The purpose of this paper is to analyze the trend in human resource planning that currently occurs by applying computer science in human resource management and the use of information systems in this area in achieving business strategy. Currently, human resource management is required to make use of tools such as information systems and strategic planning. The use of information technology and the development of human resources information systems has simplified the task of the manager of this area, achieving that a high proportion of the work can be done from remote places without implying the on-site meeting of the human elements of the organization.Geographic limitations have been reduced and the manager can manage the entire human component even when it is in remote locations; Through the use of this technology, the human resources manager saves the employee time and shares information with them, generating more competitiveness, enhancing their ability to work as a team. Currently, the trend in human resource planning is towards strategic planning that involves using computer science, information systems, decision making and strategic analysis. The objective of the application of informatics in the management of human resources is to serve and improve said resource. This is a descriptive study, with a bibliographic research design. It is concluded that every organization, including UNEFA,It must guide a change in human resource management by applying computer science and information systems.
Introduction
Globalization has imposed a highly changing and competitive environment on companies, which has led to transforming the traditional way in which they managed their human component, to the point of evolving into the most valuable resource that these companies have. In this regard, Salinas (2000) states that "In a world with such immediate changes and where internationalization is growing every day, good human resources management will be essential for companies that wish to project themselves" (p.1).
This change has been so significant that, in the words of Ayala (2003), the term human resource administration has evolved to that of human resource management, with the addition that it is forced to make use of tools such as information systems. information and strategic planning, thus having the so-called strategic planning of human resources.
Through the use of information technology and the subsequent development of the human resources information system, the complex task of the manager of this area has been simplified, while it is achieved that a high proportion of the work can be done from remote locations without involving the meeting in situ of all the human elements of the company, according to Rockart. (2002), geographical limitations have been eliminated and the manager can manage the entire human component of the company even when it is in remote locations; In fact, through the use of these technologies, the human resource manager saves employees time and shares information with them, all of which results in more competitiveness, since their ability to work as a team is enhanced.
In this sense, the purpose of this research work is to analyze the trend of human resource planning that currently occurs on the basis of the application of information technology in human resource management and the use of information systems of resources Human resources in achieving business strategy, where data is used as input for planning the human component of the company, all in favor of the competence, quality and quantity of this staff at the right time when the organization needs it.
The Trend of Human Resource Planning
The term human resource planning, according to Cloke (2002), refers to how it is possible to establish control over the flow of personnel within a company, both those who enter and those who leave it. In this sense, it requires making use of information and even statistical analysis, since it is planning with a strong strategic nature since it is obliged to make a projection of the labor needs of the organization, including the supply of personnel and the planning of those necessary to ensure that the company will have qualified employees when and where they require it.
In this order of ideas, currently the trend in human resource planning is towards the so-called strategic planning (Sallenave, 2004) and as such requires the use of information technology, information and decision-making systems and strategic analysis, as they are the only tools that allow the human resources manager to be proactive in fulfilling their role as a participant in the formulation of strategic organizational plans (this role in which strategic human resources management emphasizes, as now is known).
The use of information systems in modern human resource management, that is, strategic human resource planning derives from the type of information that it requires to operate, which according to Valle (2003) one of these is exogenous, which is They come from the external environment of the organization, which includes predictable changes in the economy or in market behavior, even in a specific industry, as well as variations in government regulations, especially those referring to social security and labor regulations.
The endogenous information, that is, the information that originates within the organization, is used to elaborate the organizational plans in the short and long term, in it is relevant the number of people who are going to be in a period retiring or leaving the company (flow of personnel).
Thus, the precise handling of the data that allows obtaining both types of planning forces the manager to use information systems and computer science (Vaisberg, 2007), since it depends on them that they have the right and timely inputs that allow you to anticipate the future demand of employees, their skills and promotion as well as the availability of different people in the external labor market.
The strategic nature of human resource planning today has broken the paradigm that it was only the human resources departments that were dedicated to it, now, due to the speed of the flow of information and the availability of it throughout the workforce. decision-making of the organization in this planning online managers participate, especially in their strategic planning.
As a summary, a table is presented below that illustrates the current trend in human resource planning.
Table 1. Modern Human Resources Planning.
|
MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES |
|
| Time and planning perspectives. | - Long Term.- Proactive.
- Strategic. - Integrated. |
| Psychological Contract. | Commitment. |
| Control systems. | Self-control. |
| Insights into employee relations. | Unitary (individual). |
| Preferred structure. | - Organic.- Decentralized.
