NON-TECHNICAL SIDE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF

ELECTRONIC HRM SYSTEM

Discoursive Exploration of Line Managers ‘and Employees’ Perceptions

Tanya V. Bondarouk

School of Management and Governance, University of Twente, P.O. 217 Enschede, The Netherlands

Huub Ruël

Kuwait-Maastricht Business School, P.O. Box 9678 Salmiya, Kuwait

Keywords: Enterprise Information Systems HRM, e-HRM, actual use of e-HRM, end-users’ perceptions about e-HRM,

interviews.

Abstract: Electronic Human Resource Management (e-HRM) is coming to a more full-grown stage within

organisational life. Much is assumed and expressed about its advantages, however scientific proof of these

advantages is scarce. No clarity exists about the answer to the question whether e-HRM contributes to the

effectiveness of HRM processes. This paper contributes to the Enterprise Information Systems field in two

ways. Firstly, findings-wise, we present results from the qualitative study on the contribution of e-HRM to

HRM effectiveness. The data is collected in a Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

Results show that e-HRM applications have some impacts on the HRM practices. However, e-HRM is not

perceived by the users as contributing to the HRM effectiveness. Interviews with line managers and

employees have revealed interesting differences in their needs and perceptions about functionalities of e-

HRM applications. Secondly, in this paper we integrate two approaches, namely technology-oriented

approach, and organizational processes-oriented approach. An intersection of IT- and HRM- studies reveals

new possibilities both for scientific and practical implications.

1 INTRODUCTION AND

RESEARCH FOCUS

Technologically optimistic voices assume that, from

a technical perspective, the technical possibilities for

Human Resource Management (HRM) are endless:

in principal all Human Resource (HR) processes can

be supported by information technologies (IT).

Words are becoming even more provocative when

some say that the question whether HR should

become digital already is outdated: HR must become

digital.

IT-supported HRM are being introduced in

organizations since the mid-1990s, also known as

electronic Human Resource Management (e-HRM).

Its use is widely discussed in the reports of

consultancy firms (e.g., Cedar Consulting, 2003).

Their observation is that HRM professionals are no

longer surprised by the e-HRM phenomenon; they

have “grown up” and spot high interests in getting

more insights in the ways how to implement e-HRM

applications and how e-HRM impacts organisational

life. However, while the interests in e-HRM are

growing, the appreciation of e-HRM and the

expectations from it seem to be decreasing (Cedar

Consulting, 2003).

Academics devote more and more attention to

examining e-HRM in attempts to explore this

contradiction. Within a decade of its history,

scientific knowledge about e-HRM had assembled

several conclusive notions about the goals of e-HRM

(Ruël et al, 2004), its types (Lepak and Snell, 1998),

the effectiveness of different e-HRM applications,

and the implementation of Human Resource

Information Systems (Ball, 2001).

At the same time, it is still unclear what the full

advantages of e-HRM are. Does e-HRM contribute

to HRM effectiveness? Our paper presents the

263

V. Bondarouk T. and Ruël H. (2007).

NON-TECHNICAL SIDE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTRONIC HRM SYSTEM - Discoursive Exploration of Line Managers ‘and Employees’

Perceptions.

In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - HCI, pages 263-267

DOI: 10.5220/0002354102630267

 SciTePress

results of a qualitative study on the contribution of

the use of e-HRM to HRM effectiveness. The study

was conducted in the Dutch Ministry of the Interior

and Kingdom Relations, called further Ministry.

First we present a theoretical background of

technical and non-technical e-HRM studies. A

research model will be discussed after that. Then the

paper will explain the research methods used. After

describing findings, the final section is dedicated to

conclusions, discussion and future research

directions.

2 “TECHNICAL”, OR E-SIDE OF

E-HRM

Beginning in the 1960s, personnel management was

an early candidate for office automation in payroll,

benefits administration, and employee records

holding (Ball, 2001). Typically, this information was

stored in flat databases being interrogated via simple

key words searching. Growth in strategically

focused HRM produced demands for information

and communication developments in Human

Resource Information Systems (HRIS). Early studies

into HRIS demonstrated the “hesitant” use of HRIS

by HR practitioners who perceived IT as workhorses

of the personnel function (Hall and Torrington,

1998).

Empirical reports since then have indicated that

the use of HRIS has become more confident

although still mainly for administrative purposes,

and that HRIS projects mainly remain technology-

driven events, with the focus on the growing

sophistication of IT. In this context, studies focus on

the qualities of IT necessary for its use by HR

departments (Kavanagh et al, 1990; Haines and

Petit, 1997; Keebler and Rhodes, 2002; Fisher and

Howel, 2004).

