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There are continuing pressures to improve administrative efficiency in human resource management (HRM). Following the professional and academic literature, proposes “payroll” as an ideal candidate for outsourcing in order to drive costs down.

The research uses a transaction‐cost‐economics perspective to identify efficiency implications of varying governance decisions. Ten distinct payroll activities that account for a generic payroll workflow are identified. Then the costs of carrying out these distinct payroll processes, either market‐ or hierarchy‐based, are analysed in 20 case studies of UK‐based organisations.

While key payroll activities were more costly when outsourced, there were efficiency gains in supplementary activities and lesser investment in IT software and maintenance.

These insights are important for cost‐based make‐or‐buy decisions. Influence factors on governance decisions, however, went beyond considerations of transaction costs, quality and risks to include historical, political and individual rationales. They are depicted in a framework of outsourcing motivations.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how Deutsche Post DHL's HR shared service center organization enhanced its KPI system (scorecard) by moving it towards a more operational, detailed and process‐oriented measurement level.

The paper describes a one‐year project aimed at obtaining transparency over payroll processes and costs from a global perspective by focusing on three areas – KPIs, benchmarks and a resource allocation exercise.

Transparency and comparability of payroll processes can be significantly enhanced using a few parameters to assess cost‐efficiency and therefore allowing for a better discussion of improvement potential.

Transparency over payroll processes and respective costs significantly increased. Different levels of cost savings could be calculated by using internal and external benchmark data. The results enabled more in‐depth discussions with payroll, as well as general managers, and identified objectives to facilitate further improvement.

The paper reveals how HR can strengthen its business partner role by effectively using instruments such as benchmarks and KPIs.

This study aims to broaden the understanding of the blockchain for human resource (HR) managers through use cases. The study presents a plausible solution for HR professionals to effectively manage some of the core processes to focus on more strategic work and be a true HR business partner for the organization.

The study adopted a case research strategy. The case research strategy is well-suited to capture the practitioner’s knowledge, mainly when focusing on contemporary events (such as COVID-19). Data collected from 12 tech organizations through telephonic conversations and the interviews were recorded and transcribed using NoNotes call recording.

This study identifies five use cases to streamline the critical processes, helping HR professionals such as certificates verification, skill mapping, payroll processing, data protection and performance management. These early use cases offer a plausibly superior alternative in managing critical HR functions and associated business processes with blockchain technology.

Despite the growing number of blockchain applications, its usage in HR activities is limited. By extensive qualitative case study and data triangulation, the study integrates a resource-based view and unified theory of acceptance by explaining how blockchain adoption helps organizations use their internal resources and capabilities to gain a competitive advantage. The study presents five use cases and propositions that can act as building blocks for the HR department in adopting blockchain applications. Lack of empirical validation (quantitative rigor) of the propositions is the limitation and can be a future research scope.

Adopting new technologies is not new for HR managers. However, most of the technologies are disjointed applications, and therefore, the need for an all-pervasive solution assumes significance. Several of the blockchain concepts are still in the nascent stage. Thus, the study highlights the need for HR leaders to work alongside technical architects to create blockchain applications. Unlike other HR applications, blockchain can integrate all the employees, clients, vendors and businesses seamlessly. This study proposes research propositions that provide research directions for future research.

Academic literature on connecting blockchain technology with HR functions and applications is notably absent. This research can be considered one of the first academic articles connecting blockchain and HR processes.

The purpose of this case study feature is to demonstrate how technology outsourcing can bring efficiencies and benefits to human resources (HR), once the right solution and provider are selected.

The paper follows the selection and implementation path followed by an international organisation – Interdean International Relocation – moving from an inefficient outsourced payroll system to a technology‐based payroll and HR solution that has resulted in efficiency gains.

The case study feature highlights the implementation steps and resources that made the transfer from one system to another a success. It also shares the gains that can be made once these steps and resources are in place, and the right solution and provider are selected.

The case is based on one organisation's experiences.

The paper shows how technology outsourcing can bring efficiencies and benefits to HR.

