Crisp: Virtual HR (Crisp Professional Series) [Paperback]

John Jones (Author)

Book Description

Series: Crisp Professional Series | Publication Date: April 20, 1998

The knowledgeable workers of today's workforce have made Human Resources a critical element that must be as sophisticated as any part of your organization. In this book you'll explore the technology-assisted model of HR. Discover how the use of some key techniques and applications can offer a flexible human resources model and how adapting to "Virtual HR" can also become a source of competitive advantages.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The late Dr John Jones was a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Hull.

Product Details

• Paperback: 174 pages
• Publisher: Crisp Learning; 1 edition (April 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560524731
• ISBN-13: 978-1560524731
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,751,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Generalities and checklists for rank beginners, May 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Crisp: Virtual HR (Crisp Professional Series) (Paperback)

After having seen the glowing reviews for this book, I purchased this book hoping for something really eye-opening. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed when I saw the book since there really isn't that much in the way of content. Rather than a book with detailed examples or case studies, what is presented is something that looks more like an outline of a book

First, a bit of background. I am a professor, and I will be teaching a new class on the interaction between information technology and HRM, and I bought this book hoping that it would make a good textbook for my students. There are a number of good books on Human Resource Information Sytems, but they mostly focus on the IS aspects rather than the HR aspects, and none look at anything other than information systems.

What is lacking are good books on how information technology is directly changing HR, as well as how work is being changed by IT (and thus, indirectly leading to HR changes as well). That is what I was hoping to find from "Virtual HR."

Instead, what is presented are a bunch of generalities and other fairly obvious observations without a great deal of insight or analysis. An example of something I found particularly irritating was some reviews of internet sites related to HR. I don't know about most other readers, but I had found all these sites (and many, many more) using the popular search engines on the internet. I didn't need to purchase a book for this.

Other xxamples of generalities without insight were the sections on the "touch screen" kiosk model and computer scoring. The section on computer scoring (What! I can use a computer scanner to score tests? Amazing!) reminds me of the news several years back of former President Bush's visit to the supermarket when he was amazed by the checkout scanners -- obviously the President hadn't been shopping in a while.

Instead, I would have liked to see something of substance. For example, if you are going to do the touch screen kiosk model of employee access, just how should it be done? Obviously, it could require some substantial changes in the whole organizational culture, since this might lead to a culture where employees have much more responsibility for managing their own jobs and careers, rather than have HR play the police/nanny role.

How about a lot of detailed information on telecommuting and the virtual organization? What sort of people and jobs are best suited for this management model? How do we get line managers to change to this new way of thinking?

The one point of this book that I did like was the fact that specific software applications were not covered. Things are changing so rapidly that any such attempt would be outdated very rapidly.

In summary, what this book presents is a not particularly insightful overview that is too basic except for the most beginning level. The coverage of technology topics is perhaps suitable for people that rarely use computers or bank machines, while the coverage of HR topics is only suitable for people with very little experience in HR.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HR of the next millennium !!!, May 22, 1999

By 

Turgay BUGDACIGIL (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crisp: Virtual HR (Crisp Professional Series) (Paperback)

In the next millennium, information technology, process reengineering, high-speed management, networked organizations, knowledge workers and globalization must be addressed by HR departments that want to continuously increase their value while reducing costs.

In this context, J.W.Jones says " Virtual HR is typically defined as the use of computer systems, interactive electronic media, and telecommunication networks to carry out the functions of the human resources department. Virtual HR managers always strive to provide a seamless integration of all HR services with a common goal of employee satisfaction. This technology-assisted model of HR is often begun as an efficiency program, but it soon evolves into a major source of competitive advantage. In addition, while some HR departments utilize a few virtual HR applications, others strive to reengineer, automate, and integrate nearly all of their HR functions."

I highly recommend this invaluable study to all HR professionals.

See also "Work & Rewards in the Virtual Workplace/F.Crandall & M.Wallace", "Technology-Based Learning/M.Marquardt", "Virtual Teams/J.Lipnack & J.Stamps"

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For HR professionals, not programmers, September 6, 2000

By 

Timothy Rogers (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crisp: Virtual HR (Crisp Professional Series) (Paperback)

I was disappointed. I'm a programmer working on an HR information system and I was looking for a programmer's introduction to Human Resources. The book is more of an HR professional's introduction to information systems. It contains a "workbook" approach that I found annoying, but perhaps HR people (the folks who brought you "teambuilding") like that sort of thing. It contains case studies of companies that have implemented HR information systems to good effect. It would be a good book to get your boss to read to convince her that you can save money by putting your HR functions on computers. But it won't tell either of you how to do implement the system.