An Essay on talk show as a part of the public sphere Essays

An Essay on talk show as a part of the public sphere Essays An Essay on talk show as a part of the public sphere Essay An Essay on talk show as a part of the public sphere Essay Essay Topic: Public Speaking Talk Has the holy book not lament that the people will not believe except the gospel is preached to them? Has it not also said that people perish for lack of knowledge? Talk show should be classified as a part of public sphere and in discussing this one should note that there is hardly any piece of work which relates to talk show as a public sphere that does not lay emphasis on Habermass theory. Habermas said that the media shows blurring activities in the public sphere: as it is being trivialized with unimportant news, activities rather than serious political issues. This was disputed by others who thought that even though talk shows did not meet Habermass criteria, it still contributes meaningfully to the public sphere through means of active public participation. In this essay Habermas would be a central figure in the discussion and also other theorist whose academic literature discusses on pubic sphere would be considered. There would be vast discussion on the dimensions that make up the public sphere other academic and popular literature would be used, history, benefits of talk show, analysis of a talk show amongst others would also be discussed. Tyra banks show and Oprah Winfrey show would be used as yard sticks to measure Habermas theory of rational critical public sphere. What then is talk show and what is public sphere. First let us examine talk show. Talk show A talk show is a television or radio program were one person or group of people come together to discuss topics put forth by a talk show host. Some times, talk shows feature a panel of guests, usually consisting of a group of people who are learned or have great experience in relation to whatever issue is being discussed. (Wikipedia). It can be said to a forum where certain individuals are called upon by an initiator to deliberate over issue(s). The oxford advance learners dictionary defines talk show as a television or radio program in which a presenter introduces a particular topic which is then discuss by the audience. The Museum of Broadcast Communication sees talk show as any unscripted conversation directed to the audience. Talk show is therefore a show organized principally around talk. Certain points are common in all these definitions the fact that talk show involves people, talking, audience, media, issues and host. Usually, talk show features a panel of guests consisting of people who are learned, relevant and experienced in relation to the topic on the show for that episode, at other times, a single guest is asked to discuss his work or area of expertise with the host. For instance, a gynecologist may be asked to speak on the issue of pregnancy and other related issues on the female human being or a lawyer having to speak on the issue of human rights. Talk show can be regarded as a part of journalism which has evolved in a popular direction as its tentacles are spread across the different issues of societal concerns ranging from public affairs(politics) to entertainment Forms of Talk Show There are several types of talk shows. Some are outlandish like the defunct the Graham Newton Effect while others are traditional like the Late Night Show with David Letterman but the common ones now is the informal guest host format in which the host welcomes celebrities or other talk worthy individuals in an informal discussion like Kakaki Africa shown daily on AIT. The second most common form of talk show is the Public Affair in which a host(s) interviews people in the news, shows of this format are Good Morning America or Meet the People and Peoples Parliament shown daily on AIT. Others are issue oriented talk shows like Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, Maury, Tyra Banks, Rachael Ray shows and many others. Public Sphere First and foremost when we use the word publics it is people who are not in the same families, communities, and clubs; people who are not the same as each other. As such, they are central to the functioning of modern societies. The term public sphere is a metaphor that we use to think about the way that information and ideas circulate in larger societies, it is used in everyday to describe information when it is made generally available to the public. When referring to the term it could also be seen as a forum or arena or aspect of political life where people come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems and through these discussions political decision may or may not be influenced. Political sphere is a contrast to personal, domestic, individual or private issues; it bothers on any issue that occupies public space and interest. Public sphere is therefore formed around the dialogue surrounding issues rather than the identity of the population engaging in the discourse . Though public sphere is ignored in dictionaries, it is at the centre of any democratic society, it is therefore a discursive arena in which the talking populace converges to discuss matters of public interest and where possible reach a common judgment. The public sphere is seen as a theatre in modern society in which political participation is enacted through talking, a place where public opinion is formed; a bridge between the ruled and the rulers. Through the vehicle of opinion, public sphere puts the State in touch with the needs and aspirations of the society creating impression that the populace has a voice in the affair of the country. How did talk show in public sphere begin? What is known as talk show in public sphere today can be traced back to history to the time when men began to exist having to deliberate on issues affecting their common interest. The term talk show was a relatively late invention coming into the media in the mid 1960s. Before then some spontaneous talks was common in broadcasting for instance, all radio program from 1927 1956 talk show of one kind or another made up 40 60% of the day time schedule comprising general variety, human participation and human interest. From 1973 1974, networking television filled over half of its day time program hours and 15 -20% of its evening schedule with talk shows of assorted types. By the summer of 1993, the television page of USA today had listed seventeen (17) talk shows and from 1948 1993, over two hundred talk shows had appear on the air. Talk shows as a part of public sphere has indeed pass through a lot of circles, to get to the present stage. The first circle starting from 1948 1952 and feature hosts like Authur Godfrey, Dare Garroway, and Edward B. Murrow. These were the pioneers of talk shows in public sphere. The second circle covers the period from 1952 1972 and features great hosts like Johnny Carson, Barbara Walters and Mike Wallace among others. These persons were linked to programs that became an established profit centre for their networks. The third circle was from 1970 1980. This was a boom period, a time that saw the birth of new technologies of production and cheaper television studio, new methods of distribution via satellite and cable transmission and regulatory decisions. Chief among the host of this period was Phil Donahue. The fourth and last circle commonly referred to a post network era 1980 till date. Donahues success was emulated by others, the most notable being Oprah Winfrey whose popularity in talk show business has make her the most financially successful talk show host in TV. Others are Racheal Ray and Ricki Lake whose popular chips include issues on international conflict such as homosexuality and bisexuality. Taking us to the foreign scene, let us speak about how talk show began and evolved in Nigeria. Talk show as a part of public sphere in Nigeria can be dated back to the beginning of mass media. A major breakthrough of talk show in public sphere began in April 2000 with the birth of New Dawn with nearly one thousand shows. Top among the hosts of this period was Funmi Iyanda. Today, it is on record that Bunmis television talk show grew to become a strong voice of the people, a beckon of hope and a brand with integrity. Bunmis show came to limelight when she featured an eight year old Senu Gonoda who suffered from a congenital hole in the heart the effect of the show on the society was indeed overwhelming. People who are considered as the marginalized voice have used talk show as a means to reach out to high power (the government) to air their own opinion which in turn positively influenced the decision about the issue of concern. Talk show can thus be seen as a part of the public spher e because the media here has been used as a means of resolving an issue which was a problem of the society Are talk shows a part of the public sphere? In the work of a German philosopher Jurgen Habermas (who is a central figure in this discussion) in his theory of public sphere (1964/1989) he conceptualizes the public sphere as that realm of social life where the exchange of information and views of questions of common concern can take place so that public opinion can be formed. The public sphere takes place when citizens exercising the rights of assembly association gather as public bodies to discuss issues of the day specifically those of political concern. Yet