Nova Southeastern University Wayne Huizenga Graduate School of Business & Entrepreneurship Assignment for Course: HRM 5330- Technology and Tools Submitted to: Dr. Ronald Johnson Submitted by: Date of Submission: Title of Assignment: HRIS Case Study CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: I certify that I am the author of this paper and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledge and disclosed in the paper. I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas of words, whether quoted directly or paraphrased. I also certify that this paper was prepared by me specifically for this course. Student Signature: __ _________________________ ******************************************* Instructor’s Grade on Assignment: Instructor’s Comments: Introduction The Introduction section should provide a brief summary of the Case Study. It should be more than a few sentences and describe the assignment and what follows in the sections below. You do not need to have references in the introduction, but, if you are referencing any source for any statements, or quoting any sentences from the case study, then you should include a citation and appropriate reference. Consider briefly identifying the who, what, where, when, why and how of the case. Background This section provides the background information for the reader to understand and answer two questions: What? And Why? This should describe the problem(s) encountered by the actors in the case. This section contains your position statement from which everything in the rest of the paper will flow. Think of the problem statement as the purpose of your paper. This case study may be classified as a problem case, as such these types of cases may be more difficult to write about because these types of cases involve multiple causes and effects. While it may be tempting to include all of the problems/causes and effects, if you do include every problem, your paper will lack depth and breadth. Therefore, identify the major issues associated with the case. However, it is not simply the identification of the issues that matters; you must also provide recommendations to alleviate the issues, or to mitigate those issues, in the future. Do not include all of that in the background section of the paper, however. Keep the background section to a few paragraphs that answer the who, what, where, when, and why questions. Diagnosis (While I used this section header, think about what other titles you might use for this section) Your next task is to summarize the diagnosis or principle causes of the problem. While common sense and intuition are helpful in this endeavor, they are not sufficient. You must prove causal links. This is where you will need to research the academic literature to support your diagnosis. For example, if one of the issues is corporate culture, you need to not only define corporate culture (and provide an appropriate citation and reference indicating where you obtained the definition of corporate culture), but also provide supporting citations that validate your statement that corporate culture influenced – either positively or negatively – the issue or facts or the case. Action Plan (Lessons Learned) Once you have identified the background and diagnosis, it is time to develop an action plan for the problem case study. In project management, Lessons Learned is a term used to describe a project post-mortem. The goal is to identify what the project team did well, as well as the areas where the project team could have improved upon, in order to provide a roadmap to future, similar type projects. Again, this section should be supported with appropriate references. For example, if the project team suffered from the lack of appropriate resources, an appropriate citation/reference might be an academic journal article (or article from the Project Management Institute’s website) that describes the impact of having sufficient resources, or the appropriately skilled resources on a project team. This section is where you provide your recommendations, but these should not simply be personal opinions; you must substantiate these recommendations with appropriate references. There is a wealth of information in the text, but do not solely rely upon the text. Look at the references in the text; research those references and read what those authors state. Look at the references that those authors utilize. You can find a wealth of information to assist you in developing your recommendations. Summary Finally, provide a summary of what you have written. Develop the summary and conclusions by taking key points from your essay. Keep it to a few sentences, but don’t end it “cold.” By this, I mean, that you end your work leaving the reader hanging. You throw a couple of sentences into summary, but provide no closure. A good summary doesn’t simply repeat what you have written about above, but rather, provides closure by providing the reader with salient facts and important recommendations. PLANNING TEMPLATES The following templates may be useful in helping you plan the Individual Case Study. You are not required to utilize ANY or ALL sections of this template, nor submit it with your Case Study; it is solely to assist you in developing your ideas for the final product. Problem: Try to state the problem, or problems, in a single sentence or sentences Diagnosis: Based on the problems you identified, what is your diagnosis? Proof of Diagnosis What were the causes of failures in the case study? Evidence Cause: Cause: Cause: Cause: Action Plan Action Plan: Translate your actions from above into Goals for the future Goal(s) 1. 2. 3. 4. Action Steps: From the goals you identify, what are the recommendations Order in Essay Issue Recommendation Develop recommendation Supported by Find support to validate your recommendation Major Risks and Responses/Recommendations Risk Response Future Recommendation Lesson Learned Issue Effect Recommendation Running Head: INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY Nova Southeastern University Wayne Huizenga Graduate School of Business & Entrepreneurship Assignment for Course: HRM 5330 – HRM Technology and Tools Submitted to: Dr. Ronald Johnson Submitted by: Vjara Cook Date of Submission: June 19, 2016 Title of Assignment: Individual Case Study – HRM Technology and Tools CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: I certify that I am the author of this paper and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed in the paper. I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas or words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. I also certify that this paper was prepared by me specifically for this course. Student Signature: Vjara Cook ****************************************** Instructor’s Grade on Assignment: Instructor’s Comments: 1 INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY 2 Introduction Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) is an intersection of human resources and information technology. It allows HR activities to be done electronically which have many benefits to the parties that are using the system (Kavanagh, Thite & Johnson, 2015). Both large and small organizations can use the software systems if they want to smoothen the way that human resources are handled in the company. It allows the organizations to plan their human resource costs more effectively and manage the process without having to allocate many resources towards the operations. Despite all the advantages and cost savings, a study done on a global energy company incorporated in the US brought out many challenges that affect HRIS. The company has approximately 54,000 employees and operates in more than 180 countries. Each country has its own HRIS with the United States housing 20,000 employee records and tracks both bi-monthly and bi-weekly payrolls. There were plans by the company to integrate the United States HRIS with the one based in Europe (J. Bartlet & M. Bartlet, 2008). In this case study, global integration of HRIS Systems is analyzed. What are the major issues presented that affected the time, cost and scope of the project? A problem that affected the time cost and scope of the set project was the team documented the current human resource processes and systems with a team member assigned to each process. Their primary role was to describe and document current processes and the differences that existed between the American and European systems. Subject matter experts were invited to discuss current processes and the effects that could occur in changing the European system to fit the United States based processes. One of the concerns that were faced was a one-day delay due to the time difference between the two countries. The delay influenced the time that the project is INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY 3 supposed to be complete. If the project is completed late, it will affect the production system due to the other integration between the 88 companies’ enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The set timeline should not be affected in any way but the one day delays are inevitable. Payroll, reporting, and interfaces were put up for reviewing by the design analyst. The areas were not evaluated in the appropriate manner because the team manager and co-manager were adamant and thought that the processes were okay. Management reporting system could have been used as a transaction processing systems that can be used to generate reports on monthly expenses (Kavanagh, Thite & Johnson, 2015). The design analyst, however, saw flaws that could become troublesome in the long run and put up the two processes so that the project team could review them before proceeding. The two project managers also insisted that reporting was going to be examined during the subject matter experts (SME) meeting that was to be held. Payroll, on the other hand, was going to be outsourced and did not need to be revisited at the project team level. The lack of understanding of the systems by the design analysts and managers brought about issues as they each felt that certain changes had to be made. They had different ideas on how that was supposed to be done owing to the lack of knowledge of the various systems that they had knowledge in. The design analyst had experience in American operations while the manager and co-manager had knowledge in the London-based system. What are the minor problems that affected the integration? Unfortunately, reporting should have been reviewed earlier and after some time, the figures reported were based on management. Reporting incorporates decision such as how, what, when, and to whom should be reported (Kavanagh, Thite & Johnson, 2015). Again, the lack of knowledge of the systems was exposed in this area too. The project team did not have enough INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY 4 experience of leading a big project, and they did not understand some issues. The lack of knowledge of one system was also laid bare in the area as they found out that some of the codes that they had been using did not match with those of the United States. The conflict between the area could not be avoided as reporting is a major part of the HRIS system and could not be ignored. More time was wasted as they needed to revisit the issues and ensure that the systems did not conflict in any way. This could cause serious problems in the HR department during the implementation of the HR system. They needed to find a way that they could ensure that the codes that they were using matched with those of the systems that were in the United States. The design analyst was also right in analyzing the payroll processes. Master data had to be collected in the same area and outsourced to another company to handle it. The other problem that came up was that the corporation that the process was outsourced to had never used the encryption that was used by the United States HRIS (J. Bartlet & M. Bartlet, 2008). It was taking more time than it had been scheduled as the managers believed that the process could be carried later individually. The company realized at the end of the project that it had to use encryption that was used by the United States based human resources. The actions that were taken by managers Frankie and Pat showed a lack in qualities brought about by leader-member exchange theory. The theory believes that leaders should always respect the input of the members as it might be important in the long run (Hu & Liden, 2013). This was not the case in the situation and the design analysts input was rejected despite him having a lot of knowledge in the area. The problem was again brought bare due to the unpreparedness that was in the project team. They outsourced the project to a company that had no knowledge whatsoever of the encryption that was being used. They realized that they needed the encryption at the end of the project which is unacceptable as they should have understood the system earlier and asked the INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY 5 project team to give them access to the encryption that the HRIS systems in the United States used. They did this late, and it caused more delays to the completion which is defined as a disadvantage of HR outsourcing since the outsourcing team was not available to take action once the encryption failed (Kavanagh, Thite & Johnson, 2015). What are the cultural issues that are interwoven in this project and affected HR or IT? Culturally diverse teams encourage innovation and creativity. Which seem to not be the case since the organization faced the language barrier which was the main cultural issue that had not been identified later in the project. The team assumed that the languages will be the same as both countries speak English. The future discovery became problematic when it came to the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of words using the languages between the different countries. The other major challenge that they faced were determining the kind of data that employees could change online. The United States for example, allowed the changing of addresses as it could be positive to benefits. Changes in Europe did not affect benefits such as taxation if the employee