Human resource management is the function performed in organizations that facilitates the most effective use of people (employees) to achieve organizational and individual goals (Ivancevich, 2010). In present day society, organizations have been confronted with profound transformations in the roles of human resource management and its function. The healthcare industry encounters several challenges ranging from ethical and moral aspects, high cost of medical care, economic pressures, regulatory compliances, shortage of qualified professionals, and industry consolidation to deliver health care services in the United States.
In this reflective paper I will explore the role of human resource management, human resource planning, leadership and management issues/responsibilities, EEO and Affirmative Action, Safety and Health, Compensation and Benefits of health care human resource management leaders. Health Care Professionals are presented with a variety of issues in each sector of their working environment. The high cost of medical care has insurmountably risen in the United States delivering several issues in the health care industry. Nevertheless of the goal or job, some type of assistance is needed pertaining to human resource management.
The management of human resources is one of the most important yet challenging responsibilities within health services organizations. As society and organizations expand and become multifaceted, Human Resource Management operations carry on into several regions which are essential to the organizational advancement and success. The voyage to perceiving and utilizing human resource roles involves: Human Resource Planning, Recruitment, Selection, Human Resource Development, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Affirmative Action, Safety and Health, Employee Labor Law and Relations, Compensation and Benefits.
By investigating each topic, we may realize how each role may be used for individual professional aspirations/development and position the arena for a lucrative future. Human resources management covers an array of functions and responsibilities related to recruiting, retaining, hiring, evaluating, terminating staff and developing staff in the health services organization. Health Care Administrators are required to work together with numerous individuals and departments outside of their division, all of whom have their own agendas, methodologies, and expectations.
It is the Administrator’s job to cultivate a host of working relationships and reach a balance between their own beliefs and concerns and those of the remainder of the organization. As a health care administrator, visualization of leadership qualities is necessary for management of an organization. The functional or task-centered theory of leadership does not focus attention primarily on the leadership person selected but concentrates on leadership acts and roles. It assumes that there are a series of leadership acts that are necessary for a group to maintain itself and achieve its goals.
These tasks can be achieved by all the members working together. This concept of shared leadership focuses attention on the ways in which members interact with each other in pursuit of the organizational purpose. Typical leadership acts that are identified are: Giving information, offering suggestions, Energizing, Seeking support, Releasing tension, Compromising, Clarifying, Elaborating, Orienting, Opening Channels of Communication and Reminding the group of constraints (Mandell, B. R. & Schram, B. , 2009). Leadership acts can be taught, practiced, and strengthened in an intentional way in virtually any group (Mandell, B. R. , & Schram, B. , 2009). One of the best ways to convince that interdisciplinary teamwork is important is to show them the relationship to patient care. Some of the benefits of effective teams include improved coordination of care, efficient use of healthcare services, increased job satisfaction among team members, and higher patient satisfaction.
The Human Resources Manager oversees the department (HR) responsible for the hiring and firing of employees. This department also manages all the financial and time-related factors concerning an employee’s work life. The Manager has the responsibility of making decisions that have a direct effect upon the health, safety and financial well-being of all employees. Situations or circumstances may arise in which an employee may feel it is necessary to file a claim concerning some type of erroneous behavior on the part of the employer or employer’s representative.
These situations can include injuries, layoffs, getting fired or possibly incidents of arrest or other related type of experiences. Labor claims are specialty areas that human resource professionals are well-trained, receiving the proper knowledge about state and local regulations concerning the disposition of such claims (healthcareadministration. com, 2010). With that said it is imperative that the leadership and management team be efficiently and effectively trained and knowledgeable in the Equal Employment Policies.
Creating policies and programs for each area warrants that the organization is in compliance with the law and regulation statues. Compliancy with the EEO helps prevent helps prevent discrimination, sexual harassment, etc. In addition, cultivating an Affirmative Action Plan can benefit and support an organization by taking action against discrimination in the workplace. The human resource manager is responsible for the different needs of the employee as well as the employer.