his concepts of public sphere insists on the analytic centrality of reasoned, critical discourse, it exists in the active reasoning of the public and it is in such discourse that public opinion is generated which in turn shapes the policies of the state and the development of society as a whole. Public sphere is not of course a sphere; it is a metaphorical term that is used to describe the virtual space where people can interact (Hartley, 1992: pp1). A place where peoples conversations, ideas and minds meet- that is public space (Robbins, 1993: xvi). It is the place where information, ideas and debate circulate in society and where political opinion can be formed (Dahlgren, 1995: ix). Speaking in terms of interaction, there are three areas of analytic concern within the interaction dimension of the public sphere: discursive, spatial and communal. The discursive has to do with the nature of the talk which circulates, is the talk political, social and therapeutic? In the discussion of a particular topic there has to be unity and coherence in the questions, views and suggestion; spatial refers to the sites and settings of the social interaction. Where do people meet? What factors foster of hinder their interaction in these spaces? The spatial is seldom separable form the discursive, both together serve to define contexts and occasions, for example, an emotional type of talk the atmosphere would be conducive enough, the people would be comfortably sited; the communal aspect has to do with the nature of the social bonds between citizens, there has to be oneness amongst the people, that is having similar opinions on a particular issue, people talk to each other and thus give each other a sense of how there are thinking. Thus, the term public sphere, there must be interaction to permit and foster the processes of sense-making. The talk show clearly fits into the description mentioned above; as interaction is the key element, the site or the show is clearly defined and different issues are discussed in the shows. For public sphere theorist there are two dominant models of how such a sphere would operate to serve democratic ends. In Habermas view, the goal to be achieved would be an arena in which every voice was given equal access and all opinion would be heard and deliberated on, in ways that allowed for the development of public opinion. However, following a more Gramascian view how hegemonic norms- which are always unstable, dynamic and contested- develop, work through a process by various groups with varying agendas and view contest for a voice with an always negotiated, multifaceted and contradictory results. There are some major themes which are pertinent in both academic literature and popular saying about the public sphere, these are; that the public sphere is too trivialized- consumers are more interested in unimportant information about celebrity, scandals rather than the more serious issues (public affairs); it is too commercialized- critics thought that through the commercialization of the public sphere, it began to represent public opinion rather than to provide a free forum for the emergence of public opinion and also the media do not care about the material in the public sphere, it focuses more on monetary value; it depends greatly on spectacle instead of ratio argumentation; it is too fragmented- and it has caused people to become apathetic about serious public issues- people no longer care about the important issues. But other critics have said the public sphere been trivialized is not entirely bad as it has paved way for feminist in public debates. Habermass writing provides a vision of the ideal public sphere- a vision that is common both to academic and popular thinking. the public sphere should ideally deal only with serious issues of real importance- only party politics and not celebrity issues, sport or entertainment. It should not be sensational, easily accessible or commercialized. It should refuse to dumb down to consumers and rather demand that they work harder to improve themselves. It should only engage in rational, logical arguments: not emotional or spectacular appeals. And it should be unified and different kinds of culture. Despite the fact that Habermas stressed the standard that cuts out to be public sphere one should not forget the fact that talk shows also contribute immensely to public participation and expression. It has also been conceived that talk show may be considered as a different form of public sphere. According to Livingstone and Lunt (1993), they suggested that talk shows are a candidate for oppositional public sphere, emphasizing the expression of interested point of view that give voice to participants perspectives and aiming at compromise rather than consensus. Habermass bourgeois theory is different for the oppositional public sphere, while Habermass theory centers on rational critical discussion in which in an argument other position should be considered, the oppositional public sphere just aims for negotiation compromise. The oppositional public sphere favors feminist theory and women, the female viewers love the chance to hear the voices of ordinary people speak on everyday life Gerard Hauser proposed a different direction for the public sphere than previous models. He proposed that public spheres were formed around the dialogue surrounding issues, rather than the identity of the population that is engaging in the discourse. Emphasizing the rhetorically of public spheres foregrounds their activity. Rather than arguing for an all inclusive public sphere, or the analysis of tension between public spheres, he suggested that publics were formed by active members of society around issues. They are a group of interested individuals who engage in vernacular discourse about a specific issue. Publics may be repressed, distorted, or responsible, but any evaluation of their actual state requires that we inspect the rhetorical environment as well as the rhetorical act out of which they evolved, for these are the conditions that constitute their individual character. These people formed rhetorical public spheres that were based in discourse, not necessarily orderly discourse but any interactions whereby the interested public engages each other. This interaction can take the form of institutional actors as well as the basic street rhetoric that open[s] a dialogue between competing factions. The spheres themselves formed around the issues that were being deliberated. The discussion itself would reproduce itself across the spectrum of interested publics even though we lack personal acquaintance with all but a few of its participants and are seldom in contexts where we and they directly interact, we join these exchanges because they are discussing the same matters. In order to communicate within the public sphere, those who enter any given arena must share a reference world for their discourse to produce awareness for shared interests and public opinions about them. There are different genre of talk shows which can be divided into different spectrums; Public affairs format, conflict issue oriented (trash talk show) therapeutic format which centers on social problems in personal perspective. Most of the scholarly writings available labels talk show as trash television but it is worthy to note that one mans trash is another mans pot of gold, there is this conjured image of talk show as a place were demented individual with deviant behaviors scream at each other but this is not the case all the time as some have been seen to depict positive effects and enhances public participation which can be termed as public sphere. Studies have shown that talk shows offer potential for public sphering because it is one of the few spaces were ordinary people engage in conversation on television or radio, creates awareness of certain issues that are rarely included in topics of other forms of public sphere. Leurdijk (2000) qualifies talk shows as a postmodern public platform for debate; she concludes that the talk shows offers opportunity for women and men of different background to get their own voices heard, in a framework that allows for more diversity than traditional news media do. In other words, talk shows should be seen not just in the light of it been a public sphere but as a way in which voice is given to those who would not ordinarily be heard (an ordinary citizen is given a microphone an has the opportunity to ask a top government official a question), it gives people the opportunity to express their opinion /views on issue of concern. Talk show are more like a college of opinion, experiences and thru the sharing of individual experiences it allows not only new topics but different styles of talking about them. The restrictions of the bourgeois public sphere as discussed in the work of Habermas (1989) and his critics Calhorn (1992) are alleviated in favor of a more diverse spectrum of topics and styles considered appropriate for public concern and debate. Carpignano et al (1990) privilege the talk show as a new site within the public sphere which embodies strong democratic potentials. Amongst other things, they point to the fact that these programs are geared towards public debate using conversational discursive modes- they establish bonds of familiarity with television audience and the studio audience via its talk; also most times common sense prevails over expertise.

