Hr and Technology

HR and technology

It seems like the more “social” we get the less personal our relationships become. Especially in large organizations, HR becomes more of a portal, a user interface, rather than a person. However, I think that to a certain extent the advantages outweighs the disadvantages.

Automation of HR processes that would have included paper work, forms to be signed, benefits and compensation management, approval procedures are definitely improved through technology. This is particularly beneficial to large organizations. Processes that does not particularly require subjective judgment or assessment can be effectively offloaded to a software or application.

But on certain HR functions, I do agree that a balance must be maintained. Recruitment through social media networks and platforms allows HR wider reach of human capital. It provides them with data that they would not normally have, at least prior to obtaining the résumés or conducting interviews with them. There is a whole slew of analytics that can be used to assess employee skills and historical performance to further aid the hiring process. But as we have learned earlier on, skills and performance are not the only factors to consider when an organization selects its human capital. Personality, behavior, attitudes play a big role in how well an individual would fit in an organization and this of course is something that technology could properly assess. But because of access to social media platforms it also becomes possible for prospective recruiters to peek into the identities and personalities of its target individuals.  The challenge here is to properly ascertain the differences in “online” identity and personality and the actual/observed identity and personality of individuals.

Virtual Teams

Organizations are becoming increasingly decentralized, and due to the demands of the market, the organization must also adapt to an increasingly dynamic environment. It is very interesting how organizational behavior catches up on technology, specifically when managing virtual teams where members are dispersed not only geographically but culturally as well, their personal relationships are minimal, the communication mostly coursed through electronic means. However, through the aid of technology “Collaborative Work” is highly possible and reaches a high level of efficiency.

Managing virtual teams poses challenges in terms of integration. If people already interacting face to face still often face problems when it comes to cohesively working together and find a common ground despite having different backgrounds, values, behaviors and attitudes, it is to be expected that these problems would also occur and perhaps even become magnified when working in virtual teams. The way tasks are performed may be solved by the use of the proper technology alone, but factors like building a high performing team by fostering team work, job satisfaction and motivation, effective communication of employee feedback are definitely sources of challenges. Of course organizational behavior theories on this matters still apply, but the dynamics are different and the solutions may require a revised approach. If an organization has several virtual teams, it is highly possible that each team may possess a different organizational culture from other virtual teams or from those who are working in “fixed” environments. A manager or an employee belonging to different virtual teams may also adapt different working attitudes or behaviors at any given time, where one particular attitude or behavior may become more prominent in one virtual team than in another. Issues regarding job satisfaction and motivation would also have to be addressed differently. If the individual possesses a high need to socialize and interact on a personal level, then this individual may not thrive in a virtual team.