Human Resource Individual Assignment

1. Human Resource Management and Technology

1. Knowledge Worker

A person who utilizes knowledge in working or finishing tasks is called a knowledge worker. In a company, knowledge workers can be people who organize, market or distribute information or contribute to the commerce of products. Peter Drucker in 1959 used the term knowledge worker in his book, Landmarks of Tomorrow, to refer to those who work in the fields of information technology which includes programmers, system analysts, technical writers, academic professionals, researches and so forth. Some other occupations such as teachers and lawyers are also often referred to as knowledge workers.

In today’s working environment, people have the tendencies to segment between those who have talents, whom we call knowledge workers, and those who do not have. This trending view may erode the morale of the workers and in the long term, the company. When asked, people would refer to the top tier managements or people with exceptional ‘creativity’ such as scientists, architects and such.

The fact is that, even workers that work daily in the front-line factories in producing the products are also people that require improvisations in terms of engaging with fellow workers in order to enhance the performance level.

1. Impacts of Technology to HR Today

Technology advancements have brought many major changes in our life. We update our status, photos, food, and if we relate it to the Human Resource Department, many systems have been made much more efficient and effective with the help of technology. Various applications are now available for HR people and managers in order to create a more organized and efficient workforce. For example, Glassdoor, an application that has helped thousands of employees is searching the right position and place. It has become one of the best applications in helping performance review. Software Advice did a survey on random 4,633 respondents in the US and found 3 key findings. Half of the sample has used Glassdooor application in their job search; employees are more attracted to companies with good review such as better compensation and benefits; and most of all, new reviews or less than 6 months reviews are the most impacting ones.

1. 6 Areas in HRM That Is Affected By Technology

In the area of recruiting, hiring and training, which were previously done without the help of technology, are managed online today. All the employees need to do is submit the softcopy of the CV online. In terms of training, employees can now be observed or even request for training through e-learning which saves cost compared to training everyone in the company without considering who really needs it and who has already performed well.

Employers also monitor through CCTVs that are planted in various areas throughout the organization. This serves for safety purposes and evidence for crimes if any should arise. Another monitoring method is through the PC that employees use so that employers may check whether they are working or using it for personal reasons. Although this brings many human rights issues in term of looking through employees personal, it is a very common practice in many organizations today.

Previously, communications through different departments are often rare to none. With technological help, employees from different departments today have better access and connect with each other easily through social media, organization’s website, or chatting applications. This brings down the silo that is created from the scarce of communication between departments.

Technology also helps the compensation management by using Compensation Management Software which reduce labor costs, improve talent retention, and increase in employee engagement in the compensation and reward section. SHRM has cited several cases where these applications have cut approximately 65% of the time necessary to plan for the salary and in other case, more than $10 million.

In terms of performance review, almost half of human resource professionals admit that the process of performance-review needs to be re-evaluated. Technologies come into play as performance review is virtually not working. Various applications today are available and many provide the employers the feature to manage real-time performance, to monitor employee’s achievements, goals and challenges, to improve communication so that employers may keep reminding their employees of their goals, and to send in-time feedback so that changes can be made immediately.