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The working papers are produced by the Bradford University School of Management and are to be circulated fordiscussion purposes only. Their contents should be considered to be preliminary. The papers are expected to be

published in due course, in a revised form and should not be quoted without the authors permission.

Working Paper SeriesHuman Resource Information Systems (HRIS) as Means of Fulfilling

Job Roles More Professionally for Human Resource (HR) Managers

Zahid HussainPeter Prowse

Working Paper No 04/07

March 2004

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HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEMS

(HRIS) AS MEANS OF FULFILLING JOB

ROLES MORE PROFESSIONALLY FOR HUMAN

RESOURCE (HR) MANAGERS

Dr Zahid Hussain

(BA Hons (Mgt), MSc (IS), MSc (HRM),

PgDip (Ed-LT), PhD (IS), ILTHEM)

Lecturer in Information Systems

School of Management

University of Bradford

Emm Lane

Bradford BD9 4JL

Telephone: +44 (0)1274 234332

Fax: +44 (0)1274 546866

Email: [email protected]

Dr Peter Prowse

(BA Hons (IR), MSc, Dip.Soc.Stud, FIPD, MILT,PhD(Phil))

Lecturer in Industrial Relations

School of Management

University of Bradford

Emm Lane

Bradford BD9 4JL

Telephone: +44 (0)1274 234454

Fax: +44 (0)1274 546866

Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

In recent years information systems (IS) have been

deployed by organisations for achieving efficiency,

effectiveness, enhancing quality and gaining

competitive advantage. Similarly Human Resource

Information Systems (HRIS) are used by Human

Resource (HR) departments to achieve similar

objectives. This research aims to investigate the

impact of HRIS on HR Managers present and

future roles and decisions making.

It is concerned with looking at the role of HRIS as

a medium for HR managers for performing their

job roles more professionally or perhaps as a

means for reducing their status after years of

hard-earned recognition. This research will

investigate whether, and to what extent HRIS are

enabling HR managers to enhance their job roles

to attain increased professional status. It willevaluate whether HRIS are enabling current HR

managers to achieve increased recognition and

professionalism. This will be examined by looking

at the nature of HRIS and the nature of HR

managers job roles (traditional and new emerging

ones) followed by a focus on the impact of HRIS

on HR managers job roles.

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W O R KI N G P AP E R S E R IE S

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1) INTRODUCTION SCOPE AND NATURE

OF THE RESEARCH

Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) have

been used in HR departments for many years, but

more recently their use has changed to that of

playing a more strategic role to support HR

workers, in particular HR managers. The job

contents and the expectations from HR managers

have changed over the last a few years, with

functional and strategic pressures ever growing on

them (Armstrong, 1984, 1994; Kinnie and

Arthurs, 1996; Ball, 2000; Mabey et al., 2000).

Economic pressures have resulted in structural

changes taking place within organisations.

The historical image of the HR role was a job that

nobody wanted nor had the expertise to do.

Senior managers used HR managers to smoothen

the turbulence of organisational change, leavingthem free to get on with the strategic work of the

organisation. The role of the HR manager had

gained status in organisations compared to

previous years (Personnel Management,1993:

p69). HR activities have been classified both in

terms of added value and uniqueness.

Organisations can easily evaluate this added

value. In most cases, this does not just lead to

slimming-down of the HR function - with many

processes being undertaken by line management,

but it also fundamentally changes the role of HR

specialists. Thus the realisation that the HR

specialists new role was developing into a

strategic contributor to the business (Personnel

Management, 1993).

Despite this optimistic perspective some of the UK

evidence has confirmed little use of IT for analytical

decision support activities (Kinnie and Arthurs,

1992; Ball, 2000). In contrast, other evidence

argues that HRIS developments closely to match the

changing need of HR managers and assist by

offering strategic level support toorganisations(Softworld Report, 1996,1997;

Robinson, 1999). This identifies an increase in

adopting HRIS for the benefit of HR departments

and HR managers and emphasise highlights the

changing role of HR directors and managing

directors. The evidence argues that this trend is

taking place at increasing pace and HR managers

would make the necessary use of HRIS to achieve

improved performance and that removing routine

administration allows them to become

professional consultants to the rest of theorganisation(Softworld Report, 1996,1997). This

enables HR Information systems to provide quality

information to the board to enhance informed

decision making (Softworld Report, 1996,1997:p16).

Research would also consider new emerging roles

such as consultancy. Edward (cited in Softworld

Report, 1996) believes that it is important that

HRIS can facilitate strategic working as well as

lower-level workings, such as designing employee

reward systems. Different levels of use has its own

issues associated with it, such as input errors

made by users compared to system design errors

(Liff, 1997; Laudon and Laudon, 2002).

The need for information varies at different levels

of organisational hierarchy. Information required

by senior managers differs from operational level

workers. For example, board of directors and top

managers require executive reports and

summaries. Managers at departmental level

require more day-to-day management information,

and HRIS caters for this. Edward (cited in

Softworld Report, 1996) places more emphaseson tangible benefits of HRIS such as faster

response of HR managers to organisational

management with some companies are taking a

more long-term view, she believes:

HR managers can improve both their

companys performance and their own

status within the company, by honing their

knowledge of the packages on the market

and what they are capable of delivering

(Softworld, 1996:p23).

Both Rees and Edward (both cited in Softworld

Report, 1996), concluded that HRIS should be

seen as a medium for HR managers to perform

their job roles (even) more effectively in their

organisations. This issue had been argued by

earlier authors (Gallagher, 1986: Broderick and

Boudreau, 1992).

Gallagher (1997) argues that HRIS can influence

effectiveness in four ways: Firstly, with emphasis

on increased productivity from the workforce,recruitment, short term working, temporary, and

less redundancies. Secondly, it deals with the

increasing demands made by legislation, which

related to HR practices and the increased need to

produce statistics for government. The third factor

was the rate of the development of computer

technology. The final factor was the increased

availability of HRIS at lower costs. The

professional body argued that effective HRIS use

leads to ef ficiency (CIPD, 1999).

This research will investigate whether HRIS are

actually assisting HR managers to fulfil their job

roles more professionally in the UK. In

undertaking this research we generated a number

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of research questions (RQ) that were based on

aims of this research. They are:

(1) to explore the role of HR managers and their

use of IS in fulfilling these roles,

(2) to focus on the contribution of IS in

developing professional status,

(3) to what extent is IS assisting HR managers to

deal with the emerging roles.

2) LITERATURE ON HRIS AND HRM

2.1 Human Resource Information Systems

(HRIS)

Rapid changes in information systems (IS) in last

five decades have been strongly influential on

modern organisations (Avison and Shah, 1997;

Chaffey, 2003). Many organisations are using IS

as a tool for enhancing efficiency. This is

consistent with the writings of IS writers like

Edwards et al (1995), Elliott and Starkings (1998),

Renkema (2000), and, Laudon and Laudon

(2002) the use of IS, which includes systems such

as HRIS, has become widespread in most

organisations and more employees and

departments in all types of organisations are

heavily reliant on such systems. Softworld

(1996/7) also reported a rise in the use of HRIS

in the UK. The reducing cost of personal

computers has provided medium and smaller

businesses access to both hardware and hardwarefor the use of HRIS (Ball, 2001)

The use of IS in organisation can enable them to

increase efficiency, effectiveness and integration.

Three general uses of IS in organisations are:

Business operations:Day to day activities of the

organisation, such as producing its products or

delivering its services.

Management of organisation:The activities for

controlling and monitoring the day-to-day

activities of the organisation in the context of

its aims and goals.

