HRM Objectives In Healthcare Industries: A Case Study Of Saudi Red Crescent Society

HRM Objectives of Saudi Red Crescent Society

The human resources management (HRM) is the backbone for any organization and is involved with the training, recruitment and management of employees within a firm. The HMR is responsible for reducing the organizational disputes and also ensure that the overall productivity of the concerned business centre is maintained. The HRM is responsible for maintaining an effective workforce by way of engaging effective learning and development process within the organization. A trained workforce helps in quick succession planning which is of immense importance within healthcare (Netea et al. 2016). The HRM needs to abide by the vision, mission as well as the ethical framework. In the current assignment we are focusing upon the healthcare sector. For this respect the Saudi Arabia based SAUDI arabia based saudi red crescent society (srcs) had been selected which is involving into humanitarian services also works collaborative as a part of government medical teaching projects (saudiredcrescent.com 2018). The organizations serve the general population as well as the emergency care services. The HRM policies of the SRCS can be used to design an effective government mission and vision policy statements. The vision statement looks at the larger picture where as the mission statement details out the process of achieving it.  The vision and mission statement helps in giving the organization its own identity within the competitive market.

Vision statement: a vibrant economy driven by emergent and fast medical services (saudiredcrescent.com 2018).

Mission: to create optimum health options for the citizens of Saudi Arabia by focusing upon the effective healthcare training (saudiredcrescent.com 2018). 

 The objectives of the organization could be further divided into Specific, Measurable, and achievable, realistic and time-bound goals.  Some of these have been described below as follows:

Factors Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	Attributes
Specific	· Improving the quality of services offered by the Saudi based healthcare organizations and teaching schools
measurable	· Conducting an internal survey to check  the standards of the care and support services delivered
Achievable	· Take into account constraints such as time, cost and availability of support · Designing the healthcare goals as permitted by the infrastructure of the organization (Schultz and Van der Walt 2015)
Realistic	· The goals should add value to the organization · Enhancing the productivity of the organization can help in balancing the recruitment ratios (Saudi nationals : other nationals)
Time-bound	The goals should be achievable within a time period of  18 months

Table: SMART HRM objectives

(Source: Author)

Ethics management is one of the crucial objectives of HRM and could be delivered in a number of ways. This can be further supported with the help of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966(HIPPA). Additionally, maintaining transparency regarding the recruitment policies can also help in abiding any form of organizations disputes. It will help the healthcare industry in reducing the administrative costs. The exchange of information between the different healthcare providers is also in lieu of the Saudi vision ACT 2030, which aims at the improving services across different sectors of the country to reduce Arab’s dependency on the oil and gas use alone (vision2030.gov 2018).

The goal of the Saudi vision 2030 is to reduce the dependency on oil and petrochemicals alone and make the rest of the country wide resources strong. Some of these are re-enforcing economic and investment activities. In order to develop the healthcare sector the government has planned to invest a huge amount of money. Some of these have been reflected in the healthcare initiatives launched by the SRCS.  As commented by MacDougall  et al. (2015), foreigners make up 51 % of the workforce in healthcare sector. However, the Saudization calls for reviewing the skill levels of experienced expatriate workers in healthcare industry. With respect to the saudization scheme, the government funds will be diverted towards 22 new medical projects across the country (vision2030.gov 2018). The SRCS ensures that a highly productive workforce will also contribute effectively towards the capital returns by attracting more foreign investments within the healthcare infrastructure, which helps in improving the overall productivity and standards. 

SMART HRM Objectives

The HRM objectives could be divided into four major components which are –organizational objectives, functional objectives, personal objectives and societal objectives.  Each of these have been described with respect to the Saudi Arabia based SAUDI ARABIA BASED SAUDI RED CRESCENT SOCIETY(SRCS), which  provides emergency medical care and university teaching facilities in collaboration with a number of Saudi based medical colleges. As commented by Driessen  et al. (2015), succession planning could be considered as one of the important issue to be taken up as contemporary organizational objective. Thus, SRCS has taken training of its employees as one of the important organizational objectives. As commented by MacDougall et al. (2015), the Saudization has limited the immigration of trained workforce within the Arabian health market. Therefore, the HRM of SRCS is focusing majorly on the recruitment of the right candidates possessing the right qualification and degrees for meeting with the ever increasing pressure on healthcare.  

