TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGING PEOPLE: Keeping the “Human” in Human Resources

Professor: JO B. BITONIO

SHERYLE A. DOMINGO DM 216 - Information Technology Management

Master in Development

THE GREGORY FRAMEWORK

APPROACH

This concept discusses as to how Human Resources Management has evolved from being a Personnel and Administration function in the 1950s to that of a highly modernized Management of People as Assets. It is equally essential to note the evolution of Technology and how managing this goes in conjunction with People.

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In the context of Technology, people play a major role at various stages of technology, right from its identification to its assimilation and implementation. The future holds great importance for HRM’s role in the strategic business partnership with the organization, and for combating this challenge, there is an increasing need for technology to be inserted on its daily operations and on its decision-making considerations. The process involves technology, as a mean and not an end.

People are the Heart of any management, be it quality, financial, technical, design, production and allied functions .

Managing people and technology go hand in hand. Regardless of what future lies ahead, a good understanding of the role technology plays in supporting human capital management is likely to be a key factor in determining the success of both the HR and HR professional.

PROCESSES of GREGORY FRAMEWORK

1. IDENTIFICATION – When an organization

identifies technology, it needs people who have the right technical acumen, grasping and knowledge of the technology. We still live in a world where a person’s intuition and technical competence judges the value of technology is a human effort and needs capable and competent people to look at this. A man’s intelligence generates an idea for new products, which generates the need to identify technology. It has to be finally used by People.

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2. SELECTION - Selection is the process to determine the technology can be developed within the company. The process will be aligned with company’s strategy. The criteria in this phase are usually from different sources. Technology audit, SWOT analysis, and R&D portfolio analysis are the approaches usually can be used in this process.

3. ACQUISITION - It aims to find out the suitable method to acquire the technology and applied in the organization in the acquisition phase. There are several means to obtain the technology. Companies may choose to develop the technology by itself by R&D activities or organizational learning. They also may choose to collaborate with others as suppliers, or partners. Technology may also be purchased via brokers or licenses, etc. The acquisition means should be considered to be suitable with company strategy by considering the complexity of R&D, risk management, and financial limitation, etc.

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3. EXPLOITATION - to convert the obtained

technology into the practical production to gain the financial profit. The key point here is to apply the scientific technology into products can gain the maximum profit. Technology fusion is an important concept here to explore new function. The exploitation is the only process in this framework able to generate profit to cover all the technical investment.

5. PROTECTION OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE - is about how to protect or maintain the knowledge and relative expertise in the manufacturing process. The traditional way to protect the technology is the legal method as licensing or patenting. Managing people by giving them the right ambience to develop their intellectual capacity.

accessed 9/17/2013

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This process framework is a general model for technology management to be used in organizations. This process is not a defined model but comes from the process those companies apply the technology. It reflects the routine the management takes to manage technology within the company. The framework also associates all the relative activities which include innovation, product technology, production technology etc. into the model. This framework also enables the company to align the technological considerations with business strategy. Every process in this framework needs a set of activities and criteria to implement. Thus this framework also enables the management to evaluate the whole processes and manage the relative dimensions. Furthermore, a process-based model can make the technology management process in company visible and transparent. [WMG, 2010] http://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/gregory-framework-of-technology-management-marketing-essay.php#ixzz2fDl50BZB accessed 9/17/2013

LITERATURE REVIEW

A number of research studies reveal that during the last decade, the technology has impacted the functions and activities of HRM to a great extent and the process continues. Working from home or close to home, to travel to work place – be it office or factory, gradually and steadily we find today a reverse process wherein there is a move for many to work from anywhere including home and people are no longer necessarily anchored to one place. Research studies and surveys confirm that the common factor towards this shift is TECHNOLOGY.

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There exist a rich literature on how technology in general and computer technology in particular, especially the Internet by dissolving borders and creating an interconnected marketplace, apart from business streamlining and an array of communication tools have brought the phenomenal changes in the lives of people and in turn has changed the various functions and activities of human resource management.