Strategic objectives:The long-term, objectives

and goals of the organisation.

A contemporary use of IS has become more

advanced and enables organisation to make a more

strategic use of them, as mentioned by Tyson and

Fell. Different types of systems and their use is:

Transaction Processing Systems (TPS): TPS are used

to undertake day-to-day activities, transactions and

functions at operational level. These systems help

to make Operational Decisionssuch as stockcontrol. Management Information Systems (MIS):

MIS are used for predicting the financial operations

of the organisation as well as graphical models that

provide a visual illustration of the information.

These systems help to make Management Control

Decisionssuch as comparisons of data or budget

data. Strategic Information Systems (SIS): SIS type

systems ... provide information to senior

executive managers on strategic areas of a

business organisations activities, to aid

strategic decision-making(Lucey, 1997:p232).

These systems help to make Strategic Decisions

that involve decisions based on ill-defined problem.

A summary of the use of these three levels of IS is

provided in the Figure 1 taken from Elliott and

Starkings (1998).

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FIGURE 1: DIFFERENT LEVELS OF IS USE (SOURCE: ELLIOTT AND STARKINGS, 1998:P48)

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Therefore IS, including HRIS, can be used at

various levels of the organisation to accomplish

various types of tasks by various levels of

organisational workers (Chaffey et al., 2003).

Figure 1 shows that IS are used at three levels:

strategic, tactical/middle and operational, hence

there are three types of IS (EIS, MIS and TPS) that

are used by three different level of workers

(strategic, middle management and operational).

Figure 1 illustrates that the number of people

making strategic use of IS are usually low and

situated in senior managerial positions in the

organisational hierarchy. It demonstrates that

senior organisational workers within the

organisation are fewer in number than those at

the bottom and they have shorter time horizon for

making decisions than those at operational levels.

It emphasises that authority to make decisions at

the top of the apex is higher, are more uncertainand require a lot more authority than those at the

bottom. Decisions made at senior levels of

management are also more problematic and the

problem scope of these is much wider. Such

decisions are a rare occurrence. In that respect

organisational workers, including those at

professional grades, such as HR managers would

have to use them at various levels to yield

maximum benefits from them. What has not been

established is the level they were using HRIS in

their daily work, since such systems are being

used at various levels, from very operational level

used in undertaking routine work to more

strategic level work for making judgements. Most

early HRIS were used at operational levels in their

early days and more recently they are being used

at more strategic level as their functionality

becomes more advanced.

A more advanced use of IS for strategic level work

may be happening due to advances in technology

(Laudon and Laudon, 2002; Lucey, 1997; Avison

and Shah, 1997, Chaffey et al., 2003, Robson,1997). HRIS are used at different levels of the

organisation to help HR managers to accomplish

different levels of tasks hence the impact of HRIS

on the role of a HR manager is likely to be a

major one. According to Laudon and Laudon

(2002) HRIS are used at three levels of

organisation as they offer a comprehensive set of

functionality, such as training, career pathing and

compensation analysis.

The requirements from HRIS have been changing

in recent years (Gallagher, 1986:p89; Softworld,

1996, 1997). A full HRIS offers a wide range of

modules ranging from strategic to operational, as

shown in table 1. Usually when we use the term

HRIS, we imply a fully developed HRIS. Most

vendors offer full systems but some also offer

partial systems.

Softworld (1997:p4) identified a general increase

in the use of HRIS. The current systems offer the

following types of modules, as shown in Table 1.

Norman and Edwards (cited in Softworld, 1997)highlight that some modules are more popular by

HR departments.

There is an attempt to convince line management

to increase their use of HRIS. Management Today

(1993:p23) found line management held an

adverse opinion about HRIS and that this needed

to change if professionals were to enhance their

status. Softworld (1996/7) has carried out a

survey of people other than the HR managers

who use HRIS. The evidence identified the

majority of users were the HR/Personnel

departments staff (87.9%) followed by the

departments directors (56.9%) and training

managers (54.3%). Potential future users were

identified as line managers (66.4%), and

HR/Personnel directors (38.8%). The significant

growth of use by line managers (up 48.3%)

(Softworld 1997:p33). This increased use of IS

could empower HR professionals.

2.2 Human Resource Management (HRM)

It is important to focus on the typical andtraditional roles of HR managers as well as the

new emerging changes to their roles, such as HR

consultancy roles, forming HR plans and strategy

and integrating them to organisational level

strategy. HRIS have been designed to help HR

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TABLE 1: HRIS FUNCTIONS

Personnel Records & Report

Generation

Disciplinary Control

Holiday Management

Time and Attendance

Shift schedule Management

Selection

Company Car Management

Performance Assessment

Recruitment Management

Payroll

Organisational charting

Testing of skills and aptitudes

Personnel Development Needs

AssessmentJob Evaluation

Data Interface

Grievance Procedure

Nationalities & Permit Processing

Absence Monitoring

Flexible Benefits

Buildings Management

Self Assessment

Success Planning

Test Development & Evaluation

Job analysis

Health and Safety Records

Training Management Expenses

Redeployment.

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managers to perform different types of duties

both routine and higher level. But do HRIS allow

HR managers to perform their roles more

professionally overall and gain better recognition?

The HR profession has been changing constantly

and reflects the wider changes to organisations,

so the nature of their work, their professional

recognition and even their use of IS would

depend on the proposed changes to their jobs.

The perceived importance and non-importance of

HR profession is likely to have an impact on the

system use by HR managers.

HR professionals are more diverse than the

traditional professionals. Farnham (1985) noted

that unlike traditional professions, like lawyers, HR

Management is not an homogeneous group being

employed by different size, types and sectors oforganisations. Another issue is how Human

Resource Professionals gain power and status

within organisations, Legge (1978) argues that

the function can gain additional power and status

by either conformity or challenging current

business norms and paradigms to gain authority

and power within organisations. Although this has

been explored by both Shipton and McAuley

(1990, p12) and Grant et al (1998) who argue

that the enhanced of the personnel function by

positioning itself within the organisation provides

more power and status than the enhancement of

professional status.

2.2.1 Types of HR Specialists/Managers

Guest and Horwood (1981: cited in Armstrong,

1984) identified five types of HR specialists used

by an organisations, distinguished by

occupational category and status in the

management hierarchy. Despite their diverse

backgrounds HR managers, Cole (1997) argued,

play a central role in their organisations. This

importance of their role could be linked withMcKinlays notion ofcentral wise man. The

purpose of HR manager should be judged to the

extent they help the organisation to meet its

objectives using their roles (Armstrong, 1984).

There are 3 broad roles of HR manager (Advice on

Policy, Advice on HR systems): advisory, service

and functional roles (Hussain, 2002).

2.3 New emerging role of HR specialist:

HR consultancy

This discussion is concerned with analysingemerging strategic roles of HR specialists, where

HR managers act like internal/external consultants

and provide services at strategic levels on

organisational planning and strategy (Hussain,

2002). HR professionals, especially, those who

occupy higher positions are becoming more like

internal/external organisational HR consultants.

The use of the term consultant is interpreted

generically as management, organisational and HR

consultantancy. Since a HR consultant is a

management/organisational consultant

(Armstrong, 1994). Different writers have written

about the typical roles of a consultant (Schein,

1987; Clark, 1995; Nees and Greiner, 1987) by

assigning particular image and roles to consultants.

The type of consultant is usually described using a

metaphor (Clark, 1995), for example doctor-patient

type of consultant (Schein, 1987).

