Information systems management is a relatively new area of management influenced by technological and information changes. Since the kind of performance required depends partly on the technology being used, performance management techniques have to fit with the technology of the organization. In this vein high technology settings have certain characteristics that set constraints and requirements about how performance is managed. HR must understand high technology before we can understand its performance management implications.
The principle of objective of human resources in MIS is high level of professional knowledge and flexibility, creativity and unique vision of the processes. The human resources management process to operate in a vacuum. It changes with the environment and is influenced by technological improvements. MIS is complex rather than simple, new as opposed to established, at the boundaries of development and incomplete rather than complete, progressing not static or slowly developing, systemic not isolated, and contingent rather than linear. Human resources must participate in the day-to-day operations of the organization and likewise itself be managed to produce the best possible results.
Further, given the sea of changes taking place in the economy, technology, and society in general, human resources management must be in a position to change and adapt along the way. Consider the role that human resources should play in influencing the tone and tenor of everyday life inside an organization (McAfee, 2006). Certainly, one pervasive way human resources makes its presence known is by trying to ensure fair and consistent applications of rules to employees and by serving as a governor to reactive or ill-considered management actions. Unfortunately, in pursuing these goals, human resources may seem to some bureaucratic (when insisting that rules be followed) and uncooperative (when resisting unilateral management actions) (Carr, 2004).
The human resources function in MIS should be positioned to monitor key indicators of the firm’s human resources base. Employee opinion surveys are one method commonly used to track such matters as satisfaction with supervision or with benefits. In addition, the human resources function can create other means for determining how employees are feeling about and reacting to their employment.
Another kind of key indicator that can be monitored is why employees leave the organization (Carr, 2004). Managing human resources effectively has never been as important as it is today and will be tomorrow. In today’s service economy of knowledge-based, high-discretion jobs, the commitment and competence of employees can spell the difference between those organizations that win and those that are merely in the race. Establishing policies, programs, and practices that produce these results on a cost-effective basis and comply with laws and regulations is a complex undertaking. HRM can and should play a strategic role in the management of the organization (Laudon and Laudon 2005).
The main types of management decisions that human resources IS supports are experimental, made of stages, conditional and delayed. These types are important for human resources as they allow to meet organizational objectives and respond to environmental changes (Oz, 2006). The human resources function should be expected to introduce better systems for managing a firm’s human resources. In addition, the human resources function should continually look for ways to more closely align human resources systems and procedures with the evolving direction of the organization. Many organizations today restructure and reengineer themselves into new shapes and operating arrangements.
The purpose of such reorganization is often to capitalize on improved communications and better responsiveness for competitive advantage. Again, such changes in structure can produce significant changes in the jobs and the kinds of skills people need to perform those jobs. As this experiment unfolds, look at the changing nature of job requirements for both managers and employees. The assessment of the supply of talent available to an organization as projected into the future is the companion piece of this second phase of human resources planning. Here, the current employee population of the organization is inventoried to determine how well the supply can meet the demand.
Together, demand and supply forecasting is sometimes referred to as manpower planning The human resources planner considers what actions, if any, are warranted to address the projected imbalances between labor demand and supply. In this context, the full repertoire of human resources management policies and programs can be called on (Oz, 2006).
The four sources of data that will be input into a Human Resources MIS are remotely-sensed imagery, existing digital data files, point data samples from surveys or maps. The planner looks at the costs and likely benefits of various possible courses of action to help guide the decision-making process. Human resources planning is a procedure that seems to make a great deal of sense. One would expect that such a procedure would be widely practiced, particularly among larger firms with the size and resources to support such planning (Philip, 2007).
Perhaps for this reason alone, one further step recommended is to obtain the support and involvement of top management in the human resources planning process. Although human resources planning cannot yield perfect predictions, it does give the organization the ability to think through what kinds of personnel will be needed in the future. Further, such planning gives the organization an opportunity to prepare to meet that future in a more proactive manner. Skill training in the tasks of today’s high performance firm must be extensive and continuous (Philip, 2007).
The outputs produced by the MIS will be statistical analysis, data correlation analysis, calculations and probabilistic analysis. These results are produced by MIS systems thus human resources are responsible for correct data input and processing (Philip, 2007). There is little to suggest that it changed any fundamental dimensions of organization structure, that it led to wider participation in decision making by lower level workers, even of those whose jobs were enriched, or that the cause of industrial democracy benefited from it despite the vast energies and costs poured into the effort. Autocracy is a remarkably resilient management style.
It has the adaptability to dig in and preserve itself through all but the strongest assaults. The organization development movement was often patently antiauthoritarian in many of its applications and purposes. It is sometimes hard to discriminate political from interpersonal sensitivity except on moral grounds. In the longer run, sensitivity training probably made the work of those who participated in it more complex, difficult and interesting (Oz, 2006).
In sum, human resource management is responsible for effective performance of information systems, data input and output results. The organization development movement addressed well the political and interpersonal aspects of organization. There is acute awareness of misfit between traditional organization structure and emerging expectation for wider sharing of performance responsibility in organizations.
Bibliography
Carr, N. G. 2004, Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage. Harvard Business School Press.
McAfee, A. 2006, Mastering theThreeWorlds of InformationTechnology. Harvard Business review. pp.141-147.
Laudon, K. C. & Laudon, J. P. 2005, Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, 9th Edition.
Oz, E. 2006, Management Information Systems. Course Technology; 5 edition.
Philip, G. 2007, Information Systems Management. Mcgraw Hill Book Co Ltd.