Role of Human Resource Management in Health and Social Care Sector
Human resource management refers to the function of recruiting, managing and providing appropriate guidance to the members of an organization (Reiche et al. 2018). The role is vital for proper flow of events in any organization. When the human resource management is done well, the chances of an organization succeeding in its endeavour increases (Costa and Greer, 2016). The sector of health and social care are concerned with ensuring the wellbeing of people. The World Health Organization defines health as a state in which one is not only physically well but also well mentally and emotionally. This sector is very important and there is no single in the world that would live well without them. It follows that they are vital sectors. The role of human resource management in such a sector must therefore be important. This section will look at the role of human resource management in the health and social care sector.
One of the roles of the human resource management is recruiting (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016). While this may sound like a simple task it actually is not. In a health and social care sector, the human resource is responsible for searching for top talent to occupy the jobs available. The human resource management must ensure that appropriate planning is done in order to ensure that the staff hired will be enough to meet the demand. Failure to do this may lead to overworking of the health professionals which may lead inefficiency. Every human being on earth is entitled to the highest attainable level of health care. The human resource manager plays a role in ensuring that this right is observed. This is through ensuring that adequate health care professional is hired to meet the demand. In addition to this, the human resource manager must ensure that they employ all the members of the health care team for optimal functioning. For instance, there should be medical doctors, nurses, pharmacist, nurses, lab technicians etc. All these professionals work harmoniously to ensure the highest level of care is attained.
In addition to recruitment, the human resource manager is responsible for ensuring the employees are satisfied. This is a very important role as it determines the productivity of the employees. Every organization has some goals that they are striving towards. It is only when the employees are satisfied that those goals can be achieved effectively. The human resource manager must therefore device ways of ensuring that the employees are satisfied. They must create time to learn what the complaints of the employees are and how they can be solved. How the human resource manager can ensure that the employees are satisfied will be explained inn detail in another section of the assignment.
The human resource manager is also tasked with the role of organizing for trainings. Science continues to reveals new information every day. In the field of medicine and health, it is very important that the professionals be up to date with the current developments in science and research. The human resource manager would help here by organizing trainings from time to time to ensure that the health care professionals are equipped with the best and the most current skills. Although, it is partly the role of the health care professional to ensure that they keep themselves updated, the human resource manager should appreciate that these people are almost always busy due to the nature of their work. it would therefore be necessary to hold training sessions from time to time.
Supervision is another important role of the human resource manager. Supervision means ensuring that the employees are continually doing their job well. Supervision is very important as it gives the human resource manager valuable information about the employees. For instance, it may be noted through supervision that there are some factors that are making the employees unhappy. The human resource could intervene by ensuring that such factors are appropriately addressed. In addition, the human resource managers could monitor the time that the employees are reporting to work. When there are appropriate supervision measures, things are likely to flow well and harmoniously which reduces challenges and difficulties.
The last role of the human resource manager that will be discussed here is that of firing. Although, the role of recruiting lies in the hands of the human resource manager, they also have the role of firing employees. There are some factors that might make it necessary to sack an employee. For instance, if the employee engages in gross misconduct or breaks the terms of agreement. In cases where the employees behave in an unethical way, they might also be sacked. The reason for laying off employees may also lie in the managerial decisions. The managers/leaders of the organization may decide to lay off a certain number of employees for certain purposes.
There are several business factors that the human resource manager must consider to ensure that the operations of the organization are running smoothly. It is worth noting that most of the health and social care organizations aim at making profits in addition to offering excellent care to patients and clients. One of the factors that the human resource manager must consider is cost. There are several dimensions of the cost should be considered. For instance, the cost of recruitment, the cost of training etc. The human resource manager should ensure that the budget is made in a way that considers the resources available. Budgeting is an important role as it will play a role I ensuring that the organization is not making losses.
The other important business factor to consider are the employees. The human resource should ensure that the organization obtains employees who are qualified to perform the appropriate tasks of the organization. Failure to ensure competency may contribute to inefficiency and losses. The human resource manager is also tasked with the role of paying the employees. To ensure that they carry out this role effectively, the human resource manager must ensure that they consider the resources that are available to the company. They must be sure to do a thorough analysis so that the employee is paid well while ensuring that the organization is not making losses. Compensating an employee well is one of the ways of ensuring that they are motivated. Extensive evidence suggests that motivate employees are likely to perform better than those who are not motivated.
The human resource manager should also ensure that the policies of the organization are neither too restrictive or too harsh to the employees. This is a business strategy of ensuring that the employees feel comfortable while working. If the employees are comfortable with the rules and policies of the organization, that are likely to work optimally. The employees are the most important part of the organization. Any human resource manager who desires to see the organization succeed in its endeavour, should ensure that the employees are treated in the best possible. As observed above, the productivity of an organization is directly proportional to the employee satisfaction.
The other business factor that should be considered in human resource planning is the working environment. The organization should be located in a place that is conducive for health and social care. An appropriate environment for care is that which is relaxed and free of noise or other forms of environmental pollution. This would play a great role in ensuring effectiveness and the efficiency of care. The working environment should be made in such a way that the comfort of the patients and the clients is ensured. For instance, there should be a place for eatery, say a canteen to serve the needs of the employees.
