Human Resource Management Models in Healthcare

John Murphy Baltazar Molina

• Assess the impact and the purpose of applying strategic human resource management models in a healthcare organisation.
• Assess the impact of human resource management activities in an organisation.

1. The Impacts of Human Resource Management (HRM) Activities in an Organisation

1. Human Resource Models

1. Contingency Model

Contingency model is a type of model that believes that there is no best way to lead a company, to make decisions, or organise an organisation. Instead, the ideal course of action is contingent upon the external and internal situation. A contingent leader efficiently relates their style of leadership at the right time and in the right situation.

Organisations are open system that requires cautious management to balance and satisfy internal needs and to cope to environmental conditions. The suitable management rest on the type of duty or environment that is being dealt. Nevertheless, it is essential for management to be concerned, above all else, with achieving good fits and balance.

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In general, human resources refer to the whole workforce within an organisation and structural contingency theory is concerned with the whole workforce (Armstrong, 2011). In a wider sense, human resources can direct a specific department within the organisation. This may include hiring the qualified people for the job, addressing complaints, dealing with low productivity and resolving conflicts. These challenges all involve putting structural contingency theory into practice.

2. David Guest Model

David Guest Model considers that a key policy goal for human resource management is strategic integration (Armstrong, 2011) by which he indicates the organisation’s capability to integrate human resource management matters into strategic procedures, to deliver for line managers to join a human resource management view into the decision making, and to guarantee that the several facets in human resource management adhere.

The Guest Model of Human Resource Management (Source: Armstrong, 2011)

The central idea of David Guest Model is that human resource management practices must be intended to create high-quality personnel who are flexible and has commitment to the organisation. Employees that are committed and bound to the organisation are vital in human resource management outcome.

The assertion of the Guest model that it is higher than the others is partially acceptable in the logic that it visibly draws out the field of human resource manager and describes the outcomes and inputs. But then again, because of the complexity of the dynamics of people management no model (including the Guest model) can capture them broadly.

3. Best Practice Model

Johnson (2000) specifies, that the greatest practices are described as human resource approaches and systems that have additive, positive, and universal effects on organisational performance. This meaning is linked to the point that the best practices that the organisation hires, each will augment to the previous, thus compounding the organisation’s resulting performance

The Best Practice model would lead to a high performing work system because of it presents the idea to enhance the employees’ knowledge and ability in a just recruitment and training process. In addition, this model indicates to motivate desired behaviours through strong incentives which employees would be happy and be motivated to work hard and be dedicated to work in the organisation. Also, it encourages ideas and contribution from motivated and better trained workers. No man has a monopoly of knowledge, so every idea, opinion, or feedback should be welcomed to improve.

2. Human Resource Management (HRM) Activities

1. Job Analysis

There is a developing interest in concentrating on the competencies that individuals need in order to execute jobs rather than on the duties, responsibilities, and tasks comprising a job. Organisations should invest in their employees by not overloading them with responsibilities. The point here is that when an employee is overloaded with responsibilities they tend to miss small things which could be of value in the end.

2. Human Resource Planning

Human resource planning is when managers endeavour to anticipate problems that will impact the future demand and supply for employees. It is crucial to have adequate human resource information systems to provide timely and accurate information for human resource planning.

3. Employee Recruitment

Compliance with countries laws and regulations about equal employment opportunity affects all other human resource activities and is essential to human resource management. For instance, strategic human resource plans is obligated to guarantee adequate availability of a variety of individuals to meet affirmative requirements. Employers should be resourceful in recruiting applicants by posting on the internet or making ads on public places.

4. Employee Selection

Employee selection is an activity wherein the human resource managers assess the applications of the applicants. This is a crucial activity because the employers should select the best and qualified applicants on the list. All employers should be fair in hiring people by accepting them based on their qualifications and not because of other reasons like same race or family friend.

5. Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is a term used to describe the process set by an organisation to ensure all employees are aware of the level of performance expected of them in that role (HRINZ, 2011). Performance management system is in place in most organisations. For instance, an organisation is conducting trainings for their employees to be updated of the universal safety precautions.

6. Human Resource Development

As our work change and evolve, on-going retraining is necessary to accommodate technological changes. It is essential to prepare organisations for future challenges by boosting development of all employees including managers and supervisors.

7. Compensation

Compensation is payment to an employee for their contribution to the organisation, that is, for doing their job(McNamara, n.d.). The most common forms of compensation are salaries, wages, and salaries. Organisations typically associate job description with compensation ranges in the organisation. The ranges comprise the maximum and the minimum sum of money that can be made per year in that role.

