
The novelty about the phenomena chosen is that they view ICT and organization as
integrated and inseparable. ICT and organization are like a web of causes and
consequences. After that we present how these phenomena could trigger HRIS research
and what type of research questions and issue could emerge from these phenomena.
2 The Integration of ICT and Organization: A Web of Causes and
Consequences
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are becoming ever more
infused, absorbed, integrated, appropriated and diffused into or by organizations,
creating a host of contradictory impacts. ICT are responsible for delayering and
relayering of organizational structures, for deskilling and upskilling of personnel, for
more autocratic and more participative management styles, for breaking down and for
erecting organizational boundaries [2]. In a nutshell, the information age or the
knowledge era with all its confusing promises, expectations, myths and consequences
are here to stay and present a new wave of challenge to people, society, organizations
and universities.
At the same time, more than ever before we live in a world of organizations. From
the growth of the internet to the mounting complexity of world politics; from the
increasing use of air travel to the renewed struggle against world poverty; from the
busy construction of a United Europe to the world race on the vaccine for AIDS and
other plagues, all we see around us are organizations emerging, forming, changing
and dying at an impressive speed. In an increasingly complex world, the endeavour
for the survival of the human species has be organized and managed. And organizing
and managing today is totally enmeshed with ICT applications
We propose that the integration of Organization and ICT can be seen as an intricate
web of many causes and many consequences where there are no exclusive one-to-
relationships (see Figure 1). The web is made up of a number of interrelated factors or
phenomena which sometimes act as the cause and other times act as the consequence
of the integration of ICT artifacts into organizations. For example, compression of
competitive time is related to hypercompetition, but so is competitive market pressure,
convergence of info-com or the breaking up of conventional business boundaries. For
reasons of space the explanation of Figure 1 will be very brief. For a more detailed
discussion the reader is referred to [2].
131

Fig. 1. The Web of Causes and Consequences of Organization and Information Systems.
We start unweaving the web with the automation of tasks and processes, one of
the earliest steps taken on the road towards the knowledge society. It was not until the
eighties that the impact of the application of ICT on the workplace started to be
reported both as a general management priority [3;4] and an academic management
concern [5]. The topics covered ranged from ergonomics and usability, job design,
deskilling and upskilling, employment and careers to industrial relations implications,
organizational design and the role of users.
Related to the spreading of ICT application to automate tasks and processes, there is
the interesting phenomena of the increasing textualization of information in the
workplace. Such phenomenon, tied to the representational qualities of ICT, was the
object of a major study by [6] published in the book In the Age of the Smart Machine.
What is interesting and challenging about Zuboff’s work is not the new technology per se
but the innovative and even contradictory ends to which it can be put by different
managers in different contexts. In some contexts, the technology may have an
“automate” effect, i.e. it turns manual tasks which were previously interesting into dull,
repetitive and unmotivating tasks; but in other contexts, the technology has an
“informate” effect, meaning that the manual tasks become more challenging and
interesting, due to the richer information environment provided by the technology.
Also related to the automation of tasks and processes, there is the issue of concerns
over IT costs which have not stopped escalating (as a percentage of total costs) since
the early days of computing. It has suggested that the growth of computing goes
through periods of slack and control [7] or expansion and control [8] and that these
are due to market forces outside the organization and managerial forces inside the
organization. The balance between these two types of forces continues to be one of
the characteristics of ICT organizational integration.
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INFORMATION/
ORGANIZATIONAL
TECHNOLOGY
132

