HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
1 School of Business
© 2016, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
Human Resource Information Management
Weighting: 20%
Marks : 25
Purpose
This project is a group case study analysis in human resource information management linked
to Ch 5.
You need to answer all the questions related to the case study. It is recommended to read the
chapter and schedule a group discussion before answering the questions.
The Grant Corporation
End of Case Study 1
The Grant Corporation is a financial services firm based in Chicago, Illinois. Its revenue
exceeded $1 billion last year, producing a net income of $530 million. It has just over 1,000
employees. Although the organization has been in business for almost 10 years, it has
experienced rapid expansion in the past 2 years due to tremendous business growth and a
merger with the Enelrad Group, another local firm. Managers have had difficulty keeping up
with this growth, especially in the HR department, which has been stretched thin to keep up
with staffing needs and other, mainly administrative, duties.
Six months ago, the CEO, Todd Jackson, recognized the need to expand the size and
functionality of the HR department and hired Julia Woodland to be its director, reporting
directly to him. This was a newly created position, and its incumbent would replace the HR
administrator, who had previously reported to the VP of Finance and who decided to retire
when the new HR position was announced.
When Woodland was hired, Jackson told her that she would have “free rein” to create a
more strategically focused HR department that would be better equipped to handle the
organization’s needs. She had quite a bit of experience at her previous company and was
eager to take on the task.
Although the organization used advanced technology for its business applications, HR was
still using a basic payroll processing software program and Excel spreadsheets to track
various categories of employee information, including personal data, benefits enrollments,
performance evaluation schedules, and compensation. All payroll and benefit information
was manually entered into these respective systems, and much of the information had to be
entered into multiple spreadsheets when there was a change. The department could not
keep up with the information needs—new hires were getting paid inco
ectly or not at all.
Benefits enrollments were delayed or contained mistakes, and performance evaluations and
pay raises were late. The printed employee handbook, benefits binder, and orientation
HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
2 School of Business
© 2016, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
materials were in serious need of updating. In addition, the company had 16 open positions
and stacks of resumes everywhere. It was no wonder the HR administrator had decided to
etire!
Julia Woodland spent long hours trying to determine what she could do to address the
immediate and long-term concerns of her new department. She
ought in a temporary
employee to help her staff file, process paperwork, and enter data. She focused on hiring
two higher-level HR representatives and a payroll clerk. She turned to a staffing agency to
help the firm identify candidates for open positions, including those in HR. Finally, she
proposed the purchase of an integrated payroll/HRIS that was capable of integrating with
the finance department’s system as well as with the organization’s benefit and 401(k)
providers’ systems. The proposed software solution also offered the option of a Web-based
employee portal, which would allow employees to view information online and change their
personal data. Jackson responded favorably and told her to “go ahead and do whatever she
needed to do to fix the mess.” The next day, Woodland contracted with the HRIS provider.
Woodland spent the next week meeting with her new HRIS vendor representative to
discuss the installation and implementation of the system. Because she was so
overwhelmed and wanted to get the new system in as quickly as possible, she didn’t have
time to discuss the project with her staff right away, but she knew that employees would be
excited about the new system and the opportunities it would open up for them as the burden
of administrative tasks eased. She closed her door during the meetings so participants
could concentrate. She wanted to be able to implement the system by January 1 so that the
company’s year-end payroll data were accurate and managers could track other data on an
annual basis with a full year of data. Since she had been through the process in the past
and was familiar with such systems, she figured that she could manage the implementation
with the help of IT and her staff as needed. She would make all key decisions to move the
project along and meet her deadline.
The cu
ent HR staff consisted of an HR assistant and two generalists who seemed to
function as clerks and recruiters. They had all been hired at the same time more than 5
years ago, when the HR administrator was the sole member of the department. They were
very proud of how they had worked so hard together to build HR and keep up with the
increasing demand. They were just getting used to working with Woodland but thought that
she was very nice and had high hopes for the improvements and new strategic focus that
she would help them implement.
Day by day, the staff watched the vendor representative come and go, along with a parade
of candidates sent over by the staffing agency to apply for the new HR positions. They soon
egan to wonder about all the changes that their new boss was making and what these
changes would mean for them. They started making assumptions that had them very
concerned.
Woodland contacted the IT director to tell him about the project. He expressed concern over
the ability of the server to handle the new system and wondered how they would address
firewall issues with the portal. Furthermore, all his staff members were tied up with a critical
HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
3 School of Business
© 2016, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
upgrade to the customer service system, which had caused more than its share of
problems. He demanded to know why he and his staff had not been involved sooner and
told her that it would be unlikely that they would be able to participate in the implementation
or help her meet her deadline. Upset, she called Todd Jackson, who advised her not to
wo
y about it—he would tell them to get it done.
When she contacted Finance to obtain information that the HRIS vendor needed to link the
HRIS to that department’s system, the finance manager was more than willing to help—but
she did not know where to get the system information and did not understand how the
information would flow from one system to another. She asked why they couldn’t just keep
the systems separate and enter the necessary data into the finance system from reports
provided by HR. “That’s the way we’ve always done it,” she said. “It doesn’t take long, and it
will be much simpler that way.”
In the meantime, morale was declining in HR. Whenever Woodland asked HR employees
for information about payroll or their Excel spreadsheets, they seemed uneasy and never
provided her with exactly what she was looking for. She didn’t understand their antiquated
forms or their backward processes but decided she could fix those after the new system
was in. Also, it felt like the rest of the company was suddenly treating her differently. They
had all made her feel so welcome six months ago when she came on board. Now
employees approached her with caution, and managers always seemed a
upt.
Julia Woodland began to wonder if this was the right role for her. Why were things so
difficult? She thought that everyone would be thrilled about the new system and its
efficiencies and would be eager to help. Was it her problem or theirs?
She thought that perhaps people didn’t realize the impact she was making in the
organization. She decided to make an announcement about the exciting new system that
would help make things more effective and efficient in HR and help the employees simplify
their lives as well. She sent out a company-wide e-mail announcing the new payroll/HRIS
and outlining its ability to interface with other systems and its Web-portal capabilities. To her
disappointment, no one seemed to understand the significance or even pay attention. A few
employees asked her if their paychecks would be delayed as a result.
She wondered how she would ever get through this project and what she needed to do to
get everyone on board.
Questions Case Study
1. Overall, what did Julia Woodland do right? What were the e
ors and what she could
have done differently? (2+2 marks)
2. Were the co
ect people involved in the process? Whom would you have included
and why? XXXXXXXXXXmarks)
3. If you were in Julia Woodland’s position, what would you include in your
communication plan for the implementation and why? (2+2 marks)
HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
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© 2016, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
4. How can training be used in this case to make the implementation more successful?
( 4 points)
5. After the implementation, what steps should the HR department take to ensure
proper maintenance and support of the system? (5 points)
6. What can Julia Woodland do now to “get everyone on board” and increase the
likelihood that this implementation will be successful? (4 points)
Marking Keys
Question 1
• You explained what Julia did right and explained at least two e
ors what she could have
done differently.
Question 2
• You explained
iefly the co
ect people involved in the process. You have provided a
good reasoning on at least two departments/personnel whom she would have included.
Question 3:
• You proposed minimum two points in Julia’s communication plan with reason.
Question 4
• You have identified four reasons and have provided their role in making the
implementation more successful
Question 5
• You explained five steps to ensure proper maintenance and support of the system
Question 6
• You shared two points and have clearly explained how it will increase the likelihood of
successful implementation.
Reference
Richard, J.D., Kevin, C. D., & Michael, K. J XXXXXXXXXXHuman resource information systems (5th