LESSON 1

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: GAINING A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Identify how new technology, such as social networking, is influencing human resource
management.

During the pandemic, everyone relies on technology to reach one another because we cannot
interact face to face due to the virus. Technology also gives ease to the people in doing their jobs
in the corporate world or even in the house and it might solve the problems the people encounter
or might encounter in the future. For example, trees can be converted into paper. Due to the
paper society, there is more demand for paper. It means more paper to be produced, more trees
will be damaged. However, through technology, society might start a paperless transaction. Just
like in our everyday life, technology also affects the system of human resource management in
businesses.

In the everyday scenario, the employers engage with their employees through face-to-face
interaction within the premises of the company. When the pandemic starts, their biggest problem
is how the employers would engage with their employees since face-to-face interaction is
prohibited - technology is the best solution. The organization can communicate jobs fast and in
real-time with their labor force on the internet. Social Media Sites, like Facebook, are the most
common platforms that the company uses to deliver their messages to one another, even before
the pandemic starts. Since there is a pandemic, the company gives their labor forces enough
gadgets to have resources in communicating online. Spending on it might cost a lot but it would
help to interact with the employees. On the other side, employers only need to set up meeting
rooms like zoom, google meet, MS teams to have a conversation with the employee.

Technology also gives convenience to gain knowledge through diving into the web. In a
face-to-face setting, the employees need to be in the facility where the seminar is, but in the
online setup, they only need to go online and enter the meeting room of the webinar even
wherever they are. Also, training with the employee can be easily done with the mentioned
platform above. Emails are the main communication within the company even before the
pandemic. Employees usually send their outputs to their superiors through emails and also
receive responses to their work with the same platform. Mostly, MS Outlook and Google Mail is
the platform used by the company for their formal communication within the company. These
platforms help the users to organize their email within and outside emails.

Overall, technology gives convenience to people in every aspect of life. It also aids a situation
that we cannot solve with our bare skills, just like the communication between two people on
different sides of the world. In addition, it also gives support in the function of human resource
management. For example, the safekeeping of the personal data of the employee in the database.
It also helps to avoid physical damage and minimize the breach of data. Another, it also allows
the users to engage with other people during the pandemic using different platforms. On the
other hand, using technology can lead to health issues due to too much exposure and a lack of
nutritious food intake. We should be aware of these effects and limit our use of technology, if
possible, to lessen these effects.