The increasing textualization of information in organizations has had another very
important consequence, i.e. the rise of new forms of managerial control. With the
rapid advances in database management and in data storage technologies, information
about everything happening in the organization has been stored in powerful
datawharehousing systems and made available through executive information systems
(EIS). One important type of EIS are those designed to support the Balanced
Scorecards Methodology [9]. The BSC Methodology has been another very important
development in the integration of ICT into the organization’s strategy. These new
tools come about in response to the dramatic effect of compression of competitive
time which, in turn, is a recurrent consequence of the development of ICTs and
especially of the internet. What is meant is that the life expectancy of competitive
strategies based on customer and business process indicators has become so short that
future-oriented indicators (i.e. development and innovation) are rapidly becoming the
most important, in terms of management control.
The internet is at the core of a new economic space, in the continuous movement
towards a world economy based less and less on physical assets and increasingly
dependent on knowledge and information. In what concerns the impact of the Net in
business, [10] suggests that half of all the businesses conducted in the industrial world
will be affected by this huge information market, generically known as e-commerce
or e-business. Product evolution is extremely rapid in the internet market space. This
is in line with what [11] has termed hypercompetition. From the point of view of
hypercompetition, the question of applying ICT to business processes in order to
achieve greater speed (and better timing) is crucial. However, this question cannot be
solved purely by the acquisition or application of ICT artifacts. These take time, in
terms of both individual and organizational learning [12] Conceivably, ICT take even
longer than other organizational resources for appropriate skills and competencies to
be developed.
The issue of ICT skills and competencies is also related to the still “hot” topic of
outsourcing. For a number reasons, a growing number of companies has opted for
outsourcing, that is, the contracting out of not just the development but also the
implementation, the maintenance and even the management of their information
systems and technologies. According to [10] p. 210) “outsourcing IT would be almost
like outsourcing all the firm’s employees”. However, ICT outsourcing is a reality and
the answers to the problems seem be to be found in a selective mix of outsourcing and
insourcing as well as in the turning of the outsourcing agreements into carefully
planned and managed strategic partnerships [13].
The issue of hypercompetition, like all the others in our web, is both a cause and a
consequence. As such, it is linked to several other factors but one of them deserves a
special mention: the convergence of info-com [14]. The growing convergence
between information and communication (info-com) technologies has changed the
business environment dramatically, as correctly predicted by [15]. Thus, the breaking
up of conventional boundaries, delayering, streamlining and downscoping, new
coordination needs and capabilities and the emergence of new organizational forms
are all consequences of the convergence of info-com. The following are just some of
the topics addressed in the literature: changes in internal and external business
frontiers [16; 17; 18], the role of networking in sustaining competitive advantage [19],
changes in organizational structures and managerial processes [20], the growing
interdependence of organizational functions [21], computers as coordination
133

technology [22], reengineering and process redesign [23; 24; 25], managing by wire
[26], changes in individual, group and managerial work practices [27] and the
emergence of new organizational forms [28].
Enabled by ICT, human networking and organizational communication have
become key ingredients in the overall improvement of the effectiveness of
organizational processes which, in turn, provides a major contribution to the creation
and accumulation of knowledge in the organization. No organization can afford to be
left behind, and organizational knowledge becomes a competitive pressure driven by
the market [29; 30; 31]. Under the umbrella of strategy and competitive advantage,
one of the issues more widely discussed has been IT strategic alignment [32]. The
implementation of IT strategies brings about the development of the ICT
infrastructure and the ultimate aim of IT strategic alignment is to maintain the ICT
infrastructure permanently in tune with the organization’s strategy. However, placing
the ICT infrastructure in the organization’s strategic agenda is not a simple task and in
the last decade and a half there is no evidence that any form of alignment has been
achieved [33]. Hence, the challenge is to find new forms of IT alignment.
IT strategic alignment is not something that just happens in a given point in time,
but is something which is built up or constituted with the passing of time. Authors
such as [34; 35] or [36] have pointed out the need for the information systems field to
adopt an organizational change orientation. Talking about organizational change
inevitably leads us to a discussion about organizational behaviour. The fact that
organizational behaviour is not normally considered as part of the information systems
problematic has lead [37] to suggest that “the current wisdom of information systems is
based upon a rather poverty-stricken view of what an organization is” (Ibid, p. 60).
Organizational change competencies is also what is needed for organizations to
overcome the challenge of integrating the Information Systems function with all the
other functions, the last factor in our web of causes and consequences. The traditional
information systems functions (Computer Operations, Systems Development,
Architecture Development and Business Information Requirements Identification) are
undergoing majors changes [38]. Such changes are creating a need for new types of
relationships in the organization, in other words, a new context comprising the new
technologies and the accompanying new modus operandi.
The information systems function is no longer restricted to the role of the
information systems or the IT Director and his/her department. Many of the
traditional roles of such departments are being transferred to or shared with top
management, line departments and end-users [39; 40; 21; 41; 42; 43; 44]. On the
other hand, a number authors has identified the culture gap or the disconnect between
information systems and business management departments [45; 46; 47; 48; 49].
The integration of IS and organization as shown by the above list of causes and
consequences could apply for HRISs as well. HRISs evidence the integration in its
purest form. This makes the study of HRIS a complex matter, but also a challenging
one. Before we start to describe how in our view the causes and consequences list
applies for HRISs, we will first become more precise on the definition of HRISs and
research on HRISs up to date.
134