Idioms and Expressions With Money

Idioms and Expressions With Money The following idioms and expressions with the noun money are less formal than collocations used with money. However, they are common in everyday conversation. Each idiom or expression has a definition and two example sentences to help understanding of these common idiomatic expressions with money. Color of Someone's Money Definition: the amount of money someone has available Show me the color of your money and then we can talk.If we knew the color of the companys money we could make a better bid on the deal. Easy Money Definition: money that can be earned with little effort Some people think that playing stocks is easy money.Unfortunately, there are few jobs are truly easy money. Front Money Definition: money paid in advance of receiving something Ill need to put up $100,000 front money to get in on the deal.Always be suspicious of companies that ask for front money. Heavy Money Definition: a lot of money Tom will bring heavy money into the company if he agrees to invest.They have heavy money. Im sure theyll buy the house. Hush Money Definition: money paid to someone so that they dont provide information Many people are paid hush money to not testify in court. Its illegal, but it happens.The gang tried to pay the man off with hush money, but he was having none of it. Mad Money Definition: money used to have fun, money to waste Weve put away a few thousand dollars in mad money for our next vacation.Dont go to Las Vegas without some mad money. Money From Home Definition: easily gained money Peter thinks investing in stocks is money from home.Shes looking for a job thats money from home. Good luck! Money Grubber Definition: someone who does not like to spend money, a stingy person Shell never give you money for your idea. Shes a money grubber.Money grubbers cant take it with them. I have no idea why they take it so seriously. I say easy come, easy go. Money Talks Definition: money has influence in a situation Of course, they let the big box store build in town. Never forget: Money talks.Just remember money talks. If they really want you for the position, theyll meet your salary demands. On the Money Definition: correct, exact Id say you are on the money about that situation.His guess that the company would succeed was on the money. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is! Definition: lets have a bet about something Come on, if you think that is true, put your money where your mouth is! Ill bet you 100 to 1 that it isnt true.She put her money where her mouth was and made a fortune. Smart Money Definition: the best option, money of smart people investing in something The smart money is on Congress changing the law.He thinks the smart money is going to invest in renewable energy. Soft Money Definition: money which can be earned without much effort Take the job for a few months. Its soft money.Jane thinks the position is soft money. Spending Money Definition: money to spend to have fun, purchases unnecessary items Its important to have at least a little spending money each month.They dont have much spending money, so they like to stay home rather than go on vacation. Throw Money at Something Definition: waste money on a situation Throwing money at the situation isnt going to make it better.Some governments feel that throwing money at a program always helps. Once youve learned these expressions, its a good idea to also learn important phrasal verbs about money. Finally, use the business English resources on the site to continue improving your English as it relates to the business world.

Unisys Corporation Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Unisys Corporation - Term Paper Example Due to the fact that the company faced financing problems including a large debt, the procedure of this transformation proved to be not an easy task to accomplish. Today Unisys is a worldwide information technology services and solutions company. The company has presence in numerous areas of the world. On top of the company hierarchy are the Chairman and CEO, as well as the following leading positions: -Senior vice president, Worldwide Human Resources -Senior vice president / President, TCIS / President, WW Strategic Services -Senior vice president / President, Federal Systems (US government) -Senior vice president / President, Global Outsourcing & Infrastructure Services -Senior vice president & Chief Financial Officer - Senior vice president & Chief Information Officer - Senior vice president, Corporate Development - Senior vice president, General Counsel & Secretary -Vice Precident & Treasurer - Vice Precident & Corporate Controller At the subordinate levels there exists a number of Regional heads, that are responsible for specific areas of the world, and below them the country general managers. However the whole organizational structure not strictly vertical. There exist a number of company operations that are decentralized and others that are centralized. Competitors The main competitors of Unisys include the traditional large-scale computer manufacturers such as IBM, group BULL, Fujitsou and HP have been the main â€Å"traditional† competitors of Unisys in its Core business, the mainframes market. In addition during the resent years, those companies, as well as numerous new ones -e.g. consulting integrators such as Accenture - compete Unisys in the new market of Systems integrators and Integrated Solutions Providers. Problems of the Unisys Corporation Although... This essay stresses that most of the leading players realized that in order to maintain their leading position they had to become more client focused, i.e. more focused to the client needs than to just selling computer boxes. In that way they quite successfully transformed their products from just â€Å"computers† to solutions. Their marketing strategy changed in order to be service oriented rather than product oriented. Customers should now have to choose integrated IT solutions, not just IT systems. This is what made the difference. Unfortunately Unisys did not do that well in that field. Although the company did make efforts to become a systems/solutions integrator, by developing consulting services in parallel to selling products, it was not made possible to catch up with competition. As a consequence, the company profitability has fallen dramatically during the recent years. Financial results of the recent years have been relatively weak for a firm of such size. This article makes a conclusion that a new strategy and organizational change are required in order to reposition the Unisys brand name in order to create competitive advantage against its competitors, based on the improvement of the following main elements. Within the last decades Unisys has experienced certain problems due to its lack of solid strategy, increasing competition and market saturation. The company requires revising of its strategy and organizational structure in order to ensure its competitive advantage and leading position in its field in the years to come.

