Preparing the HR profession for technology and information work

Technology and human resource management have broad influences upon each other. Technology not only changes the administration of human resources (HR), which is the domain of e-HR, but also changes organizations and work. HR professionals must be able to adopt technologies that allow the reengineering of the HR function, be prepared to support organizational and work-design changes enabled by technology, and be able to support the proper managerial climate for innovative and knowledge-based organizations. An examination of HR professional degree programs shows that traditional HR education has poorly prepared the HR profession for these challenges. To address this shortfall, HR education must be revised to provide a greater focus on technological issues, and HR educators must acquire the skills needed to teach these courses. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.