An Exploration of The Best Practices And Challenges of HR Practitioners in the HRIS Implementation of Two Selected Organizations In The Philippines

Table of Contents

Title Page

Abstract

Approval Sheet

Certificate of Originality

Acknowledgement iv

Chapter One – Introduction
Statement of the Problem
Background of the Study

Significance of the Study

Objectives of the Study

Theoretical Framework

Conceptual Framework

Scope and Limitation of the Study

Definition of Terms

Chapter Two - Review of Related Literature
Related Studies

Chapter Three – Research Methodology
Research Design
Data Collection Methods and Tools
Data Gathering Procedure

Research Process

Chapter Four – Results 38

Chapter Five – Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

Discussion

Summary

Conclusions

Recommendations for Future Research

References

Appendices

ABSTRACT

This study explored the challenges and benefits of an HRIS software when used in the general aspects of the Human Resources Department of two organizations. Human Resource Management has been a big factor in the determination of the course of companies in the Philippines. It involves the employment of the right people to do the right job to properly initiate the start of the success of an organization, following through to the maintenance of the status of employees as well as the continuous surveillance of their work. As time goes by, the work of the Human Resource Department grows more complex and is continuously gaining tremendous workload. Thus, the difficulty of maintaining an organized load of work in the HR Department and the complication of finishing their work arises. The basic concept of this study is for the other companies to develop the perspective that the implementation of such system would fully help them in the complex work of the HR Department. To achieve this objective, data was taken from employees of the two organizations of different fields if the Automation of the Human Resource System of their company helped them in their heavy workload. The study explored, compared, and evaluated the experiences of employees from two companies in the implementation of HRIS using qualitative approach, comparative research design, and in-depth interviewing method.

Keywords:

Human Resource Management, Automation, Recruitment, Organizing, Difficulty, HR Department

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is defined as integrated systems used to gather, store, and analyze information regarding an organization’s human resources. (Hendrickson, 2003) This system allows HR activities and processes to occur electronically. However, this system is not restricted to the HR department only. Depending on the nature of the business, it can also be utilized and used by other employees of the company and the company’s consumers as well.

The HR activities, and those of other employees as well, have come a long way from manual working with paper works and multiple systems to automated and centralized storage and system. The advantages of this HRIS system are that information is centralized, frequent errors are lessened or eliminated, lengthy processes are shortened, time spent is lessened for redundant tasks, and time consuming and complicated employee program analysis is eliminated.

HRIS is now widely implemented in almost all countries, and because of this, extensive researches are done worldwide to maximize knowledge in HRIS implementation and enhance the benefits received through it. However, businesses in each country differ in HR activities because of culture, legal provisions, economy, any many more factors, which is why this researches in other countries apply best on the specific needs of employees for the country where the research was conducted.

In the Philippines, HRIS implementation is lagging behind in advancements and improvements. Up to this date, businesses still struggle to find the right HRIS to buy or to make an HRIS that covers their specific needs. Thus, extensive research on the HRIS implementation in our country is badly needed in order keep up with the advancements and improvements in other countries.

In line with the facts presented, the researchers would like to study HRIS implementation in the Philippines and compare and evaluate the benefits and challenges of two different companies in the Philippines in using their HRIS. Further, the study also aims to provide the reader/user a choice for a suitable HRIS to apply in their company.

Background of the Study

Human Resource Management (HRM) issues have been major concern for

Managers at all levels, because they all meet their goals through the efforts of others, which require the effective and efficient management of people (Dessler et al., 1999). The various and extensive array of HR activities such as: Recruitment, Training and Development, Employee Engagement, Administration, Biometrics, and Legal Responsibilities, is done through tedious and time-consuming manual hard work and large amount of cluttered data if without the use of an HRIS that eases these HR activities and centralizes the data storage. The ideal HRIS has all the features needed for the nature of work of the company, which satisfies its users to do their jobs efficiently and effectively. Thus, companies should put an effort in choosing the right HRIS for their employees. Problems with the implementation of HRIS arise when the company chooses the wrong HRIS that lacks certain features that is needed by their users. For this reason, it is necessary to make further research on the best practices and challenges of HR practitioners in the HRIS implementation for companies to have a basis on what features should they need in looking for an HRIS.

In response to this, our study proposes to determine the best practices and challenges in HRIS implementation. It will focus on actual experiences of HRIS users in two different companies in order to provide a general view on HRIS implementation in the Philippines.

Objectives of the Study

This study will provide for a head start in reaching the highest potential of HRIS in providing for efficiency and effectiveness to HR practitioners by exploring their best practices and challenges in the HRIS implementation.

