Past Issues

Special Message from our February Sponsor

Towers Watson's HR Technology research shows that talent and performance management remain the most critical issues for nearly half the organizations we surveyed. Learn more how we can help you by participating in our 2011 HR Service Delivery Forum and Survey which will close on February 25th!  www.towerswatson.com/hrsdforum2011. 

Our 2011 Member Referral Program is Now Underway!

Spread the word about IHRIM to other HR information management professionals and we will reward you $25 in IHRIM membership bucks for each referral who joins our organization. In addition your name will be entered into a drawing for a $100 American Express Gift Card to be drawn quarterly. Plus a Grand Prize consisting of a free full conference registration to the IHRIM 2012 conference and three nights at the conference host hotel will be awarded to the member who brings in the most new members during 2011. (Minimum number of new members recruited to qualify is five.) 
Please go to http://www.ihrim.org/membership/2011referral.htm  for additional information and program rules.  

IHRIM's HRIP 2011 Certification Exam Schedule

Stand out from the crowd. Differentiate yourself and gain recognition for your HR systems knowledge and proficiency. Register today for one of our upcoming certification exams.

Interested in hosting the exam at your company or bringing the exam in-house? Contact Laurie Carantit at 800-804-3983 x4 or at lcarantit@ihrim.org.    Download the HRIP Certification Program Brochure for more information.

IHRIM January 26 Webinar Breaks Attendance Record

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our January 26 Webinar and helped make it a record breaker! “Leading the HR Technology of Tomorrow, Today”, sponsored and presented by Towers Watson, had the most registered sites for an IHRIM Webinar. Attendees were provided with highlights from the Towers Watson 2010 HR Service Delivery Survey and participated in polling questions conducted during the webinar. If you weren’t able to attend, click here for an opportunity to view the recording. You won’t be disappointed! Remember, the ability to view IHRIM Webinar recordings is FREE to IHRIM Members and can be used towards your HRIP Recertification Credit Hours. .

In this Month’s Issue:

IHRIM News and Updates

How Informal Learning Is Transforming the Workplace

Engaging a Multi-Generational Workforce: Practical Advice for Government Managers

The Cisco Connected World Report - Part 3, Data Center

How Extraordinary Leaders Double Profits: Decoding Leadership Trends to Discover the Patterns

Five Ways IT Can Ride the Coming Growth Wave

Employee Motivation -  A Powerful New Model

Are We There Yet? Quantifying Data Management for BI 

Beyond HRMS: Cutting-Edge Technologies Provide New Opportunities for HR

IHRIM Publications

Event Calendar

Reminder: All IHRIM webinars are complimentary to Members

February 23
Webinar: Using the HR Maturity Model to Develop your HR Technology Roadmap
Register Today

March 9
Webinar: Creating a Global, Consumer-grade HR Portal using Microsoft SharePoint.  Sponsored by Towers Watson
Register Today

March 17
Webinar: Oracle Fusion. 
Registration coming soon.

March 30
Webinar: Opening the "Black Box" to Integrated Talent Management Strategy and Technology: Lessons from Industry Leaders
Register Today

IHRIM's webinars have been approved for 1 recertification credit hour toward HRIP (Human Resource Information Professional) recertification.

IHRIM 2011 Conference and Technology Expo

Register today and take advantage of our Early Bird Rates - now through March 31, 2011

Register Today 

IHRIM News and Updates

February 23, 2011	Webinar - Using the HR Maturity Model to Develop your HR Technology Roadmap, presented by Lisa Laine, VP of HCM Solutions, Solution Beacon, LLC
March 9, 2011	Webinar - Creating a Global, Consumer-grade HR Portal using Microsoft SharePoint, presented by Michael Rudnick Global Practice Leader, Intranets & Portals, Towers Watson.
March 17, 2011	Save the Date:  Webinar - Oracle Fusion.
March 30, 2011	Webinar - Opening the "Black Box" to Integrated Talent Management Strategy and Technology: Lessons from Industry Leaders, presented by Andy Rice, Practice Manager, Integrated Talent Management The Newman Group, A FutureStep Company
May 14-15, 2011	IHRIM Pre-Conference Educational Courses, Gaylord National, National Harbor, MD.  For a list of all courses, go to 2011 Courses.
May 15-18, 2011	IHRIM 2011 Conference and Technology Expo, Gaylord National, National Harbor, MD.

How Informal Learning Is Transforming the Workplace

A Pulse Survey - Social Media’s Impact on Informal Workplace Learning

Over 70% of what we learn in life and at work is learned informally and socially say proponents of informal learning. Language is first learned not in a classroom but in the informal setting of home. For most of us social skills are gradually acquired and refined through life experience, rather than etiquette classes. And some of the most critical skills to workplace success—communication, collaboration, teamwork and even technical skills—are cultivated through invaluable and ongoing informal workplace learning: mentoring, coaching, peer reviews and job shadowing.

Though informal learning has always been around, the rapid proliferation of social media has added a new layer of complexity and controversy. Businesses worry about security risks and productivity loss that could occur with widespread access to social media. Learning experts worry about quality of sources—how “expert” are “the experts” in personal and professional networks? Meanwhile, people around the world are embracing social media technologies and rapidly integrating them into their personal and professional lives. Hardware—think smartphones, TVs, notepads and laptops—and related applications are now designed with social media in mind. 

