Strategic Human Resource Management in Healthcare - Report Example

Title: Human Resources in Healthcare Course name Number Name Name of the Lecture Date of submission Strategic Human Resource Management Kramar (2014) simply referred strategic human resource management as the proactive management of individuals in an organization. Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is currently embraced by most organizations and is perceived to be a powerful and influential tool emerging from business and management field in the past two decades. In most countries, policy makers at the state level are finding ways to integrate SHRM into organization systems for the objective of promoting high performance through investment on human capital. This idea of where people are managed has become one of the significant elements in achieving competitiveness in an organization. Strategic Human Resource Management is divided into two. First, SHRM is concerned with identification and understanding of the features of an organization which are often regarded as the determinants of institutional performance. This category of SHRM involves evaluation of individuals’ capabilities, attitudes and behaviours in achieving the set objectives of an organization. Secondly, SHRM is involved in practical evaluation of factors that may directly influence the performance. The elements to be evaluated include selection processes, training and development, employee strategies, structural forms and employee competences. The two categories work simultaneously in an organization with the main aim of developing a culture of reputable performance through employees (Armstrong and Armstrong, 2011). Moreover, SHRM is a dynamic discipline which changes with time. Employees’ skills needs to be updated, reforms have to be made on selection among other determinant factors. This is often driven by the changing demands of external customers to the organization. As a result, this would call for culture change or process re-engineering which will eventually reflect transformational leadership. Apparently, SHRM field is perceived to be established by a series of diverse effects such as political discourses in which some organizational initiatives which appeal sensible and manager’s underlying intention of introducing innovative strategies to improve organizational performance and attain success. This often takes a collective approach where every individual in the organization is attached to the organization’s strategies though engagement and involvement in organization’s decision making process at all level. The main goal of strategic Human Resource Management is to identify the influences of high performance in human capital and assess how to inspire to produce high performance to achieve organizational success and competitive advantage as well (Armstrong and Armstrong, 2011) Workforce Diversity Workforce diversity is the similarities and differences that exist among individuals in an organization in terms of age, culture, abilities and disabilities, religion, gender, race and sex (Karoly and Panis, 2004). It is evident that racial and cultural diversity is increasing in the health sector. For example, students from Africa are getting scholarship to study medicine work in China, health system culture and ethnic background is experienced in the healthy systems among other diversities. According to Popper-Giveon, Liberman and Keshet (2014), a diverse human workforce in health care would help expand access of care for the underserved as well as fostering research regions with various societal needs attached to health. In this case, diversity would enrich the pool of policy makers of respective countries to respond and serve the needs of the diverse populace. In most cases, minorities are underrepresented in the healthcare workforce. However, according to Terrell (2006) healthcare systems are diversifying where there is an increases number of employees from different culture are employed. Also, for example in developing countries like Kenya, the constitution suggests that one third of employees in an organization should represent women. As a result, there is a highest entrant of women in labour force not only in health care but also in several other economic sectors. In response to workforce diversity in health care systems, organizations are looking for ways to develop cultural competency. Popper-Giveon, Liberman and Keshet (2014) regarded an organization with cultural competency as the successful in a competitive global environment. Therefore, to accommodate workforce diversity, the organization needs to develop set policies, practices and attitudes that will enable individuals to work effectively in a cross-cultural environment. There is a need to go beyond individual differences that define diversity in an organization to venturing into consciousness of inclusive practices and support systems that will protect and develop employees towards achieving the main objectives of the organization. An organization with workforce diversity troubles perhaps may not fit to the changing global environment where people are interacting from different races and cultures (Terrell, 2006). Globalization Globalization is the process in which people around the world become connected through various ways (Bäumer, Kreutter and Messner, 2012). The interaction can be regional or international where the space becomes less constrain to social life. Also, globalization involves networking of interdependence and intercontinental distances. The networks are created though flow of capital and goods as well as information and ideas. Advance in technology has accelerated the movement of ideas across regional and international boundaries. Healthcare among other sectors is going through an intense change due to globalization. The demands of globalization has been created from various situations such as increase in the middle class in emerging economies, trained physicians who want to exploit their capabilities outside their courtiers and internet-savvy customers (Karoly and Panis, 2004). Examples of globalization in the health sector include movement of health professionals across borders for instance United Kingdom recruit nurses from emerging economies, movement of health consumers across borders, for instance patients moving broad to seek for medical interventions, private institutions and NGOs providing health services to population in Sub-Sahara Africa and new technologies being used in healthcare systems. According to Bäumer, Kreutter