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1. Introduction
Industries are the backbone of a nation’s economy, and the world has already witnessed three industrial revolutions in the past that stemmed from major technological breakthroughs over the past three centuries. Introduction of mechanical machines started Industry 1.0 (eighteenth century) followed by electricity-powered Industry 2.0 (nineteenth century) and more recently the computer and internet-enabled Industry 3.0 (twentieth century) (PWC Report, 2017).
In the twenty-first century, Industry 4.0 heralds the innovation of both smart business and smart factory (Shamim et al., 2016). The HR domain is not immune to this phenomenon, and it too must join the bandwagon of disruption or be disrupted. Smart HR 4.0 paints a vivid canvas for digital transformation in the HR functions of recruitment, onboarding, learning and development, social sharing, and crowd-sourced feedback based on “people science.”
Smart Human Resources 4.0 (SHR 4.0) is a new concept that is evolving as a part of the overall 4th Industrial Revolution and characterized by innovations in digital technologies such as Internet-of-Things, Big Data Analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) and fast data networks such as 4G and 5G for the effective management of next-generation employees (Hecklau et al., 2016).
As with any change, SHR 4.0 will have its own set of implementation challenges and a set of benefits based on how the organization adopts it.
SHR 4.0 implementation challenges are:
selecting the right set of new technological tools;
overcoming the existing organizational culture; and
managing multi-generational employee expectations.
SHR 4.0 adoption benefits are:
attract, develop, and retain new-age talent;
efficient and faster HR operations; and
leaner HR departments.
To understand how to overcome the above-mentioned challenges and realize various benefits, the authors briefly discuss the SHR 4.0 disruptions from an HR function’s perspective.
2. SHR 4.0 disruptions
Traditionally, the HR department of any organization is responsible for managing all aspects related to employee life cycle, from recruitment to exit. While the role of HR is key to organizational growth, today most of the HR departments across different organizations are seen to be majorly playing only an operational role owing to their highly inefficient processes that are further worsened by inadequate or obsolete technology infrastructure.
Technology, on the other hand, is undergoing rapid changes. Emerging technologies such as Internet-of-Things are...