According to Schuler and Jackson’s model of employee role behaviour and HRM policies associated (innovation, quality enhancement and cost reduction), the strategy of A&E department is ‘Quality Enhancement’ as the behaviour of the staff (receptionist, nurses and driver) is relatively repetitive and predictable because of fixed and explicit job descriptions. Also the department use a mix of individual and group criteria for performance appraisal (through comparison of reports/outcomes) that is short-term and result oriented. Also as said above that there is continuous training and development of the staff. The focus is on customer satisfaction through high concern on quality, though the quality of treatment given is ranked 1st, but the Waiting time has to be reduced especially for the patients who require immediate treatment. Multiple admissions in the same room at the same time are a factor of
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concern as it affects both staff and the patients. In a hospital the efforts should be made to motivate staff and boost the morale of patients. Thus hygiene factors (Herzberg 2 factor Theory of Motivation; 1960) associated with bad feelings-included cleanliness, which has been ranked 8th by the patients, refreshment facilities, TV, toys etc are also a factor of concern which holds important implications for the HR. Another implication and problem that is derived from the case study is guarantee of employment security and the reward system. It is mentioned in the case study that ‘if an unexpectedly busy period occurs, staff can be called out (without pay)’. But people work in the expectation of something in return which may be in the form of intrinsic or extrinsic rewards (Psychological Contract; Shein 1965). And if their promises have not been kept by the employer then they might get dissatisfied with the job and can act as a de-motivational factor, hence loss of employees. Another HRM implication is to continuously improve quality in service through decentralisation by customer and staff involvement in decision making not directly but through the feedback and information received from the patients in the form of questionnaire.
Conclusion:
Department and HR managers should keep under review the staffing, facilities, equipment and inter-departmental and inter-agency operational policies necessary to ensure that: obstacles to the provision of high quality care are identified and tackled by; minimising delays in A&E; adequate facilities available to make patients feel welcome in A&E, e.g. food, drink, appropriate chairs/beds available for the elderly; reducing time to a minimum.
WORD COUNT: 1016
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Q) Present an outline development plan for the HRM strategies of the organisation, showing how this relates to the issue you have identified.
Ans). After strategically analysing the HR strategy of the A&E department of the Hospital, there is a need to outline the development plan through the stages of Basic Implementation Process. Though it is difficult to develop a plan for the implementation process for the problems of HR which have been discussed earlier, yet an attempt has been made to compare the various stages with the actual problems.
(Please refer Appendices, especially Appendix – 2 and 3)
THE BASIC IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
(Source: Class notes)
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The stages in the implementation process are
Strategy choice: Integration (Horizontal and Vertical) links with the corporate strategy and the various aspects of SHRM. HR is needed to integrate within the business strategy, structure, strategic capacity, organisational culture etc.
(Also, please refer previous answer).
Identification of general strategic / here departmental objectives: It includes:
1. To deliver a modern, accessible, patient focussed, quality service
2. To provide a safe, pleasant and healthy environment for the patients, staff and visitors.
3. To support and develop the staff.
4. To share information and involve people in decisions that affects them.
Formulation of specific plans under general departmental objectives:
1. To deliver a modern, accessible, patient focussed, quality service by:
- Striving to meet national and local waiting time targets.
- Working with stakeholders to reduce the number of patients who are not receiving care in an appropriate setting due to delayed discharge.
- Benchmarking the performance and practice so that the department can develop and implement a program of further service modernisation.
- Improving clinical information and communications by developing the use of information and communication technologies.
2. To provide a safe, pleasant and healthy environment for the patients, staff and visitors by:
- Providing adequate facilities to make patients feel welcome in A&E, e.g. food, drink, appropriate chairs/beds available for the elderly; reducing time to a minimum.
- By progressing on management of absences including analysis if staff accidents / incidents and sickness / absence.
3. To support and develop the staff:
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- By developing the organisation / departmental culture: to ensure clarity of goals, responsibility and accountability and the decision-making process. And also by handling staff grievances through various disciplinary procedures.
- By implementing the HR information system to support staff management.
- By strengthening the academic links to ensure a synergistic approach between teaching / training and providing patient services.
- As there is no reward system in place, the trust needs to implement a new pay system to strike a balance between need to pay staff competitive rates in tight labour markets with the need to ensure productivity gains and with the wider economy.
- The equity amongst staff needs immediate priority especially when there is no mention of bonuses, Share option scheme etc. The Hospital needs to put this HRM issue on the top of their agenda in order for the employees to feel motivated and see themselves as an asset to the organisation and not a resource. If this is achieved the workforce could retaliate in terms of poor quality of service and an increase in patient complaints, unnecessary delays, staff taking advantage of breaks and sickness levels increasing, refusing to be flexible etc.