In essence some of the characteristics of the roles

of a consultant are to: provide the information

that is usually difficult to obtain; analyse

information that is not known to the client;analyse complex organisational problems; train

clients to use diagnostics models that he/she may

have developed. The roles of a consultant have

been defined in many ways (Clark, 1995), but the

purpose of an organisational consultant (HR

consultant) is to: understand, have relevant

knowledge, motivate others, be a good

listener/communicator, be neutral, be explorative,

be empathetic and to envisage better ways of

doing things (Markham, 1998). Therefore a good

consultant is: co-operative, enthusiastic, likes to

perform, effective, determined, creative, honest

and possesses good leadership skills who can

work as part of a team, all key competencies in

HR management (Cole, 1997).

Schein (1987) believes that some consultants will

mainly take on certain roles more than other roles

depending on their nature or type of consultancy

assignment. He provides a few different types of

consultants, as shown in table 2 below.

Each type of consultant places emphasis oncertain roles than the others, offering different

types of service in different organisations, and,

may use all the roles provided in Table 2. Block

(1991) also notes that the primary goals of a

consultant are to establish a collaborative

relationship, solve problems so they stay solved

and ensure attention is given to both the

technical/business problems and the

relationships. He sees the roles of a consultant as

an expert, extra pair-of-hands and collaborator. He

believes that developing client commitment is animportant aspect of consulting act.

Therefore when comparing the a multiple roles

and responsibilities of HR professional to a

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consultant it becomes clear that in different

circumstances a HR professionals role may

conform to Scheins (1987) expert, doctor/patient

and the process consultant roles. They may offer

many types of services using many types of styles

of consulting within their organisation. In that

respect they can be referred to as consultants. HR

professionals are consultants when required by an

(their) organisation to provide manager

consultation on various HR and even

organisational issues. Armstrong (1994) believed

that the main areas of HR consultancy are:

general HR advice, HR problems, systems

development (such as new policies and

procedures), process consulting (work set-ups),training, recruitment and selection and

benchmarking the performance or practice.

Having experience of wider range of HR and

organisational issues improves the expertise of HR

professionals to develop as more effective role in

consultancy than those offering very specialised

services. Finally, the process followed by a typical

consultant in his/her work is different to that

followed by a HR professional. A consultant has

to gain an entry and then follow a well-definedprocess (protocol that they are use to) in

establishing what needs to be done, although the

final output may be similar from both. There are

two issues. Firstly, the structured (step by step)

consultancy process should not be a determining

factor in deciding whether a HR professional is a

consultant or not. Secondly, the lengthy process

adopted by external consultants only exists to

compensate for the lack of knowledge and

relationship with the client.

Organisations have recently begun to realise the

potential of using HR professionals for

consultancy assignments, as Armstrong (1994:

p.viii) stated:

It is worth noting that the structural

changes in organisations have led to

changes in the roles of HR specialists,

many of whom are becoming internal

consultants.

We believe that two main reasons for engaging

HR consultants in HR/organisational consultancy

is to innovate new systems and procedures, and

solve organisational/professional problems.

Finally, in providing good consultancy and advice

it is important for HR manager to have up-to-date

and accurate information. HRIS can make this

possible for them.

2.4 New emerging role of HR specialist:

Strategy and planning

Organisations have begun to realise the importance

of HRM in achieving a better competitive advantage

(Greer 1995:p130-2; Husleid, 1995; Hussain, 2002).

This recognition along with increased environmental

uncertainty, greater pressure to control costs and

increased governmental labour initiatives have

highlighted the strategic role of HRM (Peters and

Waterman, 1982) and the need to change

organisational culture in 1990s to bring it in linewith the new economic change (Johnson and

Scholes, 1993; Miles and Snow, 1986; Pettigrew and

Whipp, 1991).

Greer (1995) notes that HRM refers to the

application of HR to meet organisations strategic

requirements and objectives in an effective way.

So it involves:

... getting the strategy of the business

implemented effectively ... getting

everybody from the top of the human

organization to the bottom doing things

that make the business successfull p13.

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Expert Consultant Provision of expertise and information

Specific, clear task boundaries.

Client diagnosis is correct

Client accepts responsibility for consultant solution

Doctor/Patient Consultant Examination of organisational human process

Task boundaries can be developed through diagnosis

Client has appropriate information for correct consultant diagnosis

Consultant prescription given, based on diagnosis

Process Consultant Learning and development for future organisational use

Wide task boundaries - agreed by client and consultant

Joint client/consultant diagnosis of problems

Joint client/consultant responsibility for outcomes

TABLE 2: SCHEINS 3 CONSULTANCY ROLES SOURCE

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Schuler and Jackson (1987) suggest that HRM is

primarily about integration and adaptation. Its

concern is to ensure that: (i) HRM is fully

integrated with the strategy and the strategic

needs of the organisation; (ii) HR policies are

coherent both across policy areas and across

hierarchies; and, (iii) HR practices are adjusted,

accepted, and used by line managers and

employees as part of their daily work. Similar views

have been expressed by various other authors in

this area (Wright and McMahan, 1992:p116;

Mabey et al, 2000:p16; Hales, 1994:p51).

Although there are a range of models to

demonstrate the importance of HR managers as

professionals (discussed further in Hussain, 2002),

the researchers have suggest two for further

analysis - (1) McKinseys 7Ss model and (2) Wright

and McMahans strategic model, as they show theintegrative features of HRM clearly. Firstly,

McKinsey provides a strategic approach to HRM,

which consists of seven interrelated features. These

seven features are inter-related and have to be

considered jointly to achieve a better integration

between HR practice and organisational strategy.

These key features are interlinked and a HRM

department needs to focus on all these to yield

better efficiency, flexibility, quality and control in

the strategic aspects of HRM.

Secondly, Wright and McMahans (1992)

framework that consists of theoretical influences

adopting (1) the resources-based view aims to

explain how to achieve competitive advantage

through allocation of the organisation resources,

organisational culture, and achieving core

competencies. For example, resources could be

used to design a new staff appraisal system in

order to build their core competence. (2) The

behavioural view is based on contingency theory

that aims to explain practices designed to control

and influence attitudes and behaviours. It showsthe instrumentality of such practices in achieving

strategic objectives. (3) The cybernetics systems

view aims to explain the acceptance and rejection

of practices resulting from feedback on

contributions to strategy, where existing ways of

doing things such as training may be revamped to

achieve the objectives. (4) The agency/

transaction costs view aims to explain why

organisational use control mechanisms, such as

performance evaluation and reward systems. In

the absence of performance review systems linkedto reward systems, strategies may be difficult to

pursue. (5) The resource dependence and power

theories view aims to explain practices that are

followed due to changes in the political

atmosphere such as legislation, unionisation, and

control of resources and expectations of social

responsibility. (6) Finally, the institutional theory

view aims to explain that practices, because of

informal reasons and inertia rather than being

planned systematically.

Thirdly, according to Mabey et al (2000) and

Hendry and Pettigrew (1990) the idea of HRM

has been around for sometime and it goes back to

the writings of Drucker (1954) who realised that

well-trained and co-operative workforce was

required for the well being of the organisation

and its economic development. HRM advocates a

close, two-way relationship between

organisational strategy and HR practice through

use of HRM strategy (Beaumont, 1992: p40).