The manager supervises all aspects of operations that are personnel related which include: *Doctor and nurse recruitment *Interview and hiring *Compensation and benefits management *Handling of claims *Implementation of professional development programs *Personnel counseling *Compliance with state and federal regulations *Safety & Sanitation in the workplace *Labor Relations and mediation *Supervision of employee meetings *Maintenance and/or improvement of employee retention and morale (healthcareadministration. om, 2011) My present company’s performance evaluation is effective, but just as any organization some departments are in need of improvement. The impact of team performance is vital to the existence of many organizations. Performance evaluation is implemented by using the system of scales. Annually we are evaluated on several categories; One (1) being the poorest and Five (5) the highest in performance, quality, objectives, goals, etc. These are done for the individual evaluation techniques, however for team performance we as a team must rank no lower than four (4).
The problem with this approach is that personality’s conflicts and communication among team members are sometimes frustrating to many of the individuals in achieving team performance evaluation. Management should have a short term strategic plan for implementing progression in quali ty and performance. Supervisors should also communicate instead of pencil pushing the objectives. Communication is dire to the team performance amongst the workers.
I think if we also had semi-annual evaluation, we would improve and bring success to the organization by strategically implementing our goals. An important function of Human Resource Management is apprehending Human Resource Planning? And how does the process facilitate the achievement of an organization’s strategic objectives? Human Resource Planning is a key procedure in which an organization confirms that it has the right workers, who are qualified to complete the responsibilities of the organization objectives.
It is how organizations asses the future supply of and demand for human resources (Ivancevich, J. R. , 2010). It is vital that the organization knows its mission, vision and goals to determine what direction the organization is moving. In essence Human Resource strategic planning should aspire to incorporate the right people in place, with the right mix of skills and who are committed to operating efficiently and effectively. One of the strategic objectives of my prior place of employment was its goal to produce quality as an eye care professional.
Quality control is an important aspect for human resource management. But, unlike the quality control manager in a factory making ensure that products are created according to the necessary specification, quality control for human resource manager translates to providing the necessary training that will safeguard the top of the job performance in the health care industry. Tests are developed by human resource managers to monitor skill levels that can be administered by oath prior to hiring as well as at different times throughout the employment.
It is the job of the human resource manager to work quite closely with both clinical and nonclinical department heads to develop relevant professional skills enhancement programs; as well as providing continuing education opportunities for all employees (healthcareadministration. com, 2010). Optician, regardless of whether they are employed or self-employed, are individually responsible for acting at all times in the best interest of their patients and for delivering clinical practice which competencies for their profession.
These skills are needed to reach the goals of the organization as well as operating the organization proficiently (AAO, 2010). As an individual with an aspiration of obtaining my own business and/or working as a director for a hospital, understanding these elements, especially Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action is essential to my future existence in the health care industry. Human Resource Planning is carefully associated with recruitment and selection procedures which should be based on policies of EEO and Affirmative Action.
Being employed is one of the most vital perspectives for Affirmative Action in America. In the employment arena, Affirmative Action is defined as a racially balanced workforce who contains a consistently number of balanced ethnic Americans (African, Latino, Asian, or Native American ancestry). This is done to equally distribute the minority groups, locally and nationally in the U. S. employment sector. With that said, internal environmental influences of diversity issues may creep into existence in the organization.
Diversity is often used to explain differences among people, such as their particular lifestyles, economic status, race, or gender, as well as how legal, political, and social policies apply to affirmative action laws. Management of healthcare systems in the 21st century requires the student to recognize difference as “normal” rather than holding onto-pre-established standards of management that apply to homogenous population groups. This expanded concept of “normal” also means re-evaluating leadership styles and management strategies.
Thus, by becoming aware of difference—be it geographical, linguistic, or religious—the healthcare manger places staff performance and client needs in a cultural context. It is important for the healthcare organization’s managers and employees to be effective communicators and interpreters. Part of this include learning and teaching appropriate behaviors for addressing diversity in employee and client populations (Buchbinder, S. B. , & Shanks, N. H. , 2007) Who should be included safety and health programs of an organization? The responsibility of safety and health issues rest on both employee and employer.
