The aims and objectives of this fourth conference are to bring together international scholars and practitioners to present findings from their research on how sophisticated electronic systems are being used to improve strategic and operational decision-making in managing people in organisations. The term used for such systems is electronic human resource management
(‘e-HRM’).

This conference has high scholarly importance, not least because many organisational strategies often fail because they do not address salient people-related issues (Cartwright and Cooper, 1996), so effective management of human resources via technology can make significant contributions to organisational performance. Evidence also shows that contemporary organisational developments, such as the growth of knowledge-based and networked organisations, mean that the strategic importance of human resource-related issues is likely to become more rather than less significant in the future (Lawler and Mohrman, 2003).

This conference will show how the growing adoption and increasing sophistication of e-HRM, such as Virtual HRM, Human Resource Information Systems, Web-based HRM (Strohmeier, 2007; 2009) and self-service HRM, present organisations and HR professionals with both challenges and opportunities. Case studies will be presented to extend our knowledge of how organizations gather, store and analyse workforce data to increase the availability and flow of their information as well as automate and conduct devolution of many routine administrative and compliance functions traditionally performed by corporate HR departments (Bondarouk et al., 2009; Tansley et al., 2001). Automating and devolving many routine HR tasks to line management can provide HR professionals with the time needed to direct their attention towards HR projects that will affect profitability, and thus, are strategic level tasks (Lawler and Mohrman, 2003) such as staff development, talent management and targeted training programs. Also discussed will be how e-HRM systems can also provide an opportunity for HR to play a more strategic role in the organization where they are used to generate real time reports and metrics on HR issues, including performance, workforce planning and skills profiles, which in turn can be used to support strategic decision making (Jamrog and Miles, 2004; Lawler et al., 2004). Despite the ability of the technology to support new capabilities, papers will show how relatively few organizations are moving beyond using e-HRM to automate existing practices (see Ngai and Wat, 2006), as the potential of e-HRM systems to assist organizations in meeting strategic objectives or to generate data crucial to making informed strategic decisions is rarely achieved.

Therefore, for this fourth conference on e-HRM, we are calling for papers and posters from academics and organisational practitioners that demonstrate how organizations are effectively using and developing innovative and creative
e-HRM (see for example, Bondarouk et al., 2009), as well as investigating how e-HRM can be used to promote innovation, change and creativity at work (Marler, 2009).

In particular we encourage papers which explore one or more of the following:
• Integrative and interdisciplinary theoretical models of innovative e-HRM practices.
• The role of innovative e-HRM practices on individual and organizational performance.
• How e-HRM promotes organizational innovation, creativity, change and agility.
• Innovative and creative e-HRM practices in different sectors, including: public, private and not-for-profit as well as small and medium-sized enterprises.
• Comparisons of innovative e-HRM practices in different organizations and the organizational contexts that best support such practices.
• How e-HRM is utilised by other internal departments, groups, consulting firms or outsourcing businesses to change HR delivery modes, systems and outcomes.

The conference organisers are interested in empirical contributions, theoretical papers and case studies of organisations with innovative e-HR practices. Our overall philosophy is that papers need to bridge the gap between scholarly endeavour and lessons for practitioners interested in promoting innovation and creativity in their e-HRM practices. We are also inviting posters providing information on research in the area of e-HRM.

The timetable is as follows:

Deadline for the submission of full academic papers - 5 December 2011
Notification of outcome of paper review process by - 22 December 2011
Deadline for submission of revised papers - 14 January 2012
Deadline for submission of posters -14 January 2012
Notification of acceptance of academic papers and posters by - 25 January 2011
Early bird conference registration deadline - 30 January 2012
Deadline for Conference final registration - 5 March 2012
PowerPoint presentation of paper to be submitted for memory stick transfer - 5 March 2012
Academic Conference - 28-29 March 2012

Please contact Professor Carole Tansley (carole.tansley@ntu.ac.uk) or Hazel Williams (hazel.williams@ntu.ac.uk) at Nottingham Business School for further information.