Hendry and Pettigrew (1990) argue that the

strategic aspect of HRM consists of four keyelements: planning, coherent design management

of HR systems, mapping activities and policies to

(HR and Organisational) strategies and seeing

organisational workers as strategic resource. There

are four features associated with HRM: integration

of HR practice with organisational strategy, HR

responsibilities passed onto line management

from HR management; shift from management-

trade union relations to management-employee

relations and seeing organisational workers as

strategic resources (Sisson, 1989). HRM related

changes are aimed at achieving efficiency,

effectiveness, performance, quality (ESRC, 1997)

and workforce flexibility (Atkinson, 1985). Other

initiatives such as re-engineering (Hammer and

Champy, 1992) downsizing are also included. It

also deals with the external pressures such as

demand, innovation and efficiency risks (Child,

1987) as opposed to being a device for

controlling the workforce.

2.5 Professionalism vs HR Specialism

As far as professionalism of HR manager isconcerned several HR writers have written on

this, for example, Armstrong (1984) defined

profession as:

skill based on theoretical knowledge, the

provision of training and education, a test

of competence of members administered

by a professional body; a formal

professional organisation which has the

power to regulate entry to the profession;

and a professional code of conduct p27.

Furthermore, several years ago CIPD (then IPD)

claimed its members were professional as they:

provide specialist professional knowledge,

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advice and support in order to make an

effective use of human resources(p2, CIPD

Rules and Regulations Book). Both Armstrongs

(1984) and CIPDs definition of HR manager are

consistent with the Inventory model of

professionalism that places emphases on

knowledge, training and experience. These are

basic requirements for a HR manager, as the

chairman of British Rail Sir Peter Parker in his

praise to HR managers said that: I am ardent

advocate of professionalism in personnel

management(Personnel Management

September, 1993:p20)

There are various theories of professionalism that

could be used to evaluate the role of HR

managers for its professionalism and in seeing the

importance of HRIS in helping HR managers to

maintain and enhance their professional image(Hussain, 2002). We have chosen trait and

conflict theories for analysis, which are shown in

table 3 below.

Overall professionalism is associated with having

a high degree of intelligence that is proved

through relevant qualifications and training. Two

writers provide views on the image of

professionals in society. Firstly McKinlay (1973)

states: The degree of control they exercise

over their specialised and indeed

knowledge...the level of public acceptance

and support of professionals. Secondly

Johnson (1972) writes: professionals - the

technocrats, expert, organisational man,

manager, have each in turn been seen as at

least populating the corridors of powerp9.

Professionalism is also associated with speciality,

expertise, autonomy, authority and legitimacy.

Johnson (1972) views that autonomy as

important in achieving professionalism

recognition and in distinguishing professionals

from non-professionals. Overall professionals haveauthority over non-professional occupations and

ordinary members of the public. The development

of HRIS has had a major impact on HR managers

and they can utilise HRIS to work differently,

perhaps more efficiently. But at the same time

organisational management and line

management are becoming aware that

automation of HR functions can be achieved. So

can HR managers continue to see an increase in

their status or have they hit a fork in the road?

The use of HRIS increases the information base of

HR managers and allows them to perform their

job roles more professionally. In fact a strategic

use of HRIS enables them to make more informed

decisions and judgements. This would hopefully

enable them to increase their personal recognition

within their organisations.

3) RESEARCH METHODS

3.1) Research Strategy

A positivist approach involving structuredquestionnaire was used due to the wide number

of responses required within a limited time period.

This involved a wide number of organisations

situated all over the UK. The questionnaires were

specific and structured to obtain the data about

the role of HRIS. The evidence also tested the

operationalisation of issues discovered in the

literature.

In this survey (conducted by one of us - ZH), 50

questionnaires were sent out to HR managers or

those higher than HR managers; and 16

questionnaires were returned (34%). Questionnaire

format guidelines outlined by Gill and Johnson

(1991: p85) were followed. The format of the

questionnaire was chosen based on the research

objectives and the findings from the literature

search. Question categories provided by Baxter et

al (1996:p161) were used. Particular attention was

paid to the wording and phraseology of questions,

to ensure a fair and appropriate response. The

questions mainly used multiple choice typology

that analysed and linked back to the existingliterature to test the historical evolution of job

roles, recognition of HRM managers status and the

use of HRIS to aid strategic decision making

10


Theory Central principles Predominant Functionalist Weberian Marxist

Writers

Trait Skills based on theoretical knowledge. McKinlay / /

Theory Provisions of training and education. (1973)

Adherence to a professional code of conduct.

Conflict Class related positions and barriers to entry. Collins / /Theory Market closure and monopolisat ion. (1975/87)

Education and training as a ritual. Torstendhl

Set of interaction with a personal circle of and Burrage

family and acquaintance. (1990)

Conformity to person oriented symbols.

TABLE 3: THEORIES OF PROFESSIONALISM

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Secondly, the fieldwork involved piloting the

questionnaire on colleagues and students to gain

their views on its usability and the amount of time

required in completing it. Several minor corrections

were made. To ensure a better response, a number

of steps were taken initially in designing the

questionnaire: attaching a covering letter, keeping

the questions simple and short, attaching a

prepaid envelope and phoning to confirm the

respondent was a HR manager. Finally, the

confidentiality of the respondents was assured by

eliminating the names and addresses of the

respondents unless they chose to provide them.

Thirdly, the data was aggregated and analysed

using Microsoft Excel. Attempts were made to

keep illustrations simple to assist the researchers

to make relevant sense of the responses. The

respondents were given about two weeks toreturn the questionnaire. The findings were

written up and analysed. The results were then

linked back to the literature, where appropriate, in

order to test current literature.

The use of questionnaire had several advantages

and disadvantages (Bell and Newby, 1977,p150-

152; Oppenheim, 1966). In order to overcome the

disadvantages associated with questionnaires

semi-structured interviews and focus groups can

be used and may be used in the next phase of

this research.

3.2) Data Collection

Questionnaire (see appendix-1) was used to ask a

specific number of questions on HRIS,

professionalism, HR specialisms, and the roles of

HR manager, topics that are linked to the research

aims and sub-research questions.

4) FINDINGS (HRIS AND HRM)

The questionnaire explored whether the

respondents used HRIS or they intended to usethis in the future. In undertaking this research we

generated a number of research questions (RQ)

that were based on aims of this research. These

RQs are:

(1) to explore the role of HR managers and their

use of IS in fulfilling these roles,

(2) to focus on the contribution of IS in

developing professional status,

(3) to what extent is IS assisting HR managers to

deal with the emerging roles.

4.1 Analysis of Data

4.1.1 HRIS

The responses to our questionnaire survey

revealed that a majority of the respondents (94%)

used HRIS or intended to use one, and just 6%

respondents said s/he did not use HRIS but

intended to use one. This indicated, at least as far

as this survey is concerned, that HRIS are widely

used and are important in day to day working of

HR departments and the successful functioning of

HR managers. The questionnaires were

administered across UK to a variety of

organisations.

This concurs with IS writers (Edwards et al., 1995;

Elliott and Starkings, 1998; Renkema, 2000;

Laudon and Laudon, 2002) who write that the

use of IS, which includes systems such as HRIS,

has become widespread in most organisations andmore employees and departments in all types of

organisations are heavily reliant on such systems.

Softworld (1996/7) also reported a rise in the

use of HRIS in the UK.

The use of IS in organisation can enable them to

increase efficiency, effectiveness and integration.