Hypnosis A personlised induction to hynosis will always be more Essay

Hypnosis A personlised induction to hynosis will always be more effective. ''Discuss'' - Essay Example Emotion should never be avoided because it will work on the individual's sub-conscience. The commands should be stressed and emotionally underlined and according to therapists, slight overacting works very well. Conceptual negatives are comprised with words like no, not, never, which are, traditionally not used it hypnosis scripts, can be used in personalised scripts in a very suggestive and forceful way, without conveying a negative meaning. "There is no need for you hesitate; you will find the entire experience exhilarating!" Four sense test increases the power of the suggestion by lengthening it. This only means decorating the expectations of the hypnotised person, by glorifying it. By creating a sensational visualisation, with powerful and persuasive approach the theorist can improve the impact tremendously. According to recent researches, hypnosis has the power to change the functioning of the brain, by using functional brain imaging, according to John Gruzlier. (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6385-hypnosis-really-changes-your-mind.html ) It has always been known that mind works differently while in hypnotised state and this proves the compliance theory wrong.

Hydrocarbons Transport Systems: Testing Safety Valves

Hydrocarbons Transport Systems: Testing Safety Valves

Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) Essay

Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS): An Unrealised Potential* David Grant** Work and Organisational Studies The Institute Building (H03) The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia Email d.grant@econ.usyd.edu.au Tel: +61 (0)2 9351 7871 Fax: +61 (0)2 9351 5283 Kristine Dery Work and Organisational Studies The Institute Building (H03) The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia Email k.dery@econ.usyd.edu.au Tel: +61 (0)2 9036 6410 Richard Hall Work and Organisational Studies The Institute Building (H03) The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia Email r.hall@econ.usyd.edu.au Tel: +61 (0)2 9351 5621 Nick Wailes Work and Organisational Studies The Institute Building (H03) The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia Email n.wailes@econ.usyd.edu.au Tel: +61 (0)2 9351 7870 Sharna Wiblen Work and Organisational Studies The Institute Building (H03) The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia Email s.wiblen@econ.usyd.edu.au Tel: +61 (0)2 9036 7603 Abstract: Over the last decade there has been a considerable increase in the number of organisations gathering, storing and analysing information regarding their human resources through the use of Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) software or other types of software which include HRIS functionality (Ball, 2001; Barron, Chhabra, Hanscome, & Henson, 2004; Hussain, Wallace, & Cornelius, 2007; Ngai & Wat, 2006). The growing adoption of HRIS by organisations combined with the increasing sophistication of this software, presents the Human Resource function with the opportunity to enhance its contribution to organisation strategy. In this study we examine the ways in which HRIS might be used in order to achieve this. Our analysis of four Australian case study organisations finds that the claimed potential of HRIS to contribute to business strategy is contingent on its overcoming one or more of three key challenges. * This research is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LPLP0882247) in collaboration with the Australian Senior Human Resources Roundtable (ASHRR). ** Corresponding Author. Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS): An Unrealised Potential The last decade has seen a significant increase in the number of organisations gathering, storing and analysing human resources data using Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) (Ball, 2001; Barron et al., 2004; Hussain et al., 2007; Ngai et al., 2006). In this paper we show that the study of the impact of HRIS is of direct significance to the ongoing debate about the extent to which Human Resources (HR) can play a strategic role in the organisation (Becker, Huselid, & Ulrich, 2001; Hewitt Associates, 2007; Huselid, 1995; Lawler & Mohrman, 2003; Sheehan, Holland, & De Cieri, 2006). Specifically, we examine the argument that through its capacity to deliver accurate and timely metrics, HRIS has the potential to assist the HR function in developing business strategy and thus enhancing organisation performance (Barney & Wright, 1998; Broderick & Boudreau, 1992; Gueutal, 2003; Lawler, Levenson, & Boudreau, 2004; Lengnic k-Hall & Moritz, 2003). Our initial findings from the first phase of interviews with four organisations based in Australia, suggest that the potential of HRIS to deliver the strategic competencies promised remains largely unrealised and that instead HRIS is used to increase administrative efficiency and/or obtain compliance support. Specifically, we find that the implementation and use of HRIS is being hindered by three main challenges: maintaining organisational attention, addressing the complexities associated with people management, and managing user acceptance of the change associated with the system. The paper comprises four main sections. In the first section we review the literature on HRIS paying particular attention to previous studies which recognise challenges associated with the selection and implementation of HRIS as well as the importance of social constructionism as a theoretical lens to analyse this topic. In the second section we discuss our case study methodology a nd profile our four case study organisations. In the third section we discuss our results by identifying and discussing the three challenges which we identify as important to the study of HRIS and HR. The final section summarises the findings and provides recommendations for management. Literature Review and Theory The current generation of HRIS automate and devolve routine administrative and compliance functions traditionally performed by corporate HR departments and can facilitate the outsourcing of HR (Barron et al., 2004). In doing so, HRIS not only make it possible for organisations to significantly reduce the costs associated with HR delivery, but also to reassess the need for retaining internal HR capabilities. However, HRIS also provide HR professionals with opportunities to enhance their contribution to the strategic direction of the firm. First, by automating and devolving many routine HR tasks to line management, HRIS provide HR professionals with the time needed to direct their attention towards more business critical and strategic level tasks, such as leadership development and talent management (Lawler et al., 2003). Second HRIS provides an opportunity for HR to play a more strategic role, through their ability to generate real time reports on HR issue s, including workforce planning and skills profiles, which can be used to support strategic decision making (Hendrickson, 2003; Lawler et al., 2004; Lengnick-Hall et al., 2003). The existing literature on HRIS suggests that they have different impacts on HR across organisations, but provides little explanation for this variation. Early surveys suggested that HRIS were used predominantly to automate routine tasks and â€Å"to replace filing cabinets† (Martinsons, 1994). Ball (2001) reported similar results for small and medium sized enterprises in the UK and concluded that HR had missed the strategic opportunity provided by HRIS. More recent research shows greater use of HRIS in support of strategic decision making by HR (Hussain et al., 2007). However, the extent to which HRIS is used in a strategic fashion differs across organisations, with the vast majority of organisations continuing to use HRIS simply to replace manual processing and to reduce costs (Bee & Bee, 2002; Brow n, 2002). Recent debates about technology and organisation have highlighted the importance of social context and sought to develop frameworks which acknowledge both the material and social character of technologies including HRIS (Dery, Hall, & Wailes, 2006). Accordingly, theories which can be considered as ‘social constructivist’ can play an important role in the study of technology as they explicitly recognise that technologies, such as HRIS, can not be evaluated and analysed without having an explicit understanding of the context of individuals and groups which consequently comprehend, interpret, use and engage with the technology (Grint & Woolgar, 1997; Orlikowski & Barley, 2001; Williams & Edge, 1996). Social constructionist