- Flexible roles. |
| Roles. | Integral on the line. |
| Evaluation criteria. | Maximum utilization. |
Source: Aramayo, 2000.
The Application of Informatics in Human Resource Management
The process of economic globalization that led to the opening of national markets to free competition, not only led to an increase in the competitiveness of companies, but also led to a transformation in the way the human resources of organizations were administered This change led to the emergence of human resources management, which is also called human talent management (Martínez, 2002).
All this implied the adoption of a new model in which the purely operational and bureaucratic sphere was changed to a strategic one, where surveillance and control is replaced by society and commitment, short-termism is abandoned and a commitment to planning is done. In the long term, the purely administrative plan was also abandoned and the consultative plan is privileged, with a focus on the business seeking to satisfy the client and forcing the human resources manager to be proactive-preventive, where he is evaluated based on the results obtained and goals of the organization.
All this creates the need to be more and more efficient and for this the application of information technology is required within the daily business process, seeking its efficiency and satisfaction for the benefit of the company's management, this being one of the pillars of a modern human resources system.
The search for efficiency and greater competitiveness, forced to resort to the application of information technology in human resources management because the phenomenon led to the evolution of human resources administration to human resources management, that is, a step from the basic compliance with labor laws, up to applications that currently incorporate personnel selection, automated payment of salaries, skills training and job descriptions, among others.
The objective of the application of information technology in human resources management, according to what is stated in the Gerencia Magazine (2009), is to serve and improve human resources, and not change personnel for another. Through it it is possible to improve management and establish rules to grow with and in the company.
Since computing is based on electronic computational systems (computers), it allows the development of software (computer programs or computer applications) of modular structure that facilitate the optimal planning of work shifts for each of the people and administrative units of the company. business. It allows to plan shifts with variable scope and periodicity (monthly, semi-annual, annual or other periods of time).
The computer application also allows the development of templates that allow the workloads in each unit during the period considered, as well as the situation of the people in terms of annual working hours and compliance with the shift, vacation and leave regime.
The use of information technology also allows the manager that the planning and management of human resources in the units is carried out in accordance with the statutory regulations and the internal regime of the company, since through it applications can be developed that They contemplate the widest variety of circumstances, optimizing in any case the allocation of human resources necessary for customer assistance and saving staff costs.
Through the use of computers, real-time control can be carried out that registers the daily situation and the presence of each person, as well as the events associated with the performance of all the jobs in each of the administrative units of the company.
On the other hand, according to Calderón and Briceño (2007), they refer that computing also becomes the basis for the development of human resources management information systems that allows the automatic obtaining of reports, tables of indicators, diagrams and graphs with data relating to the activity of the personnel and the administrative units where they work, thereby considerably facilitating management control and optimizing the decision-making of the Directorate on optimal planning and human resources management.
The information is obtained and presented with different levels of aggregation, both individually and by work assumptions, work units, areas, these among others.
It allows the objective comparison of indicators, providing comparative information on the company's people and operating units in variable periods of time.
Information Systems for Human Resources and Business Strategy
Vega (2005) states that in its simplest form, an information system is a set of elements that interact with each other in order to support the activities of a company or business, and in this sense it is a fundamental tool for the development of business strategy. When this system works and processes data related to human resources management, it is called the human resources information system.
They are characterized by being an integrated information and human resources management system, which usually works in a network and, among other things, allows consulting and processing information regarding the resumes of employees and dependents, the structure of the staff, payroll settlement., payroll payments and discounts, contributions to external entities, liquidation of social benefits, contributions and discounts of law, while showing a budget interface, accounting, selection and hiring, part fees, severance pay, social security, vacations, evaluation of performance, contests, liens, retirements, certificates and management processes of the Human Resources Office.
Its appearance arises as a consequence of the new vision of human resources administration, which acquired the managerial approach, where the functions related to Human Resources administration are linked (administrative process linked to hiring, remuneration and satisfaction of social obligations and fiscal) as well as the development of human resources (training, detection and selection of collaborators with high potential, talent development, performance evaluation, etc.), to the management of the organization (organizational structure of the company, job evaluation, remuneration policies, etc.), and to cultural and communication aspects in the organization, usually internally but in some cases also externally.
In their operational form, these information systems follow the basic operating structure, which begins with the entry of information, the storage of it, to continue with the processing that leads to the issuance of or output of relevant information for the decision making.
Information entry is the process by which the Information System collects the data it requires to process the information. Entries can be manual or automatic. Manuals are those that are provided directly by the user, while automatic ones are data or information that comes from or is taken from other systems or modules. The latter is called automatic interfaces.