The significance of computer technology in terms of industrial relations is an area which has been neglected in the proliferation of literature accompanying the computer boom. This omission is becoming increasingly serious. By April 1976, the National Computer Index recorded a total of 9,245 computers in operation within the UK, in industry, the commercial and service sectors, public administration and defence. During the decade 1965–74 the population of computer installations grew by more than five and a half thousand and because this figure includes bureau facilities, it certainly understates the growth in the number of end‐users who have come to rely on computer technology. More importantly, the degree of this reliance has increased as the technology has been applied to a wider range of organisational functions. The growing dependence of organisations on the computer has enhanced its strategic position in the work process. Control over the functioning of the computer thus constitutes a source of increasing power which may well be used by employees as a powerful tool in negotiation.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extensive literature on blockchain technology (BT) and human resource management (HRM) in enterprises and set the future scope of research in the adoption of BT in HRM.

A framework-based review of the literature (Callahan, 2014; Paul and Criado, 2020) is adopted for the present study. The 6 W-Framework developed by Callahan (2014) is used for the development of a conceptual framework on BT and HRM and could address HRM issues through the applications of BT.

This study focused on the major HR issues, i.e., regulation, staffing and development, and change management. These issues were categorized into sub-categories. The major implementation of BT in HRM is highlighted. The study developed a framework to aid HR professionals in implementing blockchain in the decision-making process of HRM.

The current study is limited to the bias on the part of employers in providing feedback and data feeding. Blockchain being at its infancy stage did not allow much of pieces of literary works to be introduced.

Implementation of ledger technology in managerial functions will reduce the time, money and effort required by potential recruiters and HR professionals. Using this technology, the time and cost required to verify and sort the right potential can be reduced.

The present work offers benefits to HR professionals and practitioners by expediting the process of effective decision-making of HRM employing BT.

Offshore outsourcing of non‐core business process has rapidly evolved as a ubiquitous organisational phenomenon. However, failure to follow a clear, systematic and effective outsourcing strategy to evaluate threats, uncertainties and numerous imponderables can cause global enterprise businesses major setbacks. The reasons for such setback could be largely due to lack of core competency, careful legal planning and due diligence to operating models associated with an outsourcing initiative. This paper attempts to collate and exemplify the distinct qualifying processes accommodating contractual and intellectual property rights and provide a worthwhile debate on intricate legal considerations when structuring multi‐jurisdictional outsourcing deals.

The paper presents a comparative analysis of strategic legal and management framework by weighing the risks and evaluating the threats which would assist the decision making process of firms when selecting an appropriate offshore partner to carry out their IT‐development work.

Importance of legal intervention and due diligence to service agreements is further elevated as, at every phase of an outsourcing arrangement, compliance issues and contractual obligations can affect the success of an enterprise customer and its relationship with their outsourcing service provider.

The authors suggest that an exhaustive qualitative and quantitative industry specific research analysis be conducted in order to better define the principles and standards governing sub‐contracting arrangements.

A broader exposure to the strategic management and regulatory framework might provide firms with vantage points from which they could assess and identify new opportunities, evaluate threats and adopt effective risk mitigation strategies. Compliance to security standards and safeguard of information acquisition, analysis and usage should emerge as the mainstream strategy for outsourcing.

The paper offers insights and an overview of management and legal issues in the context of offshore technology outsourcing.

Flight testing of modern high performance aircraft has generated an increasingly complex data handling workload and this contributes significantly to the duration and cost of flight test programmes. Automation of this critical data handling process can reduce the high cost of such a programme by reducing its duration. The effects of automation of data flow at the ground station can be enhanced by the use of immediate flight analysis of data telemetered from the aircraft.

The dominant market for enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors has traditionally been the largest of multinational corporations. Until recently, most vendors (SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle, etc.) have promoted a “one size fits all” solution built on “industry best practices.” This approach forced organizations to either conform to the “best practices” and configurations suggested by vendors and implementation consultants or embark on extremely costly reconfiguration of their ERP package. The study reviews the concepts of control, coordination, and their trade‐offs plus Bartlett and Ghoshal’s topology of firm strategy. Human resource issues are introduced as examples of organization elements that may or may not conform to the enterprise design structure within coordination and control. Finally, the concepts of control and coordination and the Bartlett and Ghoshal topology are combined to create a firm strategic orientation which is then matched to an ideal ERP configuration or enterprise information architecture.

The downsizing efforts of corporate America over the past fifteen years have largely focused on reducing staff. While the objectives of slashing overhead and boosting responsiveness were admirable, the “meat‐ax” approach used by many companies resulted instead in lowered morale and little improvement in agility. One of the reasons why the emphasis on controlling headcount has been counterproductive is that it ignores the need to improve services, add new ones, or eliminate those that are not necessary.