Human Resource Management In Healthcare: Assessing High Performance Work Systems

High Performance Work Systems in Healthcare

Human Resource Management or HRM refers to the function within a company or organisation which focuses on the recruitment, management of the people who work in the organisation and providing them proper direction (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). It is to note that HRM has always been considered to be the backbone of the healthcare organisations. There are several departments in the field of healthcare such as the different types of nurses, technicians, physicians and administration. The Human Resources address the necessities to make sure that each and every department of the hospital is well-staffed with both motivated and qualified personnel. This report would elaborate on assessing and analysing the case study named- “High-Performance work systems: the gap between policy and practice in healthcare reform”. It will carry on identifying the challenges present for the HR managers in the public health care sector based on the case study and would also provide certain measures for ensuring HPWS are in proper place in a hospital. Furthermore, the paper shall also shed light on the duties, activities and attributes that are required to be included in the role and functions of the Human Resource managers in a hospital.

1. a) Different levels of managers in the Australian health care sector have revealed the difference in the perceptions of the strategic Human Resource Management in every healthcare organisations (Cogin, Ng and Lee 2016).
2. b) There is presence of different inconsistencies in the clinical and the managerial hierarchies that are dependent on the antiquated principles of scientific management.
3. c) The CEOs of the Australian healthcare organisations have reported that there is a presence of more positive view of the Human Resource Management practices as compared to the other senior managers who were included in the study. They have highlighted the existence of irregularities in the management practices and perspectives.
4. d) There is very little or no trace of the evaluation or the implementation of the important components of the HPWS (High-Performance Works Systems) in the healthcare organisations in Australia (Kellner et al. 2016). According to the authors, most of the Australian hospitals or healthcare organisations have no quality HPWS within the place. With the same, the health reform have neglected to mark such a critical gap in the healthcare practices and policies (Fan et al. 2014). This is why there is a very powerful need of re-orienting the HRM practices and policies in the organisation in the Australian public healthcare organisations towards the quality HPWS.

It is to note that HPWS refers to the set of Human Resource Management practices which attempt to create an environment within a firm where the employees get a high responsibility and involvement. As per the study conducted by Bryson (2018), the employees who involve in conceiving and implementing the workplace processes and practices are much more engaged in the overall business and they perform in better ways than the rest others. For instance, a study analysing around 132 manufacturing companies in United States has found that the firms that make use of the HPWS had a notably high level of labour productivity as compared to their competitors (Murphy et al. 2018). Hence, it is very important to ensure quality HPWs in place in the organisations. However, there are certain measures in which the healthcare organisations in Australia or the management teams of these hospital could ensure HPWS are in place. They are as follows:

1. The gap of policy-practice in between the existence of the HPWS in the hospital sector and the worth of HPWS suggests that the leaders in the Australian healthcare organisations must focus on supporting the HPWs as a necessary and important element of the reform of health system. There is a high necessity of reorientation of the policies and procedures of the organisational Human Resource management in the public healthcare organisations concerning HPWS.
2. Other highly regulated industries, such as thefinancial services industry, are needed to conduct daily audits in order to make sure continuous and ongoing compliance. Notwithstanding this fact, most of the healthcare organizations overlook this crucial Along with the increasing adoption of cloud computing, the companies should consider the concept of hiring a third-party consultant for conducting thorough risk audits on a yearly basis. These consultants could also implement the tools for ongoing monitoring for raisinh red flags instantly if any kind of potential security issues arise. 
3. The HR managers must make sure that there is a presence of emotional exhaustion, working engagement, economic exchange and social exchange in the place. They should develop a continuous or an ongoing training and development process for the personnel in order to gain satisfaction as well as to provide a better service to the patients. It is up to the HR managers as well as the Human Resource department to make an alignment with the license renewal times of the other staff members. For instances, the doctors, the nurses, the radiologists or the other mental health professionals who acquire state licenses should meet some continuous education needs in order to recreate their certifications. Along with that, the HR manager must also very closely scrutinise all the legal contracts with the medical practitioners on the issue of retention and recruitment. It would avoid the happenings where the facility is subjected to the penalties for the violations of the laws related to health and the other disputes arising from the employee contracts

While the HR department or the HR, managers do not directly work with the patients present in the hospital clinically, the decisions that they make as well as the actions they take directly influence the quality of care that these patients receive in the hospital. In any hospital, it is the responsibility of the HR managers for both clinical and non-clinical staffs which deliver direct services to the patients. With the same, it is also to note that the hospital performance depends completely on the quality of performance that are being provided by the hospital staffs.

