=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=None
|storemode=property
|title=Academic Key Note
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-570/paper001.pdf
|volume=Vol-570
}}
==Academic Key Note==
<pdf width="1500px">https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-570/paper001.pdf</pdf>
<pre>
                                     Academic Key Note



                                  From e-HRM to Fast HRM
                   Opportunities for Research and Practice Innovation
                                 Theresa M. Welbourne, Ph.D.




Human resource management (HRM) is a field that historically has been inundated with
paperwork and bureaucracy. Thus, the promise of e-HRM was to help streamline core
HR process, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. The result of these improvements
would be transforming HRM to take on a more strategic role in the organization.
However, with all the improvements in technology and HRM, the reality of moving into
a more strategic role has not ensued in many organizations. While there is agreement
that e-HRM has helped the field progress, something remains missing.
One way to move forward is to study the negative consequences of eHRM. In one
word, what we hear from leaders, managers, HR executives and the general employee
population is “information overload.” And with too much data comes complexity and
slowness, often the very things that e-HRM was implemented to reduce. The answer
lies not in more technology but with innovative thinking about core HR systems. It is
time to go beyond putting tried and true HR practices on the web and moving to
creatively rethink how HR work can be done. In other words, the academic community
can apply new thinking to suggest alternative ways to do HRM. Combining technology,
theory and empirical research with innovative exploration and science, the field of
HRM can let go of its past and move into a new realm.
New HRM systems should be fast and light because in today’s fast paced environment,
if HRM does not keep up, practitioners will miss the opportunity to be strategic.
Replacing manual HRM processes with heavy technology often creates more, rather
than less, work for HR. Think about the many HR areas where we now have too much
data and perhaps not better decisions (e.g. dashboards with HR metrics few know how
to use; recruiting with more resumes than anyone can read; performance management
systems that for efficiency went to annual programs that exhaust everyone involved).
If HRM is going to help organizations grow, it must not only add technology but also
become fast and light. In this regard, academics are well equipped to help practitioners.
To start, there is an abundant amount of well researched work from other areas of
business that can be applied to HRM. One such area is agile or extreme programming.
Over the last few years, through work at the Center for Effective Organizations, we
have tapped into the agile and extreme programming research to speed up HRM. We
are working with companies to alter the HRM strategy making process, reinvent

Strohmeier, S.; Diederichsen, A. (Eds.), Evidence-Based e-HRM? On the way to rigorous and relevant
research, Proceedings of the Third European Academic Workshop on electronic Human Resource
Management, Bamberg, Germany, May 20-21, 2010, CEUR-WS.org, ISSN 1613-0073, Vol. 570, online:
CEUR-WS.org/Vol-570/ , pp. 1-2.
© 2010 for the individual papers by the papers´ authors. Copying permitted only for private and academic
purposes. This volume is published and copyrighted by its editors.
employee surveys, and applying new theories to deploy a role-based, 3-minute 360
feedback tool. These experiments lead to innovation for practitioners and research for
academics. Also, our team is working to speed up learning by blending social
networking with traditional teaching, webinars, and real-time benchmarking. These
Fast HRM™ tools and processes, using a development cycle based on extreme
programming, are examples of moving from e-HRM to Fast HRM.
Evolving from e-HRM to Fast HRM requires innovation and high quality relationships.
There is tremendous opportunity for the academic community to shape the
transformation of e-HRM by applying new theories, tested empirical work, in-depth
case studies and innovative technology to change core HR practices. Fast HRM goes
beyond putting HRM on the web. Fast HRM is a lens that can be used to think
differently, and it can be one more effort to take the somewhat abstract idea of “being
strategic” and turning it into a reality.




                                                                                     2

</pre>