History and Trends of HR Analytics
Human resource analytics is a concept that has gained wide recognition in modern times, but it has been in existence for a number of years. Some of the practices of human resource analytics were practiced a long time ago. For instance, in the 1970s, human resource analytics involved the concepts of measurements and metrics. Organizations could measure the performance of their employees (Madsen & Slåtten, 2017). Through the 1990s, the employees were viewed as organizational resources that possess great value, and that would build an organization’s competitive advantage (Madsen & Slåtten, 2017). Therefore the concept of human resources gained more attraction from researchers. Madsen & Slåtten (2017), states that in the early 2000s, researchers and industrialists were interested in developing techniques that would determine the returns from human resources. As a result, various techniques were developed, and they included human resource scorecards that were used to ascertain the consequences of human resources to an organization’s success or failure. Since then, the concept of human resource analytics has been an issue of debate for many researchers.
One of the current trends in human resource analytics has been the concept of outsourced recruitment. Different organizations have opted to incorporate third parties to recruit competent personnel in their organizations. The reasons behind the outsourcing of recruitment include organizations wanting to concentrate on critical activities of their organizations and the need to save money. Internal recruitment is very expensive as compared to external hiring (Pease, G., Byerly, B. & Fitz-enz, 2012). In addition, hiring through a third party is fair and results in the organization getting the best candidates who are able to propel the organization into greater heights. Organizations want to have time to focus on the growth of their businesses and build competitiveness and advantages, and outsourcing recruitment enables the organization to have time for this. In addition, outsourcing of recruitment provides for control of the recruitment budget since the organization will only pay particular recruitment activities.
Another current trend that has proved to be of more essence in human resource analytics is artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is used to minimize human biasness through its tool of the algorithm. Human resource managers may be biased and doctor the qualifications of preferred candidates so as to announce such candidates as the selected ones. Gobble (2017), notes that algorithms have the ability to identify candidates who were selected out of biasness. Additionally, artificial intelligence is being used to remove human resource activities that may add little to the growth of an organization and focus on those with potential for the organization’s growth.
Additionally, the transition from individuality to teamwork has been a paradigm shift in the human resource profession. Human resource managers have come to realize the essence of group synergy in undertaking key activities with potential for the organization’s growth (Chattopadhyay, Biswas & Mukherjee, 2017). Teamwork allows employees to come together and share great ideas that would likely result in the success of the organization. Teamwork also allows for complimenting an employee’s weaknesses with another’s strengths. Human resource activities like training and development and development of designs in workplaces are now being built on teamwork.
Outsourced recruitment contributes to an organization’s effectiveness in that it reduces the organization’s expenditures. Outsourcing recruitment is relatively cheap as compared to internal recruitment. Consequently, the organization can save more funds that can be channeled into income-generating activities. Artificial intelligence in an organization’s human resource is effective since the organization is able to get employee details at minimal costs, within a short time and in a secure manner (Gobble, 2017). New recruits can also use artificial intelligence to ask pressing questions about the organization. Teamwork in an organization means that all employees are working in a common course of making the organization successful. Teamwork allows all employees to contribute their views regarding how certain issues should be addressed, and through this, employees feel valued within the organization, and they are likely to commit themselves in their activities.
References
Pease, G., Byerly, B. & Fitz-enz, J. (2012). Human capital analytics: How to handle the potential of your organization’s greatest asset. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Chattopadhyay, D., Biswas, D. D., & Mukherjee, S. (2017). A new look at HR analytics. Globsyn Management Journal, 11(1/2), 41–51.
Madsen, D. Ø., & Slåtten, K. (2017). The rise of HR analytics: A preliminary exploration. In the Global Conference on Business and Finance Proceedings (Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 148-159).
Gobble, M. A., M. (2017). The datification of human resources. Research-Technology Management, 60(5), 59–61.