3 Human Resource Information Systems: An Evolving Phenomenon
In earlier studies HRISs have been excluded from the e-HRM area since some authors
were of the opinion that there was a fundamental difference between HRIS and e-HR
in that. Basically, HRISs were directed towards the HR department itself. Users of
these systems were mainly HR staff as these types of systems aimed to improve the
processes within the HR department itself [50]..
In this paper however, we consider the term HRIS as encapsulating the whole area
of IT, internet technology and HRM. The commonly used terms nowadays like e-
HRM, web-based HRM, and IT based HRM are considered as developments within
the area of HRISS. Although we agree that HRISS in the early days concerned mainly
IT-based information systems for the HR department, we do not agree that a line can
be drawn between IT-based information systems for HR and internet-based HR
applications, they are basically similar: IT technologies for HR activities, whether
performed within the HR department or outside the HR department, for example by
line managers and employees. Therefore, in this paper we define HRIS as all IT-based
information systems and applications, either stand-alone or networked, for human
resource management purposes, be it for facilitating HR practices, policies or
strategies.
HRISS in their current appearance emerged from a number of developments in
society and business. Following [51] the first building block for HRISS was the
worldwide distribution of PC’s that facilitated managers and employees with the
hardware to perform HR tasks electronically. However, with the availability of PCs
computer literacy had to increase in order to enable managers and employees to use
the technology. The Internet opened the way to connect PC’s and to communicate in
real-time. In this way many physical hurdles that before formed obstacles for efficient
interaction and smooth business processes were bypassed. On top of that enterprise
resource planning (ERP) systems created the opportunity to link all business
processes. Databases that before were isolated could be integrated and “into a
seamless whole for real-time transaction processing and decision making” [51, p.
367]. The final stage arrived when HR professionals and information technology
specialists joined forces and developed electronic information systems “that moved
HR information and decision making from file drawers to computers” [51, p. 367].
HR processes were reengineered to eliminate steps and to speed up cycle times.
Broadly speaking, HRISs appear in three types: operational HRISs, relational
HRISs, and transformational HRISs. This division is based upon [50]. The first type,
operational HRISs, concern systems that are used for basic HR activities in the
administrative area, such as payroll and personnel data administration (employee’s
personal data, job description, CV, holiday leave etc.). The second type, relational
HRISs concerns more advanced HRM activities, those that involve interaction
between a professional source, a HRIS application and employees and/or
management. Examples of relational HRISs are recruitment and selection systems,
training and development systems and performance management systems. The system
contains the professional instruments, such as a professional questionnaire assessing
an employee’s development level, and employees and management have the online
135