The last business factor that will be discussed here is minimization of costs. As noted earlier, the goal of any business organization is to ensure that the profits are maximized. In any action or decision that the human resource manager makes, they should ensure that the cost is reduced to the minimum possible. The goal is to ensure low cost and maximization of output. If this is ensured, the organization will always be on the right tract and it is unlikely that losses will be made (Bratton and Gold 2017). However, the human resource manager must be wise enough to know where to put the limits. For instance, it would be unwise to reduce the salaries of the employees with the aim of reducing costs. Such a move is likely to make the employees unsatisfied. Unsatisfied employees are not likely to be as productive as satisfied employees. Reducing the salaries of the employees is therefore likely to lead to reduced production. Reduced production means reduced income for the organization. Therefore, the human resource manager must always critically evaluate the best moves to make when aiming at minimizing costs and maximizing profits. The health care sector deals with the health of human beings. It is therefore very necessary that the human resource manage be sure to make good business decisions.
Human Resource Plan for a Health and Social Care Organization
A successful human resource plan looks not only at the current human resource needs but also those of the future (Glasby and Dickinson, 2014). It is therefore strategic in nature. In this section, a human resource plan for a health and social care organization is going to be developed. The first step would be to establish the positions that are required for the optimal functioning of the organization. For instance, there would be need for various health professionals such as nurses, dietitians and doctors. After establishing the positions, the next step would be identifying the number of employees required for every necessary position. For instance, how many nurses are needed. It is worth noting that the human resource manager must be careful to ensure that all the appropriate positions are identified. This would help both in planning and in ensuring smooth running of the organization. There should be neither underemployment nor overemployment. The next step would be describing the role of the employees who should occupy the identified positions. In the description of the role, such factors as the authority and responsibility should be identified (Stoddart and Evans 2017). In addition, the ethical standards and competency levels should also be specified.
The next section of the plan is where the staffing management is planned. Here, the human resource manager develops a plan of how the employees are going to be managed to ensure smooth running of activities. The manager could consider hiring some employees to occupy management positions to ensure that this is met. It is impossible for the human resource manager to manage the whole task force alone. It is therefore wise to find some qualified personnel to occupy the positions of management. After making these plans, the human resource manager should then initiate the process of staff acquisition. The process could involve advertising for the vacant positions and setting a day for the interviews.
After the acquisition of staff, the human resource manager should make plans to ensure that they are trained appropriately. The training serves to make the employees aware of what is expected of them. The human resource manager should also ensure that they develop performance reviews. These would ensure that there is some way of reviewing the progress of the employees. It is similar to monitoring and evaluation. It is an important factor in monitoring progress. Lastly, it is important to plan a way of making recognitions and giving awards. As noted earlier, motivated employees perform better than those who are not employed. Recognising exemplary performance and rewarding employees is a great way of motivating them.
It is without doubt that motivated employees are likely to be more productive than those who are not motivated. There are several techniques that could be employed by the human resource management to ensure that employees are retained and motivated. Retaining employees is advantageous to a company as they do not have to spend extra resources through the process of constantly hiring new employees (Turner 2017). Motivation plays a role in ensuring that employees are retained. The two therefore go hand in hand. This section will some of the techniques that can be used by the human resource management to retain employees.
One of the methods is to ensure that the employees receive a good pay. Ensuring that the employees receive a good salary will motivate them to continue working in the organization (Rubin and Babbie 2016). If there are other similar organizations offering better salaries, the employees may leave and join them. It is therefore necessary that the human resource manager do their research well and ensure that their employees are being paid well. There should also be a constant salary increase at certain intervals. As the organization progresses and makes more profits, the salaries of the employees should subsequently be increased.
Rewards and recognition would be another way of motivating employees. It is worth noting that human beings are emotional by nature and they feel good when appreciated (Bamberger, Meshoulam and Biron 2014). This is the cases with the employees. If an employee demonstrates exemplary performance, it would be wise if they are recognised and rewarded for their good work. Such a move would make them feel appreciated and motivated to show even more exemplary performance. An employee who is recognised and rewarded in this way is unlikely to leave the organization (Dickinson and O’Flynn 2016).
Promotions are also a way of ensuring that the employees are motivated (Aveyard 2014). After an employee has worked well and demonstrated exemplary performance, they should be promoted to a senior position. A senior position means that a person will handle managerial roles and that their salaries increase. Such a move would encourage other employees to also work hard so that they can be promoted (Glasby 2017). Promoting a person is a way of motivating them and recognizing their good work. Such a person is unlikely to leave the organization.
Employees could also be motivated by giving them a listening ear. The human resource manager should be interested in ensuring the wellbeing of their employees (Huselid 2015). They should be approachable so that whenever an employee is going through a tough situation, they can share with the human resource manager and appropriate help/action administered. This would help ensure that the employees are doing well which increases their productivity. If the human resource manager is unapproachable, the employees would likely keep their issues to themselves which demotivates them (Gatewood, Field and Barrick 2015.). In addition to offering a conducive environment where the employees can approach, it is also good to ensure that they are accorded enough resting time (Drummond et al. 2015). Given the nature of health care work, it would be important to ensure that there are enough personnel so that the employees are not overworked (Netting et al. 2016). This would greatly motivate them.