This may be one of the reasons why the responses

suggest a wide use of HRIS in organisations at all

levels of HR work. When asked about the level at

which they were using HRIS in their daily work,

the respondents stated that such systems are

being used at various levels, from very operational

level used in undertaking routine work to more

strategic level work for making judgements. From

the questionnaire the early use of HRIS were for

operational levels. Recently they are being used at

more strategic level as their functionality becomes

more advanced. Almost all respondents who

indicated that they were using some sort of HRIS

and said that they were using HRIS at operational

level (88% respondents), whereas 44%

respondents said that they used HRIS for strategictasks and for taking more unstructured and

complex decisions. The use of HRIS has increased

by more senior level HR managers, and in some

cases by strategic organisational management as

they work closely with HR specialists. Overall, we

found that all three functions are being used by

HR managers in most organisations. This is

similar to the surveys by Kinnie (1992) and Ball

(2000).

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The respondents were asked about the types of

HRIS functionality that they used. As HRIS can be

very large systems that come with many different

functions, and not all organisations, at least in the

past, used to purchase all the modules offered by

such systems due to the expense involved. Some

functionalities are more advanced than the other

and allow HR managers to accomplish more

strategic tasks. As figure 2 shows that nearly all

types of functionality ware used by the

respondents, although the use of operational level

functions was a little more predominant, such as

data banking and payroll. This is because most

HRIS were initially used by organisations at

operational level, and it was not until recently that

a more strategic use of such systems is being made.

The respondents were asked as to how important

HRIS are or could be in allowing them to perform

their jobs. This question asked respondents to

evaluate the usefulness of HRIS in their daily

work. The definitions of system usefulness differsfor different individuals. The replies overall

suggests that respondents do view HRIS as very

important in allowing them to perform their jobs

more professionally. The respondents provided the

following reasons: HRIS were very important in

achieving greater professional recognition (50%

respondents), HRIS were important in helping

them to provide up to minute information to

management (25% respondents), important for

providing HR information to line management

and 13% respondents did not comment about

how it would allow them to work more

professionally. Only 6% said HRIS were fairly

important in performing their duties more

professionally and did not see it as too important.

Furthermore respondents were asked as to how

they could make a strategic use of HRIS. A

question asked the respondents to refer to their

experience and expertise to imagine as to how

they can use it effectively. Because the use of

HRIS depends on whether users believe that they

can or not make an effective use of it. The

responses given by respondents were that it did or

could: (1) help to shift the existing ways of

organisational working, (2) provide a 24 hour

service to the organisation and provide access to

HR related information at any time needed, (3)

reduce the repetition of information and providing

faster information, and (4) provide status and

reports on the latest aspects of HR. 38% of the

respondents did not reply or comment on this

question. Perhaps due to the open-ended answer

required or due to lack of imagination, or due to

the difficulty involved in the response required.

We cannot assume this because of low responses.

But overall the responses to this question suggest

that HRIS can and are being used at strategiclevel to enable organisations to make the best use

of their human resources.

The respondents were asked how they or their

organisation could deploy HRIS to yield increased

value. This question was asked to envisage the

future use of HRIS in their organisations. The

following responses were received: 38%

respondents said that more routine use of HRIS

will be made in their organisations, 50%

respondents said that HRIS would be used to

make medium level decisions and in determining

the policy, and 56% respondents said the HRIS

would be used even more strategically and in

long range planning.

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FIGURE 2: QUESTION 13- QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY RESULTS

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This response is consistent with IS writers, such as

Edwards et al (1995) and Laudon and Laudon

(2002) who write that IS is being used at

strategic levels to help the user to plan, make

more informed decisions and make long term

predictions. HRIS has been part of evolutionary

changes in HR Management. In using HRIS, HR

managers can learn HRIS skills as well as

retaining their traditional and basic skills needed

to become HR professionals. This is the reason

why the Personnel Management Today

(1/6/93:p4) reported that information

technology should be brought to the top of the

training agenda. They believe that this should be

acknowledged by the government, and it seems as

though since 1993 this has already begun to

happen.

4.1.2 Human Resource Management (HRM)The response to our questions revealed that HR

managers are autonomous and independent to

advice and guide strategic management for which

they are regarded as professionals. The responses

also suggest that HR managers believed that were

professionals because they were CIPD certified,

held relevant and CIPD recognised HRM

qualifications and were relevantly trained.

The questionnaire asked respondents to evaluate

and envisage the future of their profession since

the role of HR professional has been changing

constantly. This is coupled with wider changes to

organisations in current times, so the nature of

their work, their professional recognition and even

their use of IS would depend on the proposed

changes to their jobs. Also the perceived

importance and non-importance of HR profession

would have an impact on the system use by HR

managers. Their response suggested that their

role was becoming more important in the future.

(With 44% saying that it has become more

strategic and some of these respondents believedthat this was due to the existence of CIPD). The

expectations of employers that HRM Managers

have CIPD qualifications, although they believed

that there were no legal or statuary requirements

to hold any specific qualifications to practice,

19% respondents stated that it was simply

becoming more important. Others replied that

they and their profession were becoming more

important because, they were becoming

internal/external consultants. This is consistent

with the views of HR consultancy writers (Schein,1987; Nees and Greiner, 1985; Armstrong, 1994;

Clark, 1995. So they said that their profession was

becoming more important, at least in these

organisations, and they were becoming more

generalists or specialists. Finally, 19% respondents

said that despite their profession becoming more

important there will be a need for IS/IT skills in

on-line working, skills in quantitative techniques

to overcome the commonly held perceptions of

HR professionals as not related to business

objectives.

The responses suggest that HR managers had

worked in different job roles in different types of

organisations for varying amount of time

supporting the evidence by Farnham (1985). The

respondents were asked to indicate which HR

posts they held. It was strategy of the researcher

not to include the respondents who were not HR

managers or their associates. But all respondents

who completed questionnaires were HR

specialists, although in several hierarchical ranks.

We aimed to obtain responses from those workerswho worked in the higher ranks of HR. The

responses show that 31% respondents worked as

HR directors, 50% respondents worked as HR

managers, others worked as HR advisors and

officers. The titles of the respondents and their

duties differ slightly, hence were categorised by

us. This is consistent with the writing of HR

writers like Farnham (1985) who emphasises

those HR managers hold a variety of HR job titles

as they come from diverse backgrounds and work

in a variety of different situations under different

titles of different levels of professional

recognition. Their job title and the degree of

recognition by their organisation influenced their

HRIS responsibilities in different ways to like them

in this daily work.

4.1.3 Types of HR Specialists/Managers

A mojority of HR managers responding had an

advisory responsibilities as a their main role,

followed by service and functional responsibilities.

Figure 3 shows that the role of HR manager ismainly advisory that is largely strategic and

requires independent judgement and higher-level

thinking. It also suggests that the use of HRIS

would benefit them and would free their time for

more strategic tasks and eliminate any routine

tasks. They could also exploit more advanced

functionality of HRIS to allow them to accomplish

more strategic tasks. These results are consistent

with Cole (1997) who argues that HR managers

are central to any organisation and provides key

HR related advice to various organisationalstakeholders.

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The evidence from the questionnaire suggests

that the respondents were in advisory and senior

roles in their organisations. They suggested that

HRIS can help a HR manager in following ways:

The use of HRIS for operational and strategic

work frees HR managers to concentrate on

their advisory role.

Use the data generated by HRIS to provide

expert advice.

Having up to minute information on HR.

Electronic monitoring of various HR policies,

such as time and attendance.

4.1.4 New emerging role of HR specialist:

HR consultancy

The new emerging strategic roles of HR

specialists, requires HR managers to be more like

internal/external consultants and provide services

and organisational planning at strategic levels.

The questionnaire asked the respondents whether

and which type of change had occurred to their

role as a HR specialists. The results confirmed that

most respondents thought they had becomeinternal consultants to their organisation with

roles, that required them to have a high degree of

HR and general business skills, and make higher

level judgements about the organisation. This role

also requires expertise in specific HR areas.

