Web 2.

0 in HRM
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WEB 2.0 FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Prepared by: ARITRA ROY

Web 2.0 in HRM

The current era is one of global connectivity. Communication has advanced in exponential
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proportions after the advent of the World Wide Web in the late 1980s and the early 1990s and has
catapulted the process of globalization. The use of the internet was no more restricted but rather
opened up as a medium of interaction for people across the planet. The use of e-mail was
prevalent as a medium of exchange in the 1990s for both personal and professional exchanges.
At the turn of the millennium though, there was a gargantuan push for enhancement of social
media arising out of the development of multitude of social websites. Therefore, sharing and
generating content adhoc became much easier with the introduction of RSS-Rich Site Summary,
Web Blogs, Facebook etc.

These technological advances are so closely integrated into the professional and personal lives of
people that organizations can barely afford to ignore them. The key-word for organizations in
this day and age is sustainability and one of the cornerstones of sustainability is accepting
change, whether that is in the form of gender sensitization and diversity or incorporating the
advancements in internet technology. This new iteration of the World Wide Web which is known
as Web 2.0 has the potential to become one of the most useful tools in the hands in the
organization for elevation of efficiencies of various internal processes.

The advent of Enterprise 2.0(the name given by provider of Web 2.0 services such as Oracle etc)
has significantly pushed companies to implement flexibility within the organizations internal
processes, reason being the new generation of talent they would like to attract expects this kind
of system to exist. It is their way of life, thus, leaving companies no choice for but to incorporate
this into their working practices. Since it has been implemented there are a number of studies
that have proven profound effects.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of Web 2.0 services T-Mobile serves as an excellent example.
T-Mobile international is one of the worlds leading companies in mobile communications. It is

a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telecom and in 2006 served over 106 million customers

Web 2.0 in HRM

in twelve major markets. In the UK T-Mobile is the third biggest supplier, and has some 17
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million subscribers.
Mobile communications are very much part of the knowledge economy and the mobile world is
changing rapidly with new technologies offering innovative voice and data solutions for
businesses and individual consumers.
T-Mobile currently employs 5900 people. T-Mobiles head office is in Hatfield, Hertfordshire
with other centres in Scotland, the North East and Wales. Head office roles in marketing and
finance are all b ased in Hatfield, for example, but there are 260 retail stores all over the country
so it depends on the role. Initially graduates are based at Hatfield. Over 60% of T-Mobile
employees are in customer facing roles in retail, customer service or sales. T-Mobile also
employs a large number technology people, as well as Finance, HR and Marketing professionals.
Against this background it is important that human resource practices reflect the T-Mobile
brand and its value. Graduate recruitment is important as new graduate entrants are sought
each year to join the UK workforce. While a diverse pool of graduates is sought it is important
that they are all technically aware and are attracted by the innovative approach and new
economy values that T-Mobile represents.
To offer a public expression of values a decision was taken to use a social networking dimension
in the companys 2007 recruitment round. A Facebook site was created for this purpose.
Potential graduate recruits established an individual presence on this invitation-only site. The
site was used to provide information on selection procedures and processes for example criteria
and timetables and to allow the potential recruits to communicate with each other. As well as TMobiles IT Department, an internal brand ambassador was involved in design throughout.

The use of social networking in the recruitment process appealed to the type of graduates that T-

Web 2.0 in HRM

Mobile wished to attract. In addition the social networking dimension became just that an
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easy way for people to communicate with each other for social purposes. Some successful
candidates, for example, used the site to assist each other in searches for shared
accommodation.
In order to understand the potential of Enterprise 2.0 or Web 2.0 for corporate, the underlying
processes of Web 2.0 must be known. These include:

1. Web based user inputs.

2. Transfer Mechanisms and tools
3. Emergent outputs.

Some tools of Web 2.0 and their integration into HR services:

BLOGS
A company blog can be started such that the staff can engage in discussions with external
readers. The CEO post the latest strategic news, or a team member can post about a recent
project, or have someone HR can write about the organization culture. This may shave off
substantial amount of time and cost from orientation programs.
Industry specific blogs can be used to develop relationships with potential candidates. Posting
comments on these blogs, with links back to the organizations website, can help in employer
branding.

Web 2.0 in HRM

FACEBOOK
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Facebook advertisements, are a powerful tool. For identifying potential candidates, selecting
cities and keywords such as job titles, is used to get job postings in front of those specific users.
Facebook Marketplace can be used to post jobs by listing minimum requirements and mandatory
experience to allow applicants to self-select.

NING
Ning is an online platform for people and organisations to create their own social networks.
Ning allows users to set up a branded site with discussion forums, member profiles, event
listings, videos or job postings. It even integrates with Facebook.

In spite of the inherent advantages of Web 2.0 applications, organizations are still wary of fullfledged implementations of such applications. The reasons being additional costs, including that
of licensing, hardware, maintenance etc. and, lack of IT resources (designing processes, multiple
vendors etc).
Nevertheless, the potential of Web 2.0 however, for the human resources department seems to be
profound. Human resources deal with a myriad of activities ranging from maintenance of payroll
to law conformities to recruitment and so on and so forth. Web 2.0 can help leverage these
activities by providing a dashboard for tracking various individual objectives and can assist in
identification of process statuses.