Section Two
plan, without going through any sign-off loops.
Line managers can complete routine tasks, such
as appraisals and salary changes, automatically.^8The implementation of systems such as PeopleSoft and
SAP also has led to the restructuring of human resource
departments, jobs, and processes. Processes have been
changed to conform to the requirements of information
systems. Jobs also have been redesigned with fewer
transactional activities because of computerization.^9
Redeployment of Human Resource Staff to
Operating Units
One of the outcomes of organizational decentralization has
been that human resource generalists have been redeployed
from human resource departments to individual operating units.
Such decentralization provides better service to the units
because the staff member is on site and typically reports to the
unit’s line management while retaining a dotted line or
functional reporting relationship to the human resource
department. Generalists, who can handle a relatively broad
range of issues, are typically the staff members assigned to
operating units. These individuals can access specialists in the
human resource department when greater expertise is needed
for various issues.