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Needs Assessment

One outstanding benefit of a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is that it lowers costs. Gladwell Grocery Stores considers the manager’s visit to the various stores as expensive due to increased fuel prices. An HRIS is cost-effective because it integrates activities into a database. In addition, few people are needed to operate and maintain the database (Mahajan, 2015). For instance, a module in the system can calculate automatically the payroll information for all employees by keying in worked hours and if an employee took a leave of absence. If the payroll preparation was done manually, the organization would need the entire staff to calculate taxes, leaves, and deductions, among other elements for each employee.

The second benefit is that it promotes rapid decision making. For instance, the manager has to visit all ten locations to respond to employee or leadership inquiries. This delays decision-making because each store has to wait for the manager’s response to make a decision. An HRIS is an automated linked network (Jain, 2014), so employees from the various locations can access the information at the same time. The needed information by use of key words is typed and searched, and the information is displayed on the screen. Furthermore, the system simplifies data comparison and evaluation, resulting in the production of timely reports.

The third benefit is that it reduces paperwork (Jain, 2014). The data is keyed into a computer and saved in folders and hard disks, a process that is fast unlike when the work is done manually and stored in physical files.

If Gladwell Grocery Stores automates the recruitment and selection process, it will reduce hiring costs for the organization. Having an electronic recruitment and selection process eliminates the costs of hiring recruiters to oversee the process. Electronic recruitment and selection tools record and examine data on received applications and screens applicants (Mahajan, 2015).

HRIS Type

HRIS systems are chosen based on the organizational level to be supported by the system. Examples include managerial, operations, strategic, comprehensive, executive, tactical, and boundary-span levels. Under the boundary spanning level is the decision support system. This decision support system is appropriate for Gladwell Grocery Stores because it supports decision-making. It also helps to forecast activities (Kavanagh, Thite & Johnson, 2014). By adopting the system, Gladwell Grocery Stores will be able to assess staffing needs. This staffing ratio technique is used to forecast hiring needs. If an organization has ten supervisors and each supervisor controls five attendants, it has to employ the ratio when filling the job vacancy for attendants. Productivity ratio can also be used to forecast hiring needs. In this case, the organization considers the amount of units each employee produces and the sales forecasts to compute the ratio (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2016). The decision support system will ensure that the calculations are correct and unbiased. This tool will also assist in analyzing the labor market. The retail sector is affected by seasonal fluctuation. During the high season, firms add workers and when the season is low, some workers are laid off. By implementing this tool, Gladwell Grocery Stores will be able to analyze the demand and supply of labor. If the supply is high, the organization benefits by lowering wages and vice versa.

This decision support system will be of great benefit to Gladwell’s recruitment and selection function. While selecting, assessing, and evaluating staff, oral and written examinations are often used. This method is inadequate because it does not use weights and criteria to evaluate and assess job candidates. Decision support systems enable firms to first choose the criteria to take note of during recruitment and selection, followed by assigning weights to each criterion. Computation is done using decision support software. The fuzzy model enables translating verbal words into numeric figures (Kavanagh, Thite & Johnson, 2014). Examples of multi-criteria decision methods that can be used to select staff are group decision support systems, fuzzy set theory, ELECTRE method, and minimally-based weight. To fill in the position of a sales manager, Stanujkic, Djordjevic & Karabasevic (2015) used work experience, organizational skills, education, computer skills, problem solving, communication skills, and foreign languages criteria. The Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis method was used to determine the criteria weights, while the new ratio method was employed to rank job candidates. The second reason why Gladwell Grocery Stores should purchase a decision support system is that it will enhance the matching of skills with employer needs. Keenan et al. (2004) gave an illustration of an electronic system which enables job searchers to log on and key in required details on a database. The system also permits employers to access the database and look for job searchers under various criteria. Thereafter, the system displays similarity matching on the results page. Skill matching provides prospective candidates list to the employers which, in turn, help them to make decisions.

HRIS Vendor

SAP Business Objects BI is decision-support software that assists in viewing, sorting, and analyzing data. This application is suitable for designing and producing reports, creating interactive dashboards, and visualizing data. Moreover, it offers a self-service platform for developing queries and analyzing data including searching via data sources. The platform utilizes a semantic layer which eliminates duplicating reports. It further guarantees consistent and accurate data. The software can work together with enterprise solutions inclusive of Microsoft Office and Salesforce. It is flexible, scalable, easy to use, and of high quality. The human resource functions that Gladwell Grocery Stores will benefit from with the application are strategic planning and performance appraisal. The application also promotes budgeting, forecasting, and benchmarking (Capterra, 2017). The owner offers a thirty-day free trial. If an organization likes it, then it will pay $21 per month to obtain permission to use it.

1000 Minds is software that supports decision making, prioritization, evaluating money value, and comprehending stakeholder values. It supports multi-criteria decision-making and choice-modeling. It implements pair-wise rankings of alternatives technique. It is quick and follows a six-step decision process. It has won numerous awards for being innovative, and it is user-friendly and scientifically valid. It was founded in 2003. It is internet-enabled with servers in New Zealand and the United States. It is good for developing applications, budgeting and forecasting, sensitivity analysis, analyzing data, and decision tree analysis (Greco, Ehrgott & Figueira, 2016). Gladwell Grocery Stores will find this tool helpful, especially in assessing staffing needs and analyzing the labor market. The owner offers a twenty-one day free trial. Students use it freely for research purposes. Firms however, have to pay an annual fee, a price that has not been disclosed by the company.

Recommendation

Although the owner of 1000 minds has not disclosed the price, the software is recommended to Gladwell Grocery Stores because it offers a multi-criteria technique to rank and select job candidates. The software will, therefore, quicken the recruitment and selection process, a function that was chosen as a most critical component for the grocery store.

References

Capterra. (2017). SAP BusinessObjects. Retrieved from http://www.capterra.com/p/92075/SAP-BusinessObjects/

Gomez-Mejia, L., Balkin, D., & Cardy, R. (2016). Managing human resources. New York, N.Y.: Pearson Education.

Greco, S., Ehrgott, M., & Figueira, J. (Eds.). (2016). Multiple criteria decision analysis: State of the art surveys. New York, N.Y.: Springer.

Jain, A. (2014). Study on effectiveness of Human Resource Information System at Vistaar technologies (Mumbai). SIES Journal of Management, 10(2), 63-78.

Kavanagh, M., Thite, M., & Johnson, R. (Eds.). (2014). Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Keenan, P., McGarraghy, S., McNamara, C., & Phelan, M. (2004). Human resource management DSS. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6730/489f53951e3bc8f5297d2e5fc473608a17c7.pdf

Mahajan, J. (2015). Managing Human Resources. New Delhi, India: Vikas Publishing House.

Rouyendegh, B., & Erkan, T. (2012). An application of the Fuzzy ELECTRE method for academic staff selection. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 23(2), 1-9.

Stanujkic, D., Djordjevic, B., & Karabasevic, D. (2015). Selection of candidates in the process of recruitment and selection of personnel based on the SWARA and ARAS methods. QUAESTUS Multidisciplinary Research Journal, (7), 53-62.