access to use them wherever, whenever. Transformational HRISs, the third type, are
the ones for HR activities with a strategic character like organisational change
processes, strategic re-orientation, strategic competence management. Examples of
HRIS applications of this type are corporate online discussion platforms, weblogs or
applications that guide employees through the objectives, stages and methods of an
organisational change process, or applications for assessment of professional skills
and offering online advice for skill development aligned with strategic HR objectives.
So far, large companies have tried to implement HRISs of all the three types
whereas smaller and mid-size companies implemented mostly the operational and
relational HRISs.
3.1 HRIS Research Up To Date
Research on HRISs started to take off in the second half of the 1980’s, but it
developed slowly and it for sure did not maturate. Research articles from those ‘early
days’ are from [1]; [52]; [53]; [54]; [55]. The research topic received renewed
attention with the growing importance of Internet technology. Since the second half of
the 1990’s organizations started to apply this technology for Human Resource
Management purposes. ‘Early birds’ on the role of Internet-based applications for
HRM in particular were [56] and [57]. However, these papers mainly aimed at
outlining the importance of the issue, and limitedly empirical. Overall, [58] found 18
appropriate studies that can be labelled as empirical HRIS (he prefers to use the term
e-HRM) studies, nine from the pre-Internet era, nine from the Internet-era. Table 1
lists the studies found by [58] and summarizes their results.
Only a few new empirical articles have appeared since Strohmeier’s last study
mentioned [50] was published. [59] studied the impact of e-HR on professional
competence in HRM and found through interviews with HR professionals from 19
firms that “[HRIS] is a driving force in the transformation of the HR function” (p.
306). Their data suggest that this transformation is reshaping the competencies that
define HR professionals’ success (p. 306). [60] concludes that different types of
middle managers, she distinguishes four, respond differently to HRISs. [61] and [62]
conclude that especially the content and the structure of a web-based HRIS
application has a positive influence on perceived HRM effectiveness.
Overall, we are of the opinion that HRIS research is in its infancy, though trying to
mature if we look at conference initiatives and upcoming special journal issues and
books on HRIS/e-HR. Existing research foci still need to be broadened and to be
deepened in order to let HRIS research maturate. This conclusion becomes even more
evident if we look at the theoretical development of the HRIS research area. [63]
note, together with [64 were the first to provide a theoretical framework for HRIS
adoption. [58] ignores even Shrivastava & Shaw’s framework and only recognizes
two studies that employ frameworks in order to systematise examined consequences:
[65], and [50].
136

Table 1. List of appropriate HRIS studies identified by [58] and their outcomes.
Consequence dimension
Study N
approach
costs
headcount efficiency effectiveness
Bueschel 1969 89 survey/ interview O - - -
Morrison 1969 405 survey O O - O
Tomeski & Lazarus 1974 87 survey

- - -
Ornati et al. 1982 261 survey - O - -
Moore & Clavadetscher
1985
325 survey O - O -
Verdin & Pagano 1987 81 survey - - O O
Broderick & Boudreau
1991
10 case study - -

-
Forrer & Leibowiz 1991 47 survey/ interview [O] -

-
pre-e-HRM-era
Kinnie & Arthurs 1993 1,000 survey - O - -
Baker et al. 1998 231 survey - - - O
Teo et al. 2001 110 survey O [O] [O] -
West & Berman 2001 222/14 survey/ interview - -
 
-
Chapman & Webster 2003 125 survey [O] - [O] -
Gardner et al. 2003 357 survey - - -

McManus & Ferguson 2003 19,578 survey - - -

Buckley et al. 2004 1 case study

-
 
Hawking et al. 2004 1 case study -
  
e-HRM-era
Ruël et al. 2004 5 case study [O]

- -
 = increase  = decrease O = no change [ ] = implicit result - = not examined
A very recent attempt to theorize and model HRIS drivers, intervening factors, and
consequences comes from [66]. However, yet next to a limited empirical basis we
observe that the HRIS field is also under-theorized, an opinion shared by [67] and
[63].
In the next section will use the web of causes and consequences introduced in
section two, relate them to HRISs and suggest topics and questions for theoretical and
empirical research.
137