This study will determine the uses of HRIS in two different companies, the best practices, and the challenges of HR practitioners in HRIS implementation.

Statement of the Problem

In our present situation, the use of HRIS is still developing, and hasn’t yet reached its highest potential in providing needs for efficiency and effectiveness. For this reason, further research must be done for the development of HRIS to increase the efficiency and effectiveness it provides to HR practitioners by increasing the satisfaction of the needs of HR practitioners. This can first be achieved by evaluating the experiences of HR practitioners in the use of HRIS and determining the challenges and successes experienced by their HR professionals in using their HRIS. By knowing their response to the question, “What challenges confront HR practitioners in the implementation of HRIS?” and “How does HRIS improve the work experience of HR practitioners?”

For this purpose, this qualitative study will explore the best practices and challenges of HR practitioners in HRIS implementation of two different companies.

Significance of the Study

The study of the exploration of the best practices and challenges of HR practitioners in the HRIS implementation of two companies will benefit the following:

1. Companies – in realizing the best practices and challenges that the HRIS users are encountering. The findings of this study could be a basis for new companies, in determining the aspects of the HRIS that they should consider while choosing the right automated system for their company.
2. HR Department - would benefit using this study because this study could be a basis for the company in choosing the right HRIS used by the HR department, and the right HRIS would eliminate their tedious manual work, and satisfy their needs effectively and efficiently.
3. HRIS Developers - in determining the areas of their system that can be improved or updated to further satisfy the needs and preferences of their customers. This study would provide the preferences that the HR department and their needs with regards to the HRIS. This study could be a basis for HRIS developers in improving their system and increase the highest efficiency and effectiveness that their system can provide for their consumers.

Theoretical Framework

Theory of Performance by Henri Fayol

There are 14 guiding principles presented by Henri Fayol. The first principle is ‘Division of work’, this principle implies that the overall action of management should be divided into a compact job and employees should be allocated certain jobs viewing their interest and skills. This principle helps in specialization and helps to make the workers more effective and efficient. Division of work is important in technical level as well as managerial level in an organization for smooth operation.

The second principle is ‘Authority and Responsibility’, authority is defined as the right to give the command and make decisions, while, responsibility is the obligation of an employee to perform a certain designated task and be accountable to the supervisor. This principle states that there should be a balance between authority and responsibility. An employee must be given the amount of authority required to perform the given responsibility. Authority without responsibility will lead to waste of position and lack of utilization of power and responsibility without power will lead to poor utilization of human and another resource.

The third principle is ‘Discipline’, this principle states that an employee should be obedient and respectful to the authority and the established rules and regulation of the organization. Clarity of Rules, Reward-Punishment system, good supervision etc. are some ways to maintain discipline. But it depends on the need and policies of the organization on how to maintain discipline.

The fourth principle is ‘Unity of Command’, this principle states that an employee must get orders from only one immediate supervisor. And the employee should be accountable to the immediate supervisor only. There should not be other supervisors to guide the employee. This will help to clear the confusion and will make the employee loyal to the activity.

The fifth principle is ‘Unity of Direction’, according to this principle, there should be only one manager under the guidance and plan of which the groups having same goals and objectives should move forward. This principle suggests that one department, section, the division should only get instruction from one head. This helps in coordinating the group activity to attain a single goal.

The sixth principle is ‘Subordination of individual interest to general interest’; this principle explains that there are 2 types of interests. One is interest of the individuals and the other is organizational interest. So this principle suggests that there must be harmony between these two interests. Organizational interest must be given more priority as doing well for the organization will bring rewards for the individuals.

The seventh principle is ‘Remuneration of Personnel’, this principle propose that there must be monetary as well as non-monetary remuneration to the employees based on their performance level. Fayol focuses more on non-monetary remuneration in which he believes will create bonding between the employee and the organization. So the remuneration must be fair, reasonable and satisfactory.

The eighth principle is the principle of ‘Centralization’; this principle implies that the top most level of authority should be centralized to the top level management. There should be delegation of power to the subordinate but the power to make the important decisions in the organization should remain with the top level management.

The ninth principle is the principle of ‘Scalar Chain’, this principle states that there should be a chain of superiors ranging from the top level of management to the lower level management based on the hierarchy level. The head of an organization is in the top of the chain. The communication flows from the top to the bottom through this chain of authority of superiors. However, there is no hard and fast rule regarding the process of communication through scalar chain.

The tenth principle is the principle of ‘Order’, this principle states that every material and manpower should be given a proper place in the organization. The right man for the right job is essential in the smooth running of an organization. So Management must identify tasks and put them in proper order with the limited human and other resources.

