Introduction

Hello everyone, welcome all of you to my blog.My name is Ruveyda Sengoz, I was raised in a large family with many relatives and this gave me the opportunity to develop my interpersonal and communication skills at a very early age. Being in constant touch with people who are from different aspects of life such as education level, age, culture and so on,  is a good experience for someone to discover his/her capacity and build upon it. After completing secondary education in my home country I set sail to Malaysia to start my my tertiary education in lovely city of Malaysia , i.e. Kuala Lumpur. Currently I am studying in Human Resources Department of University Technology Malaysia(UTM). Being in a different country is not only an advantage as an international experience but it also helps to understand human behaviour of people from very diverse cultures.
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Web Based Employee Self Service

Employee self-service (ESS) is a web-based means for employees to access benefits information and make benefit elections or changes. Employees are guided through online procedures using employee demographic data, plan comparisons, and decision support tools. And simple ESS solutions make forms available online that must be printed, completed and submitted in hardcopy form. Also some solutions may allow for forms to be completed online before printing and submitting. The most sophisticated solutions allow an employee to complete all or most transactions on-line, bypassing the need for any paper. Many ESS solutions offer simplified administration, by fully integrating with the insurance carrier systems. 

Why deal it? There are reasons which are:

• Reduces administrative burden and employee inquires. 
• Eliminates manual data entry errors and increases enrolments accuracy. 
• Provides integrated and automated premium billing. 
• Staff can focus on more strategic versus administrative issues. 
• Creates value for the company’s benefit package.

What size employers offer it? 

ESS applications work best for employers with 200+ participants due to costs and possible complexity of implementation and maintenance. In some cases, employers with less than 50 employees may be able to use limited features of ESS. 

What are the critical underwriting or participation requirements? 

• Ease to use, intuitive screens, transaction speed, and workflow management. 
• Systems ability to handle events, i.e., New Hires, Open Enrolments, & Family Status Changes. 
• Degree of complexity for benefit plans and coverage. 
• Automated billing: Many systems are also automated billing solutions. The ESS solution is linked with the carrier systems and can produce invoices that calculate retroactive dues. This not only saves time in performing premium billing, but also assists in ensuring you are not over or under paying premiums.

Pros and cons

Pros 

• Improves data accuracy and enrolments timeliness. 
• Reduces administration burden, improves efficiency and reduces need for and expense of printed materials.  
• Manage personal details: simple tasks can take longer than they should–unless are empowered to do it themselves.
• Automate leave: applications Self Service eliminates double handling by delivering leave applications directly to managers.

Cons 

• Not cost justifiable for most employers with less than 100 employees. 
• All employees need Internet access through either a PC or kiosk at work. 
• Requires staff resources or a partner to implement, administer and maintain, requires training of HR staff and employees.

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References:
Employee self-service, employee benefits retrieved from: http://www.arlengroup.com/facts/fact_ess.pdf
Web based employee self-service, human resource pay roll. Retrieved from http://www.technologyonecorp.com/media/docs/HRP_Employee_Self_Service_Factsheet_HRPFS002-1111_LR.pdf

HR Performance Management System

Performance management is an HRM process (which has become increasingly popular since the 1980s) concerned with getting the best performance from individuals in an organization, as well as getting the best performance from teams, and the organization, as a whole. Effective performance management therefore involves sharing an understanding of what needs to be achieved and then managing and developing people in a way that enables such shared objectives to be achieved.

Given the mission and values, the organization can create performance objectives at every level within the organization right down to personal objectives for individual members of the organization.

A well-developed performance management system will include the following:

• A statement outlining the organization’s values
• A statement of the organization’s objectives 
• Individual objectives which are linked to the organization’s objectives
• Regular performance reviews throughout the year 
• Performance –related pay
• Training and counseling

The Impact of Human Resource (HR) Performance Management on Project Outcome

Organizations engaged in information technology (IT) projects encounter a dynamic market today. In order to strategically create and sustain a competitive advantage and improve business performance, organizations in IT business must recognize the importance of human resources as a major factor in their business performance. 