1. a) The HR managers should hold a positive and productive attitude with the employees of the healthcare sector in order to increase their level of motivation and efforts towards welcoming and enhancing the HPWS within the organisation (Kaufman 2016).
2. b) They should make sure that the patients are kept satisfied. It further influences the financial health of the facility along with the profile in the community.
3. c) With the same, the HR managers must ensure that the employees who are newly recruited or hired does acquire the labour certification from the Australian department of labour and they have working visas from the Australian Customs Enforcement and Immigration (Chisti and Yale-Loehr 2016).
4. d) They should develop a systematic performance management systems and the continuously assess performance of its professionals.
5. e) The HR manager should make sure that the performance of the employees working in the organisations and that of the recruits is up to the par. He must also address the disputes that takes place in between the management and the employees and hence, try to find out solutions in order to address like kind of dispute.
6. f) They should develop a well-developed and effective policies for recruitment for the hiring process of the health care professionals.
7. g) They should develop a continuous or an ongoing training and development process for the personnel in order to gain satisfaction as well as to provide a better service to the patients. It depends on the HR managers as well as the Human Resource department to make an alignment with the license renewal times of the other staff members. They need to look after the fact that the doctors, the radiologists or the other professionals of mental health who gain state licenses should meet some continuous education needs in order to extend their certifications. As the Human Resource maintains the files related to the credential renewal updates, the HR manager also takes actions for some in-house training for the staff members so that they can earn an on-going education credits while working and at the same time, reducing the necessity of covering for the personnel. It is also a regarded as perk that is often given by the hospital authorities to the professional staff members in order to attract some talented personnel.
8. h) The statuses like- “The Medicare and Medicated Patient Protection Act” of 1987 are very important laws along with which the healthcare facility must be well-versed (Tseng et al. 2016). With the same, the HR manager should also closely scrutinise the legal contracts with the medical practitioners on the issue of retention and recruitment. It would avoid the happenings where the facility is subjected to the penalties for the violations of the laws related to health and the other disputes arising from the employee contracts.
9. i) As one of the parts of overall consideration of the HR places on the process of hiring or promoting the clinical staff and the other supporting staff, they should also be devoted to the healthcare organisation. The hospital depends on the vigilant use of the financial resources on the part of the Human Resource in order to meet each of its compulsion to patients and communities, but, with the same, it also depends on the Human Resources department to keep the profits of the owners and the stockholders in the forefront. For example, the HR managers might believe an Emergency Room needs more nursing staff, but the hiring might need Human Resource department to dip into reducing the strength of doctors who work there. Such decisions are made within the parameters and the frameworks of the comprehensive budget of the hospital.
10. j) The HR managers should make sure that each of the departments and floors in the hospital is adequately equipped with staffs. With the revolving counts of the patient, it could be a highly tough proposition. The HR managers depend on the data and reports from the heads of the department, the historical counts as per the seasonal changes and the present needs of patients. After then, absenteeism plays a key part in the everyday staffing needs and placing extra pressure on the HR for finding an instant replacements and maintaining open relationships with the medical staffing agencies and the PRN, or the on-call staffers.
11. k) Each and everything right from insurance coverage for the newly born babies to any kind of grievance against any nursing director goes through the office of the HR manager. The HR managers and their team needs to take proper care of the advantages for the employees and they monitor the evaluations of the employee performance. With the same, they should also track the employee requests for their vacation and for any sort of extended leave. It should be their duty to make sure that those positions are sufficiently covered when the primary job-holders are gone. Any hospital, unlike the office or factory, cannot operate effectively if the key staff members of that hospital are not present. Also, hospitals run on 24-hour timing, making the duties of the HR managers even more demanding.

Challenges for HR Managers in Healthcare

Conclusion

Hence, it is to state that the case study have contributed to the increasing body of knowledge and is suggesting a positive and productive relationship in between the high performance work systems (HPWS) in the HRM and organisation performance. It has laid emphasis on it in the context of the quality of patient care that is delivered in the healthcare organisations in Australia. The case study have revealed that there is very little trace of implementation, maintenance and evaluation process of the important components of the HPWS. From the above analysis of the case study it is to be concluded that the implementation of the HPWS in the Australian public healthcare organisations has been hindered by the nature of the health care provision prevailing there. In particular, it is to state that the public healthcare sector reveals an outdated work organisation that was designed for serving several requirements of the patient from the ones presenting to the healthcare organisations of present date. Compelled by this antiquated model of the work organisation, the processes of production resist the management and with the same, there is a presence of general shortage of support in the framework of Australian industrial relations. Furthermore, it is also found from the gap of policy-practice in between the existence of the HPWS in the hospital sector and the worth of HPWS that the leaders in the Australian healthcare organisations must focus on supporting the HPWs as a necessary and important element of the reform of health system.

References:

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Bryson, J.M., 2018. Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons.

Chishti, M. and Yale-Loehr, S., 2016. The Immigration Act of 1990: Unfinished Business a Quarter-Century Later. Migration Policy Institute. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved April, 20, p.2017.

Cogin, J.A., Ng, J.L. and Lee, I., 2016. Controlling healthcare professionals: how human resource management influences job attitudes and operational efficiency. Human resources for health, 14(1), p.55.

Fan, D., Cui, L., Zhang, M.M., Zhu, C.J., Härtel, C.E. and Nyland, C., 2014. Influence of high performance work systems on employee subjective well-being and job burnout: empirical evidence from the Chinese healthcare sector. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(7), pp.931-950.

Kaufman, B.E., 2016. The quest for cooperation and unity of interest in industry. In Industrial relations to human resources and beyond: The evolving process of employee relations management (pp. 127-158).

Kellner, A., Townsend, K., Wilkinson, A., Greenfield, D. and Lawrence, S., 2016. The message and the messenger: Identifying and communicating a high performance “HRM philosophy”. Personnel Review, 45(6), pp.1240-1258.

Murphy, K., Torres, E., Ingram, W. and Hutchinson, J., 2018. A review of high performance work practices (HPWPs) literature and recommendations for future research in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(1), pp.365-388.

Tseng, H.M., Lee, C.H., Chen, Y.J., Hsu, H.H., Huang, L.Y. and Huang, J.L., 2016. Developing a measure of medication-related quality of life for people with polypharmacy. Quality of Life Research, 25(5), pp.1295-1302.