The second choice suggested that they are

working strategically to create a greater

integration and synergy between the HR and

organisational level strategies. This required a

high degree of organisational and externalknowledge on the part HR specialists. It also

involved them working more closely with strategic

and line management of the organisation, and

finding out the needs of the business before

making appropriates changes to HR of the

organisation. These responses are consistent with

the writings of Armstrong (1994), Schein (1987),

Clark (1995) and Greer (1995) that the role of HR

managers is changing and that it is becoming

more strategic. Hence demands placed on them

are growing, for example they are becoming

strategic advisors and consultants.

Consequently, HR professionals, especially, those

who occupy higher positions are becoming more

like internal/external organisational HR

consultants, as the responses suggest andconsistent with the writers on typical consultant

roles (Schein, 1987; Clark, 1995; Nees and

Greiner, 1987) by assigning particular image and

roles to consultants. The type of consultant is

usually described using a metaphor (Clark, 1995),

for example doctor-patient type of consultant

(Schein, 1987).

The responses suggests that HR managers

performed all three of Scheins roles, although the

process type of consultancy is more predominant

and the doctor-patient type of consultancy was

used least. For example, the questionnaire asked

which type of consultancy model was adopted. In

this question they were given 3 generic

consultancy roles taken from Schein (1987),

discussed earlier. These results revealed that 69%

respondents provided process consultancy to the

organisation that involves working jointly with

organisational groups to resolve issues and

improve the organisational running. Results show

that 56% respondents offered expert consultancy

that involves providing managers expert advice tostrategic organisational management and

diagnosing problems. Only 25% respondents said

the doctor-patient consultancy role that involves

re/examining HR policies and procedures and

14


1st 2nd 3rd

choice choice choice

Advisory (policy advice, HR set up and other HR issues) 56 25 0

Service (providing service in the area of HR set up and issues) 44 13 13

Functional (communication and interpretation of HR policy, 25 6 31

procedures to all from top management)

FIGURE 3: TYPES OF ROLES

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usually changes to them. Partly because they are

working as HR managers and the HR policies and

procedures as routine matter and aspects of their

jobs. Overall these responses suggest that the

strategic role of HR managers has become more

important and it requires more personal and riskier

judgement, advice and knowledge. Finally in

providing good consultancy and advice it is

important for HR manager to have up-to-date and

accurate information. HRIS can make this possible

for them.

4.1.5 New emerging role of HR specialist:

Strategy and planning

The respondents were asked whether their roles as

HR managers have changed and have become

more strategic within their organisation. This

question was asked because the job of HR

manager has become more important dependingon the length of their service, the amount of

organisational experience, quality of advice and

the need for HR service for the organisation.

Figure 4 shows that 13% of respondents believed

that their roles had not changed and did not

provide any comments. Those who believed there

has been a change gave the following reasons:

simply becoming more important (25%

respondents), due to the link with the strategic

business plan (13% respondents), HR techniques

underpinning organisational working and pro-HR

and general organisational ways of working (19%

respondents) and general development and

planning (6% respondents) and 19% respondents

did not have a comment but thought that their

role was becoming more important in their

organisation. This shows that as the time passes

HR managers may become more important, as

they will play a more strategic role. Hence the use

of HRIS in using its advanced function will be

crucial. This is consistent with McKinseys 7Ss

model that HR managers play a strategic role inorganisations where they create a bridge between

organisational plans and strategy. They then align

the HR practice and polices in line with the

organisational practice. They also update and

alter the HR practice as and when wider

organisational policy changes. Similar views about

HR managers are also provided by other writers

such as Wright and McMahan (1992) and Mabey

et al (2000).

4.1.6 Professionalism vs HR Specialism

Overall professionalism is associated with having

a high degree intelligence that is proved through

relevant qualifications and training. In fact the

responses to the questionnaire demonstrates HR

managers believed that they were professionals as

they hold relevant qualifications, training and are

members of CIPD. Therefore professionals

generally receive respect in return for their

services to the society. For example, the response

to one of the questions suggests that allorganisations believed that HR managers were

professionals as they offered valuable expertise

and service.

The questionnaire respondents were asked

whether they saw themselves as professionals and

their reasons identifying themselves as

professionals. Because some HR professionals

despite their professional recognition by their

organisations may or may not, see themselves as

professionals. Their view would depend on their

treatment by their organisations or their non-HR

colleagues, the complexity of their tasks that they

perform, and, whether they hold profession-

related qualifications or being trained in it. The

results of this question revealed that a majority of

the respondents did see themselves as HR

professionals, with a very small minority not

seeing themselves as professionals. So those who

did not see themselves as professionals did not

because they believed that they did not have the

necessary profession-related qualifications or were

only managing several HR-related activities. Buttheoretically even if they were only managing a

few of the strategic HR tasks they could be given

15


FIGURE 4: ROLES OF HR RESPONDENTS

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a professional status if they were performing them

(Armstrong, 1984).

However, a majority of respondents did think they

were professionals because: they were CIPD

qualified, were appropriately trained, were CIPD

members, had worked in the profession for a long

time, or gave other reasons. This is consistent with

the theoretical view (the Trait and Conflict models

on the importance of: the membership of

professional body in achieving a professional

status, having relevant qualifications, being trained

and having served in the field for a considerable

amount of time. It is important to note that in

order to maintain their professional self-image

most HR managers would attempt to use HRIS in

particular at strategic level, to make sure that they

perform to their highest level, at least in the view

of their organisational management.

The development of HRIS has had a major impact

on HR managers and they can utilise HRIS to

work differently, perhaps more efficiently. But at

the same time organisational management and

line management are becoming aware that

automation of HR functions can be achieved. So

can HR managers continue to see an increase in

their status or have they hit a fork in the road?

The use of HRIS increases the information base of

HR managers and allows them to perform their

job roles more professionally. In fact a strategic

use of HRIS enables them to make more informed

decisions and judgements. This would hopefully

enable them to increase their personal recognition

within their organisations.

5) CONCLUSIONS

This research focused on the role of HRIS in

assisting HR managers to perform their roles more

professionally. It looked at the impact of HRIS on

HR managers role - both traditional and newemerging roles.

The results revealed that HRIS were playing an

important role in helping HR Managers. Most

were using HRIS, at least, for operational level

tasks and some were using it for strategic level

tasks. The strategic level use of HRIS was smaller.

The respondents generally believed that HRIS

were important in allowing them to perform their

work more efficiently, effectively and

professionally in their organisations. This confirmsthat HRIS are vital in helping HR managers to

meet the ever-increasing demands on their job

and quality of service.

Alternatively, the use of HRIS is leading to many

changes in the workings of HR managers, such

learning new technical skills and focus on the

flow of HR information in their departments

and organisations.

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Appendix-1

Questionnaire

Role of Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS)

Please answer the questions below:

Part 1:Respondent information

1) What is your job role or title? __________________________________________

2) What type of organisation do you work for? Please tick

Private Small/medium Large

Public Small/medium Large

3) How long have you worked as a HR specialist? ________

Part 2: HR Professionalism

4) Do you view yourself as professional and why? Please tick and give reasons

No why_______________________________________________

Yes because I: am trained in HRM

have a HR specific under/postgraduate degree. am a member of CIPD

have worked as a HR specialist for a very long time.

other; please specify.

5) Does your organisation see you as a professional? Please tick and give reasons

No why_______________________________________________

Yes why_______________________________________________

6) Do you regard yourself as a professional just like traditional professionals like lawyers,

doctors, lecturers and dentists do? Please tick and give reasons

No why_______________________________________________

Yes why_______________________________________________

7) How do you see (from your experience or through reading in the literature) the future of

your profession?

