Abstract

Distributors of the e-HRM technology promise several advantages organizations can benefit from while using the e-HRM technology but scientific support is scarce and there is a lack of clarity regarding the contribution of e-HRM to HRM effectiveness (Bondarouk, et al., 2009).

This study is focused on assessing the effectiveness of e-HRM practices in SONARA, with specific objectives, to identify the e-HRM practices used by SONARA, to examine the extent to which these e-HRM practices are effective in SONARA and finally, to identify the challenges faced by the users.

The research design adopted for this study is the ex-post facto research design. The population of the study consisted of all employees of the four departments of SONARA that make use of e-HRM systems and they were 321 employees at the time of the study. A stratified and the simple random technique was used and the Bourley’s formula` helped in determining the sample size which was 178 respondents. The study used primary and secondary data sources. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect the primary data that was analyzed using descriptive statistics through Microsoft Excel software and SPSS version 25.0.

The data were presented in tables, charts and graphs. The following were the findings for this study; for objective one, it was found that the e-HRM practice highly used by SONARA is the Operational e-HRM tier. While both the Relational and Transformational e-HRM were found to be underutilized. This could be exemplified by the fact that majority of respondents have hardly used any of the relational and transformational e-human resource tools. The challenges of e-HRM practice in SONARA included; lack of training, difficulty to use the software, data security, no available software manual for self-training, administrative bottlenecks,  no innovation since the implementation of e-HRM system, lack of technical support from in-house. It is therefore recommended that SONARA should develop an e-HRM strategy that will include all HR functions and technical support.

The Oracle E business suite should be deployed in all departments and run on one portal with all the modules included (Operational, Relational and Transformational e-HRM). Also It is imperative for training on the use of this technology to be implemented in all departments and not only the HR department. Some areas were suggested for further studies.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Human resource is one of the most precious resource of any organization that want to remain competitive and stay at the top especially in this era of globilization. The past decade has seen the role of HR deparment transform from that of a bureaucrat to more recently a critical component in the competitive success of business (Varma, 2010).

The human resource management function deals with a very important and difficult to manage resource, the human capital. People are the main brain behind the production of goods and services in all the companies and organisations we see. Oganizations need to recruit, find the best person-job fit and retain talented employees. Without people they will be no Samsung, Coca cola, Pepsi, Apple, Oracle, Petrolium products, or the modern internet technologies we use today. (Laumer, Eckhardt, & Weitzel, 2010).

(Stolt, 2010) support the above assertion by stating that human resource departments are created to manage all issues connected with the organizations workforce. Such duties include employees’ performance, human resource planning, staffing, training, compensation, payment, and employees’ benefits.

In recent years with the pressure exerted on the human resource department, there is an increase need for innovation. This innovation can only came by the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT). Many organizations are adopting and implementing a lot of ICT tools- based innovation in order to improve their business performance and eventually acquire and keep competitive advantage.

According to Kemske (2008), the pressure and priorities, facing the HR department has forced many organizations like SONARA in Cameroon to change from traditional HR practices to electronic methods. In other to make the human resource function to be strategic, flexible, cost effective and efficient Companies are now able to perform multitasking activities in a highly efficient manner at an amazing speed (Snell, Stuebner & Lepak, 2002)..

Researchers like (Cedar 2004, Lengnick-Hall & Moritz 2003, Strohmeier 2007, Watson Wyatt 2002, Wright & Dyer 2000), emphasize the importance of technology development in transforming the role of HR department from administrative to a tactical one.

The human resource departments in the US embrace ICTs as far back as the 1940s when the computer was developed, but have spent most of the past years playing catch up as far as other business functions are concern. Areas in the HR department that were first to support these technologies are the payroll and employees storage (Walker 1980).

In around 1943, The United states implemented the federal tax and payroll systems, many clerks struggled with labor-intensive processes which failed to avoid human errors. With the push to increase the efficiency of the auditing department this led to innovation where the automated payroll systems were adopted to reduce the burden of HR staff (Fletcher 2005: 11).

The 70s saw the US introduce a series of legislations targeting businesses such as the Affirmative Action, Equal Employment opportunity, the occupational safety and Health Act and the employee Retirement Income security act, which caused many companies to collect , store, manage and report more personnel data than ever before. In this light the role of technology became more and more important. Companies started offering technologies that could address this data issues especially the payroll vendors began to emerge, offering not only technology but in some cases also services to outsource this functions. (Fletcher, 2005; Ruel and Bondarouk, 2004).

As the demand for more solutions to data management increased, vendors began to promote web base technology like the electronic human resource management systems that is integrated with the enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions which combine personnel data and payroll applications with some vendors integrating financial controlling systems with the human resource systems so that companies could make more efficient financial decisions, but also increase control over such high investments of corporate money (Bulmash 2006),

Bulmash (2006), defined ERP as a system that supports enterprise-wide or cross-functional requirements, rather than a single department or group within the organization. This software originated from that which integrates information from different modules into one relational universal database. Information from HR department can be link with finance and other departments’ databases like in the case of SONARA in which four of the ten departments are linked.

Electronic human resource management (e-HRM) originated in the 90s during the era of the dot.com boom. Since then many large and recently small organizations are more and more implementing electronic human resource management systems in the running of their HR activities. This technology has different names, for example e-HRM, CHRIS, digital HRM and Web based HRM. (Watson Wyatt, 2002), virtual HRM (Huang, Jin, & Yang, 2004).

