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Sample Answers to Discussion Questions
Chapter 8: HR Administration and HRIS
1. Discuss the theoretical bases for the four HR administrative approaches
introduced in this chapter. Are such theories useful to HR professionals in their
efforts to improve transactional performance? Why, or why not?
Students should be able to identify and discuss two theoretical bases for the four
administrative approaches. First, the resource-based view of the firm (Barney,
Second, transaction cost theory (Coase, 1937; Williamson, 1975) suggests that
organizations can choose to purchase the goods and services they need in the
competitive marketplace or make those goods and services internally.
Transaction costs are the expenses associated with an economic transaction,
whether internal or external. Managers can compare the transaction costs
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Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e
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Both resource-based and transaction cost theories can explain the different
choices organizations make in their preferences for HR administration
approaches. For example, the increasing internal transaction costs of recruiting
2. Why is service-oriented architecture enhanced by XML important to HR
administration? Choose two HR administrative approaches, and discuss how
each is facilitated by this architecture.
SOA is focused on providing overall service that is well-defined, self-contained,
context- and platform-independent and adds value to the organization’s business
purpose rather than simply addressing the technology itself. In effect, SOA is a
Instructor Resource
Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
HRIS capabilities are leveraged dramatically by SOA and XML (Lublinsky,
2007; Walker, 2001), such that
security is improved—this is especially important because of the privacy
protection issues associated with HR data and applications;
3. What are the primary advantages of HR portals and shared services centers?
Give examples of how HR professionals might use each to better achieve cost
controls and service enhancement.
Students should be able to identify and discuss the primary advantages of HR
portals and shared services centers that have been discussed in this chapter.
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Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e
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In addition, self-service portals facilitate easy, increased access to HR
information, helping employees ensure that important personal data, such as
individual job performance appraisals used by managers in making decisions
about employment rewards, such as salary increases or promotions, are accurate
and up to date.
Shared Service Centers:
First, SSCs permit HR administration managers to focus on delivering timely,
high-quality transactions necessary to fulfill corporate requirements, such as
mandated governmental reporting, particularly for MNEs that have to respond
to labor laws of multiple countries.
4. What are the primary purposes of ESS and MSS? What are the advantages
and disadvantages of each?
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Students should be able to explain the primary purposes of ESS and MSS.
Employee self-service (ESS) HR portals provide an electronic means for a
company’s employees to access its HR services and information. Such portals
MSS portals are specialized versions of ESS portals designed to allow
managers to view extensive information about their subordinates and perform
many of their administrative tasks electronically, including traditional HR
Students should be able to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
ESS and MSS. The primary advantages include the following:
• Overall improvement in the speed and quality of services to
employees and managers
The primary disadvantages include the following:
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Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e
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5. Define outsourcing and offshoring. Compare and contrast the two as HR
administrative tools. Give examples of the decision factors to consider when
choosing one over the other.
Students should be able to define outsourcing and offshoring and be able to
compare and contrast the two. Additionally, students should be able to give
Offshoring is an expansion of HR outsourcing that includes sending
work outside the U.S. to vendors located in other countries.
Technological capabilities and global competition have combined to
make HR outsourcing a global business, and offshoring in MNEs is
quite complex.
Esen’s (2005) survey showed that HR managers reported that their
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Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e
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When their organizations pursued offshoring, HR managers reported that
manufacturing (43%) functions were most common, followed by IT (29%) and
6. Using the EEO-1 report as an example, discuss the purpose of government
mandates. Give examples of penalties that organizations incur when they fail to
comply with government mandates such as EEO and OSHA reporting.
Students should be able to express that the purpose of government
mandates is to prevent discrimination in the workforce. Failures to
comply with such government mandates include loss of government
“(1) fail or refuse to hire or discharge any individual with respect to his
compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of such
individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, or
(2) limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in
any way that would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment
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Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e
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7. Based on information in this chapter, recommend the most effective HR
administrative approach or approaches for the owner of a small business with
fewer than 50 employees and infrequent staffing needs. What would you
recommend for a business with 5,000 employees and high turnover? Defend
your position with information from the chapter.
This is a good question for students to break up into small groups and
8. Identify and explain the purpose of each of the four perspectives included in
the balanced scorecard. Give two examples of HR measures for each of the four
areas that would demonstrate the value of HR in achieving the strategic goals of
organizations.
• Kaplan and Norton (1996) defined the four components of the balanced
scorecard as financial, customer, internal business processes, and learning and
9. Return to the vignette that opened this chapter and answer the questions
posed there.
The vignette in the beginning of the chapter is recommended to be