8. Benefits

Employee benefits usually refer to retirement plans, life insurance, vacation leave, health insurance, and many more. In addition, benefits are more likely a form of value, other than payment, that is given to the employee to repay their contribution to the organisation, that is, for doing their job. Some benefits, such as unemployment and worker’s compensation, are federally required (McNamara, n.d.).

9. Industrial Relations

Industrial relations are multidisciplinary field that studies the mutual aspects of the employment relationship (VUW Career Development and Employment, 2010). It is increasingly being called employment relations because of the importance of non-industrial employment relationships. In addition, industrial relations are concerned with the social justice of decent work and unbiased employment. Most of the people often consider industrial relations as unionised employment situations and labour relations, but it is more than that. Industrial relations cover issues of concern to managers and employees at the workplace, including workplace management strategy, bargaining, participation and employee representation, union management cooperation, job design, workplace reform, skill development, and new technology (VUW Career Development and Employment, 2010)

10. Health and Safety Programs

The mental and physical health and safety of the employees are critical concerns. The traditional apprehensions are health issues arising from hazardous work with certain chemicals and newer technologies (Armstrong, 2011). Through a wider focus on health, health resource management can support employees with substance abuse and other problems. Employee wellness programs can help to promote exercise and good health should become more widespread.

11. Manage Diversity

Workforce diversity acknowledges the reality that people differ in many ways, invisible or visible, gender, marital status, social status, sexual orientation, disability, religion, ethnicity, personality, and culture (Armstrong, 2011). Effective diversity management has been historically utilised to deliver a legally defensible position towards charges of discrimination.

12. Timesheet Management

A timesheet is also known as the roster or schedules made by managers for all the employees including themselves. Making the timesheet is also a vital task by the human resource managers. They need to put workers on every shift and make other options to fill those who are on leave.

3. The Impact of Harvard Framework Model to the HRM Activities

There are two characteristic features of human resource management (Armstrong, 2011). Firstly, managers take added accountability for guaranteeing the alignment of personnel policies and competitive strategy. Secondly, employees has the task of following the policies that direct how personnel activities are developed and implemented in ways that make them more mutually reinforcing.

The Harvard Framework has applied substantial impact on the practice and theory of Human Resource Management, mainly in its emphasis on the point that Human Resource Management is the apprehension of management in general rather than the employees function in particular.

The Harvard Analytical Framework for Human Resource Management

In addition, it is based on central philosophy and planned vision. It involves management decisions and actions reflecting the relationship between the firm and its employees. It emphasizes on the importance of proper management of the human assets of an organisation to promote harmony and hence promote the output.

The Harvard framework of human resource management views employees as resources (Armstrong, 2003). This type of method distinguishes the section of mutuality in all kinds of businesses. In an organisation employees are considered significant stakeholders. They have their personal needs and concerns alongside with other groups such as customers and shareholders.

Currently, many pressures are demanding a more comprehensive, more strategic, and broader perspective with respect to the human resources in an organisation. Managing people in a long term perspective and treatment of people as possible assets rather than simply a variable cost have been generated because of these pressures.

2. The Contribution and Importance of Strategic Human Resource Management

1. The influence of HRM strategy on organisational strategy

Nowadays, the success of the organisation basically depends on the capabilities and experience of its members (Kumar, 2011). An organisation may have the technology and capital, but it is human resources that will support organisations take on challenges of business globalization. Technology can be produced and capital can be generated. But the human resources needed in an organisation that can manage the coming challenges must be rightly and properly motivated and encouraged.

2. The Influence of Human Resource Management Strategy on Organisational Performance

Human resource managerial strategies shown by organisations pursuing to progress organisational performance have been categorised in two broad kinds depending on their basic character being oriented to the rise of human resources’ level of skill or else of the grade of participation of personnel in the performance of the firm and organisational strategy.

Labour productivity and organisational performance are positively related to diverse features of HR management systems (McGrath, 1996), such as recruitment and selection, training programs, performance evaluation, compensation and benefits, and innovative practices. Similarly, some research has shown that firms characterized by the use of the above practices outperform those that display inflexible HR strategies within the same economic sector.