The eleventh principle is the principle of ‘Equity’; this principle implies that all the members of the organization should be treated equally. There should be no biases and there should be an environment of kindness and justice.

The twelveth principle is the principle of ‘Stability of tenure’; this principle states that any employee can work to the fullest if they have secured job. So an employee must be provided with job security which will help them to be efficient. This will also benefit the organization as it lowers the labor turnover and reduces cost of recruiting and training new employees.

The thirteenth principle is the principle of ‘Initiative’; this principle defines ‘Initiative’ as the level of freedom that an organization should provide to the employee to carry out the plans without forcing them or ordering them. This is related to creation of interest and willingness in the employees by motivating and satisfying the employees.

And lastly, the fourteenth principle is the principle of ‘Esprit de Corps’; this principle implies that “union is strength” and team spirit. So the organization must integrate all its actions towards a single goal and objective. If the action is not unified then they cannot achieve their desired objectives. So there must be unified team contributc is always greater than the aggregate of individual performances.

Conceptual Framework

The researchers aim to determine which has a better HRIS program in terms of recruitment between Company A and Company B’s current HRIS program. Company A’s HRIS program will be called HRIS1 and Company B’s HRIS program will be called HRIS2.

The researchers will determine if the implementation of a Human Resource Information System will be beneficial to the two organizations by conducting an interview on both companies’ HR department and other employees involved in the use of the HRIS for the general function of Human Resources. To come up with the desirable conclusion, the researchers will compare and evaluate the two programs through the factors of similarities, differences, successes, and challenges faced by the employees during the use of the HRIS. Further, the study also aims to provide the reader/user a choice for a suitable HRIS Recruitment System to apply to their company.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

The scope of the study involves at least 2 employees from Company A and Company B which is employed with the nature of work in the Human Resources Department and Information Technology Department.

The study is limited to extracting information from the employees that are within the boundaries of using the software that they use in the company for the purposes of Human Resources. The information to be used in this study will cover the time from when the two companies used the software to ease their work until the present. It should also be borne in mind that the study has a number of limitations:

- The study is focused more on the experiences of the HR department than the other users of the HRIS.
- Due to both of the companies’ policies, the researchers cannot disclose the name of the organization and the names of the interviewees.

Definition of Terms

Automation - automatically controlled operation of an apparatus, process, or system by mechanical or electronic devices that take the place of human labor (Scott A. Wolla, 2018)

Human Resource Department (HR) - is the company department charged with finding, screening, recruiting and training job applicants, as well as administering benefits. (Kenton, 2018)

Human Resource Information System (HRIS) - is a software or online solution that is used for data entry, data tracking and the data information requirements of an organization's human resources (HR) management, payroll and bookkeeping operations. (Papia Nath, 2015)

Recruitment - the overall process of attracting, shortlisting, selecting and appointing suitable candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization (Panchsheel Maske, 2018)

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

The review of related literature and studies are evaluated and analyzed by the researchers, keeping in mind the objectives, methodology, and findings of the study. These studies are presented in four sections: How HRIS Works, The Efficiency of HRIS, The Effectiveness of HRIS, and The Importance of HRIS in the HR department.

Related Literatures and Studies

How HRIS Works

HRIS can be briefly defined as integrated systems used to gather, store and analyze information regarding an organization’s human resources. It merges HRM as a discipline and in particular it’s basic HR activities and processes with the information technology field. It can be used to maintain details such as employee profiles, absence reports, salary administration and various kinds of reports. It is one of the benchmark HR practices in the corporate world. (Jahan, 2014)

The basic level of HRIS is used to help to manage employment relationships within the organization and employees. The organization can use HRIS for human resource planning. New recruitments can be posted via HRIS as well as applications can be scanned and stored. HRIS also stores information about the employees’ participated trainings and learning sessions. Performance appraisal, compensation, benefits, competences and development plans are easily maintained in HRIS. Employees can search for a new career within the organization and be aware of the future trainings. HRIS allows managers to follow employees´ job performance and planned versus used hours for a certain assignment. HRIS offers various reports available. HR or managers are able to run reports to find skilled employees for certain jobs. Via reports it is easy to present information about absences, holidays, language skills, operatives and many more. HRIS contains various standard reports but it also allows generating other reports. (DeNisi & Griffin 2001, pp. 532-533).