Additionally, the functional objectives comprises of appraisal, placement and assistance. In this respect, the HRM of the SRCS believes that providing sufficient training to the employees can help them perform better. It has been found that the extreme work load during the emergency situations can make the attending healthcare staff cynical and therefore they may misbehave with the patients. Therefore, provision of appraisal to the employees can help in generating sufficient motivation in the staffs (Driessen et al. 2015). A revolution was brought about within the healthcare industry of Saudi Arabia with the advent of the Nitaquat Act. The policy was implemented by the Saudi government to reduce the rate of unemployment of the Saudi based nationals. As per the Saudi vision 2030, the HRM was to strengthen its workforce in order to enhance productivity which could help in revenue generation.

This could be further explained with the David Ulrich employee relationships model which has four main focus areas which are- strategic partner, change agent, administrative partner and employee champion. The strategic partner aspect focuses upon the building of effective relationship with dedicated internal clients. An effective strategy planning can help the SRCS increase its productivity by giving the healthcare providers honest feedback. The second objectives with reference to change management are to effectively implement changes within the organizational processes effectively. In this respect the Suadization scheme would bring changes in the recruitment policies and the excess of employees absorbed from countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have to be removed from services which developed an uncanny situation within the organization. The administrative partners focus upon looking fate the maintenance of the healthcare infrastructure (Ribeiro and Gomes 2016).

Ethical Management

The Harvard system of HRM on the other hand focuses upon following the systematic approach of HRM where the productivity of an organization is directly related to enhancing the performance of the employees. As commented by MacDougall  et al. (2015), provision of appraisal and rewards can help in motivating the employees to perform better. This further helps in developing a sole motivation in the healthcare staffs for performing better. Therefore, the HRM of the SRCS is trying to bring about reforms within the insurance policies covering the healthcare providers and their respective families. 

Some of the differences between domestic HRM and International HRM have been presented over here as follows:

Factors	Domestic HRM	International HRM
Structure	Responsible for management of employees  in only one country	Responsible for management of employees in three national categories  such as –parent country, host country and third country
Role of the HRM	Hiring people, retaining them, negotiating performance and salary	Responsible for achieving a balance  between coordination of foreign substances and need to adapt to local environments
Differences in function	Mainly recruits employees from the same cultural background	Recruits employees from different cultural backgrounds  therefore have to deal with organizational disputes and differences

Table: differences between domestic and international HRM

(Source: Author)

A number of theories could be used over here in order to discuss the aspects of change management.   As commented by Ahmadi and Peymanfard (2016), change is inevitable to the success of an organization.   Here, the Lewins’s theory has been used to use to understand the organizational change management process. Here, the model have been divided into three aspects such as –unfreeze, change and refreeze. The unfreeze stage could be used for understanding the need for change (McLean et al. 2016).  As commented by Lehmann (2015), additional support from the higher authorities is required at this crucial stage. At this stage maximum amount of resistance is received from the employees who are generally skeptical about the outcomes of such change management process.  This is followed by the change, which requires sufficient amount of effective communication to be maintained with the team members regarding the different aspects of the change management process.  As commented by Navimipour  et al. (2015), one of the most discouraging aspects in the process of implementing the required change within the organization is the spread of unnecessary rumors. Therefore, the management of the SRCS needs to be very careful in addressing the rumors as well as providing the employees with the right information. As per the refreeze aspect of the Lewin’s theory, the changes have to be anchored within the culture of the environment. In order to sustain the changes the SRCS can provide effective training to the employees. As per the new regulation every Saudi based organization was required to fill up its workforce with a certain percentage of Saudi national. This made the SRCS face major HRM issues as most of the workers were expatriates from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