Storage is one of the most important activities or capabilities that a human resources management information system has, since through this property the system can remember the information saved in the previous section or process.
Information processing, according to Henríquez (2007), is the capacity of the Human Resources Management Information System to perform calculations according to a pre-established sequence of operations. These calculations can be done with data recently entered into the system or with data that is stored. This characteristic allows the transformation of source data into information that can be used for decision-making, which makes it possible, among other things, for a decision maker to generate a financial projection from the data contained in an income statement or a base year balance sheet.
The information output is the ability of an Information System to take the processed information or input data abroad.
Now, there is a close link between the human resources information system and business strategy, understood as the set of decisions that determine the coherence of the company's initiatives and reactions to its environment. Hence, the business strategy explicitly states the general objectives of the company and the fundamental resources of action in accordance with the current and potential means of the company, in order to achieve its optimal insertion in the socio-economic environment; which in turn supposes the adaptation of the organization's resources and abilities to the changing environment, taking advantage of opportunities and evaluating risks based on objectives and goals through general action programs and deployment of resources to achieve complete objectives;the program of objectives of an organization and its changes, resources used to obtain these objectives and policies that govern the acquisition, use and disposition of these resources; the determination of the basic long-term objectives of a company and the adoption of courses of action and allocation of human resources to achieve goals.
For the development of the business strategy, from the perspective of human resources management, a set of activities must be undertaken, resulting from a series of decisions emanating from the business strategy, and from the needs derived from its implementation where the systems Information systems of human resources play a leading role, since they allow executing the functional strategy of Human Resources that precisely seeks to design the activities that are included in the functions of Human Resources Management, all within the need to mobilize all Human Resources (at all levels) around the general objectives of the company and the successive strategies that must allow them to be achieved.
For González and De la Vega (2005), the use of human resources information systems makes it possible to determine how people are linked to the company's strategy, since managers will not carry out this exercise by themselves locked in their areas; Thanks to this information system, at each level each of them will bring together the workers and involve them in the task of defining how their area in question contributes to the success of the unit at the level immediately above. In this sense, workers can identify:
- The most accurate means of measuring your individual and group success in making investments that support the achievement of your business strategy.
- The impediments that in their opinion hinder their ability to make the most effective contribution possible. It is the responsibility of management, from the department to the business unit, to remove the obstacles.
- Low-value activities that need to be abolished to improve the efficiency of people's work.
Data as an Input for Human Resources Planning
Speaking of data as an input for human resources planning implies referring to databases in human resources, which are properly said a system for storing and accumulating data duly classified and available for processing and obtaining information.
In the area of Human Resources, the database, according to López (2006), can obtain and store data of different strata or levels of complexity, namely:
Personal data of each employee, which make up a personnel record.
Data of the occupants of each position, which make up a position record.
Data of the employees of each section, department or division, which constitute a register of sections.
Data on wages and salary incentives, which constitute a record of remuneration.
Data on benefits and social services, which make up a record of benefits.
Candidate data (candidate records), training activities and resources (training record).
The usefulness of these inputs for human resources planning is due to the fact that the human resources information system obtains data and information from employees, the business environment, the external environment (labor market, job requirements, etc.), and of the macroenvironment (economic, political situation, etc.), to process them and give information to the decision maker that will help him in making the decisions that the plan will generate.
On the other hand, adds López (Ob. Cit.), Said data flow undergoes a work of collection, processing and use. Some data is collected to evaluate and diagnose the workforce by making decisions objective. Other data is tabulated and presented in the form of surveys, analysis, and monitoring for characterization purposes, such as salary and social benefit surveys. Other data is stored in the database for later retrieval, processing and use in the description.
In addition, the starting point for developing a human resources information system is the database, since the final objective of an information system is to provide the headquarters with information about the personnel, which it obtains from the processing of stored data.
In fact, an information system is, by definition, a system by which data is obtained, processed and transformed into information, in a schematic and orderly manner, to serve as an aid in the decision-making process or planning. In this context, the data, because it includes details, does not allow obtaining a broader meaning, while the information obtained through the treatment, processing and combination of data carries a broader and more defined significance. The information reduces the conditions of uncertainty, hence its importance in human resource planning.
The Conversion of Strategic Plans into Human Resources Requirements:
The Competence, Quality and Quantity of Personnel in a timely manner.