views offer insights into the implementation and use of HRIS in a number of ways. In this study we draw on the social construction of technology and technologiesin-practice literature. The social construction of technology (SCOT) approach challenges the idea that technologies and technological artefacts have a pre-given and fixed meaning and in its place argues that the process, design and selection of technologies are open and can be subjected to contestation (Pinch & Bijker, 1984). Thus a technology is seen to be characterised by ‘interpretative flexibility’ and various ‘relevant social groups’ who articulate and promote particular interpretations of it. This meaning, over time tends to become accepted and the interpretation of the technology stabilised (Dery et al., 2006). In similar tradition to SCOT approaches, the technologies-in-practice approach endeavours to recognise the inability to separate the technology from surrounding social relations. Orlikowski (2000) conceives of technologies-in-practice as the structure that is enacted by users of a technology as they use the technology in recurrent ways. The important implications of this idea for the purposes of this research is the realisation that it is only when individuals use the HRIS that the associated social practices will frame and determine the value that they attribute to it. Hence the process of using a technology involves users interacting with ‘facilities’ (such as the properties of the technology artefact), ‘norms’ (such as the protocols of using the technology), and ‘interpret ative schemes’ (such as the skills, knowledge and the assumptions about the technology as might be positioned by the user) (Dery et al., 2006). Both of these approaches are important and useful as they recognise that when considering relationships and experiences with technology, it is essential that social factors and previous experiences be considered. Therefore the opinions of respondents can only be understood in the context of individuals and groups comprehending, interpreting, using and engaging with the technologies (Dery et al., 2006). The study discussed in this paper was initiated after a preliminary survey of the use of HRIS in 138 Australian Listed companies (Grant, Dery, Hall, & Wailes, 2007). The survey found that although 50% (n=69) of the participant organisations were found to have an HRIS, the extent to which they were being used in a strategic manner varied and for the most part the claimed potential of the information systems was not being realised. For example, while 91% of organisations with an HRIS used the systems in order to process and record leave, only 34% used them in relation to staff planning. In order to gain further insights into these results, the present study explores the impact of HRIS on the HR function in detail over a three year period at four large Australian organisations using a multiple case study approach (Yin, 2003). Specifically, the project examines whe ther HRIS enhances the strategic contribution of HR by exploring the ways in which HR professionals might make more effective use of these systems. The project is informed by four research questions: 1. Is there evidence to suggest that HR is using opportunities provided by the HRIS to enhance its contribution to firm strategic direction? 2. Do HRIS’s which are a module of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have different impacts on the HR function than standalone HRIS’s? 3. How do different organisational characteristics affect the ability of HR to use the opportunities provided by HRIS to act as strategic partners? 4. What strategies can HR professionals adopt to ensure that the use of HRIS in their organisations supports the strategic contribution of HR? Methodology and Background The four case study organisations each volunteered to participate in this study which is funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grant. Each organisation is a member of the Australian Senior Human Resources Round-table (ASHRR) the main industry partner in the project. Each of the case studies has either a standalone HRIS (e.g. CHRIS) or an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system module of HRIS (e.g. SAP) in place and all are in the process of either replacing or upgrading their existing system. Each company views the HRIS replacement or upgrade as a commitment to further extending the strategic contribution of the system. This provides us with a unique opportunity to gather rich empirical data related to our key research questions. The nature of the research questions required that the plans and activities of each case study be studied through the gathering of an array of data (table 1). This enabled the researchers to develop greater levels of understanding about the management of HRIS in each organisation and across organisations (Yin, 2003). Table 1: Data gathering across the case studies Case Study TechOrg # Interviews 4 Additional Data Organisational information available in the public domain, press articles Annual reports, Previous organisational presentations. OHS staff brochures and posters, Annual reports and promotional material Press clippings, web sites, office observations Observation of System in Use No observation of the system due to interviewee time constra ints BuildOrg 10 ManuOrg 8 Observation of HRIS in use within HR area; observation of OHS system in use Observation of HRIS in use with differing users. No observation of the system in use due to the sensitivity of data GovtOrg 4 Over a 16 month period initiated early 2008, interview data was combined with other empirical evidence gathered through access to secondary sources and during site visits. The interview data comprised semi-structured interviews conducted with executives across a range of roles in the organisations including: HR, IT, and Operations. Each interview was between one to two hours, and was conducted by two investigators, recorded and transcribed. Interviewees were selected on the basis of their involvement in the decision to implement or upgrade the HRIS at their organisation, or their high levels of use of the HRIS. In addition, and where possible, the researchers observed the HRIS at each organisation in use, so as to understand how the system was searched, reports were run, and the availability of data. The Case Studies Each of the four case studies discussed in this paper have been allocated an assumed name. Details concerning size of the organization, its current HRIS system and whether this was being renewed or upgraded and the reasons for the renewal or upgrade are summarized in table 2. TechOrg is a private organisation involved in the Information, Communications and Technology industry. Over the last three years, TechOrg has undertaken to upgrade its SAP HRIS module as part of its overall ERP upgrade and system development. BuildOrg is a large construction company which is also privately owned. Their workforce comprises both permanent and contracted employees. The organisation was previously operating a HRIS that was considered as outdated and sought to upgrade their existing system to primarily manage past and current employees. ManuOrg manufactures building products and metals and has a food processing division. The current HRIS was implemented 21 years ago with an increasingly modified CHRIS system that is currently in the process of being replaced with SAP. Lastly, GovtOrg is a public organisation responsible for security management. The organisation first implemented a proprietary HRIS in 1998 and had undertaken an upgrade in 2000 before initiating the current move to SAP in 2008. Table 2: Summary of Case Studies Case # Current system employees TechOrg 350 SAP BuildOrg Up to 1400 (varies) Tailored Preceda 9.1 by CHRIS, Mercury for payroll. CHRIS ManuOrg 7000+ Upgrading / replacing Replace with lighter version of SAP with more local functionality Upgrade to CHRIS Preceda 11 Mercury to remain SAP Reason(s) for change Change in ownership of organisation and requirement to severe links with previous owner and associated legacy systems. Increased requirement to meet compliance standards and to minimize risk of litigation. GovtOrg 5500 Proprietary system SAP HR director retiring with knowledge of the proprietary system. Need for a system consistent with the rest of the IT platform. Desire for IT rather than HR to manage HRIS. Moving to SAP so as to integrate with the organisation’s SAP ERP system and other govt. departments Results The initial research findings support the results of studies by those such as Towers Perrin (2008) and Bussler and Davis (2001). Despite all four case studies stating that the implementation or