HRM Objectives Based on David Ulrich Model and Harvard System

As per Handy’s change management theory, the success of an organization rests upon the organizational culture. In this respect, the organizational culture could be divided into four main types which are- power, task culture, person culture and role culture.As commented by Ahmadi and Peymanfard (2016), the employees have little or no power to voice their opinions and lack of autonomy. Under the task culture teams are formed based upon the common interest of different members in a group. The person culture on the other hand focuses upon self before the prospects of the organization (Fareed et al. 2016). As commented by Solnet  et al. (2016), under this kind of practice the success of an organization mostly suffers. The productivity quotient is low under this kind of approach. With respect to the role culture, the employees are given roles within the organization as per their qualifications and their expertise (Bahurmoz et al. 2015). This kind of practice helps in bringing the best out of an employee by giving them sufficient freedom and space (Sheehan et al. 2014). 

The Lewin’s change management model can be perfectly applied in the above case as the SRCS was undergoing a major shift in structure. Therefore, for implementing the Saudization within the SRCS a major reshuffling of the staff had to be done. As commented by Currie et al. (2015), removing the vast number of expatiates from the services of the Saudi based industries could lead to political unrest. Therefore, the management needs to provide the employees with sufficient information regarding the reason for implementing the change within the organizational process. In this regard, the declining employment status of the Saudi nationals alarmed the government to take an initiative in the favor of the countrymen which will provide them with adequate employment opportunities. Secondly in order to successfully implement the change within the organization the teachers, students as well as the emergency healthcare providers need to be provided with required amount of training. At the freeze stage the organization need to keep its employees informed at all stages. Here drafting an effective contingency plan can help the SRCS in coping up with the barriers in the dissemination of the health care services (Sparrow et al. 2016).

Human resources (HR) evaluation, if done appropriately, leads to employee rewards who work in the firm diligently. There exists no single evaluation system that is suitable for all organizations, and there exists a wide range of evaluation systems to choose from.

Domestic and International HRM

Metrics- Employee performance metrics have been pointed out to be as a valuable evaluation tool. The different forms of metrics include Work quality metrics, Work quantity metrics, Work efficiency metrics, and Organizational performance metrics.

Balanced scorecard- A balanced scorecard is a performance metric mostly applied in strategic management for identification and improvement of different internal functions including HR and the outcomes of the function. The tool can be used to support the saudization scheme by monitoring the working of the SRCS employees closely.

Benchmarking- This refers to the process of comparing the business’s function and performance metrics with the industry best practices and best practices of other companies. 

SLA’s- Service Level Agreement is the minimum level of service that the functional section of the SRCS has to deliver as per the agreement. Performance can thus be rated as per the minimal requirements agreed upon (Bahurmoz et al. 2015).

KPI’s- Key performance indicators help organizations focus on common goals and ensure those goals stay aligned within the organization. Through assessment of KPI, the performance of HR team can be carried out (Ribeiro and Gomes 2016).

Depending upon the size and the exposure pattern the organizations could be divided into national and multinational companies. Therefore, based upon the clientele base of the organization the HRM activities are further designed. In order to grow in the international market the organizations needs to develop successful strategies (Driessen et al. 2015).  The multinational companies use three different types of strategies over here which are – Ethnocentric, Polycentric and Geocentric.  Some of these have been discussed over here with respect to the SRCS. The SRCS adapts a Geocentric HRM strategy over here which focuses upon the skills of the employees. As the SRCS works with a multicultural team as many of the healthcare providers are expatriates from different nations. Therefore, development of a geocentric policy would help in providing autonomy and power to some of the healthcare providers. However, as per the newly formulated Saudization scheme, the Saudi based agencies need to recruit a minimum number of Saudi nationals in their recruitment process. This created a misbalance in the healthcare system as most of the healthcare providers working for Saudi based healthcare were foreign nationals. However, as argued by Basu and Pak (2016), adapting a polycentric approach would help SRCS in enriching the internal workforce effectively. The polycentric approach mainly focuses upon the hiring and training of employees who are citizens of the host country. Additionally, the low cost of training and recruitment helps in cutting the additional costs generated in healthcare.  Therefore, the HRM of the SRCS can employ a number of techniques for training of the employees such as conducting internal checks as well as providing first aid workshops to the healthcare providers. The SRCS also provide emergency first aid services to the Hajj pilgrims who come to visit the country in huge numbers. Therefore, upgradation of the healthcare services is a pre-requisite to meet the pressure on the healthcare system (Ribeiro and Gomes 2016).