As observed in the previous section, it is very important to ensure that the employees are constantly motivated to ensure that their productivity is at its peak. Rewarding and employee plays a great role in motivating them (Payne 2015). There are several ways of rewarding employees in health and social care contexts. One of these is offering them opportunities for further learning. Here, the organization uses its resources to ensure that an employee is trained so that they become more competent in their area of practice. Such a reward would be a great way to motivate the employee to work even harder (Kadushin and Harkness 2014). In most cases, such a reward requires that the organization inject substantial resources in the training (Cooke 2016). It is therefore a great way to show the employees that they are treasured. The result is that the employee becomes motivated.
Another form of reward is granting a promotion. As indicated in the previous section, a promotion is mainly given to an employee who has demonstrated exemplary performance. It is a way of motivating them. It is also a way of motivating the other workers to perform well so that they can also be rewarded (Ventola 2014). Psychology helps us to understand that human beings are emotional by nature (Marchington et al. 2018). When their efforts are recognised and rewarded, they feel appreciated and are likely to perform even better in future.
Employees could also be rewarded through increasing their salaries, organizing recreation sessions for them, ensuring that they are getting enough time to rest or even giving them tangible rewards. Sometimes, even just recognizing their work through sending them a note or a letter of appreciation would go a long way in motivating them (Bailey et al. 2018). In a nutshell, rewarding employees makes them motivated to do their work. Rewarding employees therefore contributes to increased productivity of the organization.
There are several methods that can be employed by the human resource management department monitor employee engagement and performance. This section will look at some of these. It is worth noting that this is analogous to monitoring and evaluation. The importance of monitoring and evaluation cannot be underestimated. It helps the managers know the progress that the company is making and the areas that need improvement (Hepworth et al. 2016).
One of the ways of monitoring employees is through the use of CCTV cameras. Installation of the cameras would help monitor the activities of the employees while at work. Knowing that they are under the glare of cameras, employees are likely to work well and deliver on their duties. This helps in achieving the objectives of the organisation.
Use of biometric identification is also another way. A system could be established where an employee scans their finger at every time they report to work and before leaving. This would help ensure that employees arrive to work on time and that they work until the required time (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). Another great way of monitoring employee performance is requesting them to document in a nutshell the activities that they perform daily. This would help identify whether they are doing what is expected of them. In a nutshell, monitoring is very important in an organization as it helps know the progress.
References
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Aveyard, H., 2014. Doing a literature review in health and social care: A practical guide. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Bailey, C., Mankin, D., Kelliher, C. and Garavan, T., 2018. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.
Bamberger, P.A., Meshoulam, I. and Biron, M., 2014. Human resource strategy: Formulation, implementation, and impact. Routledge.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.
Cooke, F.L., 2016. Human resource department. In Encyclopaedia of Human Resource Management. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Costa-Font, J. and Greer, S. eds., 2016. Federalism and decentralization in European health and social care. Springer.
Dickinson, H. and O’Flynn, J., 2016. Evaluating Outcomes in Health and Social Care 2e. Policy Press.
Drummond, M.F., Sculpher, M.J., Claxton, K., Stoddart, G.L. and Torrance, G.W., 2015. Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes. Oxford university press.
Gatewood, R., Feild, H.S. and Barrick, M., 2015. Human resource selection. Nelson Education.
Glasby, J. and Dickinson, H., 2014. Partnership working in health and social care: what is integrated care and how can we deliver it? Policy Press.
Glasby, J., 2017. Understanding health and social care. Policy Press.
Hepworth, D.H., Rooney, R.H., Rooney, G.D. and Strom-Gottfried, K., 2016. Empowerment series: Direct social work practice: Theory and skills. Nelson Education.
Huselid, M.A., 2015. Human resource department effectiveness. Wiley Encyclopaedia of Management, pp.1-3.
Kadushin, A. and Harkness, D., 2014. Supervision in social work. Columbia University Press.
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
Netting, F.E., Kettner, P.M., McMurtry, S.L. and Thomas, M.L., 2016. Social work macro practice. Pearson.
Payne, M., 2015. Modern social work theory. Oxford University Press.
Reiche, B.S., Stahl, G.K., Mendenhall, M.E. and Oddou, G.R. eds., 2016. Readings and cases in international human resource management. Taylor & Francis.
Rubin, A. and Babbie, E.R., 2016. Empowerment series: Research methods for social work. Cengage Learning.
Stoddart, G.L. and Evans, R.G., 2017. Producing health, consuming health care. In Why are some people healthy and others not? (pp. 27-64). Routledge.
Turner, F.J., 2017. Social work treatment: Interlocking theoretical approaches. Oxford University Press.
Ventola, C.L., 2014. Social media and health care professionals: benefits, risks, and best practices. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 39(7), p.491.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download