4 HRIS as an Integration of Organization and Information
Systems: Emerging Research Questions
The phenomena introduced in sections one and two allows us to shine a light on
HRISs in such a way that a specific type and area of research questions comes to the
surface. With the help of existing case-based examples of HRIS implementations we
will illustrate and emphasize specific relevant topic for future HRIS research.
4.1 The Automation of Tasks and Processes and HRIS
The automation of tasks and processes is an issue with wide ranging implications for
HRIS. On one hand, the automation of tasks and processes causes a reduction in the
use of the resources (financial, material and human) the firm needs to accomplish its
tasks. On the other hand, it produces data (textualized information) as a bi-product.
Both types of implications are relevant for HRIS research. As regards reduction of
resources, [56] and [50] have addressed the issue of reduction of HR costs. These
come mainly comes from reducing HR head counts, especially on the administrative
side. For example, entering and managing HR related data as far as it is done
manually by administrative HR employees can be relegated to HR information
systems. By introducing front-end web applications, part of the HR data management
can be transferred to employees and line managers. They can enter and update their
personal data themselves. Once manually performed HR tasks and processes are
being automated, resulting in job losses and job content changes for HR employees
with administrative roles.
[50] describe how ABNAMRO, a large Netherlands-based bank, implemented an
operational HRIS application that requested employees and managers to execute tasks
formely done by HR through online applications. The bank experienced how difficult
it was to convince managers and employees of the relevance of the new approach.
[68] discuss the design of competence management systems (CMS) at Guide, a
Swedish consulting firm and Volvo IT, Volvo´s gobal expertise center. This paper
demonstrates not only the design principles of CMS but it highlights with clarity the
role of automation in the processes of core competence formation and deployment in
high performing organizations.
Issues for HRIS research to focus on are how employees and line managers
respond to this transfer of HR related activities or on how to the organization copes
with the new division of HR-related tasks between the employees themselves, the line
managers, the IS department and the left over HR administrative staff. Further
interesting questions are: what kind of tasks are left over after introducing new HRIS
applications or how do the HR administrative staff, the line managers and the
employees respond to their new tasks and expected new roles.
4.2 The Costs of IT: Expansion and Control
HRIS implementation and further expansion require impressive financial investments.
State-of-the-art technology is expensive and the implementation process requests
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hours of labour as project managers and project team members. On top of this
employees and line managers have to learn to work with newly introduced HR
applications. [50] found that at Ford the implementation of the HRIS was very much
considered as a cost and not as something beneficial. Only due to top management
support and a budget surplus the implementation could take place.
Implementing new HRISs will contribute to a company’s overall IT costs. The
question is whether this should be considered as a burden or as an investment. As HR
in general is not a primary process, it is sometimes difficult to ‘sell’ the investment on
new HRIS applications to the top management. Therefore it is very likely that HRIS
implementation takes places especially during periods of expansion, but is hard to
push forward in a control period.
HRIS research needs to provide answers to questions like: to what extent HRIS
implementations are a consequence of a period of expansion? What happens to HRIS
implementation in periods of control? Who are the main sponsors of HRIS
investments and how do different types of sponsors affect HRIS implementation?
How to obtain more clarity on issues such as increased productivity or the return on
investment of HRISs? In other words, what is the relationship between the level of
investment in HRIS, implementation success and the growth of organizational
knowledge and skills? [I like it, HR]
4.3 New Forms of Managerial Control
HRISs can increase levels of managerial control for example through improved
performance measurement and evaluation applications for line managers. The
question is whether line managers are interested in higher levels of control and
whether employees will accept higher levels of managerial control.
Regarding the circular impact of HRIS on and from the accumulated textualized
information in the organization, there is a wide variety of decision support systems
developed to combine and extract information in such a way that traditional
management control has been totally redefined. Such systems have a direct impact on
the way that the performance of employees can be monitored and improved by
performing very fine cross-referencing of multiple variables and identifying
relationships which were not possible to establish before. HRIS which perform
control functions are also very relevant in the growth of the collective self-awareness
of the organization as suggested by [69].
Questions for further research are: How do managers use the new possibilities for
managerial control? How to match organizational culture with specific control habits
and the control mechanisms and tool available? How do subordinates respond to
managerial control via HRIS tools? What kind of coping strategies do subordinates
employ with HRIS based managerial control? Are organizations more self-aware with
