“HR will die by 2020” if it does not wake up and up skill yourself to adopt technology- Vineet Nair (HCL technology,2016)

Human Resource Management – The Key to Organizational Success
In view of the increased competition and heightened expectations of stake holders, it has become an imperative for the organizations to not only be efficient and effective but responsive and sustainable. The organizations now are expected to show the performance in all the three areas of Profit, People, and Planet. To achieve this goal, it is the PEOPLE component which is most important due to its uniqueness and unlimited potential. Hence the organizations strive to improve people performance using all kinds of motivational tools on one side and technology on the other. Making optimum utilization of human resource has become most important than ever before. Human resource management function thus has a significant role in the organizations.

Human resource management as it is known today, has evolved since the days of labour management and personnel management when its main role was to keep the employee records, time keeping, and administering the wages and salary. J.F. Skinner (1980) coined this term HUMAN RESOURCE emphasizing on recognizing humans working in organizations as resources.

In view of the changing expectations of both organizations and employees, the HR function is being recognized as more and more important by the day. On one hand, the HR is expected to actively participate in formulation and implementation of business strategies and support business strategies through appropriate HR strategies while help the organizations in employee communication and engagement on the other. HR can help the business strategies by integrating the strategies for recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, compensation management, employee communication and so on with the business strategies.

Why HR needs to be more responsive to changing realities
Among other challenges, the organizations have to now deal with Gen Y and Gen Z employees, their lifestyles, culture, and aspirations. It is a real challenge for the organizations to attract, manage and retain talent. Innovation in the way HR works has become more important than ever and use of technology is now indispensable if

the organizations have to survive and remain competitive.

How Technology can help to make HR more efficient and effective
Multiple studies have proved that the efficiency and effectiveness of HR has improved significantly by use of information and communication technology. The entire gamut of HR activities ranging from HR planning to employee separation can be more efficient and effective with the help of technology. Following section discusses he challenges for HR at different stage of employee life cycle and their solutions through using technology.

HR planning and forecasting - Using technology it has become very easy to estimate the demand and supply of human resources. It makes the entire process of HR planning more efficient and effective.

Recruitment is no more supposed to be conventional paper resume-screening-interview-selection process. E-recruitment has almost become a norm wherein candidates upload their resumes on job portals and the organizations source the candidates form such sites, match the skill requirements to candidate competencies and call the candidates for further selection process. Recruiting through social media is another big trend. It saves the organizations the time and money spent on advertising, collecting physical applications, short listing etc. The turnaround time thus is reduced considerably resulting into enhanced efficiency. For short listing especially when the applications are in large numbers, computers can be helpful by matching the key words in job description with candidates’ resume. Various selection tests can be conducted online saving time and resources of both candidates and organizations. Video interviews can replace the conventional face-to-face interviews.

Induction Training – Audio Video training can be used to not only deliver the induction modules but also bring the role clarity for the candidates to make induction efficient and effective.

Performance Management – Goal setting, performance measurement and appraisal, and feedback is all possible in online mode except the situations where a major component of work is qualitative in nature. Online Critical Incident Diaries can be used to record the performance and feedback on a continuous basis by both manager and subordinate.

Compensation and Rewards - Going beyond pay rolls, technology can not only be deployed to administer the benefits and incentives linked to performance, but it can also help in tracking of performance and giving triggers to employees. Technology can also help in total reward management and designing flexible rewards and modelling reward systems.

Employee communication – Employee communication through mails, bulletin boards, blogs, company web site etc can not only save organizational resources but increase the efficiency and effectiveness of communication systems.

Employee engagement- the organizations can track the employee engagement through employee surveys and review boards to take appropriate actions to manage retention but also increase motivation.

Succession planning – Technology can help in not keeping a track of potential employees who can fill the leadership positions in future thus making succession planning easy for the organizations.
Technologies at help – All kind of technology and platforms can be helpful including internet, mobile Apps, various application software and social media.

The last word- The organizations have no choice but to adopt and implement technology in various HR functions on one hand and train their managers and employees to handle and use such technologies. It will not only ensure higher productivity, but it can enable global competitiveness. Multi-skilling and multi-tasking, and deal with obsolescence.