Institutional factors influencing the implementation of human resource information systems in Machakos county government

Abstract

Technology is instrumental in enhancing organizational operations. This includes machinery and equipment that have been deliberately developed from the application of scientific knowledge. Human Resource has become a crucial source of competitiveness while striving for excellence in the business environment. The best performing firms rely not only on technology, patents of strategic position, but on the management of their workforce for sustained advantage in the market place. The firms have also realized that after Human Resources, Information Technology is the other most important asset such as Human Resource Information System (HRIS). However, in the government of Machakos County, implementation of the HRIS has not been successful as it was anticipated. The study was to investigate the institutional factors influencing the implementation of the Human Resource Information System in Machakos County Governments. The study was guided by the four objectives; to explore the influence of leadership style, staff training, change management and organizational policy on the implementation of HRIS in Machakos County. The study employed descriptive research design and data was collected using questionnaires. The study targeted 174 employees of Machakos County and a sample of 88 study participants was randomly selected. The data was analyzed using quantitative data analysis techniques with the aid of SPSS version 21. Correlation and regression was carried out to determine the influence of the independent variables on the dependent variable. Results were presented in tables. The results showed a P-value of 0.038 implying that implementation of HRIS has a significant joint relationship with leadership style, staff training, change management and organizational policy which is significant at 5 percent level of significance. A t-value of 0.058 was established at 0.047 error margin. This shows that the statistics was significant at 95% significance level. The researcher recommends that the County Executive Committee members should be ready to implement HRIS. This would ensure that the environment is welcoming for the system to fully be incorporated. HR managers should play a proactive role to support HRIS implementation in their organizations. They should convince top managers and other line managers of the importance of HRIS implementation, so that time and budget required for implementing HRIS could be gained. The study further recommends that, the county leadership should allocate time, training manuals and framework and budget to train people on how to use and leverage the uses of HRIS, and on how to gain competitive advantage through HRIS Change management programs should be put in place to ensure that employees fully adapt to the new technology installed. Clear policies regarding the implementation of the HRIS should be put in place to ensure smooth adoption and implementation of the system. HR department should align its policies with the organizational policy on adoption and implementation of new technology in order to gain full support from the organizational management.