View the Survey Results

Engaging a Multi-Generational Workforce: Practical Advice for Government Managers 

This report examines six trends now occurring in the workplace and describes how managers can successfully engage all four generations and “commit” to the organization. For example, each of the four generations has different learning and communication styles, different work-life balance needs, and different preferences in how their contributions should be recognized. Understanding these differences and preferences can lead to a more effective organization.

One key to successful organizations today is to have workers bring their discretionary energy and passion to work. Hannam and Yordi describe successful techniques in doing so, such as increased mentoring of young employees and “reverse mentoring” where young employees assist older workers to develop social media skills and assist them in better understanding the networking styles of the “Millennial Generation.”

Read the report

The Cisco Connected World Report - Part 3, Data Center

Part III of the study, released Dec. 8, examines the evolution of data center, virtualization and cloud computing technologies as businesses adapt to the changing nature of work.

Read Part III of the survey results

Read Part II which appeared in the January Wire 

Read Part I which appeared in the December Wire  

Special message from our February Wire Sponsor

STRATEGIES ’11: Virtual Edition is the first event of its kind developed by the editors of Talent Management magazine. Join us March 22-23, 2011 as we bring some of the most important minds from our Strategies ’11 conference to your desktop. Go to www.strategies2011.com/virtual for more information. 

How Extraordinary Leaders Double Profits: Decoding Leadership Trends to Discover the Patterns

The connection between leadership and the bottom line has to an extent been made. Yet, most of what we’ve seen recounted in the mountains of materials published on the subject of leadership is the result of closed-door boardroom brainstorming sessions and personal treatises of famous, successful executives. While interesting, we’re left confused by the variety of opinions on key issues involving leadership and the slew of contradicting leadership development models. That is until now.

Read the article

Five Ways IT Can Ride the Coming Growth Wave

Since mid-2007 there has been a global recession that has stifled growth and riveted management’s focus on stringent cost controls and cost-cutting initiatives. At management’s directive, IT has spent the last three years wringing out every cost possible in an effort to maximize efficiency. However, this overly robust focus on efficiency has, at times, resulted in a reduction in effectiveness and agility.

Now, in 2011, there appears to be signs of recovery ahead—perhaps as early as 2012. At least that’s what a number of economic pundits are forecasting. In a recent study, the European Commission on Economic and Financial affairs indicates that the European GDP could rise by about 1.75% in 2012. Goldman Sachs is even more optimistic for the U.S. economy, forecasting GDP growth as high as 3.6%. With growth on the horizon, businesses—especially technology-centric ones—need to begin to shift their focus away from mere survival and back to creating a sustainable competitive edge. CIOs need to quickly align to this changing focus by providing ways to leverage the organization’s ability to deliver sustainable value to its stakeholders, especially in the area of technology, improving customer experiences and providing management with lucid business intelligence.

This white paper focuses on five ways IT can support the enterprise’s transition from a contraction to growth model.

Read the white paper

Employee Motivation - A Powerful New Model

Getting people to do their best work, even in trying circumstances, is one of managers’ most enduring and slippery challenges. Indeed, deciphering what motivates us as human beings is a centuries-old puzzle. Some of history’s most influential thinkers about human behavior—among them Aristotle, Adam Smith, Sigmund Freud, and Abraham Maslow—have struggled to understand its nuances and have taught us a tremendous amount about why people do the things they do.

Managers attempting to boost motivation should take note. It’s hard to argue with the accepted wisdom—backed by empirical evidence—that a motivated workforce means better corporate performance. But what actions, precisely, can managers take to satisfy the four drives and, thereby, increase their employees’ overall motivation? 

Read the Harvard Business Review article

Are We There Yet? Quantifying Data Management for BI

Data management is the collection of disciplines and guidelines used in the ‘handling’ of the data in an organization. The activities involved in data management are diverse, and include such heterogeneous efforts as backup and recovery strategies, mapping and transformations (ETL and ELT), quality and cleansing, data and process modeling, data administration, database creation and tuning, metadata management, disaster recovery, and analysis of all the above. The definition of data management is the same in the operational world and the business intelligence world; however some disciplines are implemented differently for BI. Let’s address each of the above data management categories and explain any differences you may want to consider when building the business intelligence environment.

Read the article

Beyond HRMS: Cutting-Edge Technologies Provide New Opportunities for HR

There is little argument among human resource practitioners today that information technology is making HR administrative work easier, especially when it comes to time-consuming tasks such as paying employees, coordinating benefits, and recruiting new talent.

What is less clear, however, is the extent to which emerging technology tied to workforce ‘‘optimization’’—or ‘‘analytics’’—which HR systems consultant Lexy Martin described as ‘‘the next frontier,’’ will actually help the profession align its goals with employers’ strategic business objectives.

Read the Workforce Strategies Issue

IHRIM Publications

To find out about becoming a sponsor of the IHRIM Wire, or other IHRIM marketing opportunities, contact Patty Huber at +1.512.310.9795 or phuber2@austin.rr.com.