and Messner (2012) globalized healthcare services are validated through standardization of quality they offer as well as their measurements systems. This calls for universal program that would provide a platform where health services are offered congruently irrespective of where service providers are geographically placed. These demands at the international level have pushed health institutions to globalization. Apparently, globalization of health care is all about flow of health services, capability and information across international boundaries. The current formation of international treaties has promoted the collaboration of health services between many countries and therefore it has made their movement across borders easier (Karoly and Panis, 2004). As much has globalization is important to the society, it also have limitations. Cultural deterioration which has led to change in lifestyle and bad sexual behaviours has been experience in most emerging economies. As a result, globalized health services may not work as expected due to these limitations. Performance management Performance management refers to how organizations use performance standards and measures in order to reach organization’s set goals. There are four components that constitute performance management which include performance standards, reporting of progress and performance measures. Setting up goals for a performance management in an organization needs to have several factors to be considered. These factors or questions include what the organization is trying to accomplish, how a change is deemed as an improvement and what changes are to be made in order to achieve improvement (Halachmi, 2002). Performance management in health care facilities aims at providing high quality to the patients. Managing performance helps in understanding how well the organization is planned to meets its goals. More importantly, it allows on to have full analysis of where and what changes needs adjustment in hope of improving performance and providing quality care to the patients. Furthermore, performance management assists in having a better understanding on which areas that are working well and the poor ones; such information is vital to not only the current regime but can be inherited to the next generation to help ease in management and to ensure continuity as well as success (Nielsen and Hunter, 2013). There are numerous reasons as to why performance management is important. According to Halachmi (2002) there are several advantages for this process. First is quality improvement. Performance management allows you to know exactly which departments are doing well and those not. Such information is vital in knowing which areas need adjustment and also helps in sharing out the strong areas to fellow departments. Secondly, it allows for transparency. Since public healthcare facilities rely heavily on external stakeholders such as funders and patient advocates, they need to know the quality of services being offered. Patients also need such information to allow them make informed choices on their health care services. Performance management will also allow for proper funding from its donors and other stakeholders. Challenges of performance management in organizations include human resource managers unable to find appropriate reward methods to employees, the changing competencies perhaps due to globalization and lack of teamwork in most organization. These challenges often affect the commitment of employees to their responsibilities thus affecting their service contribution to the clients. In response to this, managers are recommended to use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in identifying and responding to internal customers (employees’) demands in an organization. Organizational development and training Organizational development and training are efforts invested by an organization invest on human capital to ensure that they are effective and efficient in performing their assigned roles and responsibilities. In the contemporary world, organizations are developing employees through various diverse capacities in order to achieve a competitive advantage over the other competitors in the market. Most organizations in the current society supports learning culture that entails acquisition of information, transfer of knowledge and continuous learning as part of fundamental aspects of organizational development (Anderson, 2012). The outcome vales from the organisational culture are normally the totality of individuals’ capabilities which ensures that the roles are performed in accordance with the requirements of strategic objectives. Organizational training and development has the capacity to address variety of situations in an organization. In order to effectively address these issues, there should be provision of learning opportunities especially from strategic human resource management. As a result of initiating training within the organization, Terrell (2006) found that individuals were able to understand what they are needed of them as well as their abilities in doing assigned duties and therefore undertaking their tasks effectively. Training in healthcare organizations perhaps may not be different from how it is conducted in business and other institutions. Consolation process is normally conducted to determine the gap in terms of skills and knowledge in a poll of existing employees. Also, in the process of training and development, review process is conducted due to changes in the demands of the customers. For instance in health institutions, when there is a case of epidemic concern like Ebola, doctors, nurses among other health professionals are trained on how to handle these case effectively (Kramar, 2014). Many factors influence training and development process particularly in the current changing society. Sometimes human resource managers in organizations may not specifically identify critical areas of training to be offered leading to unsuccessful of filling of gaps. Also, the qualification of employees in some institutions may not reach the threshold required of them to be part of the team to be trained (Armstrong and Armstrong, 2011). Those employees with essential competencies are retained since retention is part of training as well. Therefore, these remains as challenges to organizations as far as strategic goals achievement are concerned. Personal reflection Strategic Human Resource Management For an organization to be successful in the current society, I have realized that it