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TACTICAL AND STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Tactical Human Resource Information Systems
A number of management information systems called human resource information systems (HRIS) have been developed to
assist managers in managing human resources. HRIS and its applications contain personal information about the employees
of an organization, as well as the organization’s resources in terms of labor and manpower.
On a particular note, securing this information against unwanted or unwarranted access, use, or distribution is important to
the individuals and organizations involved. Unwarranted access, use, or distribution is also likely to be illegal under current
legislation and can subject the organization to serious legal liability.
What is a Tactical Human Resource Information System?
It is a type of information system that supports HR managers in handling aspects of the acquisition, allocation, and
maintenance of an organization’s workforce. This includes the creation of jobs for a specific goal/purpose/process, employee
acquisition, training and capacity-building, and budget allocations for jobs and positions.
Applications of Tactical Human Resource Information Systems
Tactical human resource information systems have different applications according to the specific aspects that concern a
position:
• Job Analysis and Design Systems – These systems create jobs or positions required by an organization. They involve
tasks such as writing job descriptions, designation of purposes, tasks, duties, and responsibilities for a job or position,
specifying the conditions and performance standards that are required to qualify for these jobs or positions, and
processing of information from guidelines and external data sources such as labor unions, competitors, and
government agencies.
• Recruiting Systems – These systems handle functions that provide an organization with a pool of qualified applicants
that may fill vacant positions identified by position control systems and/or job analysis and design systems. These
systems also ensure that the recruitment processes of an organization are compliant with any government statutes
and contract regulations to guarantee affirmative action and equal employment opportunity.
• Compensation and Benefit Systems – These systems allow HR managers to support the creation of compensation
and benefit plans for employees. Using relevant data such as budget allocations and job descriptions, they provide a
variety of tactical HR decisions for payment plans and benefits available for certain employees and certain job
hierarchy levels based on internal (within the organization) or external (economical trends, exchange rates, etc.)
information.
• Employee Training and Development Systems – These systems handle decisions for employee development, usually
via capacity-building. Capacity-building for employees is facilitated by finding potential employees that meet certain
criteria and creating training and development plans that will allow interested and qualified individuals to benefit
from these plans.
• Succession Planning Systems – These systems ensure that replacements for key positions in the organization are
available at all times. This is to ensure that these positions do not become vacant in the event of death, debilitating
injury, retirement, promotion/demotion, or other reasons.
Strategic Human Resource Information Systems
What is a Strategic Human Resource Information System?
It is a type of information system that manages the organization’s workforce as a whole. It allows an HR manager to formulate
workforce plans and labor negotiations to ensure that the enterprise has the appropriate conditions for the appropriate
personnel.
Applications of Strategic Human Resource Information Systems
Strategic Human Resource Information Systems can have two (2) possible applications based on whether it handles
workforce planning or labor negotiations:
• Workforce Planning Systems – These systems facilitate strategic long-term workforce planning and management
using relevant data, such as those from other information systems. Using forecasted workforce estimates (which
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includes workforce supply, demand, required skills and specializations, quality and pricing), a workforce planning
system can create workforce plans that can achieve set organizational objectives.
• Labor Negotiation Systems – These systems gather data from other HR information systems, as well as information
from financial accounting systems and external sources, in order to help create negotiating terms between the
organization and labor unions. They mostly use generated ad hoc reports that allow the organization to see their and
a labor union’s positions from industrial and economic standpoints.
REFERENCES
Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2014). Management information systems: Managing the digital firm (13th ed.). United States
of America: Pearson Education Limited.
Rai Technology University (n.d.) Management information system. Bangalore.
Sousa, K. J., & Oz, E. (2014). Management information systems (7th ed.). United States of America: Cengage Learning.
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