Part 3: HR specialism

8) In which of the following categories do your main work duties fall into?Please number them in the order of priority.

9) How has your role changed over the years? Please tick one or more of the choices

20


Advisory (policy advice, HR set up and other HR issues)

Service (providing service in the area of HR set up and issues)

Functional (communication and interpretation of HR policy, procedures to all from top management)

It has not changed in anyway.

It has become more specialised in one or fewer aspects of the HRM.It has become more general different aspects of the HRM.

It has become more like an internal consultant. (please answer 9A question to follow)

It has changed to bring about more integration between the organisational and HR strategies

and ways of working.

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9A) What sort of internal HR consultancy do you offer? Please tick

10) Do you believe that your role has become more strategic in your organisation and how?

HR Information Systems (HRIS)

11) Do you currently use HR information system(s) (HRIS) or intend to use one?

12) At what level do you use HRIS?

13) Which functionality does your HRIS have? Please list them below

14) How important are/could be HRIS in helping you to perform your job more professionally?

15) How do/can you make a strategic use of HRIS? Please describe using a list or a short narrative

16) What is your view of further deployment of HRIS in your organisation for work and decisionmaking?

21


Expert consultancy - providing expertise, information and diagnosing issues and making changes

to them.

Doctor-patient consultancy - examining HR policies and procedures and prescribing changes as

necessary.

Process consultancy - working jointly with organisational groups to resolve issues.

Reason (s)

No

Yes

No, we do not use one nor we want to use one in the future.

Yes, we currently use one or intend to use one.

No, but we are intending to use one.

At operational level to undertake daily operational level work

Use by knowledge workers for planning.

Use by top management for long term planning and unstructured decision making.

More routine operational level use.

More medium level decision making or policy determination role.

Strategic us eof HRIS for long term planning.

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Part 4: General

17) Do you have any other comments about the strategic use if HRIS by HR managers or

HR departments?

18) If you would like a copy of the results then please provide your title (and name if you wish)

address and email below:

Title and/or name: ________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________

________________________________________ Postcode________________

22


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LIST OF WORKING PAPER TITLES

2004

04/07 Zahid Hussain & Peter Prowse

Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) as Means of Fulfilling Job

Roles More Professionally for Human Resource (HR) Managers

04/05 Stephanie Hussels & Damian Ward

Cost Efficiency and Total Factor Productivity in the European Life

Insurance Industry: The Development of the German Life Insurance

Industry Over the Years 1991-2002

04/04 Axle Giroud & Hafiz MirzaIntra-firm Technology Transfer: The Case of Japanese Manufacturing

Firms in Asia

04/03 David Spicer

The Impact of Approaches to Learning and Cognition on Academic

Performance in Business and Management

04/02 Hafiz Mirza & Axle Giroud

Regionalisation, Foreign Direct Investment and Poverty Reduction:

The Case of ASEAN

04/01 Gretchen Larsen & Veronica George

The Social Construction of Destination Image A New Zealand Film

Example

2003

03/35 Alexander T Mohr & Jonas F Puck

Asymmetries in Partner Firms Perception of Key Variables and the

Performance of International Jo int Ventures

03/34 Hafiz Mirza & Axle Giroud

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on the Economic Development

of ASEAN Economies: A Preliminary Analysis

03/33 Raissa Rossiter

Networks, Collaboration and the Internationalisation of Small and

Medium-Sized Enterprises: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the

Network Approach Part 1

03/32 Stephanie Hussels, Damian Ward & Ralf Zurbruegg

How Do You Stimulate Demand For Insurance?

03/31 Donal Flynn & Zahid I Hussain

A Qualitative Approach to Investigating the Behavioural Definitions of

the Four-Paradigm Theory of Information Systems Development

03/30 Alexander T Mohr & Simone Klein

Adjustment V. Satisfaction An Analysis of American Expatriate

Spouses in Germany

03/29 David Spicer & Eugene Sadler-Smith

Organisational Learning in Smaller Manufacturing Firms

03/28 Alex Mohr & Markus Kittler

Foreign Partner Assignment Policy & Trust in IJVs

03/27 Avinandan Mukherjee & Rahul Roy

Dynamics of Brand Value Management of Entertainment Products

the Case of a Television Game Show

03/26 Professor Andrew Taylor

Computer-Mediated Knowledge Sharing and Individual User Difference:

An Exploratory Study

03/25 Dr Axle Giroud

TNCs Intra- and Inter-firms' Networks: The Case of the ASEAN Region

03/24 Alexander T Mohr & Jonas F PuckExploring the Determinants of the Trust-Control-Relationship in

International Joint Ventures

03/23 Scott R Colwell & Sandra Hogarth-Scott

The Effect of Consumer Perception of Service Provider Opportunism

on Relationship Continuance Behaviour: An Empirical Study in

Financial Services

03/22 Kathryn Watson & Sandra Hogarth-Scott

Understanding the Influence of Constraints to International

Entrepreneurship in Small and Medium-Sized Export Companie

03/21 Dr A M Ahmed & Professor M Zairi

The AEQL Framework Implementation: American Express Case Study

03/20 Dr K J Bomtaia, Professor M Zairi & Dr A M Ahmed

Pennsylvania State University Case Study:

A Benchmarking Exercise in Higher Education

03/19 Alexander T Mohr & Jonas F PuckInter-Sender Role Conflicts, General Manager Satisfaction and Joint

Venture Performance in Indian-German Joint Ventures

03/18 Mike Tayles & Colin Drury

Profiting from Profitability Analysis in UK Companies?

03/17 Dr Naser Al-Omaim, Professor Mohamed Zairi & Dr Abdel

Moneim Ahmed

Generic Framework for TQM Implementation with Saudi Context:

An Empirical Study

03/16 AM Al-Saud, Dr AM Ahmed & Professor KE Woodward

Global Benchmarking of the Thrid Generation Telecommunication

System: Lessons Learned from Sweden Case Study

03/15 Shelley L MacDougall & Richard Pike

Consider Your Options: Changes to Stratetic Value During

Implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Technology03/14 Myfanwy Trueman & Richard Pike

Building Product Value by Design. How Strong Accountants/Design

Relationships Can Provide a Long-Term Competitive

03/13 Jiang Liu, Ke Peng & Shiyan Wang

Time Varying Prediction of UK Asset Returns

03/12 A M Ahmed, Professor M Zairi & S A Alwabel

Global Benchmarking for Internet & E-Commerce Applications

03/11 A M Ahmed, Professor M Zairi & Yong Hou

Swot Analysis for Air China Performance and Its Experience with Quality

03/10 Kyoko Fukukawa & Jeremy Moon

A Japanese Model of Corporate Social Responsibility?:

A study of online reporting

03/09 Waleed Al-Shaqha and Mohamed Zairi

The Critical Factors Requested to Implement Pharmaceutical Care in

Saudit Arabian Hospitals: A Qualitative Study

03/08 Shelly MacDougall & Richard Pike

The Elusive Return on Small Business Investment in AMT: Economic

Evaluation During Implementation

03/07 Alexander T Mohr

The Relationship between Inter-firm Adjustment and Performance in

IJVs the Case of German-Chinese Joint Ventures

03/06 Belinda Dewsnap & David Jobber

Re-thinking Marketing Structures in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods

Sector: An Exploratory Study of UK Firms

03/05 Mohamed Zairi & Samir Baidoun

Understanding the Essentials of Total Quality Management:

A Best Practice Approach Part 2

03/04 Deli Yang & Derek Bosworth

Manchester United Versus China: The Red Devils Trademark Problems

in China

03/03 Mohamed Zairi & Samir Baidoun

Understanding the Essentials of Total Quality Management:

A Best Practice Approach Part 1


The Relationship Between Trust and Control in International Joint Ventures

(IJVs) An Emprical Analysis of Sino-German Equity Joint Ventures

03/01 Mike Tayles & Colin Drury

Explicating the Design of Cost Systems

2002


Exploring the Performance of IJVs A Qualitative and Quantitative

Analysis of the Performance of German-Chinese Joint Ventures in the

Peoples Republic of China

02/33 John M T Balmer & Edmund Gray

Comprehending Corporate Brands

02/32 John M T Balmer

Mixed Up Over Identities

02/31 Zo J Douglas & Zoe J Radnor

Internal Regulatory Practices: Understanding the Cyclical Effects within

the Organisation

02/30 Barbara Myloni, Dr Anne-Wil Harzing & Professor Hafiz Mirza

A Comparative Analysis of HRM Practices in Subsidiaries of MNCs and

Local Companies in Greece

02/29 Igor Filatotchev

Going Public with Good Governance: Board Selection and Share

Ownership in UK IPO Firms

02/28 Axele Giroud

MNEs in Emerging Economies: What Explains Knowledge Transfer to

Local Suppliers

02/27 Niron Hashai

Industry Competitiveness The Role of Regional Sharing of Distance-

Sensitive Inputs (The Israeli Arab Case)

23


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02/26 Niron Hashai

Towards a Theory of MNEs from Small Open Economics Static and

Dynamic Perspectives

02/25 Christopher Pass

Corporate Governance and The Role of Non-Executive Directors in Large

UK Companies: An Empirical Study

02/24 Deli Yang

The Development of the Intellectual Property in China

02/23 Roger Beach

Operational Factors that Influence the Successful Adoption of InternetTechnology in Manufacturing

02/22 Niron Hashai & Tamar Almor

Small and Medium Sized Multinationals: The Internationalization

Process of Born Global Companies

02/21 M Webster & D M Sugden

A Proposal for a Measurement Scale for Manufacturing Virtuality

02/20 Mary S Klemm & Sarah J Kelsey

Catering for a Minority? Ethnic Groups and the British Travel Industry

02/19 Craig Johnson & David Philip Spicer

The Action Learning MBA: A New Approach Management Education

02/18 Lynda M Stansfield

An Innovative Stakeholder Approach to Management Education:

A Case Study

02/17 Igor Filatotchev, Mike Wright, Klaus Uhlenbruck,Laszlo Tihanyi & Robert Hoskisson

Privatization and Firm Restructuring in Transition Economies:

The Effects of Governance and Organizational Capabilities

02/16 Mike Tayles, Andrew Bramley, Neil Adshead & Janet Farr

Dealing with the Management of Intellectual Capital: The Potential Role

of Strategic Management Accounting

02/15 Christopher Pass

Long-Term Incentive Schemes, Executive Remuneration and Corporate

Perfomance

02/14 Nicholas J Ashill & David Jobber

An Empirical Investigation of the Factors Affecting the Scope of

Information Needed in a MkIS

02/13 Bill Lovell, Dr Zoe Radnor & Dr Janet Henderson

A Pragmatic Assessment of the Balanced Scorecard: An Evaluation use in

a NHS Multi-Agency Setting in the UK

02/12 Zahid Hussain & Donal Flynn

Validating the Four-Paradigm Theory of Information Systems Development

02/11 Alexander T Mohr & Simone Klein

The Adjustment of American Expatriate Spouses in Germany

A Qualitative and Quantative Analysis

02/10 Riyad Eid & Myfanwy Trueman

The Adoption of The Internet for B-to-B International Marketing

02/09 Richard Pike & Nam Cheng

Trade Credit, Late Payment and Asymmetric Information

02/08 Alison J Killingbeck & Myfanwy M Trueman

Redrawing the Perceptual Map of a City

02/07 John M T Balmer

Corporate Brands: Ten Years On Whats New?

02/06 Dr Abdel Moniem Ahmed & Professor Mohamed Zairi

Customer Satisfaction: The Driving Force for Winning BusinessExcellence Award

02/05 John M T Balmer & Stephen A Greyser

Managing the Multiple Identities of the Corporation

02/04 David Philip Spicer

Organizational Learning & The Development of Shared Understanding:

Evidence in Two Public Sector Organizations

02/03 Tamar Almor & Niron Hashai

Configurations of International Knowledge-Intensive SMEs:

Can the Eclectic Paradigm Provide a Sufficient Theoretical Framework?

02/02 Riyad Eid, Myfanwy Trueman & Abdel Moniem Ahmed

The Influence of Critical Success Factors on International Internet

Marketing

02/01 Niron Hashai

The Impact of Distance Sensitivity and Economics of Scale on the

Output and Exports of Israel and its Arab Neighbours

2001

01/18 Christopher M Dent

Transnational Capital, the State and Foreign Economic Policy:

Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan

01/17 David P Spicer & Eugene Sadler-Smith

The General Decision Making Style Questionnaire:

A Comfirmatory Analysis

01/16 David P Spicer

Expanding Experimental Learning: Linking Individual and

Organisational learning, Mental Models and Cognitive Style

01/15 E Grey & J Balmer

Ethical Identity; What is it? What of it?

01/14 Mike Talyes & Colin Drury

Autopsy of a Stalling ABC System: A Case Study of Activity Based CostManagement and Performance Improvement

01/13 N Esho, R Zurbruegg, A Kirievsky & D Ward

Law and the Deminants of International Insurance Consumption

01/12 J Andrews Coutts & Kwong C Cheug

Trading Rules and Stock Returns: Some Preliminary Short Run Evidence

from the Hang Seng 1985-1997

01/11 D McKechnie & S Hogarth-Scott

Linking Internal Service Encounters and Internal Transactions: Unravelling

Internal Marketing Contract Workers

01/10 M Webster & D M Sugden

Operations Strategies for the Exploitation of Protected Technology: Virtual

Manufacture as an Alternative to Outward licensing

01/09 Axle Giroud

Buyer-Supplier Transfer and Country of Origin: An Empirical Analysis of

FDI in Malaysia

01/08 Damian Ward

Do Independent Agents Reduce Life Insurance Companies Free Cash Flow?

01/07 Daragh OReilly

Corporate Images in Jerry Maguire: A Semiotic Analysis

01/06 Tony Lindley & Daragh OReilly

Brand Identity on the Arts Sector

01/05 M Trueman, J Balmer & D OReilly

Desperate Dome, Desperate Measures! Managing Innovation at Londons

Millennium Dome

01/04 M Trueman, M Klemm, A Giroud & T Lindley

Bradford in the Premier League? A Multidisciplinary Approach to

Branding and Re-positioning a City

01/03 A Harzing

Self Perpetuating Myths and Chinese Whispers01/02 M Webster

Supply Systems Structure, Management and Performance:

A Research Agenda

01/01 A Harzing

Acquisitions Versus Greenfield Investments: Exploring the Impact of the

MNCs International Strategy

2000

0031 John Ritchie & Sue Richardson

Leadership and Misleadership in Smaller Business Governance

0030 Mary Klemm

Tourism and Ethnic Minorities in Bradford: Concepts and Evidence

0029 (not available)

0028 (not available)

0027 Axle Giroud

Determinant Factors of

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Documents