Safety and health programs are divided into two categories of Safety hazards and Health hazards. Safety hazards attributes of the work setting may have a possibility of causing death or violent harm to the individual. Health hazards attributes are also conditions of the work setting in that they gradually increase and sometimes permanently lead to decline in health matters. Typical causes are physical and biological hazards, toxic and carcinogenic dusts and chemicals, and stressful working conditions; these can cause cancer, heavy-metal and other poisoning, respiratory disease, and psychological disorders like depression (Ivancevich, 2010).
In the Health care industry, I aspire to work within the hospital and with Health care workers who may be susceptible to the potential hazards of infectious diseases (Hepatitis, AIDS, Herpes simplex virus), chemical exposure (Anesthetic gases, Metallic mercury), physical hazards (Ionizing radiation, Microwave radiation, UV light) safety hazards (lifting or carrying, Puncture wounds from syringes) as a future employee of an organization it is paramount that training, communication and adherence to policies be enforced by management and employee for successful outcome to the organization (Ivancevich, 2010).
Organization that depend on a highly-skilled, stable workforce must be attuned to the needs of their employees and provide adequate compensation and benefits that enhance job satisfaction and lessen job mobility. Hospitals, like other organizations that compete for hard-to-find workers use both traditional and non-traditional benefits to attract and keep skilled employees (Kinard, J. , 2000). In 2006, approximately 47 million Americans had no health insurance. With unemployment over the 9 percent mark, health insurance is a needed benefit from the poor to the working class.
Why do employers offer benefits and services? It is an exchange relationship. Employees trade labor and loyalty for financial and nonfinancial compensation (pay, benefits, services, recognition, etc. ) Others employers provide them to keep a union out or because the union has won them during negotiations and benefits and services may increase employee’ performance. The organization I worked for had an excellent benefit package. It consist of Health insurance, Dental, 401K plus Pension, College reimbursement, Short and long term Disabilities, Accidental death and Life insurance.
Health insurance is a needed benefit from the poor to the working class. I am acquainted with people who are employed full and part-time and can’t afford the premiums or who are not eligible for the benefits due to hours received per week (30 or less). The second benefit program which is vital is unemployment insurance. In our recession, it has given many Americans a chance to look for work and try to retain their financial status (to some degree) until they find new employment. Employee labor relation refers to the mechanisms between organizational management and its laborers, which have a tendency to be represented by unions.
When an organization is disputing with laborers over working conditions, pay, hours and written contracts collective bargaining and/or the government will arbitrate to help resolve disputes. For the health care industry, the origin of this “shift” dates back to 1967 when the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) first recognized the right of hospital workers to join union and participate in collective bargaining with their employees. In 1974, Congress amended the National Labor Relation Act (NLRA) to cover both for- profit and nonprofit healthcare institution under the provisions and restriction of the NRLA.
In the health care industry, the appropriate bargaining unit is often a topic for debate. In acute care hospitals, there are, with rare exceptions, only eight presumptively appropriate bargaining units: (1) registered nurses; (2) physician; (3) all professional except for registered nurses and physicians; (4) technical employees; (5) skilled maintenance employee; (6) business office clerical employees; (7) guards; (8) all nonprofessional employees, except technical employees, skilled maintenance employee, business office clerical employees, and guards.
In all other health care facilities, the NLRB, considers the “community of interest” and determines appropriate units on a case-by-case basis. The recognition of these distinct, separate units in the hospital has made it easy for groups of employees to organize. For example, if the NLRB determines that a broader group still sufficient “community of interest” to constitute an appropriate unit, then the nurses would arguably have a more difficult time generating the requisite support for a union when lower paid, less skilled employees do not have the same concerns or interest as the nurses (Sanders, L.
G. & McCutcheon, A. W, 2010). In conclusion, Human resource management has performance program which are used to motivate or demotivate employees. The programs and benefits help to provide the employee with fair and equal opportunities to work free of discrimination. The health care industry focuses on quality control in training as oppose to the traditional product made to specification in the factory setting. The common bond of each industry is that human resources management is a needed function to pave the way for success of the employee and organization in each future endeavors.