Health Field Human Resource Management

HCA 5306, Health Field Human Resource Management 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit II Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Explain the importance of human resource management activities performed in health care organizations. 1.1 Identify human resource management roles in health care. 1.2 Contrast human resource strategy to organizational strategy. 1.3 Define the human resources planning process.

3. Discuss how diversity, inclusion, and culture affect employee productivity within health care settings.

3.1 Consider how organizational culture affects the health care workplace. 3.2 Discuss changes in the condition of work in the health care workplace. 3.3 Summarize the changes in the human resource health care management workforce.

Required Unit Resources Chapter 3: Strategic HR Management Unit Lesson The strategic planning process integrates the goals and objectives of the major business functions within the organization. Each function such as financial, human resources, operations, and marketing has its own goals and objectives. Many think that strategic planning is just a top-down approach where the executives at the corporate headquarters sit down and develop a strategic plan in a vacuum. Nothing could be further from the truth. To achieve organizational success in today’s global marketplace, there has to be cross-functional decisions that will enable the organization to achieve its goals and objectives. It is said that strategic planning is an art and a science. There are specific steps (science) that every organization must take in developing a strategic plan. A few examples are the development of a mission and vision statement, environmental scanning, establishment of goals and objectives, SWOT analysis, and setting the strategy. The art of strategic planning is to step back from the series of empirical norms and data to look at how the organization is positioned against the right trends to be sure they are in the right markets. The human resource (HR) role in this process is to understand how HR systems affect, support, and change the strategic path of the organization. The best HR practices that support the organization’s strategic plan are based on the organization’s distinct management practices. These best practices assist in creating distinct abilities that help set products and services apart from the competition, increasing their competitiveness (Mello, 2015). The days of thinking that "if it works in one organization, it should work in another" are long gone. The HR function of today and tomorrow will have to continue to develop distinctive HR systems that will support the organization’s strategic plan and provide for growth and a future for the organization. To paraphrase the former General Electric Chairman Jack Welch, in order for a company to succeed in the coming years, and in the future, leadership must take advantage of the knowledge and talents of every one of their employees or risk failure (Rhoads, 1997). This may seem like a long time ago, but Welch was predicting the needs and wants of new generations coming into the workplace. He knew that company business strategy was the key element in creating these organizational systems because they serve as a road map to the goals, behaviors, and performance necessary for the company to be competitive (Lawler, 1995). An organizational strategy strongly influences an organization’s design and even management style. It was important then, and it is still important today, to remember that organizational design and management style drives the design of organizational systems.

UNIT II STUDY GUIDE Strategic HR Management

HCA 5306, Health Field Human Resource Management 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Strategy development involves evaluating the organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats. The SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) is a review of forces that exist within the organization such as an organization with weak social media marketing or an organization with a strong innovative culture. This analysis also includes those influences from outside the organization such as the effect of a poor economy or changing government regulations on the business. The successful organization does not just focus on improving its weaknesses, but it also wants to exploit its strengths in the strategic planning process. To be successful in today’s global marketplace, the organization must continue to nurture and improve its strengths. This process can be just as important as improving the organizational weaknesses. The strategic planning process begins with gathering information and analysis of the internal and external environment. This information gathering is at the corporate and functional levels in the organization. Organizations need to be self-aware and have a better understanding of the advantages and constraints by scanning the internal and external environments so that it is reflected in the organization’s strategy. Externally we know that the global marketplace changes rapidly at macro and micro levels. Lorenz’s (1972) theory of the butterfly effect is a good example. When a butterfly’s wings create a current in Tokyo, it can be felt in small- town America almost instantly. By the same token, the internal environment can have an effect on the strategic direction of the organization. The changing workforce, culture, diversity, gender issues, aging, and the growth of the contingent workforce makes it more challenging to stay on a strategic path. One major aspect of strategic planning with HR implications is systems thinking. Systems thinking recognizes that organizations are composed of interactions and sometimes interdependent parts that together create a dynamic internal working environment. Each part of this system is different because of the role it plays in the system, and because of its own particular challenges, values, and different processes. The challenge for the organization in strategic planning is to coordinate these parts to achieve strategic goals and objectives. Because an organization and its system are dynamic, changes in part of the system can affect the other parts. Many leaders in the organization want to operate in silos. They think that their way is the best way, and the other leaders should follow the way they do things. For example, let’s say that you are the HR manager, and one day an employee comes to your office to complain about his or her paycheck. It seems he or she was not paid what was promised. Since payroll is an accounting and finance department responsibility, you call the accounting manager and ask him what can be done to get this employee paid? The response is that the pay will be put on next week’s paycheck because that is the policy that accounting uses. The employee becomes upset upon hearing the answer and harbors resentment toward the organization for the rest of his or her work life because pay is a very personal issue. What happened? The system being used in accounting for this kind of paycheck issue affected the HR processes (systems) and did not take into account the employee needed his or her money that day. For the organization to be successful in today’s competitive marketplace, it must embrace systems thinking as part of its strategy. To make things even more complex, the organization is surrounded by the external environment. This environment of economic issues, legal influences, new laws, societal changes, and new technology is composed of separate systems that exert their own influences over the organization. For example, employment laws may affect work processes and economic and social conditions may affect financing and workforce quality and quantity. Any change that can affect one part of the organization must be carefully examined for possible repercussions or unintended consequences on other parts. These internal and external constraints will make choosing the right strategy more difficult. For example, there is much written today on organizational cultures and the responsibility of choosing the right person to fit the culture of the organization. Since nearly 70% of costs in organizations today are labor costs, it is very important to choose the right person (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). However, what if the culture needs to change based on external influences the organizational culture does not align with? What if the characteristics required for rapid decision-making, creativity, or the necessary skill set of the current workforce is not adequate? Strategic planning is a complex process but must considered on a yearly basis for success.

References Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017, June 9). Employer costs for employee compensation news release text

[Press release]. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm

HCA 5306, Health Field Human Resource Management 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Lorenz, E. N. (1972, December). Predictability; Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? Paper presented at the meeting of American Association for the Advancement of Science, 139th meeting. http://eaps4.mit.edu/research/Lorenz/Butterfly_1972.pdf

Mello. J. A. (2015). Strategic human resource management (4th ed.). Cengage Learning. Rhoads, K. (1997). Self-directed teams. NAA TechNews, 1(3). Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resource, click the link below. Human resources (HR) departments have many functions within organizations, including recruitment and retention. As the landscape of the workforce changes, HR departments must also change their retention methods. Understanding what employees desire helps cater to their needs and entices them to stay. Take time to review the article, and reflect on how a work environment can help retention methods.

Noranee, S., Som, R. M., Adam, N. A., Aziz, R. A., & Shahruddin, S. (2021). The relationship between human

resource practices and employee retention at a private university: Work environment as a moderator. Global Business & Management Research, 13(4), 299–311. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire ct=true&db=bsu&AN=153671586&site=ehost-live&scope=site