should have a good human resource management system. My profession nurtures me to be a future leader who can be relied upon by an organization to make influential decisions as far as strategic objectives are concerned. Therefore, I take my time to support SHRM in order to exploit the capabilities of employees and achieve desirable performance expected of them. I have also recognize that as the world changes, the demands of the customers also changes. This would mean that SHRM should also plan to address these changing needs in order to attract the customers. To accomplish this objective, I have learnt that the tools of SHRM (selecting, recruiting, compensation, training, job description) are very essential since it creates a positive and high performing environment in the organization. I also learn that an organization can achieve competitive advantage over the others in the market through effective strategic human resource management plan. Workforce diversity Over the last 5 years, I have realized that people particularly workers from diverse backgrounds in terms of race, ethnic, gender and sex bring a range of new and advance skills in to workplace. While with my fellow workmates in one of the health institutions, I found that Asians health professionals who could understand and speak English help the institution improve its service delivery to the clients. Also, the compatibility that has been promoted through embracing diversity has enabled the institution to partner with others around the world in achieving its objectives. I have learned that an organization which embraces workforce diversity stand a higher chance of being successful in the global society. However, I realized that to promote an adaptable working environment as far as workforce diversity is concerned, there are a lot of challenges. For instance, I found that most Muslims working in health institutions had problems with the organization on Fridays about their work duties. Later, two of the workers were given autonomy to exercise their religious practice on this day. Globalization I found out that some organizations if not majority, engage in outsourcing ready-made human capital if they consider cost benefiting. Outsourcing is a product of globalization where work practices and individuals are obtained beyond boundaries to fill the gaps that are realized to exist in the organization. Generally speaking, I have learned that globalization has promoted faster movement of technology across boundaries as well. But focusing on globalization of human resource and systems in healthcare, majority of the individuals from emerging economies are finding opportunities outside their native countries with the help of globalization. Also, I have realized that the future of organizations depends on its strength on the global arena. As a future leader therefore, I should focus on the global strategies of expansion putting technology as a vital medium that connects the organization with the world. Performance management I felt honoured when I was selected to be part of the team to evaluate and document performance of employees in an organization. Since I was there for an internship program, I had to make a number of initiatives to put into practice my academic knowledge and also introduce myself to future professional life. After two months of my internship experience, I noted that I have improved personally particularly in evaluating and managing performance in the organization. For example, I was involved in a crew that promotes teamwork where employees were made realize their strengths and weaknesses and how to perfect their abilities to improve in their assigned duties. It was not only a motivating participation but also a learning experience to nurture me for my future profession. Basically, I learned that there are internal and external factors that affect individuals’ performance and all need to be addressed appropriately to avoid unproductive working environment within any organization. Organizational development and training I learned that training and development is all about getting the best out of individuals’ capabilities in an organization as far as goals and objectives are concerned. Organizational development and training may not be done by anyone but only a specialist consultant. Working with training consultant and using my class knowledge training experience helped me to realize that incorporating appropriate change models in an organization regarding increasing the capabilities of individuals is essential to performance. More importantly, I have gained much confidence in growing up as a manager with the experience that I have had with the training consultant. Therefore, at this point in time in my life, I have the ability to evaluate knowledge and skill gaps in an organization and build in appropriate competencies to achieve desirable performance. Also, I can initiate and manage change effectively by working in a team. I hope given chance, my ability to develop competencies will not be questionable unless I am called not to demonstrate my ability. References Anderson, D. (2012). Cases and exercises in organization development & change. Los Angeles: Sage. Armstrong, M., & Armstrong, M. (2011). Armstrong's handbook of strategic human resource management. London: Kogan Page. Bäumer, U., Kreutter, P., & Messner, W. (2012). Globalization of professional services. Berlin: Springer. Halachmi, A. (2002). Performance Measurement, Accountability, and Improved Performance. Public Performance & Management Review, 25(4), 370. doi:10.2307/3381131 Karoly, L., & Panis, C. (2004). The 21st century at work. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND. Kramar, R. (2014). Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?. The International Journal Of Human Resource Management,25(8), 1069-1089. doi:10.1080/09585192.2013.816863 Liebler, J., & McConnell, C. (2012). Management principles for health professionals. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Nielsen, S., & Hunter, D. (2013). Performance Management and Evaluation. Hoboken: Wiley. Popper-Giveon, A., Liberman, I., & Keshet, Y. (2014). Workforce ethnic diversity and culturally competent health care: the case of Arab physicians in Israel. Ethnicity & Health, 19(6), 645-658. doi:10.1080/13557858.2014.893563 Terrell, C. (2006). Foreword: The Health Professions Partnership Initiative and Working Toward Diversity in the Health Care Workforce. Academic Medicine, 81(Supplement), S2-S4. doi:10.1097/01.acm.0000225248.61509.47 Read More