upgrade of their HRIS has been undertaken with the aim of utilising functions that are of a strategic nature thereby enhancing the strategic contribution of the HR function (Beatty, 2001; LengnickHall et al., 2003; Ulrich, 1997; Walker, 2001), the data suggests that progress towards making these changes is being hindered by a range of technological, managerial and organisational challenges. While some of these challenges could be attributed to the management of new technologies in general, our findings demonstrate that several are in fact specific to HR and reflect the complex nature of the management of people, the role of HR in the organisation, the allocation of resources to the HRIS, and technological issues related to the management of HR practice. It was never the intention of the project to select organisations that were undergoing major organisational change, rather we sought to gain access to organisations that were endeavouring to implement or upgrade their HRIS. The associated organisational changes which are discussed in this paper added to the complexity of the stories and experiences that these organisations have been able to share. The data across all the cases indicated the following three challenges for the organisations and each of these is discussed in the following section using cross-case analysis (Yin, 2003; Youndt, Snell, Dean, & Lepak, 1996). The challenges were: †¢ An inconsistency in the importance attributed to HRIS resulting in difficulties in sustaining management commitment to the project and in obtaining the resources necessary to fully develop the new or upgraded HRIS. †¢ A tendency to underestimate the complexity of the HRIS and its impact on the behaviour and processes of the organisation. †¢ The barriers to user acceptance of the HRIS and the consequent underestimation of the importance of change management. Inconsistent Salience Attributed to the Organisation’s HRIS Project The case study organisations have variously experienced significant changes in structure, size, ownership and government (summarised table 3). This has resulted in a shift of senior management attention away from development of the HRIS to more immediately pressing organisational issues. One consequence of this is the allocation of insufficient resources to the HRIS and, in some cases, the increased delegation of responsibilities to vendors and consultants. Table 3: Changes in Case Studies Case Study Organisational Change Process TechOrg Acquired by local company and required to adopt more localised processes BuildOrg Large growth in infrastructure projects Implication for the Business Reassessment and realignment of business processes Requirement to manage large contracted workforce. Significant increase in compliance requirements Need to align systems across range of standalone businesses Implication for the HRIS Enforced selection of more localised platform which aims to address more direct organisational needs Upgrade required for existing Preceda system ManuOrg GovtOrg Knowledge Management and establishment of sustainability practices Change of government resulting in increased demands and complexity of role. Desire for efficiencies in work practices. Migration to SAP and restructuring of the management of the HRIS away from HR and under IT Increased requirements Move to SAP platform to for reporting and comply with other standardised IT government departments TechOrg, a company based in the ICT sector, is a company that has constantly faced issues in maintaining the momentum and commitment of expanding their existing SAP system. Such challenges regarding salience have continued for the past three years as financial and engineering management systems upgrades have engulfed continual attempts to progress and complete the desired upgrade. The project, run and owned by the Human Resource department, is internally recognised as having low organisational priority: However the core will always be financial management systems and the things that allow our engineers and our program managers to run the calls, take the customer complaints, send them to the technician. We will certainly come a distant third to that†¦ So if we come third then we will do something, but we don’t know whether we’re coming third yet do we? (Director of People and Culture, TechOrg). The desire for the HRIS upgrade was later impeded in 2008 because the organisation was acquired by a domestic company and consequently all existing business processes needed to be changed to ensure separation from the previous owners. As a result â€Å"†¦the project (now) has been stopped pretty much †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Director of People and Culture, TechOrg). The experiences of this organisation demonstrates that despite the best of intentions of HR, such projects as this, which are deemed as HR centric, can lose momentum as a result of factors beyond its control. BuildOrg started to investigate HRIS more than 10 years ago. The introduction of a new senior manager with existing ERP and HRIS knowledge combined with the perceived need to replace an outdated system instigated the desire to upgrade their original Mercury system, based on Lotus Notes. During these initial stages, several HRIS were considered, however, the project was abandoned when the costs associated with any new HRIS were deemed prohibitive. The project and operational requirements of the organisation were re-examined in 2005 and the organisation again considered implementing a new payroll system, but IT did not find any of the systems that they viewed appropriate for the organisational needs. The lack of executive support also played a significant role d uring this time. â€Å"So we sort of parked it at that stage. Because the other thing was, I think in an organisational sense with a new CEO, that wasn’t really a priority for us.† (General Manager HR, Safety and Corporate Relations). Finally in 2007 the latest attempt gained traction with senior management and the approval was given for an upgrade. Nevertheless the current progress on this project for BuildOrg has been met with caution. Because there’s been an awful lot of water under the bridge to get to this point. We’ve had – this is the third go at actually having a crack at getting Preceda as the HR system and getting the organisational structure in. Now there was one completely failed attempt. One almost got there but then failed and now this is the (final) go at it. (Applications Services Manager, IT). ManuOrg introduced its first HRIS in the 1970’s. Since then the organisation has undertaken a number of upgrades driven largely by organisational change which has required an expansion of the existing systems. Progressive changes and add-ons to the legacy system, has created for ManuOrg a HRIS that is complex and inconsistent. Although the HRIS has been accorded salience and sufficient resources over the past 30 years, the HR manager acknowledged that the rationale for change and selection of the replacement HRIS has tended to emphasise financial, rather than strategic human resource issues. The retirement of the HR Director, who has been central to developing the current HRIS, together with the need to standardise IT systems across all the operating companies has resulted in a call for migration to SAP and the re-positioning of HRIS management under the IT department. GovtOrg has been using PeopleSoft as the vendor for their HRIS since 1998, with an upgrade which introduced web based self service in 2000. With the aims of establishing a ‘single source of truth’, creating uniformity, gaining efficiencies and enabling data transfer and integration with other government organisations, GovtOrg has decided to replace PeopleSoft with SAP. Despite resounding confidence in the HRIS project, GovtOrg still believes that the project can be delayed by other organisational activities which are deemed more essential to the business and its performance. Probably the only issue is that will be a timing issue, as we – and we’re still debating with our plan – get a live date for SAPs views in October. So although it looks, at this point in time, like it may be delayed. If it gets delayed, it’ll actually push back into about March next year, because we’ve got some other peak periods in respect to processing and so forth. (National Manager of Infrastructure). The experiences of the four case study organisations suggests that their HRIS projects tend to face a number of challenges in the allocation of resources and the securing of ongoing support from senior management. Often finance, marketing and other operational functions are being given greater priority. In sum, based on the empirical research to date, it