HRIS has been on Management of all employee information, it is used on reporting and analysis of employee information, also in company-related documents such as employee handbooks, emergency evacuation procedures, and safety guidelines, it is also used in benefits administration including enrollment, status changes, and personal information updating, complete integration with payroll and other company financial software and accounting systems and, applicant and resume management. (Atika, 2011)

Hagood and Friedman (2002) observed that HRIS implementation success has emerged as a significant challenge for organizations attempting to justify planned investments or recover expenses associated with investments already incurred. In general, these systems use information or processing capabilities in one organization to improve the performance of another or to improve relationships among organizations.

Each organization has unique character owing to its size, sector to which it belongs, type of workforce engaged, type of top management, existing hierarchical structure, etc. Based upon its unique character, organizations formulate different HR policies to administer and engage its employees. An HRIS system enables an organization to integrate all the HR processes in order to enhance efficiency and maintain a competitive position. (Raheja & Khatri, 2013)

However, without successful implementation of the system, the projected benefits of improved productivity and competitive advantage would not be forthcoming (Fawaz, Salti, Eldabi, 2008).

The selection of the system often starts on behalf of the manager who has learnt about the capabilities of a new application via advertisement, press or promotion by consulting organizations. It is important to follow the four phases of a system selection to really investigate the company's need as well as competing products. The main idea is to have the best solution for the company's current needs. (Piccoli 2008, p. 338).

HRIS Efficiency

According to, Alwehabie (2017), there is a statistically significant positive relationship between planning efficiency of Human resources and every dimension of institutional performance, between efficiency of selection strategies, recruitment and each dimension of Institution's performance. The use of an HRIS offers incremental leaps in the efficiency and the response time of many human resource jobs that are traditionally labour intensive. The objective of the study is to identify the efficiency and effectiveness of human resource management strategies, in Al Rajhi bank at Al Qassim, in relation to its institutional performance. This study proved that efficiency in the HR department is beneficial to the company as a whole; therefore there is a need to further increase the efficiency of the HR department if the company wants to increase the overall efficiency of their business. This need can be fulfilled by the implementation of the HRIS, which is proven in a research done by Benfatto (2010), who claimed that, efficiencies created by technology can allow the Human Resources Department to focus on strategic issues: for most companies this includes knowledge management. Companies can now use technology to store best practices.

In a research done by Weeks (2013), which aimed to know the uses of HRIS in the company, researchers found that HRIS enables decision makers and planners of an organization to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and timeliness of the information at their disposal. Before the invention and the rise of HRIS usage, HR personnel used to be overburdened with the administrative task of keeping records on staff using manual spread sheets which were difficult and time consuming to capture and maintain. Hence, HR information systems were implemented to reduce the total time that employees spend on routine administrative functions. This enables HR staff to focus on more strategic tasks and become a strategic provider or professional consultant to the rest of the organization and business (Becker, Huselid & Ulrich, 2001; Lawler & Mohrman, 2003; Lengnick-Hall & Moritz, 2003; Lawler, Levenson & Boudreau, 2004; Sheehan, Holland & De Cieri, 2006; Shiri, 2012). As the company realized the efficiency that comes with HRIS implementation, further researches was done in the contribution of HRIS in the efficiency of the HR department. Guinn (1998) claimed that, HRIS helps eliminate the duplication of efforts and to better organize the efforts of the HR staff. This decrease in effort needed was supported by Beadles II, Lowery, and Johns (2005), who claimed that the application of HRIS in the organization had reduced time spent on administrative processes, (Kovach and Cathcart, 1999; Targowski and Deshpande, 2001) such as, processing paperwork and correcting errors. This claim is further supported by a research of Atika (2011), who found that HRIS lets an employee's information be easily tracked so that it can be assessed on a more scientific level whether an employee is performing to their full potential or not, and if there are any improvements that can be made to make an employee feel more secure, in employee benefits, the human resource department is able to keep better track of which benefits are being availed by which employee and how each employee is profiting from the benefits provided, in HR management because it curtails time and cost consuming activities leading to a more efficient HR department. This system reduces the long HR paper trail that is often found in most HR divisions of companies and leads to more productive and conducive department on the whole. The efficiency of HR department is also increased as a result into increased data accuracy, reduced human resource staff, and improving the capabilities of both managers and employees to make quick decisions according to Nath and Naidu (2015). Another factor that prompted HRIS usage and implementation is the speed with which the system helps in decision making regarding the employees’ recruitment, training needs, assessment of skills, and strategic planning and welfare needs of the employees. (Aletaibi, 2016)

