Remote Work and Employee Motivation
There are many potential ideas for a Human Resources (HR) dissertation. Firstly, an intriguing topic is how remote work affects employee motivation and productivity. Understanding the connection between remote work and employee engagement is a crucial topic for HR managers, as it has become increasingly prevalent in recent years (Weideman & Hofmeyr, 2020).
As for literature, I have found it particularly helpful to read “Measuring the Experience of Remote Home Workers: A Scoping Review” by Federici et al. (2021). This scoping review outlines which aspects of the field are well-researched. For instance, the living situations of workers are comparatively well-studied, as opposed to the relationship between remote workers and their organization (Federici et al., 2021). This resource should be specifically useful for pinpointing the area of remote work to be researched.
AI in HRM
Secondly, it would be interesting to investigate how artificial intelligence (AI) affects HR procedures and results. From hiring to performance management, HR departments are using AI increasingly (Nawaz & Gomes, 2020). The study “AI in Talent Acquisition: A Review of AI-Applications Used in Recruitment and Selection” by Edward Albert highlights the growing importance of AI in recruitment. In particular, it contains lists of companies implementing AI into their recruitment processes, such as Unilever (Albert, 2019). Based on this, it could be worthwhile to compare AI usage by HR across different industries.
As it stands, I have yet to meet with any particular organizational leaders in these fields. Still, I am open to any opportunities that might come my way and would value the chance to gain insight from their experience and perspective. I believe all of these ideas are feasible and manageable, as they are all current issues in the field of HR. Each of these topics has numerous implications for the future of the HR field and can be explored through various methods, including surveys, interviews, and case studies.
References
Albert, E. T. (2019). AI in talent acquisition: a review of AI-applications used in recruitment and selection. Strategic HR Review, 18(5), 215–221.
Federici, S., De Filippis, M. L., Mele, M. L., Borsci, S., Bracalenti, M., Bifolchi, G., Gaudino, G., Amandola, M., Cocco, A., & Simonetti, E. (2021). Measuring the experience of remote home workers: A scoping review. PsyArHiv.
Nawaz, N., & Gomes, A. M. (2020). Artificial intelligence chatbots are new recruiters. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Weideman, M., & Hofmeyr, K. B. (2020). The influence of flexible work arrangements on employee engagement: An exploratory study. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 18.