Section Twowork effectively in such environments cannot be taken for
granted. Training programs and developmental assignments
must be planned to ensure the availability of such workers.
Influences of Human Resource Information Systems
As noted, firms have invested heavily in the implementation of
enterprise or integrated software such as Oracle, SAP, and
PeopleSoft. Such information systems include human resource
information system (HRIS) components and provide immediate
information to decision makers about the organization’s human
resource capabilities. Human resource departments and the
activities they perform have been affected dramatically by
these enterprise software systems, and executives can now
include more human resource information in the equation when
making strategic or operational decisions. In addition to their
impact on strategic and operational decision making, such
systems also have allowed firms to automate human resource
processes of a transactional nature.^7 Such automation is
described as follows:
For example, managers and employees can now
use personal computers or kiosks to complete
many HR transactions. Employees can make
simple changes to personal information, such as
their home address or contribution to a 401(k)