The impact of information technology on practicing human resources management in the public sector in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract EN

This study investigates the impact of Information Technology (IT) on the practices of human resource departments in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)‘s public sector organisations.

This paper presents the results of a survey of human resources directors (HRDs) in the public sector organisations in the UAE.

It is an initial attempt to provide a case study of information and services provided by IT, primarily Web-based self-service, in the human resource function.

HRDs were asked about their perceptions on the effectiveness of human resources information systems (HRIS) for their organisations.

The results were positive and showed that the scope of HRIS is broad, with almost 28% and 30% of employees contacting HR through email and the Web, respectively.

In terms of the perception of HRDs of the impact of HRIS, operational effects such as the automation of recordkeeping, alleviation of administrative burdens are significant.

However, relational and transformational aspects such as a reduction in response time, improved service quality and retaining knowledge are important to HRDs.

Still, they doubted that HRIS enhances the organisation’s ability to attract top talent, improves awareness or relationships between HR and employees.