- Formal performance appraisal system needs to created immediately, staff are not benefiting from the current appraisal system with no career plan in place is not doing anything for the individual as regards to motivation and morale and will eventually increase labour turnover. The shortage of Doctors and Nurses is already an existing problem this could contribute to the market gap and could spiral out of control if nothing is done immediately.
4. To share information and involve people in decisions that affects them by:
- Developing a communications structure that is proactive in its reporting and information dissemination.
- Staff consultation arrangements.
- Ensuring that HR projects / strategies will not be developed in isolation but will be integrated at the outset with advice and support from corporate services and all stakeholders that may be affected by the outcomes or may contribute to the successful implementation.
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Resource allocation and budgeting:
After formulating the specific plans, the resources are to be allocated in order to develop and implement the HR functions and the business processes in a way to avoid any unplanned capital slippage. Therefore improving the understanding of linkages between funding and HR activities to be implemented.
Monitoring and Control procedures:
The last stage in the implementation process is monitoring and controlling the tasks implemented in the previous stages which includes reviewing objectives and resources according to their feasibility with in the environment. There might have been something wrong with the HR strategies and the procedures which is to be reviewed again. For example: outsourcing HR or outsourcing training and development within HR or after sometime it is realised that South Warwickshire needs to improve on the Structure and functionality of the hierarchy to break down the traditional approach because it is highly centralised and needs de-layering to demonstrate and progress against the strategic objectives of the hospital.
WORD COUNT: 911
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Q). Briefly discuss the significance if ‘Human Resource development Strategy’.
Note: In this answer the Human Resource function is seen for the organisation as a whole and not only for the A&E department of the Hospital. This is to fit HR in external fit of the answer below as HR is a separate department in the organisation. (Appendix-1)
Ans). A model for developing and implementing human resource management strategies incorporating both an external fit (human resource management fits the developmental stage of the department) and an internal fit (the components of human resource management complement and support each other) is proposed. HRM is seen as having five developmental stages (initiation, functional growth, controlled growth, functional integration and strategic integration) and six strategic components (management awareness, management of the function, portfolio of programs, personal skills, information technology, and awareness of the environment. HRM’s effectiveness depends on its fit with the organisation’s stage of development. As the organisation grows and develops, HRM programs, practices and procedures must change and develop to meet its needs. Consistent with the growth and development models it can be suggested that HRM develops through a series of stages as the organisation becomes more complex and is at Stage V-Strategic Integration (Grenier; 1972) Here management focus is on flexibility, adaptability and integration across other functions. As seen in the Appendices, now the Human Resource, training and Education department is a separate department in the Hospital like various other departments. And it covers the functions such as Occupational Health, Recruitment and Retention, Employee Reward and Training and Development. This is in consistent with the growth and development of the hospital. This stage is characterised by team action, full integration of functional areas, strategic management, highly developed monitoring capabilities, and an ability to adjust to the environment. At this sage, HRM is recognised as everyone’s job. Not only must HRM fit the organisation’s stage of development, but also the components of HR should support and fit with structure task, people, and administrative processes for higher organisational performance. Internal fit (Baird & Meshoulam, 1984) allows the identification of six strategic components of HRM: Management Awareness: HRM of the Hospital is aware of the administrative needs such as employment policies and practices, number of vacancies and in turn advertises it. (Appendices) Management of
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the Function: This component includes the structure of the HR function, and the planning, allocation and control of its resources. For example: in the case study the average rate of new arrivals (patients) per hour is maximum between 12.00pm to 5.00-6.00pm hence the staff/ nurses allocated during those hours is also more i.e. from 1.45 pm – 5.00pm there are two shifts of staff working simultaneously. Portfolio of programs: The Portfolio of Programs ranges from simple salary administration and recordkeeping programs, to very complex and flexible compensation and long range planning. For example: The hospital trust opened a call centre to allow patients to telephone-book a mutually convenient for patients’ appointments.(Appendix-4) Personal Skills and Information Technology: The Hospital Trust has a completely new computer system that dramatically improves the efficiency and accuracy data collection necessary for effective patient administration. (Appendix-4) Awareness of the Environment: At stage V of external fit the HR is very aware of the internal environment and the external environment and their impact. So it remains flexible and adjusts to opportunities and risks that arise. For example the department adjusts to the opportunity that arose with the announcement of $100m spending package to reduce waiting time in A&E by the UK government.(Appendix-5). It should be noted that the HRM functions best when all six strategic components are at the same stage of development and they form a HR strategic Matrix. (Class Handouts)
WORD COUNT: 526
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Armstrong. M (1995), Employee Reward, London, Institute of Personnel and Development
Hendry. C (1995), Human Resource Management: A Strategic Approach To Management, Butterworth Heinmann, Oxford: Butterworth
Johnson. G, and Scholes. K, (1999), Exploring Corporate Strategy, 6th Edition, London, FT Prentice Hall
Boxall P. and Purcell J. (2003), Strategy and Human Resource Management, 1st Edition, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan
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