Therefore, it is rational that the outcome of IT projects and performance of HR comprising the project team are associated with each other. Human resource management (HRM) for IT projects refers to all activities associated with management of people in a project team (Boxall and Purcell, 2008). Performance management of the HR is a significant function of HRM that helps project managers in measuring and maintaining the performance of project team which is considered necessary for the project success. Existing literature is evident that a growing number of studies acknowledge a positive correlation between HRM and organizational performance.

Effective project management is recommended to be an exercise of nine knowledge areas that mainly include management of project scope, time, cost, quality, HR, communication, procurement, risk and integration of all the areas mentioned throughout the project’s life cycle. The management of scope, time and cost are declared triplet constraints for project as these areas are declared primary functions of project management. The latest knowledge entertains the management of quality as a fourth constraint while practices of functions for HR, communication, procurement and risk are rated only supplementary functions for projects.

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References:

Naqvi I.H & Bokhari S.H.A& Aziz S.& Rehman K., 27 July ,2011 The Impact of Human Resource Performance Management on Project Outcome , retrieved from Full Length Research Paper 
http://www.academicjournals.org/ajbm/pdf/pdf2011/23Sept/Naqvi%20et%20al.pdf

Information and Competitive Advantages

Channels through which private information affects the competitive position of firms in the marketplace. Firms try to gain a competitive advantage via strategic investments in cost reduction or demand improving effort in an uncertain context. It is found that under regularity conditions, an improvement in the information precision of a firm has always a favorable impact in its competitive position and profitability. The rivals are hurt if the market is characterized by quantity competition but favored if price competition prevails. 

Managing Information for Competitive Advantage

Purpose effective and efficient conversion of resources into goods and services that meet the present and future demands of their customers is central to the success of all organisations. Successful management of information will depend on:

• The efficient collection and processing of data through information and communication systems to support managerial decision-making in the area of resource use and conversion. 
• The effective design and management of information, communication and knowledge systems. 
• The effective use and interpretation of information by managers in the decision-making and problem-solving processes.

Information Gives Competitive Advantage

Advances in information technology affect competition and the sources of competitive advantage. Information technology must be conceived of broadly to encompass the information that business create and use as well as a wide spectrum of increasingly convergent and linked technologies that process the information.in addition to computers, data recognition equipment, communications technologies, factory automation, and other hardware and services are involved. The information revolution is affecting competition in three ways:

1. it changes industry structure and in so doing ,alters the rules of competition: the structure of an industry is embodied in five competitive forces that collectively determine industry profitability, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers ,the threat of new entrants ,the threat of substitute products and the rivalry among existing competitors. 
2. it creates competitive advantage by giving companies new ways to outperform their rivals: in any company, information technology has a powerful effect on competitive advantage in either cost or differentiation. The technology affects value activities themselves or allows companies to gain competitive advantage by exploiting changes in competitive scope. 
3. it spawns whole new businesses, often from within a company’s existing operations: the information revolution is giving birth to completely new industries in three distinct ways which are makes new businesses technologically, spawn new businesses by creating derived demand for new products, creates new businesses within old ones.

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References:

http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/D2B97FF5-492F-49E8-9609-77095DD89E3F/0/manag_info_competitive_adv.pdf

Vives X.1989 Information and competitive advantage, International Journal of Industrial Organization http://blog.iese.edu/xvives/files/2011/09/76.pdf 8 (1990) 17-35. North Hollond

Millar V.E.& Porter M.E. 1985 The information revolution is transforming the nature of competition ,Harvard Business Review 

http://www.ida.liu.se/~TDEI65/documents/8500002422.pdf

Defination of Human Resource Management

"Human Resource Management (HRM, or simply HR) is the management of an organization's workforce, or human resources. It is responsible for the attraction, selection, training, assessment, and rewarding of employees, while also overseeing organizational leadership and culture, and ensuring compliance with employment and labor laws. In circumstances where employees desire and are legally authorized to hold a collective bargaining agreement, HR will typically also serve as the company's primary liaison with the employees' representatives (usually a labor union).

HR is a product of the human relations movement of the early 20th century, when researchers began documenting ways of creating business value through the strategic management of the workforce. The function was initially dominated by transactional work such as payroll and benefits administration, but due to globalization, company consolidation, technological advancement, and further research, HR now focuses on strategic initiatives like mergers and acquisitions, talent management, succession planning, industrial and labor relations, and diversity and inclusion..." 

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