the new HRIS tools?
4.4 Compression of Competitive Time
HRIS are part of the trend, time saving, responding to changes in the environment and
therefore HRISs are needed. As [50] describe, increased global competition forced
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Dow Chemicals to leave a so-called life-time employment model and switch to a life-
time employability model; the company now guarantees opportunities to develop
skills and qualifications, but not a job for life. Only through an HRIS the company
could facilitate such an approach globally. Competition triggered Dow Chemicals to
implement an HRIS.
Research questions emerging from this issue are to what extent do HRISs
contribute to organizational flexibility? How can HRISs facilitate a flexible business
strategy? How can HRISs be used to create a competitive advantage? The issue of
competence-based management [70] and how it is being impacted by HRIS is surely a
new topic for many research projects in this area.
4.5 Outsourcing
ICT has given a boost to outsourcing as digital connections can facilitate deliver
services from a distance. Many companies have outsourced part of their HR services
to third parties, and through ICT-based connections HR services are being delivered.
IBM introduced their HRIS and along with it outsourced their HR service desk to a
third party located in a low wages country in Eastern Europe. In practice it meant that
if a line manager had a question on an HR issue and needed advice from HR, she or
he could call or e-mail the outsourced HR shared service centre. HRISs have triggered
possibilities of outsourcing HR services and challenge the role and position of internal
HR staff.
The issues faced by the management of outsourcing are manifold, but one of the
most complicated problem is the question of the loss of internal IS/IT-related
knowledge in the company. Being an area so closely interwoven into the company’s
processes, routines and even into personal relationship that it is difficult to conceive a
situation of total separation between IS/IT and the rest of the organization, in a move
towards total outsourcing of IS/IT. HRIS research therefore needs to put more efforts
in investigating the relationship between HRIS use and HR outsourcing. What are the
consequences for HR effectiveness of outsourcing? To what extent do managers and
employees trust outsourced HR services? How to balance internal, outsourced HR
services and the employment of HRIS applications?
4.6 Convergence of Info-com
In organizations the convergence of info-com is materialized in their IS/IT
infrastructure. IS/IT infrastructures are defined as a bundle of data/information
processing and communication capabilities shared by the large majority of the
company’s organizational units. Such capacities include : (a) the human resources,
with necessary technical and management knowledge and skills as well as the
framework of rules, procedures and methodologies which guide their activity; (b) the
company’s data communications networks, its computer equipment, including
mainframes, microprocessor-based servers and PCs; (c) the applicational
infrastructure, that is, the group of software applications which address the business
needs of the company; (d) the data contained in the software applications and its
management which can also be considered as part of information infrastructure.
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HRISs are a result of the growth of IS/IT infrastructures and of the increasing
convergence of info-com. As this convergence continues, new innovative digital
HRIS solutions are being developed and organisations are trying to integrate them in
their day-to-day HR practices.
The growth of IS/IT infrastructures and of the increasing convergence of info-com
raises question that HRIS research should pick up, such as: what are the pros and the
cons of ongoing convergence for HR professionals, for front line managers, and for
employees? What organisational needs trigger further convergence of information and
communication technologies for HR purposes? What organisational barriers limit
further convergence? How does the use of HRISS by managers and employees
influence new directions for further convergence of information and communication
technologies for HR purposes?
4.7 Organizational Knowledge as a Competitive Pressure
Human resource management in modern organisations means for a large part thinking
in terms of knowledge management, as the main competitive asset for these
organisations is knowledge. Knowledge means not only specific professional
knowledge of employees needed for carrying out their jobs, but knowledge about
business processes, about styles of interaction and collaboration between employees,
and about knowledge sharing and development as well. With knowledge and
knowledge development organisations compete with each other. Human Resource
policies and practices need to fit and support organizational knowledge maintenance
and development, and HRISs for their part need to be designed and implemented in
such a way that their functionalities facilitate these processes.
HRIS research should be geared to providing answers to questions such as: in what
way can HRISs support organisational knowledge development, sharing and
maintenance effectively? What are the mechanisms through which HRISs facilitate
organisational knowledge development? What are the mechanisms that inhibit HRIS-
supported organisational knowledge development? How do employees integrate
HRIS-supported organisational knowledge development in their day-to-day routines?
4.8 New Forms of Alignment
In contemporary organisations, HR strategy and practices need to be aligned with the
overall business strategy. This should go even that as far as considering the overall
business strategy as the HR strategy, as human assets are a companies most important