With more and more literature on this concept, there is still no categorical definition of e-HRM. The available ones are rather general and emphasize the internet support way of performing HR policies and activities.

Strohmeier (2007), defines e-HRM as the ‘planning, implementation and application of information technology for both networking and supporting at least two individual or collective actors in their shared performing of HR activities’ (p. 20)

Gowan Mary (2011), on her part define e-HRM as a web-based solution which is comprehensive but with it easy to use features, rich, yet flexible enough approach tailored to meet specific needs of an organization. Therefore in this study we can consider e-HRM as “an umbrella term covering all possible integration mechanisms and contents between HRM and Information Technologies aiming at creating value within and across organizations for targeted employees and management”. (Bandarouk & Ruël, 2006).

This technology has the potential to change all traditional human resource management functions. Employees do not have to be in the same geographic areas to work together. The reduction of the cost of HR technologies and some of the benefits promise by vendors in recent years is pushing major organizations in the developing and develop world to have interest on e- HRM systems for their human resource management needs.

According to Pedigo and Krawiec (1995), e-HRM can influence the structural integration within the HR in three ways ; Operational (by streamlining operations and alleviating much of the administrative burden), Relational (by increasing the timeliness and service levels with employees and managers, as well as outside partners) and Transformational (by enabling people to communicate across geographic boundaries and share information which eliminated barriers of time and space) (Lepark and Snell, 1998).

The e-HRM technology has been witnessing an increase in market share since its introduction in the 90s. The market since 2006 has witness a growth of 10% on a yearly basis. (CompareBusinessProducts.com).

Some important players in the domain of e-HRM include SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft. This are tier 1 players and they command a 55% market share with SAP leading followed by Oracle and Microsoft respectively.

SAP was founded in 1972 by five former IBM engineers and is the undisputed market leader in the ERP space and the third largest software company in the world. Its current version has more than 30,000 relational database tables that allow it to handle extremely complex business situations (“ERP Cloud | SAP S/4HANA Cloud,” n.d.)

Oracle was earlier best known for its relational database, it was for many years the database of choice for SAP ERP applications. This cooperative situation had existed since the late 70’s. However, sometime around 2004, Oracle began to look at building its own ERP solutions. The first Oracle ERP product was Oracle Financials which was released into the market as early as in 1989. However, post 2004, Oracle began to become a serious player in the ERP market and is now a well-established number 2 in the Tier I market. . (“ERP Cloud | SAP S/4HANA Cloud,” n.d.)

Microsoft – Microsoft Dynamics is mostly focused on Tier II clients in the ERP space. It provides solutions in a number of different business domains including in the Customer Relationship Management domain. . (“ERP Cloud | SAP S/4HANA Cloud,” n.d.)

The Cameroon Refining Corporation (SONARA) is a strategic organization in Cameroon. SONARA in recent years has invested a lot on information communication technology (ICT) for the support of various business functions. One area that has embrace ICT in this organization is the HR function. The e-HRM-ERP technology adopted by SONARA to manage it HR functions is the Oracle e-business suite with modules such as HR, CRM, Sales, Financial, Supply chain, inventory, planning, project and service etc.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Till late 2011, Human resource management practices in SONARA with a workforce of 746 employees distributed in over ten departments was mostly carried out in a traditional format where records were entered manually and files stored in paper format resulting to waste of resources and time, loss of information and delay in decision-making such as delays in hiring and training of new employees with huge cost on the organization (SONARA News, 2012).

However, going through literature, a lot has been promised on the potential benefits accruing from the implementation of electronic human resource management practices in organizations (Bondarouk, Harms, & Lepak, 2015, Ruel et al, 2008).

More so, distributors of the e-HRM technology promise several advantages and benefits to organizations using the e-HRM technologies. Such advantages and benefits include; open/sharing of information within the organization, standardize HRM Systems and Procedures, enable HR cost saving and control, reduce time spent on routine administrative tasks by HR staff, better management of data and information, reduce paper transactions, improve HR transactions accuracy and increase overall organizational productivity. Perhaps, this justifies the introduction of e-HRM project (ORACLE E-BUSINESS SUITE) in SONARA in May, 2012.

SONARA over the past years has systematically transformed its HR system from manual to electronic human resource management system for strategic effectiveness and efficiency (Lengnick-Hall & Moritz, 2003). This system envisages the achievement of the above-mentioned e-HRM advantages and benefits thus, replacing paper documents to digitalized documents, whereby employees’ records can be easily located and open in seconds through management self- service and employee self-service without leaving your desk.

However, it is not clear if the e- HRM system in SONARA has achieved the above mentioned benefits since little evidence exists to showcase such. In addition, researchers are increasingly calling for more experimental studies to inform the effectiveness of e-HRM adoption and its impact on organizational effectiveness (Lengnick-Hall & Moritz, 2003). Yet SONARA has no such experimental studies to inform the effectiveness of its e-HRM system. Thus, there is need for SONARA to reliably measure the effectiveness of the e-HRM practice. This motivates the researcher and forms the bases of this study.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1.3.1 Main Objective

The main objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of electronic human resource management practices in the national oil refinery corporation (SONARA) Limbe, Cameroon.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

1. To identify the e-HRM practices used by SONARA;
2. To examine the extent to which these e-HRM practices are effective in SONARA;
3. To identify the challenges faced by the users of e-HRM in SONARA.

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