could be argued that all of the organisations, and specifically the HR function within them, have faced challenges regarding their ability to maintain momentum towards the selection and implementation of an upgraded HRIS. The Complexity of HRIS Underestimated The complexity of HRIS and its associated functionality appears to have been underestimated at the four case studies (Hannon, Jelf, & Brandes, 1996) and can be attributed to both technological and managerial factors. The challenge for HR management is how to manage the tension between the need to adapt practice to meet the needs of the HRIS versus customizing the technology to fit existing practices and the unpredictability involved in the management of people. Associated with this challenge is the decision of where to locate the management of the HRIS i.e. within Information Technology or as an HR technology group within HR. Our case organisations have varied responses to this dilemma, but all suggest that management of the system has significant implications for knowledge transfer between IT and HR and thus the ability to realise value from the HRIS . Previous studies have reiterated the claims made by HRIS vendors that there are two compelling benefits arising from the implementation or upgrading of HRIS (Hendrickson, 2003; Kavanagh, Gueutal, & Tannenbaum, 1990; Kovach & Cathcart, 1999). One is an increase in efficiencies through reduced costs and increased data accuracy, and the other is the improvements in the speed at which information can be produced. Such improvements in business processes have not yet been fully realised in our case study organisations as the implementation and functionality of the HRIS has proven to be more complex than anticipated. ManuOrg has maintained a number of legacy add-ons and proprietary upgrades to their CHRIS system. The current project is attempting to simplify and standardise systems into a standard IT platform that can be more easily supported but is finding it difficult to align the needs associated with its range of operating companies within one HRIS. The organisation realises that with its selection of a new and alternative HRIS vendor (SAP), there will be considerable compatibility issues with data migration. Accordingly, the transactional and menial activities for HR will increase prior to implementation, as existing data and codes are modified, and therefore the time required for data migration is expected to be significant. The complexity associated with the new system has compelled the organisation to implement it in a ‘big bang’ manner. â€Å"There are too many interdependent processes and that we really have to make the entire change of payroll for Australia and New Zealand at the one time† (Manager HR and Payroll Services). The complexity of the new system will also affect the value that the organisation can extract from the HRIS in the short term. Although the organisation has the explicit desire to establish a single source of truth via its new HRIS, it is recognised that such goals and aspirations will take second place, at least in the short-term, to the more urgent need to address issues surrounding change management and acceptance. The project based nature of the work that BuildOrg undertakes adds complications to the selection, use and implementation of any ‘vanilla’ HRIS. As the organisational structure is based more on projects and individuals rather than positions (typical of most organisations), particular reporting functionalities associated with HRIS may be deemed less germane or even superfluous for the organisation. In addition, similar to ManuOrg, this organisation is faced with the difficulty of trying to establish one central system which can be considered as a single source of truth from legacy systems which currently do not interface well. This has resulted in significant challenges around the compatibility and integration of data. BuildOrg has also experienced challenges with some of the functionality within the new system, particularly in relation to online leave applications. The issue of leave has proven to be problematic throughout the upgrade process, to the extent that the organisation has decided not to utilize this function initially, â€Å"which is probably why we’ve decided to not go forward with the (leave submiss ions) online; that’s a little bit in the too hard basket at the moment as to how it’s going to work† (Corporate HR Advisor). Furthermore, a number of other functionalities of the HRIS have needed to be adjusted in order to meet the organisational requirements before the system goes live: â€Å"You need a lot of tweaking at that point and we won’t be spot-on when we get it there; it’ll be close. That tweaking will take a while; it’ll take months and months† (Payroll Manager). This is a process that has consumed unexpected additional time and resources. Similar levels of complexity are associated with the implementation of a new system at TechOrg. This complexity can however be attributed to the changes in ownership that the organisation has experienced over the past 2 years. The new system and its implementation has experienced additional technical difficulties which have largely been driven by established business processes that could manage differences in European and Australian legislation. Being a publicly owned organisation presents its own range of issues for GovtOrg regarding the use and implementation of a HRIS. Comprising a highly structured workforce, GovtOrg faces challenges with the management of rosters, schedules and allowances. In contrast to ManuOrg and TechOrg, GovtOrg needs an HRIS capable of processing, administering and managing a variety of employee rosters and allowances. More specifically, for this particular organisation, the activities of workforce planning, the management of staff hours, associated policy issues and ensuring that its operations are conducted in accordance with the relevant collective agreements, results in additional complexity and has led to demands for additional functionality from the HRIS. Furthermore, the National Manager of Infrastructure recognised that existing contractual arrangements with their HRIS vendor has exposed the organisation to possible â€Å"†¦potential risks that may lead to delays.† Such potential risks and possible delays are believed to stem from concerns that the vendor may be unable to address the added demands for additional functionality that GovtOrg has put forward under present contractual arrangements. These contractual concerns along with workforce planning issues, have added to the complexity of the selection, implementation and use of GovtOrg’s HRIS. Barriers to Acceptance of New or Upgraded HRIS and the Importance of Change Management The third challenge which has hindered the ability of our case study organisations to realise the potential of their HRIS arises from barriers associated with the acceptance of the new or upgraded HRIS among key end-users of the system and the importance attached to managing the change processes associated with its implementation and introduction. Further, obtaining organisational ‘buy-in’ regarding the strategic contribution of the HRIS has, in some cases, been hindered by scepticism, a lack of understanding, insufficient management commitment, and fears that existing modes of work will be changed and result in, for example, job loss or altered leave entitlements and shift arrangements (Kavanagh et al., 1990; Kinnie & Arthurs, 1996; Tansley & Watson, 2000). The lack of organisation and management buy-in has also been a significant challenge for ManuOrg. Despite the HRIS project acquiring renewed salience and again being placed on the organisation’s strategic agenda, the Manager of HR and Payroll Services recognised that the system and its importance for the organisation was yet to be acknowledged and wholly accepted: â€Å"I’m not sure that it’s got the necessary buy-in from the business leaders that we’re going to need to have.