The changes brought about by trends such as globalization, technological developments, and knowledge-based economy, and the speed of these changes are forcing the enterprises to create more innovative ways of doing business and business processes. This rapid change has also affected and altered human resources departments' way of business. In this chapter, the changes in human resources management functions and applications with the effect of technology during this time have been explained. In addition, the electronic human resources management process and its applications, which have been more important as a result of developed human resources technology, are examined and presented in this chapter.
TopIntroduction
The increasing competition with globalization in today's business world and the developments in communication technologies push the enterprises to develop effective working styles and to adapt rapidly to the changes. Changes in company strategies and business practices created by globalization, supply and demand situation of labor force, current labor force situation, developments in technology, HRM practices of competitors, economic developments, changes in legislation, changes in employee expectations, cost reduction expectations, mergers and acquisitions have created the need for the restructuring of HRM processes and it became necessary fort he HRM units to undertake more strategic HRM roles (Cook, 1999; Bondarouk & Ruel, 2009; Marler, 2009).
The changing roles of HR managers foresee a transition from the realization of traditional operational activities to the realization of long-term strategic activities. The HR managers are increasingly taking advantage of the expertise and opinions of the senior management in strategic decisions, providing support function instead of being excluded from the strategic decisions of the organization (Barney & Wright, 1998). On the other hand, the strategic and traditional roles of the HR manager cannot coexist. For this reason, it is envisaged that traditional roles will be carried out by creating integrable HR service centers or by external sources (Ulrich, 1996; Caldwell, 2003).
As a result, the responsibilities of the HR manager are narrowed in scope; however, they have more strategic and higher responsibilities. In other words, it is important that the HR manager's main roles in the personnel management period are separated from the changing current roles; It is envisaged that the HR manager will be valued in a position closer to the top management and in a more strengthened position and will be able to identify and identify the organization with the strategy and the desired values (Legge, 1989; Ulrich, 1998).
The efforts to restructure the HRM processes to provide added value to the operational results have revealed restructuring efforts involving the inclusion of information technology in the processes (Iqbal, Ahmad, Raziq, & Borini, 2019). Accordingly, HR departments are focused on reducing the intensity of the transaction volume by using information technology.
In this process, information technologies and human resources management experts worked together to create software and systems that transfer human resources information and decision-making systems from personnel files to computers, and played an important role in implementing E-HRM applications by restructuring HRM processes (Hall & Moritz, 2003).
In the Human Resources Management (HRM) processes, computers and internet has made it possible for human resources departments to assume more strategic roles to contribute to the operational results. Recruitment, success assessment, in-house transfers, remuneration, work security, personnel affairs, training and development, performance measurements, rewarding and punishment management processes were transferred to electronic systems, and it was possible to manage these processes with a holistic approach. In addition, the bureaucracy in the management of the human resources processes in enterprises has been reduced and instead of the manual methods that are performed inadequately, with more efficient HRM processes time and cost savings have been ensured. This has made it easier for business managers and HR experts to spend more time concentrating on strategic issues than on routine jobs (Cook, 1999; Ulrich & Lake,1990; Snell, 1994).
In the following sections of the study, the concept, scope and importance of electronic human resources management, the characteristics of electronic human resources management, the role of electronic human resources in HRM processes, the important effects of human resources management departments in assuming more strategic roles, the advantages and disadvantages of electronic human resources management in terms of enterprises will be explained extensively.