Lewin’s Model of Change Management

As suggested by the figures and statistics the healthcare expenditure is expected to rise to 79 billion by the year 2019 (vision2030.gov 2018). The rising costs have made the government focus upon infrastructure. One of the ways it plans to do the same is by privatization of the healthcare. Though many have welcomes the idea still there are discrepancies. However, as argued by McLean et al. (2016), the privatization of healthcare could make basic healthcare costly and unaffordable to the general population resulting in health inequalities and should be avoided on highest priority. This would result in the development of unequal health distribution patterns. Additionally, the threat of fast pace privatization is making the Saudi based healthcare organizations take training and development as an important objective. 

HRM practices can be linked to positive organizational outcomes in number of ways. This could be further linked with the blessing white model of employee engagement.  The model could be divided into a number of levels from A to E. The level A consists of the employees who have their professional goals fully integrated with that of the organization and contribute fully to the success of the organization. The level B consists of the employees who are highs performers are moderately satisfied with their jobs. The level C consists of the honeymooners and the hamsters. They are relatively new to the organization and are yet to find their foothold and require adequate support. The cash and burners on the other hand are the ones which are able to give much better production. However, they are not able to meet their targets. They often make the excuse that senior leaders are not sufficiently supporting them. As argued by Currie et al. (2015), such employees have also been seen to negate the workplace environment. The level E refers to the bottom of the blessing white model and has the lowest productivity. They are the ones who are most disengaged from their services either due to lack of encouragement from the leaders or due to uncanny past experiences. The SRCS tries to cope up with the challenges while employing effective screening processes during recruitment. This helps in the absorption of the right kind of employees within the organization professing the right qualifications. As commented by Daniels et al. (2017), providing the employees with effective training processes can help in coping up with the organizational demands. In this respect, the SRCS have signed a joint collaboration with a number of partnering university medical teaching schools such as King Fahd University Hospital (KFUH) and King Saud University College of medicine (KSUCM). The goal was to make the latest medicines available to the population as SRCS was attending to a huge clientele base. Therefore, the in-house doctors practicing at the SRCS were sent across KFUH to make them get equipped with the latest systems and technologies. As commented by Solnet  et al. (2016), effective communication is one of the most important aspects of the business process.  Additionally, data protection and confidentiality maintenance are otter important aspects. As a part of the healthcare, the HRM is responsible for protection of the important and confidential information related to the patients as well as the individual healthcare providers. This can be ensured by following the Data Protection Act, 1998, which help in the protection of the important health details of the patients and the respective organizations.

Conclusion

The impacts of high performance working and investment on human capital have been discussed in more details with respect to SRCS. The companies are more successful when the employees show effective engagement within the work process. As per the Saudi vision 2030, the dependency of the country on oil and petrochem needs to be reduced. The management of the business capital forms one of the crucial components of the HRM. This could be done by enhancing the productivity of each and every organization. As commented by Baum (2015), structured induction training during can also help in reducing the additional human capital costs. As argued by Davenport et al. (2016), the productivity could be related to sufficient employee engagement.  Some of the HRM practices are crucial in the maintaining high performance work systems such as sharing of power and knowledge with the workers. The workers to be supposed to be given more autonomy where they are made an active part of the decision making process, which helps in making the process of change more acceptable. As commented by Basu and Pak (2016), a properly engaged employee ensures that least resistance is suffered in meeting with change management process and designs. The high performance work systems are further governed by a number of objectives which are talent management, effective learning and development of the employees.   

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