For example, in their survey among 152 users of

HRIS, Haines and Petit (1997) found a number of

individual/task, organisational and system conditions

that support successful HRIS. Although the

relationship with the system usage was found to be

weak, the links with user satisfaction were strong.

This was the case for many of the system conditions

like training, documentation, presence of on-line

applications, ease of use, and perceived usefulness

of the system. Another quantitative study in 115

organisations actively using HRIS conducted by Ball

(2001) has revealed that the organisation size is a

clear determinant of whether an organisation has an

HRIS at all and, second, whether it adopts certain

modules (e.g. core personnel administration) over

others (e.g. training and competence management).

The type of HRIS is also shown to be determined by

the organisational size: the smaller companies (less

than 500 employees) would go for low cost and low

risk HRIS, more flexible software or in-house

developed (Thaler-Carter, 1998; Ball, 2001).

More recent studies into the implementation of e-

HRM are shifting towards addressing the dynamic

nature of the HRIS implementation and use such

concepts like innovation implementation, learning,

change management, Technology Acceptance Model

(Keebler and Rhodes, 2002).

Incorporation of the Technology Acceptance

Model (Davis et al, 1989) into e-HRM studies has

resulted in notions that the use of e-HRM by the

targeted employees is highly determined by the level

of usefulness of the HR information technology and

ease of its use (Ruta, 2005; Voermans and Van

Veldhoven, 2007). The design of HRIS is considered

as done but not fixed in the traditional development

stage. A recent example is the study into the

implementation of an HR employee portal in the

Italian subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard (Ruta, 2005).

The research demonstrated that the usage of HRIS

increased when IT user acceptance principles were

integrated with change management principles;

when the IT user acceptance model focused on

“what” predicted intentions to use the HR portal,

while change management theory focused on “how”

intentions to use the HR portal could be influenced.

It was shown that by analysing the context (at both

the industry and company levels), change agents

managed to adopt the most appropriate actions to

support the HR portal implementation.

Our concluding observation at this point is that

many of the findings in the implementation of e-

HRM (or HRIS) substantiate the expected

relationships and dynamics of the implementation

process derived from the research into IT. Therefore,

due to the latest developments, implementation of e-

HRM can be compared to the drifting process

(Ciborra, 1996) that divides intended goals and

achieved outcomes of the e-HRM implementation.

3 RESEARCH MODEL AND

HYPOTHESIS

We departure from the Technology Acceptance

Model (TAM) developed by Davis et al (1989) that

states that users will accept and use a system if it has

a significant perceived usefulness and ease of use.

ICEIS 2007 - International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems

264

People tend to use an application to the extent that

they believe it will help them perform their job

better. Further, people may believe that the systems

are too hard to work with and that the performance

benefits of usage are outweighed by the efforts

required using the application.

Assuming that the use of e-HRM applications is

influenced by the aforementioned determinants, we

make a step further and propose to look at the link

between the e-HRM use and HRM effectiveness.

Companies start with e-HRM because of anticipated

advantages that are expected to result in a more

effective HRM. Our research model is shown below

(figure 1).

Figure 1: Research model.

4 RESEARCH METHODS

The Ministry is one of the thirteen ministries of

Dutch central government. Almost 3,000 civil

servants formulate policy, prepare legislation and

regulations, and are responsible for the coordination,

supervision and policy implementation.

In the 1990s there was a growth in the use of

information and communication technology at all

Dutch ministries. Almost all workspaces got

personal computers; e-mail replaced messages on

paper and memos; and there was access to the

Internet, and Intranets were developed as an

important medium for communication with the

personnel. The personnel department liked to use

this medium to announce news and to provide

information about HR-related issues. At first, the

intranet replaced paper folders and manuals for

HRM, by putting it online. During the mid-1990s it

became clear that there were more possibilities, like

storage of data, searching for information and

handling administrative processes.

In 2001-2002, the Ministry introduced Emplaza

as an e-HRM tool to provide employees, line

managers and HR professionals with instruments to

perform their personnel tasks correctly.

Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted, 4

with line managers and 9 with employees. Questions

were asked about the use of four HR activities

supported by e-tools: performance interview,

personal development (competence management),

360° feedback and mobility bank. There were two

reasons for our choice. From the interview with the

Emplaza project leader, it became clear that the

Ministry had special interests in promoting these e-

HRM applications. Also, these applications were

already being actively used by line managers and

employees, which allowed us to conduct interviews

with both groups of respondents.

Respondents were selected randomly, based on

their availability and willingness to participate in the

research. Five different departments participated in

the study: the Document Management Department,

Juridical Affairs, International Collaboration

Department, IT Department, and the Knowledge and

Information Centre.