According to HR News, September 2000 “It’s not enough for human resource professionals to learn how to operate the newest software and other technologies…Turning raw data into useful information is the real value technology brings to the human resources function by enabling HR practitioners to demonstrate in numbers and conversely, in dollars, how decisions that affect employees affect the bottom line.”

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The transition to technology calls for a new model of workforce development with people-centered approach that recognizes employee mobility, competitive pressures, globalization, and the pace of change in valuable technologies and skills and this is important issue these days as knowledge management plays a central role. Right from recruitment and selection to performance appraisal and compensation management. Human resources covers various tasks that calls for different skills sets, both quantitative and qualitative in nature.

HRs should go above and beyond maintaining a narrow operational focus, view its activities as restricted to the limits of its own organization, or to limit itself to traditional human resource responsibilities.. Towards this involvement of technology, businesses need to adopt an HR philosophy which understands that today’s customers and clients are used to a technological experience and “The mission of the HR department ought to be synchronize the employment brand with the customer brand”. In order this to happen, HR should bring the customer’s voice to inside an organization and accomplishing that, upper management will empower HR to reflect the customer’s “value proposition” (Sartain 2005)

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Noe et al. (2007) claimed that e-business creates many challenges for HRM departments because of the fast pace of changes on information technology. HRMs are required to continually update their skills requirements and then recruit and train people to meet these requirements. Technology is here and will continue to progress. To understand the role technology plays on today’s HRM we have to understand business technology (Luck 2010).

DEPENDENT VARIABLE PROPOSITIONS

VALUES Researchers are beginning to investigate the effects of information technology on the social experience of those who use it. For example, awareness exists that the nature of some computerized jobs may increase productivity, but at the same time it can degrade the lives of employees (Kraut et. Al 1989). This can happen via comparative isolation experienced by telecommuters who work at a distance from the organization, decreasing satisfaction and involvement with work colleagues and increasing the sense of footlessness that arises in a more impersonal, automated environment.

PROPOSITION 1: Value congruence between employees and organizations will be positively associated with performance, citizenship behaviors, and individual intent to stay among workers in Information-Technology-Intensive jobs.

RESEARCH PROPOSITIONS IN REGARD TO HR AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

STAFFING Snell and Dean (1992) demonstrated empirically that selective staffing practices were positively related to integrated manufacturing To date, no study has investigated selective staffing specifically involving individuals in other information management settings (e.g virtual teams, teleworkers, home-based computer “piece workers”). Huselid (1995) found strong results for selective staffing practices at the firm level, but did not investigate job-level outcomes. Some have suggested that individuals who hold these jobs are variously: self-motivated, task-oriented, risk-seeking and posses high person/organization fit approach implies that staffing procedures for jobs that involve virtual teamwork should include screening for patience, persistence, tolerance and flexibility . Technological competence, while important, may not be the most critical selection criterion. Selective staffing and information workers’ personality characteristics merit further study, and these considerations suggest the following propositions:

Proposition 2: Use of selective staffing procedures with information-technology workers will be positively associated with performance, citizenship behaviors and individual intent to stay. Proposition 3: Degree of fit between personality characteristics and information-technology job type will be positively associated with performance, citizenship behaviors, and individual intent to stay.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE PROPOSITIONS

TRAINING AND COMPETENCIES A critical issue in training efforts among technologically focused organizations is the task of achieving a balance between a concern for mastery of mechanical facets of automation on one hand and for command of traditional “people issues” on the other. Teaching people to master technology is only one aspect of training process. Individuals must also acquire the interpersonal and behavioral tools necessary to implement self-management.

Proposition 4: Firms that provide self management and interpersonal skills training for information-technology users will realize positive outcomes in terms of performance, citizenship behaviors and individual intent to stay. Proposition 5: Firms that base hiring and training programs on more stable job-relevant person characteristics rather than on changeable task characteristics will realize positive outcomes in terms of performance, citizenship behaviors and individual intent to stay.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL ORGANIZATION And work processes that undergo significant change-as when implementing new information technologies-confront the challenge of establishing an infrastructure to support the new system. The appraisal function is unique because it serves both administrative and developmental purposes in organizations. Appraisals that focus on determining pay, promotion and other administrative outcomes are qualitatively different from those whose purpose is promoting employee development, learning and continuous improvement.