† This problem was reinforced later in the same interview: â€Å"†¦from talking with the business heads, concept-wise, no one is saying this is a load of rubbish, but I don’t think they’ve quite got their heads into the space and are saying, ‘Yes, we’re 100% behind that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  To try and counter this lack of buy-in, the HR department is working on an ongoing basis to promote the HRIS promise. ManuOrg, acknowledges that the upgrade of the existing system, that has been in place for 21 years will generate significant change for the way that information is managed. As the Manager of HR and Payroll Services observed: The biggest issue I believe is going to be the change management†¦ Most [ManuOrg] employees are going to notice that and more than notice. They’re going to see a significant change in the way that they supply information, get information, gain approvals. It’s a big challenge for us at the moment to try and get people in the business into this online environment. Some people really love it, other people really hate it. There’s like that sort of – and there’s nothing really in between at the moment – lack of und erstanding of the change needed but also an explicit concern for the need to manage change. Discussions about this challenge and concerns about the required change management process have been extensive and the wider acceptance of the system and its changes are seen to differ between those that are associated with the project, versus existing employees who are comfortable with the organisations current policy and procedures, or alternatively fearful of technology. For me it works well, but I’m very adaptable to change. So being able to move to a system where we can have everything in the one place I think is going to be a much better thing for us. (HR Manager of Corporate and Shared Services). The challenges for GovtOrg in managing change are centred on the need to re-focus expectations. With the explicit desire to establish a single source of truth, the organisation has commissioned the HRIS project The ability for the organisation to achieve this relies on the ability to manage expectations: But we’ve also got to manage the expectation that this is not the silver bullet to everything. This is simply a system. A system, in and of itself, doesn’t actually resolve issues or processes or anything else. (National Director of People and Place) This same manager further believed this process and challenge would greatly impact the overall acceptance of the system and thus was focussed on the implementation process. â€Å"If this process experiences issues and additional complications, or just ‘goes wrong’ [then] you can almost smell the end of SAP or its user acceptance within customers.† Without an effective implementation process the ability of the organisation to gain potential strategic potential from their HRIS would be significantly compromised. Barriers to acceptance, ownership and maintenance have plagued BuildOrg’s past, current and planned HRIS. The resources allocated to the maintenance of the HRIS system have waned throughout the life of the existing system and overall ownership of the system has largely been transferred back and forth from IT, HR and Payroll: â€Å"We’ve had a lot of problems actually trying to get people to take ownership of the systems and maintain them† which has resulted in the existing system and the information that it generates being inaccurate and outdated. Past experiences of systems with limited use, combined with an appreciation of the needs of the current workforce has ensured that the organisation has delayed the implementation of the new updated system in an attempt to ensure tha t all problems and barriers have been addressed before the system goes live. According to the Corporate Human Resources Manager, training and education is essential and needs to be timely: It’s about educating and marketing, I think at the induction piece, the new joiners they get some sort of training on how to use it and then when we roll out self service and I was talking to [Manager X] about this the other day and said anything we do it has to have a really good marketing push so that people take notice and then quickly follow it up with the training. This organisation and its current project manager also realises that the training needs to be hands on in order to generate an acceptance and use of the system and avoid the work-arounds that have compromised the effectiveness of the system in the past. Acceptance of the HRIS has also presented problems for TechOrg however user resistance has not been as significant as evidenced in the other cases. Employees largely work in distributed teams located in client organisations for the duration of their projects. They are working in a hightech environment and thus are comfortable with a more virtual relationship with the organisation and use the HRIS to manage their information and for most of their HR requirements. Despite the HR department struggling to ensure that the new HRIS project retains salience in the organisation, the lack of organisational buy-in tends to surround specific fu nctions rather than the system as a whole. The Director of People and Performance spoke of limited success with functionality associated with time sheeting and the need to incorporate additional flexibility to meet the increasingly complex customer requirements which have implications for their employees in different work sites. Change is a constant in this organisation so together with the technical requirements of the job, this seems to create a more accepting environment for new systems. However, despite this environment, recent changes around pay cycles generated significant resistance that was unanticipated by management signalling that changes to the HRIS that directly impact employees such as pay may require significant more attention to change management than TechCo has traditionally been used to. Discussion and Conclusions Initial findings from our four case studies suggest that although new or upgraded HRIS systems are being used to automate and devolve routine administrative and compliance functions traditionally perfo rmed by the HR function, the potential for this technology to be used in ways that contribute to the strategic direction of the organisation is not being realised. More specifically, our results suggest that the opportunity to enhance HR’s role as strategic partner as a result of the use of HRIS is being hindered by three main challenges. The first challenge relates to the ability to maintain the levels of senior management commitment and resources needed to implement and manage new or upgraded HRIS. The second concerns managing the complexity of the HRIS and its associated functionality. The third challenge stems from barriers associated with the acceptance of HRIS among key managers and employees along with the importance attached to managing the change processes associated with the implementation and introduction of the new or upgraded systems. These challenges demonstrate that the material, functional characteristics of technologies such as HRIS are complex and make them difficult to introduce and operate. At the same time, and in line with a social constructionist approach to the study of technology each of the challenges illustrates that how and when a technology is used is also determined by the agency of its users and the social context within which it is adopted (Orlikowski et al., 2001). In sum, only through an appreciation of both the material and the social can a more informed understanding of the problems that surround HRIS implementation and operation be obtained. In this respect, our findings are in contrast to the more technological deterministic view of earlier studies of HRIS that suggest that it is simply the technology itself which has implications for the changing role of HR. It can be seen then that the social context of HRIS plays an important role in shaping user perceptions and behaviour (Orlikowski, 2000). From a technologies-in-practice perspective (Dery et al, 2006) user interactions with the ‘facilities’, ‘norms’, and ‘interpretative schemes’ associated with HRIS are affected not only by its technological complexity, but also by problems concerning the management of, and commitment to, its implementation. These socio-contextual factors are compounded by the fact that each case study organisation has experienced significant change, for example in ownership and structure. Underlying the three challenges is the issue of how various social groups, or key actors involved in the implementation and use of HRIS bring to bear their own interests and thus interpretations of the system and what it does. As a result of this process, the design, selection and use of HRIS are shown in this study to be subject to contestation as a range of meanings are attached to the technology that either undermine or highlight its perceived value and significance and which impact on the extent to which it is to be used in a strategic or more administrative fashion. Significantly, the study suggests that interpretations which run counter to HRIS being used in ways that realise its strategic potential are currently winning the day. 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Mobile Phone Usage in the Educational Setting - 796 Words

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