3. The Influence of Human Resource Management Strategy on the Alignment of Organisational Strategies

Majority of the organisations consider the department of human resources as an managerial aspect and disregard the opportunity and need to align it within the strategic plans (Righeimer, n.d.). In situations where human resource is involved in the strategy of the organisation, its alignment doesn’t exceed the projecting function. Because the human resource does not hold a seat at the strategic planning table it is not aligned with the strategy of an organisation. The irony with the human resource being left behind in the strategic planning is that by its nature, human resource is about people, which is the strategic plan and fundamental of an organisation. My assumption is that it is difficult to measure the success of human resources and thus it is thought to be soft and not significant in the development of a strategy. What is measured gets done and obtains the authority to donate in an organisation’s strategy.

3. The Impact of Strategic Human Resource Management on the Policy Making in an Organisation

1. Employee Influence

The method in which organisations manage their employees is considered a vital factor in assisting success or even failure for an organisation in today’s competitive setting. The core key to an organisation’s prosperity and effectiveness depends on how employees are managed, therefore, allowing it to have a competitive advantage versus other organisation. My assumption is that when an organisation or its human resource manager will provide company bonuses, benefits, and a good compensation to their employees will benefit from an effective and motivated workforce. This is because organisations that shows a keen interest in their employees and promote commitment based strategies through various HRM practices will benefit the most as they will see lower levels of employee turnover (The WritePass Journal, 2014)

2. Work Systems

One of the core principles of strategic HRM is to evaluate how the performance of an organisation is influenced by the way employees are managed (Farooq, 2013). Several measures have been implemented in human resource practices that have been tested to progress the effectiveness of the employees and to anticipate higher standards of organisational performance. Most of these methods include high commitment work system, high standard work structures, high performance human resource management and work systems. No matter the possibilities these systems may vary in the method of improving the employee efficiency, their conjoint track is that organisations can attain high performance by accepting practices that leverage and recognise employees’ ability to make value. To generate an all-out impact these practices are most operative when they are applied in groups because of their joint effects on performance.

3. Reward Systems

Reward management is about controlling and examining employee remuneration, compensation and all of the other benefits. Reward management targets to generate and proficiently function a reward system for an organisation. Reward system typically contains pay practices and policy, payroll and salary management, minimum wage, total reward, team reward and executive pay.

4. References

Armstrong, M. (2003). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice 9^th edition. Retrieved from http://books.google.co.nz/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2AGbuhlTXV0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR17&dq=harvard+framework+model+of+hrm&ots=ZmKpYHrRC8&sig=fUfPlB4Grf2P5tmsZKwdMAHaQsw#v=onepage&q=harvard framework model of hrm&f=false

Armstrong, M. (2011). Armstrong’s Handbook of Strategic Human Resource Management 5^th edition. Retrieved from http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=kJfSzYIBpWwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Strategic+Human+resource+Management:+a+Guide+to+action&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pXiCU6r8KsXLkgWr74CADw&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Strategic Human resource Management: a Guide to action&f=false

Brewster, C. and Mayrhofer, W. (2012). Handbook of Research on Comparative Human Resource Management, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Inc

Farooq, S. (2013). Strategic Human Resource Management – High Performance Work System. Retrieved from http://gemconsulting.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/strategic-human-resource-management-high-performance-work-systems/

Human Resources Institute of New Zealand. (2011). Performance Appraisals and 360 Degree Feedback. Retrieved from http://www.hrinz.org.nz/Site/Resources/Knowledge_Base/I-P/performance_appraisals.aspx

Kumar, N. (2011). The Influence of Organisational and Human Resource Management Strategies on Performance. Retrieved from http://www.performancexpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Vol45_04_18.pdf

McGrath, R. (1996). ‘Improving Labour Productivity: Human Resource Management Policies do Matter’, Strategic Management Journal 17(5): 335-354

McNamara, C. (n.d.). Employee Benefits and Compensation (Employee Pay). Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/payandbenefits/index.htm?PHPSESSID=900e2200ce5dd66bf5c5a7252da24633

Righeimer, J. (n.d.). Aligning Human Resources & Strategic Plans. Retrieved from http://www.maverickec.com/index_files/Aligning HR Strategy epulse.pdf

The WritePass Journal. (2014). How can HRM Practices Influence Employee Commitment and Overcome High Employee Turnover. Retrieved from http://writepass.com/journal/2012/12/how-can-hrm-practices-influence-employee-commitment-and-overcome-high-employee-turnover/

Victoria University Wellington (VUW) Career Development and Employment. (2010). Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations. Retrieved from http://www.victoria.ac.nz/st_services/careers/resources/career_publications/career_view/hrm_and_ir.pdf

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