human resource information systems
the data to appear in the appropriate format
John W. Boudreau
Human resource information systems (HRIS)
are systematic procedures for collecting, storing,
maintaining, retrieving, and validating data
needed by an organization about its human
resources, personnel activities, and organization
unit characteristics (Milkovich and Boudreau,
1993). HRIS need not be complex or even
computerized. They can be as informal as
the payroll records and time cards of a small
boutique or restaurant or as extensive and
formal as the computerized human resource
data banks of major manufacturers, banks, and
governments.
HRIS can support human resource planning
with information for labor supply and demand
forecasts; staffing with information on equal
employment opportunity, job postings, separa-
tions, and applicant qualifications; and training
and development with information on training
program costs and trainee work performance
(see TRAINING). HRIS can also support compen-
sation with information on pay increases, payroll
processing, salary forecasts, and pay budgets and
labor–employee relations with information on
contract negotiations and employee assistance
needs. The purpose is to provide information
that is required by human resource stakeholders
or that supports human resource decisions.
HRIS enhance human resource management in
several ways, including:
1. reducing the costs of gathering, summa-
rizing, and distributing information;
2. BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING, by
encouraging decision-makers to care-
fully consider how to design their human
resource information processing to be most
efficient and effective; and
3. decision support, by providing data that
help the recipient to improve decisions
about programs or personal choices
(Boudreau, 1992).
HRIS must accomplish three significant
processes: (i) input, which involves adding data
to the system; (ii) maintenance, which involves
updating, integrating, and organizing the data;
Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, edited by Professor Sir Cary L Cooper.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
and (iii) output, which involves manipulating
and then delivering the data to the appropriate
destination or person. A growing number of
organizations now use computerized systems
to implement their HRIS. Such systems may
rely on large centralized databases, but more
frequently are evolving to exploit large networks
of smaller computers, each containing a portion
of the human resources data of the organiza-
tion (Broderick and Boudreau, 1991). Future
systems will very likely provide connections
to worldwide networks such as the internet,
allowing external information to be imported and
combined with the internal information from
the organization. Construction of such comput-
erized information requires careful planning
and the cooperation of multiple constituents
(Walker, 1993).
As computers become increasingly common
in offices, homes, and factories, access to HRIS
is rapidly increasing. In the past, only a handful
of technicians had the skills to obtain HRIS
contents. Today, many managers can acquire
such information from their desktops or even
by phone, and employees are increasingly able
to use computers to change their personal
data entries, get information about company
policies, and even obtain computerized expert
system assistance for decisions such as choosing
among flexible benefit plans or relocation. As
access proliferates, the question of privacy in
organizations will be increasingly important
to human resource managers, especially those
who support international human resource
management (Boudreau, Broderick, and Pucik,
1994).
Bibliography
Boudreau, J.W. (1992) HRIS: adding value or just
cutting costs? HR Monthly, May, 8–11.
Boudreau, J.W., Broderick, R.L. and Pucik, V. (1994)
Just doing business: human resource information
systems in the global organization, in Global Informa-
tion Systems and Technology: Focus on the Organization
and Its Functional Areas (eds P.C. Deans and K.R.
Karwan), Idea Group Publishing, Harrisburg, PA.
Broderick, R.L. and Boudreau, J.W. (1991) The evolu-
tion of computer use in human resource management:
2 human resource information systems
interviews with ten leaders. Human Resource Manage- Walker, A.J. (1993) Handbook of Human Resource Informa-
ment, 30, 485–508. tion Systems, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Milkovich, G.T. and Boudreau, J.W. (1993) Human
Resource Management, R.D. Irwin, Homewood, IL.