changed their address (Peretz, 2013). It was not considered, and it turned out to be a major problem in completing the project. During the completion, it was determined that the project team needed more than one United States Representative (J. Bartlet & M. Bartlet, 2008). The issue could have been solved at the beginning of the project but instead affected them at the latter stages. There was the lack of communication from both sides too especially at the end where the two sides were appraised differently. The organization should have taken note of the situation and appreciated the two sides equally so that they could create a better environment to coexist. Adopting a group in the organization to serve as a “cross border” team to break down these barriers and assist and guide INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY 6 the managerial challenge they have to faced (Peretz, 2013). This might affect the organization in the future when the London HRIS has to work now with the United States based HRIS. It could alleviate tensions as the Americans will feel that they are appreciated than their counterparts in London. What type of evaluation/closure would help in this project? The kind of evaluation approach or tool that would assist in this project is Performance evaluation and review technique (PERT). The method analyzes tasks that are involved in completing a given project, the time needed for each task, and the minimum time that is required to complete the total project (Kavanagh, Thite & Johnson, 2015). The project lacked all these and was disoriented and did not follow time in completing different tasks. Tasks were allocated randomly, and the team was not guided by a tool that would have helped in ensuring that they managed to finish all the processes at a given time. It would have also been easier to understand some of the flaws available and make adjustments. However, this project did not have any of these and ended up dragging up to three months late of the set deadline by the organization. Who should be involved in the future global integration projects? What skills should team members have and how should they be selected? In the future global integration projects, the department which is transferring their software and the new host will be involved. They need to share knowledge so that they can understand both systems and be able to figure out the differences that they possess and how they can be addressed in the integration. It will make it easier to integrate as all the knowledge that is needed is readily available and there will be no room for mistakes as it was seen in this case. The skills that the managers should have are managing a big project without having any flaws. It is one of INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY 7 the greatest mistakes that can be seen from the case. Managers with experience to manage big projects will have a high success rate as they can handle the pressure as well as identify all the needed steps to complete the project easily (Kerzner, 2013). They should also be familiar with all the systems and mostly come from the departments that are integrating their systems. If you were to create your own “lessons learned,” what might they be and how would they affect your future projects? The main lesson learned is that when hiring managers to lead the team, an organization should hire people who understand and have the skills to run big projects. The managers that were appointed had never done so before, and it led to them making decisions that were costly. One of the decisions that they made and was ineffective was not listening and implementing what the design analyst suggestions. Managers need to respect the input of the team members as it will also motivate them to function even better within the team (Nixon, Harrington & Parker, 2012). In the future projects, I would look for managers that have dealt with such projects and understand what is needed and the input that they need to put in making sure that the work is complete. The second lesson learned is that when hiring team members, an organization should ensure that they have full knowledge or get help from a party that has the knowledge they lack. In this case, they only understood the London-based HRIS system and not that of the United States. Project managers should seek to hire companies who have handled such projects before as it will be a better platform for them to understand all the underlying issues (Nixon, Harrington & Parker, 2012). In the future projects, I would hire someone who has full knowledge of the INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY 8 whole system or include members from the other side that understand some of the knowledge that the team does not have. Conclusion Human Resource is one of the most important departments in any organization due to the nature of activities that it undertakes. Some of the activities include employment, appraisal and even managing the payroll. HRIS simplifies the process and gives the department a better chance to manage the same with high precision and make the information easily accessible. In this case, a global energy company incorporated in the United States which has approximately 54,000 employees tries to merge its HRIS systems in the United States and European. The European systems are based in London. The United States HRIS serves approximately 20,000 employees while that in London houses 1,000 employees. A project team is set and the team members mainly originate from HR firms in Europe. Only one system design analyst comes from the United States. They encounter problems as they complete their tasks most which occur majorly from lack of knowledge of the United States system and lack of communication between the two groups. The case study brings out some of the major problems that occur in the human resources of multinational company. From the case, it’s a clear indication that firms should be careful in setting up project teams that represent two groups as there might be many problems arising if one team is not well represented. INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY 9 References Bartlet, J. & Bartlet, M. (2008). Society for Human Resource Management: HRIS Case Study. Hu, J., & Liden, R. C. (2013). Relative leader–member exchange within team contexts: How and when social comparison impacts individual effectiveness. Personnel Psychology, 66(1), 127-172. Kavanagh, M.J., Thite M. & Johnson R.D. (2015). Human Resource Information Systems – Basics, Applications, and Future Directions. Washington, D.C.: Sage Publications, Inc. Kerzner, H. R. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons. Nixon, P., Harrington, M., & Parker, D. (2012). Leadership performance is significant to project success or failure: a critical analysis. International Journal of productivity and performance management, 61(2), 204-216. Peretz, H. (2013). Information Technology Systems in the Human Resource Management Area. In Global Trends in Human Resource Management (pp. 214-236). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Purchase answer to see full attachment