This is why further researches was done in the Kumar and Parumasur (2013), which shed light to the specific contributions of HRIS implementation to the efficiency of the company. Their study aimed to examine the perceived impact of managerial satisfaction with the HRIS on time management, cost management, HR functions and overall organizational effectiveness. They found that, the HRIS significantly enhances overall organizational efficiency and its sub-dimensions (HR functions, time management, cost management and managerial satisfaction with the system) in an interrelated and holistic manner, though in varying degrees. The impact of the HRIS on all dimensions determining organizational efficiency significantly correlates with each other. This signifies that an improved impact of HRIS of any of the dimensions determining organizational efficiency may have a snowballing effect on all other dimensions, thereby spiralling a positive impact on organizational efficiency. (Kumar and Parumasur, 2013) This study is supported by Rampton et al., (1999), they claimed that essentially, HRIS is thought to contribute to overall business performance by fulfilling or at least supporting the tasks of data storage and retrieval, of serving as primary administrative support tools, of reporting and statistics as well as of program monitoring (Rampton et al., 1999). The multiple impacts of HRIS on organizational efficiency and performance highlight the need to provide implementation of an effective HRIS. In order to ensure HRIS’ positive impact on HR functions, the system has to be harmonized with all basic HR functions such as performance management and reward selection. (Kayguzus, Akgemci, and Yilmaz, 2016) It may be inferred through this studies that the efficiency of the HRIS in the HR department contributes to overall performance of the company. The researches, despite the differences in the nature of business of their respondents, support each other. As a matter of fact, Dery, Grant, and Wiblen (2006), claimed that the implementation of HRIS in so far as these previous researches from different companies has been successful and had enhanced the efficiency of HR practitioners. These researches support each other despite the difference in the nature of the business in which it was conducted. Although new or upgraded HRIS systems are being used to automate and devolve routine administrative and compliance functions traditionally performed by the HR function, the potential for this technology to be used in ways that contribute to the strategic direction of the organisation is not being realised.

The focus of these studies is with regards to the efficiency of HRIS in the HR department which contributes to the efficiency of the company as a whole. Based on these, it is proven that the efficiency of the HR department is important to the company. It may also be concluded that the efficiency of the HR department is based on the satisfaction of needs that they get from the HRIS they are using.

HRIS Effectiveness

According to Makkar and Sanjeev (2014), HRIS is effective and efficient its implementation of software package has helped increase the organizations productivity. I.E. system quality, information quality, and system use are positively related with HRIS effectiveness. (Savalam and Dadhabai, 2018) Further, according to Sulochana, KAB, and Sajeewanie (2015), HRIS positively impacts HRM effectiveness. HRM modules like e-HRS, HRIS, etc., increases the efficiency and effectiveness of HR activities, improves HR service delivery and transforms the role of the HR function into one that is more strategic. It is an effective resource in information retrieval. These studies proved that HRIS is beneficial not only to the productivity and effectiveness of the HR department but also, to the productivity and effectiveness of the company. According to Shiri (2012), managers realized that there is a need to change to an HRIS system as they are now able to keep more accurate records as well as better prepare for future growth. The system is able to produce more effective and faster outcome than that can be done on papers. Moreover, multiple researchers found various benefits gained from HRIS implementation that contributed to the effectiveness of the HR department and the company. According to Singh (2014), It identifies unfilled positions accurately, evaluates the recruiting process effectively, leverages employees’ talents at the right time and place, forecasts supply of human resources, estimates future human resources requirements of the organization and helps in employee placement, and manages external information outside of the organization. Further, according to Sulochana, KAB, and Sajeewanie (2015), HRIS improves accuracy, the provision of timely and quick access to information, and the saving of costs. Its adoption is one of the factors that influences the effectiveness of company knowledge base, information sensitivity, company information ethos, the state of the market, the nature of the industry, changes in legislation/government regulations, changes in the nature of competition and the CEO's information ethos, (Atika, 2011) correlated with impacts such as simplifying work processes in the HR department, improving effectiveness of the HR department, lowering the administrative headcount in the HR department and quicker hiring. These benefits led to the satisfaction of the needs of the HR department which is supported by Kazmi and Naaranoja (2014), who claimed that, users are satisfied on the system transformation on the aspect outility of the office knowledge base at the time of need. Additionally, Rao (2015) claimed that, employees are satisfied in their HRIS with regards to meeting with their needs, in playing a vital role in employee development, and in obtaining and providing opportunity for practical decision making. But the organization and the HR department still needs to formulate appropriate plans, policies, programmes and strategies to make the HRIS function more strategic and improve the quality of services provided by the HR department. The organization also needs to align and involve the HR function in the process of strategy formulation and implementation. This satisfaction contributes to the value of HRIS. As a matter of fact, according to Benfatto (2010), in 2009, Companies see a proven value in HRIS, and despite some caution about spending, they are willing to make investments needed to sustain organizational effectiveness, workforce planning and long-term growth.

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