Introduction and Background
Organizations need to keep very accurate records concerning their employees this is simply because the process of verifying pay rates, private employee information, exemptions, hire date, and vacation hours is very important to the smooth functioning of the organization (Satzinger, Jackson & Burd 2004). A good human resource system should be able to accurately manage human resources by keeping accurate records of these employees. The failure to have vital information belonging to employees when need arises can end up being catastrophic and may at some instances even affect the core business of an organization (VanVliet & Pietron 2006).
Riordan manufacturing was founded back in the early 1990’s by Michael Riordan and is a manufacturing company that mainly deals with manufacturing of plastics with its factories based in the United States and China. The company has a staff of approximately 500 employees, who are usually tracked by a manual system, and hence the company has had a difficulty in managing its workforce and thus the company requires implement a new system that will enable the organization effectively gather and store vital employee information using human resource information systems that are more simple to use and up to date (!Trak-It Solutions 2007).
Riordan Manufacturing’s current human resources system does not implement all of these in a single integrated application. If human resource systems can be integrated into one platform then it would become easier for human resource staff to handle data that is crucial to human resource management. The current Riordan’s human resource information system uses a basic and simple system that is inferior to the organizational needs the system is connected to the financial system and other simple organizational software’s demand for a lot of tracking and cross-referencing (McMillan 2004). It is hence necessary to integrate all this systems into one platform that will reduce the work load that human resource officers are exposed to during tracking and cross referencing
Problem statement
The Riordan manufacturing system has been exhibiting symptoms of a problem simply because the company’s human resource system does not have up to date information of their employees and human resource information is highly disorganized. The current filling system is highly deficient and therefore human resource files are highly scattered and disorganized making the process of releasing information quite difficult ( McMillan 2004). The human resource department has over the years lost very vital employee information making it impossible to accurately track employee activities, simply because their human resource system cannot handle huge volumes of employee information (McMillan 2004).
Literature review of good human resource practices
There are no perfect Human Resource Information Management Systems (HRIS) but a good human resource information management system will ensure that the Management of all employee information is done so with a high degree of precision and thus accurate hence putting an organization in a competitive advantage (!Trak-It Solutions 2007). Reporting and breakdown of employee information is also a very important part of good human resource information management systems because it enables human resource manager’s group and cluster employees and thereby assigning them to tasks which are most suitable for them.
Important Company documents such as employee handbooks, emergency evacuation procedures, and performance review forms, Benefits and reward administration documents, status changes documents that are used to define the position which employees occupy in the hierarchy of the organization, and documents that contain private information of employees should always be automatically updated and stored as time goes by (!Trak-It Solutions 2007). The absolute integration of all human resource platforms financial software and accounting systems is also a very important characteristic of a good Human resource information management system that enables an organization effectively attach monetary values to human resource activities.
A good HRIS ensures that a company can accurately track attendance and store history of employees especially pertaining to pay grades and positions held previously within the organization. Additionally it is the duty of HRIS to plan and gradually implement performance development plans that aim at empowering the workforce, by doing so the organization can thus organize training to be received successfully, and also reinforce positive behavior while at the same time disciplinary action can be taken to counter unsuitable behavior amongst employees (!Trak-It Solutions 2007).
Thus good HRIS ensure that there is good management of the whole workforce so that the level of output within an organization can be optimized. It is often assumed that good human resource practices are responsible motivating and empowering employees and therefore this is why organizations may put in place employee succession plans, and other systems that assist in identifying potential employee potential.
Information gathering techniques
Data can be gathered using gathered using both secondary and primary sources. Secondary sources of data include print outs that were obtained from the current human resource system. By using this technique the researcher will be able to review the various output and compare them to the intended output of the human resource system and therefore measure actual output and desired output therefore determining the level of deviation in the current system (McMillan 2004). Since the current system is faulty and problematic the data print outs are expected to have evidence of particular problems within the current HRIS in Riordan.
Primary sources of data are also appropriate and thus conducting interviews within the human resources department to get opinions of human resource employees and gather the various challenges that are being experienced in the current human resource system and enable the various adjustments that they would like to be carried out ( Kavanagh & Thite 2008). The interviews are to be conducted by the help of semi structured questionnaires that are open ended so that a more qualitative data can be conducted. Additionally the researcher(s) can also use observation as a technique by setting up base in Riordan for a week and writing reports of what they see relevant to the theme of their research.
Scope and Feasibility
The study is to be carried out within the whole organization and especially in each and every resource that has its software and information system interacting with the human resource system. This is because to integrate each single software into one platform it will be necessary to coordinate activities of each and every department within Riordan U.S.A and China. The study is most likely to be costly but its benefits outweigh its costs thus making it very feasible. This is because the study will bring to an end the error of chaos within the human resource systems in Riordan and additionally other companies can replicate this study to improve their own Human Resource Information System.
References
!Trak-It Solutions. (2007). !Trak-It HR. Web.
Kavanagh, M.J., & Thite, M. (2008).Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions. New York: Sage Publications.
McMillan, Y. (2004). Analysis of Human Resource System at Riordan. Web.
Satzinger, J.W., Jackson, R.J., Burd, S.D. (2004). System analysis and design in a changing world. Boston, MA: Thomson Course Technology.
VanVliet, P.A., & Pietron, L.R. (2006). Information Systems Development Education in the Real World – A Project Methodology and Assessment. Journal of Information Systems Education, 17(3), 285-293. Web.