The conversion of strategic plans into human resource requirements is only adequate for each strategic plan in particular, according to the scenario analyzed, a planning of human resources that lead to their realization, thereby gaining competence, quality and quantity of the staff at the right time when the company needs it.
The competence of the human resource, according to Alles (2005), is understood as the set of verifiable knowledge, skills and attitudes that are applied in the performance of a productive task. Hence, adopting an approach to human resource management focused on competencies implies assuming a global vision of qualifications, as opposed to detailed, exhaustively disaggregated analyzes, typical for example of occupational analysis. It takes into account the set of elements that the worker needs in the performance in the work environment. But his reference is no longer the job, but the worker at work. On the other hand, the capacities must be verifiable, through rigorous evaluation procedures.
The above, according to Andersen (2003), implies that to increase the competence and quality of human resources, the manager must take initiatives for change in the organization that allow him to act on what materializes it (its strategy and its structure), and on what animates it (their shared values, their competences, their informal rules, these among others) and, by the way, also requires considering the mutual influence and the interpretation of these two types of components, which are intimately linked to each other.
This means reconceptualizing the traditional function of human resource management and moving towards a strategic perspective of human resource management and, within this, rethinking the conception, techniques and guidelines of performance evaluation.
From this perspective, the human resources function becomes the engine of the company's competitiveness, aware of the importance of attracting, retaining and developing the best workers, technicians and managers.
Within this context, the human resources manager has decision-making power in strategic matters directly related to the function, becoming one of the most important managers of the company, since its primary objective is to achieve a highly competent and of quality, also in the quantity necessary for the company at the opportune moment it needs it.
Thus, to achieve this purpose it has to satisfy the following aspects:
1. The focus is: optimize resources.
2. The organization and human resources manager is characterized by being a professional with a superior level and experience in the development of activities of his function.
3. Considerable functional development, with integration of the areas of organization, personnel and labor relations.
4. Great attention to the organizational structure of the company, with the affliction of modern techniques for the analysis and evaluation of positions.
5. Flexible pay policies with an emphasis on stimulation.
6. Diversification in strategies.
7. Use of information systems.
How Output 1 relates to the thesis topic
As a result of the process of institutional change experienced in the country as of the entry into force of the 1999 Constitution, the functional structure of the National Experimental University of the Armed Forces (UNEFA) has had an expansion marked by the democratization of access to university studies, which has led him to have a presence in almost all of the national territory maintaining the same level of quality and educational demand.
This characteristic nature of the institution already identified causes its level of functional complexity to increase, since it is no longer about the practice of educational management and administration in a specific and controlled geographic environment and environment, but rather the execution of the same in a a dispersed, wide geographic space and from the point of view of heterogeneous communication, all of which significantly increases its administrative demands, especially with regard to its most valuable asset, that is, its human resources.
To maintain its level of excellence, in all its aspects, UNEFA must develop a human resources management model that not only allows the necessary control of them, but also provides the appropriate means, tools and methods to that they can be highly competitive, a question that in his own opinion he has managed to achieve.
Now, not only by tradition, but as part of the social contribution to the communities where it is immersed, and by the very nature of the activities that take place within the universities, coupled with this are the valuable material resources that they usually have, It motivates them to create their own fire brigades, which function under the figure of volunteers, that is to say, the much-mentioned university volunteer firefighters, a body that within their service area are seen as highly specialized support to the already established fire brigades.
But these are usually circumscribed to a specific area and their specialization is made to satisfy the firefighting needs of that space, an issue that does not occur in the UNEFA, which is geographically dispersed throughout the country, where it may very well be within the spaces of a barracks or military installation, within an office building in a big city or in rural areas, which forces them that their university volunteer fire department cannot function as they do, from an administrative management point of view, these units traditionally, but to maintain their quality standard and level of specialization they have to adhere to the system model, that is, it must be functionally configured as a system of volunteer university fire brigades,to guarantee its functional unit within the high criteria of quality and excellence that is pursued within the UNEFA.
The aforementioned implies that to achieve this purpose, effective use of the management of its human resources must be made, starting from the design of the information system that will allow its adequate integration as a functional unit, until the concretion of resource planning. Human resources that will allow a high level of performance of the university firefighter no matter in which space he provides his services, that is, without losing his high level of specialization at any time.
In this context, such human resources have to be managed from the perspective of strategic planning based on an adequate information system that guarantees its managers and staff to obtain information in a timely manner and at the necessary time, thereby allowing them to reduce geographical distances, in addition to providing immediate response capacity to possible scenarios that have already been proactively envisioned.