Proposition 6: Use of frequent and face-to-face developmental appraisal will be positively associated with performance, citizenship behaviors and individual intent to stay among information technology workers.

MENTORING Mentoring relationships have proven to be one key to a number of desirable outcomes in organizational life. For example, mentored individuals report more satisfaction, greater career mobility and opportunity and higher promotion rate than those who were not mentored.

Proposition 7: Mentoring relationships will be positively associated with performance, citizenship behaviors and individual intent to stay among information-technology workers.

COMPENSATION Advances in telecommunications and computer technology and delayered organization structures have contributed to the proliferation of team-based work systems and virtual teams.

Proposition 8: Team-based compensation strategies will be positively associated with performance, citizenship behaviors and individual intent to stay among information-technology workers.

SOCIAL SUPPORT Literature on international adjustment emphasizes the importance of role clarity and social support from supervisors and co-workers in facilitating adjustment to a new situation. Theory and findings from particularly those in distance or telework environments who may have to adjust to unfamiliar role requirements and expectations and who must do so while isolated from the physical center of operations.

Proposition 9: There will be a positive relationship between implementation of social support systems and performance, citizenship behaviors and individual intent to stay among distance and telecommuting employees.

CAREER OUTCOME Telecommuting may have significant career implications for workers and their organizations. Tomaskovic-Devey and Risman (1993) reported that professionals who are likely to be allowed to telecommute are overwhelmingly although not entirely – males, and that clerical telecommuting work by contrast is almost totally confounded with female gender. They viewed this phenomenon as organized specifically to take advantage of the labor market restrictions associated with the female family role. Hamilton(1987) suggested that employees who grow accustomed to working from home may even be unwilling to return to the office when a promotion opportunity arises.

Proposition 10: In the absence of formal career development efforts, telework and telecommuting will lead to adverse effects on women, minorities and older employees. Proposition 11: There will be a negative relationship between workplace emphasis on impression management, politics and interpersonal contact and career advancement among teleworkers and telecommuters Proposition 12: Investments in selective staffing, training and orientation will be negatively related to feelings of isolation and career derailment among teleworkers and telecommuters.

FAMILY ADJUSTMENT One of the attractions of using technology to facilitate remote work is the potential to smoothly integrate job duties into one’s family life. Characteristics of the work itself may contribute to the ability to balance demands. Individuals engaged in clerical or rote tasks at home are analogous to pre-industrial cottage workers in many respect. In this sense, it may be easier to turn off and turn away from more mindless and routinized tasks. Conversely, skilled information and analyst and high level professionals may become more engaged in their work and find it difficult to establish boundaries when working at home. Rather than balance, these individuals may confront elevated stress, marital discord, errors and burnout, rather than hoped for family life benefits of virtual work.

Proposition 13: Work/family balance will be positively related to the presence of preschool children in the home and to clerical or rote telework tasks. Proposition 14: There will be a positive relationship between formal training and support in managing work/family balance and performance, citizenship behaviors and individual intent to stay among distance and telecommuting employees.

CONCLUSION: HRMs are presented with the challenge of becoming more effective and productive, and they are accepting this challenge by turning to technology as a mean to improve their performance, however technology presents its own challenges as well. The role technology plays on HRM is designed for HRM decision-making, however the efficiency of these decisions remain dependent on the human training and skills.

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Technology is incorporated in the fiber of our lives because of its overwhelming presence on e-business, as Internet continues to have an exponential growth. Regardless of which future lies ahead, a good understanding of the role technology plays in supporting human capital management is likely to be a key factor in determining the success of both the HR function and HR professionals.

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To sum up, managing people and technology go hand in hand. They are not supplementary in nature and as organizations evolve to modern techniques of manufacturing, and overall management, it is imperative to develop people who can maximize the potential of latest technology.

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