assets in nowadays competitive business environment. HRISS are being used in
forerunner companies to fully facilitate such an alignment. Once again Dow
Chemicals can be used as an example. This company was fully aware of how
important a right HR strategy was as part of the overall business strategy; employees’
competences were critical for the company’s success. Its HRIS reflected and tried to
facilitate this competence based strategy in the way as described above.
[71] puts forward a cultural and behavioural framework for researching the
alignment between IS/IT and organizational strategy. Many of the issues raised have a
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direct link to HR strategy, meaning that the alignment between IS/IT strategy,
business strategy and HR strategy is completely interwoven. It is suggested therefore
that HRIS research should focus on questions such as: How can HRISs help to
establish HR strategy-Business strategy alignment? To what extent do companies
differ when it comes to creating HRIS-supported strategic alignment? What roles
should HR professionals, employees, and managers fulfil in an HRIS-supported HR
strategy-Business strategy aligned company? How might HR strategy be used to
promote alignment between all forms of IS/IT applications (i.e. the IS/IT
infrastructure) and the organization’s processes, structures and strategies?
4.9 Organizational Change Orientation
Today, there is no other management than change management. It is an intellectual
managerial stance, whose main and permanent concern is the building of bridges
between strategic, long term change and operational, generally short term change. Is
also a permanent concern regarding the convergence of the knowing what and the
knowing how in the organization. In adopting a change management posture it is
recognized, on one hand, that it is important to plan and to mantain a strategic
perspective in long term but, on the other hand, that an undue emphasis on the
knowing what does not solve the problem. It is equally recognized that the
organization’s emergent properties are as important as the managerial decisions that
support the planned side of change which constitutes the knowing how.
HRISS can support such an organizational change orientation through providing
employees and management with digital tools that will influence their behaviours and
in this way affect the wider organisation. HRIS research should aim at answering
questions such as: what are the conditions for successful HRIS-supported
organisational change? How to support different types of organisational change with
HRISS? How to overcome resistance against HRIS-supported organisational change?
4.10 Integrating the Information Systems Function With all Other Functions
Information systems and technologies are still regarded as rather marginal relatively
to the rest of the organization. IS/IT are still structured in the traditional fashion, as
one more function or vertical department in the organization. Staff of such a
department are subject to inword looking performance evaluation disconnected from
the horizontal implications of the IS/IT function (e.g HRISs). IS/IT Directors are
more worried about defending their turf then looking at the larger business horizons.
On the other hand, business managers are also inword looking as regards their own
objectives and do not show much awareness regarding the numberless opportunities
and constraints, that can be found in the management of information systems and
technologies.
HRISs are the embodiment of the integration of IT and HR; information and
communication technologies are designed and deployed in such a way that they
support HR purposes and practices. For that end the IT function needs to be integrated
with the HR function, if not with all the others as well, like sales, manufacturing,
finance, and marketing. For example, companies like IBM, Ford, Dutch Telecom
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KPN, Royal Dutch Airlines etc, they all have their IT function within the HR function
in order to serve the wider organization as good as possible when it comes to HRISS.
In [72] a model for the integrated management of IS/IT is put forward. A new
framework builds on the notions of “distributed organizing”, “distributed knowledge
systems” or “networking knowledge” and is based on the formation of IS/IT-related
competencies within communities of knowing (communities of practice and of
knowledge) formed by the various stakeholders intervening in the process of IS/IT
corporate governance. Such a framework will enable HRIS research to focus on
questions such as: How to integrate the IT function with HR successfully? What are
HR roles that IT professionals should understand? What are IT roles that HR
professionals should understand? How can IT professionals and HR professionals
communicate effectively in order to design new HRIS functionalities?
5 Conclusions
This paper aimed at setting an agenda for HRIS research from an integrative
perspective. This perspective assumes that organization and information systems
cannot be separated, they are intertwined, as an opposite to perspectives that assume
that information system can be isolated from their organisational context. By first
elaborating on this integrated perspective in terms of a web of causes and
consequences, a list of phenomena was presented. After that research on HRISS up to
date was summarized, leading to the observation that HRIS research needs to be
broadened and deepened. In section three, we combined the list of phenomena with
how HRISS are being implemented and used in mainly large global companies. Per
phenomenon we raised a number of critical questions for HRIS research to focus at
and to provide answers for.
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