{"id":1909,"date":"2014-08-14T16:47:33","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T16:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hr-softwareblog.com\/?p=1909"},"modified":"2014-09-03T17:46:29","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T17:46:29","slug":"hris-technology-organizational-complexity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comparehris.com\/blog\/hris-technology-organizational-complexity\/","title":{"rendered":"HRIS: Technology and Organizational Complexity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HR<\/a>Google \u201coffice automation\u201d dates back to the 70s and 80s. Before the vocabulary switched to \u201cchips\u201d and \u201cprocessors,\u201d futurists predicted a world of technology created leisure. The assumption was that, once you made work faster, it would become easier. Noted human resources technology expert Naomi Bloom describes this as\u202fextrapolative thinking.<\/p>\n


\nTechnology must do more than expedite work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, there is no evidence that office technology has fundamentally eased labor, quickened work, or improved productivity. For example, despite the fact that human resources technology makes information instantaneously accessible, the workload may have actually increased because human resources personnel are now multi-tasked and salaried exempt. The value of HRIS does not lie only in its ability to expedite work.<\/p>\n

You see, the evolution the futurists predicted as occurring on a straight line has happened in the context of other forces operating synergistically and independently. So much has happened \u2013 socially, economically, and managerially \u2013 during this 20 to 30-year evolution that technology meant to promise simplicity<\/em>\u202fpresents itself as\u202fcomplexity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all in how you use it<\/strong><\/p>\n

The true value of HRIS\u202flies in how it is strategically implemented and utilized. To paraphrase\u202fNaomi Bloom<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Would a business benefit from doing the work of Human Resources within the organization or buying the results from a third party?<\/li>\n
  2. What are the best mechanisms, sources, terms, and conditions for purchasing the same work done by a third party?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The value of HRIS technology lies not in what it can do so much as in how you use it. In the face of complexity, writes\u202fJohn Hagel III<\/a>, \u201cwe need to expand our focus on\u202finnovation\u202fbeyond the narrow frame of technology and product innovation. If we are to successfully adapt to the escalating complexity of our environment, we need to invest time and energy in exploring institutional innovation [across the organizational silos].\u201d<\/p>\n

    Strategically used, Human Resources technology \u2013 in its management of information, talent, human capital, and performance \u2013 can be the central key to managing and exploiting the new and always evolving complexity. And, to play that role, HRIS must contribute to the often unarticulated shift in management culture. It can and must contribute to\u202finstitutional innovation<\/a>\u202fon a sustaining basis:<\/p>\n