Discussion Questions

10610Book : ISBN: 9781506351452
• Title: Human Resource Information Systems
• Authors: Michael J. Kavanagh, Richard D. Johnson
• Copyright Year: 2018
• Edition: 4th
• Publisher: Sage Publishing
Week 3Discussion Questions – Chapter 7
2-3 sentences per questions are okay.
1. How has the use of HRIS evolved over the past 10 years in organizations, and how might this influence
an organization’s evaluations of additional investments in new or updated HRIS functionality?
2. Why is it important to estimate the benefits to be derived from new HRIS functionality before you
estimate the costs? If costs were estimated first, how might this change the analysis?
3. Develop an argument for the implementation of an HRIS using a risk reduction strategy and an
organizational enhancement strategy.
4. Organizations have traditionally used “employee time saved” as the primary source of benefits to
justify HRIS and other types of information system investments. Why can this be problematic? Give
several reasons and relate them to conducting a CBA.
5. What makes indirect benefits so difficult to include in a CBA? What techniques might be used?
6. When should benchmarking be preferred to direct estimates of the magnitudes of benefits? When
should direct estimates be preferred? Is it appropriate to use both?
7. Why does average employee contribution offer a better estimate of the contribution of individuals to
an organization than total compensation (wages, incentives, and benefits)?
8. What are the factors you would have to use in calculating a cost-benefit ratio to support a decision to
purchase a new HRIS when the organization already has an HRIS that was acquired 10 years ago? Be
sure to mention the factors that would comprise the costs, direct and indirect, and the benefits, direct
and indirect, of the current system versus the proposed system.