5 FINDINGS

We conducted a qualitative study into e-HRM at the

Dutch Ministry. Findings revealed through the

interviews with managers and employees showed

that Emplaza was perceived differently by those

groups of users. And unfortunately, those

differences were not fully taken into account in the

content design of Emplaza. Some literature studies

anticipated differences in benefits from using e-

HRM for two groups of users. Thus, Lengnick-Hall

and Moritz (2003) assumed that managers benefit

from e-HRM by performing HR tasks without

consulting HR professionals like accessing relevant

managerial information, conducting overviews and

analysing the personnel data, making decisions,

communicating with employees, and reducing costs

on HR tasks. “With a click of the mouse, the

decision is recorded and other departments (such as

finance) are notified. Hours of processing are

reduced to minutes, and much paperwork is avoided

by the use of this technology” (ibid, p. 366).

Employees were also considered as benefiting from

using e-HRM by performing checks of their own

personnel information, updating records, making

decisions, and participating in on-line training

(Lengnick-Hall and Moritz, 2003).

Did our findings confirm those announced benefits?

First of all, we saw an obvious difference in

perceptions about Emplaza between managers and

employees. In our view, managers thought more at

Intended use of Web-

based HRM

Actual use of Web-

based HRM

Job relevance

Easiness of use

Quality

HRM effectiveness

Strategic HRM

effectiveness

Technical

HRM

effectiveness

NON-TECHNICAL SIDE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTRONIC HRM SYSTEM - Discoursive Exploration of

Line Managers 'and Employees’ Perceptions

265

the level of HR policies while employees stayed at

the level of ease of use of the technology.

The first general remark is worth mentioning. To

become digital, HR practices have to have clear and

standardized policies and rules, aligned with the

latest HRM developments in the organization. And

this should be achieved before starting the

implementation of e-HRM.

To gain better insights, we shall specify our

conclusions in two sets: the use of e-HRM and

contribution of e-HRm to the HRM effectiveness.

Concerning the use of e-HRM, we should stress

that Emplaza did not have any possibilities to

support the different perceptions and needs of two

groups of users, although managers and employees

had different needs in using it. Probably Emplaza

was oriented towards the ‘average’ worker without

special arrangements for different categories, those

who were just newcomers to the Ministry, or those

at the end of their careers.

HRM policies were not clear to employees, and

seemingly did not encourage them. This was

perceived as one of the basic reasons for regarding

Emplaza as less useful than expected.

Bothe groups of users noticed that without help it

was difficult to understand Emplaza. They expected

help from the Emplaza team, or written manuals, or

short training courses. At the same time the project

team perceive Emplaza as easy to use, that probably

stopped them from providing training for the users.

The most advantageous features of Emplaza

were its speed of working and the manner of

completing forms. Put in other words, the

operational level of support provided by Emplaza

was fully appreciated while the relational level was

not. Sequence and content of categories in the e-

HRM applications were perceived as illogical. The

most difficult application became leave

administration.

Main finding concerning the effectiveness of e-

tools for HRM was that while tlking about HRM

effectiveness, non of the interviewees linked it with

the use of Emplaza. In other words, we did not find

evidence revealing the contribution of the use of

Emplaza to the HRM effectivenss.

Line managers emphasised using Emplaza for

managing their employees (making overviews,

reports, developing personnel plans). None of the

managers expressed needing Emplaza for their own

developments. Employees saw the on-line tools as

only administrative instruments.

While managers found on-line appraisal talks

very helpful, employees in contrast did not see their

value for their own career development. They

considered the mobility bank a meaningful tool for

career development, while managers did not see its

usefulness.

Both managers and employees stressed the

importance of self-promotion and motivation for

career development, with or without using Emplaza.

Strategic effectiveness of HRM was not

attributed to the use of Emplaza. Technical

effectiveness was only partly attributed to the use of

Emplaza. Both managers and employees

acknowledged that the personnel documents became

easier to retrieve, giving good historical overviews.

However, there were also opinions that to fill in the

information in Emplaza took more time than before,

that maybe overall it had not made a big difference

in the administration of documents.

All in all, our findings suggest that there were no

straightforward contribution of the use of e-HRM

tools to the HRM effectiveness.

Although we have to be careful because of the

limitations of the data set used, for practitioners

there is a clear guideline: they should primarily

focus on the quality of the e-HRM application, i.e.

the content and design, instead of on the ease of use

and job relevance, to make e-HRM contribute to HR

effectiveness. This indicates that HRM activities are

not perceived as the employees’ primary tasks.

e-HRM is a young field of academic interest. In

this paper we contributed to enriching the field

through building an intersection between technical

and non-technical sites of e-HRM. At least one

notion for the future of e-HRM research can be

gleaned from this study. We should bring the

message about different levels of support provided

by e-HRM tools for HRM practices. Our study has

shown that within the observed e-HRM tools, we

could distinguish two levels, called technical and

strategic.

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