A system of volunteer university firefighters, like any element of this type, is open, although in hierarchical terms it is vertical, its functions imply a high interaction with its environment and related parties, so the flow of information is not only in a vertical line, Rather, it expands widely towards the horizontal and is necessarily bidirectional, all of which translates into the need to use not only the information system, but this must in turn meet characteristics that allow them to be, among other things, a system of support, decision-making and strategic information; And as expected, this characteristic forces it to be closely related and working with the applications of computing, since it does not only supply the information that is requested,but also must be able to process the data to generate the information itself, allowing in turn to have an optimal storage capacity.
In this sense, the achievement or realization of a system of volunteer university fire brigades for UNEFA requires having the obligatory support of human resources management that guarantees to obtain from them a high performance that is adapted to the levels of quality and competitiveness that It requires, on the one hand, the university tradition, and on the other, the vocation of excellence that this house of study possesses, since being a Military Institution also requires a high level of quality in the provision of the service, an organization that by virtue of the process of civic-military union welcomes a good number of civilian personnel (in fact, it is currently its majority component),It forces them to be more diligent in the execution of their training in order to quickly adapt them to the performance levels that the institution asks of them without implying the imposition of military order.
conclusion
Human resources are the most important asset of any company, since they are what put all its components and implements into operation, so the human resources manager must put into practice strategies not only aimed at developing them, but also at protecting them.
An ideal mechanism for this is the use of human resource planning, at its strategic level through the use of information systems, since one of the main benefits provided by this procedure is that the control and alignment of the entire personnel according to the business strategy that is developed within the company, within a context of high competitiveness and maximum quality.
Another advantage of the use of strategic planning of human resources, which, as already indicated, involves the use of information systems, is that advantages are obtained that go beyond the simple reduction of costs, while reducing the administrative burden for the automation of processes.
In addition, this fact also has the benefit that with regard to the human capital of the company, the conditions are created to follow the new trend that is aimed at the active participation of all decision makers in the management of human resources, since these They do not have to wait for the human resources department to tell them the current situation of their staff, because with the simple query of their information system they access said data.
Bibliography
ALLES, M. (2005). Management By Competencies. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Gránica.
ANDERSEN, A. (2003). Management Practices of the XXI Century. Spain: La Palma Editorial.
ARAMAYO, R. (2000). Strategic Planning of Human Resources. Mexico: Cecsa.
AYALA, S. (2003). Human resources management. Mexico: Trillas.
CALDERÓN, J. and BRICEÑO, G. (2007). Human Resources Management System. Caracas: UCV Publications.
CLOKE, K. (2002). The end of management and the rise of organizational democracy. A Practical Guide to the Job of the Future / Kenneth Cloke, Joan Goldsmith, - Los Angeles: John Wiley & Sons.
DOLAN, S., SCHULER, R. and VALLE, R. (1999): La Gestión de los Recursos Humanos (Human Resource Management), Editorial McGraw-Hill, Spain.
GONZÁLEZ, O. and DE LA VEGA, JL (2005). The strategic management control systems of organizations. Barcelona: Ed. Ediciones Gestión 2000 SA
HENRÍQUEZ, C. (2007). Information Systems: basic concepts. Colombia: University of Cauca.
LÓPEZ, M. (2006). Human Resources control subsystem. Available: http://www.gestiopolis.com/auditoria-y-control-de-los-recursos-humanos/..
LOSADA, C. (Editor) (1999). From Bureaucrats to Managers? Management Sciences Applied to State Administration, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, USA
MARTÍNEZ, LP (2002). Social Management of Human Talent. Mexico: Addison Wesley Logman.
SALINAS, O. (2000). Globalization and Human Resources. Available at:
SALLENAVE, JP (2004). The Integral Management. New York: Business & Economics.
GERENCIA MAGAZINE (2009). Human resource management strategies. Keys to protect and enhance human capital. March 24, 2009. Pages 11-15.
ROCKART, J. (2002). A Management Information System: Critical Factors for Success. Mexico: Diana.
ROBBINS, S. (2000): Organizational Behavior. Theory and Practice (Organizational Behavior, Concepts, Controversias, Applications. Editorial Prentice Hall, 10th Edition, Mexico.
VAISBERG, B. (2007). The Human Resources Management on the Internet. Madrid: Mandala Editions.
VALLE, R. (2003). The strategic management of human resources. Mexico: Prentice Hall.
VEGA, E. (2005). Information systems and their importance for organizations and companies. Mexico: Mc Graw Hill.
