International Journal of Economics and Business Administrationt

Volume XI, Issue 1, 2023

pp. 66-76

Role of Digitalization in Business Process to Reduce

Manpower: A Case of Human Resource Management Process

Submitted 12/02/23, 1st revision 25/02/23, 2nd revision 20/03/23, accepted 30/03/23

Abstract:

Purpose: The research aims to understand the layoffs currently going on in the technology

the HRM process and the requirement of manpower (human).

Design/methodology/approach: The study used secondary data about layoffs and then tried

to get insight and reasons from 63 industry experts. The regression modeling using Minitab

is developing to understand the layoff reasons.

Findings: it has been identified that digitizing the HR processes helped in improving HR task

execution. However, most have agreed that the Human element is needed within the HR

customer relationship management (CRM), human resource management (HRM), etc. It

helps organizations to achieve effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity and reduce

dependency on manpower. Human resource function is going through lots of changes using

technology and the old way of managing HR function is no longer an option for any

organization regardless of the size of the organization.

Originality value: The research refers to digitalization as another reason for layoff where

most of the experts think the economic slowdown is the reason. Therefore, digitalization

should also be counted towards layoff reasons.

Keywords: Digitalization, Human Resource Management, layoffs, automation.

Independent Researcher, Software Industry Professional, Based in Indore, Mp-India, 45009.

Visiting Associate Professor, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA, USA.

[email protected]m;

Professor, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Associate Professor, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Chinakote.

The current business environment is not very conducive for businesses to excel and

keep growing. COVID-19 is still killing global economic activities. The global

supply chain largely depends on China. However, China is not fully operational for

manufacturing and other production activities because of strict rules and COVID

policies.

That is causing a domino effect on the global economy. Second is the Russia-

Ukraine war that is causing chaos in Europe and resulted in an energy crisis, and a

food crisis. The third is the recession knocking on the door of the United States of

(https://layoffs.fyi/) around 155,000 jobs were cut in 2022. In the first 1 week of

February 2023, already 97000 jobs are eliminated (Layoffs.fyi).

Figure 1 shows how the layoff journey started in Jan 2022 and will continue in 2023

and 2024. The main reason is the economic slowdown that forces businesses to cut

costs and reduce manpower. The second reason is the use of technology and

digitalization requires less workforce.

The list in Figure 1 shows the % of layoffs in big technology companies is not

sudden and it started in Jan 2022. There are three reasons; the domino effects of

Metaverse to make the digital realm and that will be a big future.

Therefore, big companies are saving money from manpower by using technologies

in their processes and operations. Also, investing money in future technologies and

future projects can help them to remain competitive and provide new opportunities

and experiences to the business.

For example, nowadays most customer-related inquiries are handled by intelligent

agents, and automatic chat, and rarely does the inquiry goes to a human to resolve

when it is beyond the process. Similarly, supply chain and marketing processes are

Source: Layoffs.fyi.

Since COVID-19, more digitalization is taking place in HR processes and all

organizations are trying to align with the requirements of the situation post-COVID

situations (Dwivedi et al., 2022). All organizations are trying to take benefit of

technology to improve their processes, execution, and delivery. This includes all

departments and processes and human resources is not an exception. The usage of

new technologies (Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, etc.) has increased

within the HR department and most of the processes are now digitalized and

automated.

The research paper focused to assess how technological advancements impacted the

change in HRM processes. The following research questions are addressed in the

paper:

• How has technology helped to improve the HRM processes and task

• Can technology fully replace humans in HRM processes?

Therefore, The paper is focused on the Human Resource Management (HRM)

process that how technology will unhumanize the HR process.

The world is shifting and the use of technology has become a necessity to compete

and sustain in a dynamic business environment. However, conservative thinkers are

always convinced that technology is a double edge weapon and will always harm the

workforce. Silva and Lima have stated that there is a significant relationship between

Information technology and Human Resources Management process and it can not

be segregated (Silva and Lima, 2018).

Using the technology, all needed information is available in real-time and can be

accessed anywhere which facilitates the HRM processes to make them faster and

Lima, 2018).

It is a big system with a huge database behind it that can provide data with complex

analysis which helps in decision-making (Chopra et al., 2013; Chopra et al., 2015;

Silva and Lima, 2018). The availability of these systems has shifted the job within

the organization to focus more on business strategy and play a major role in

management rather than running individual HR processes (Silva and Lima, 2018).

The same point has been agreed on in the research done by Sharon and Aggarwal

(2017). As noted by them, all the aspects of HR should be focused on the

Sharon, 2017).

Galgali has also highlighted that Digital HR helped to get rid of geographical

limitations in terms of employees’ training (Galgali, 2017). Now with the available

platforms, employees are exposed to different experiences and knowledge from

around the world (Galgali, 2017). This will help to boost the employees’ knowledge,

increase their efficiency and bring new ideas to the workforce (Galgali, 2017). Also,

with the electronic payroll systems, there is no longer paperwork required and zero

human errors (Galgali, 2017).

and tasks and made data available whenever any analysis is required (Galgali, 2017).

Apart from HR internal processes, daily task management has helped employees to

manage their work easily from any part of the world and keep track of what they

have accomplished (Galgali, 2017).

1. Will Digitalization and automation reduce overall manpower in HR and

we run a partial least square regression model to understand the expert’s opinions

• Alternative Hypothesis: At least one constant is not zero

that 90.3% of manpower reduction is based on effectiveness, efficiency, flexibility,

and cost reduction. The only coefficient in the model is useless but rest four

Therefore, it is going to less and fewer manpower requirements in business

than 10 years of experience in the high-tech industry,

Technological innovations are man-made. Therefore, the human brain can not be

replaced by a man. Human emotions, human thinking, and human empathy can not

be replaced by machines or technologies. Mostly routine work and tasks will be

automated but innovative work require manpower.

worker. So, the next 10 years are very challenging and you will continuously see

Limitations:

• The research is based on the opinion of 63 experts on 5 questions and based

• Adequate theoretical grounding is required.

• A more robust research instrument is required

• The paper is made for conference submission only.