Explain the importance of the HR function in healthcare organizations in terms of strategic planning.
HR is the foundation of an organization’s success. HRM focuses on achieving corporate objectives through the effective management of people in organizations. It examines the link between people, satisfaction, and productivity. Effective HRM results in a higher quality of work life, higher productivity, and an improved readiness for change. The role of the HR manager has become more ambiguous, shifting in the direction of a business partner, an employee champion or advocate, and a catalyst of change, while being focused on strategic leveraging of human capital.
This week, you will learn about the importance of HRM in an organization’s strategic planning process. You will also examine the challenges in the healthcare industry that can threaten the success of HR strategic initiatives in an organization’s overall plan. The week will provide you with an opportunity to explore the various issues affecting the provision of healthcare and identify the role of HRM in relation to those issues.
Your Learning Objectives for the Week:
Explain the importance of the HR function in healthcare organizations in terms of strategic planning.
Assess the legal environment affecting HRM in healthcare settings.
Text Book information….
Flynn, W. J., Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. (2015). Healthcare Human Resource Management (3rd Edition). Cengage Limited. https://digitalbookshelf.southuniversity.edu/books/9781305840669
MHC6306 Week 1 Lecture, Discussion, and Project Instructions
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Nature and Challenges of Healthcare HRM
Healthcare organizations need to be agile to be able to quickly meet demands. A change-ready organization can quickly adapt to changing circumstances. It can respond instantaneously to changing customer demands. It innovates rapidly and immediately tailors services to customer needs. It can also integrate employees, customers, and suppliers to share knowledge and skills. An HR professional’s job is to create an organization that constantly builds its capacity through building the capacity of the people it employs.
Since all healthcare facilities are ultimately delivered by and to people, a strong understanding of HRM issues is required to ensure the success of any healthcare organization.
Research on the relationship between healthcare in the United States and HRM reveals three major problems:
Rapidly escalating healthcare costs A growing number of Americans without healthcare coverage Challenges regarding the standard of care These problems have significant consequences. Therefore, the role of the HR professional has to change from a set, systematized structure to one that is more adaptable, resilient, quicker in changing direction, and customer centered. This can be achieved only if the organizational hierarchy of the healthcare organization is effective and efficiently managed.
There are several types of healthcare organizations. Each has unique challenges, depending on its services, size, and location.
In this lecture you learned about the basic concepts of managing a healthcare organization. In the next you will explore the hierarchy of positions related to the size of an organization.
Resources:
Bondarouk, T., Bos-Nehles, A., & Hesselink, X. (2016). Understanding the congruence of HRM frames in a healthcare organization. Baltic Journal of Management, 11(1), 2.
Hierarchy of Positions in Healthcare
Every healthcare organization has a different organizational setup. There is no single hierarchy of positions that suits all needs. The hierarchy of positions depends majorly on the size of the healthcare organization. A large healthcare organization may have a complex hierarchy system, while a small healthcare organization might have a simple and flexible hierarchy system.
Depending on the size of the healthcare organization, HR professionals may have overlapping responsibilities. In large organizations, the HR generalist, the manager, and the director have clearly defined and separate roles, with progressively greater authority and responsibility in the hands of the manager, the director, and, ultimately, the vice president, who may lead several departments.
Due to globalization, resources are now being shared more than ever, though they are not always distributed equally. It is important to develop a culture that can enable a healthcare organization to meet its challenges. Strategic management is important for aligning these challenges to the goals and interests of a healthcare organization.
In this lecture you gained insight into the various types of healthcare organizations; their organizational hierarchies, roles, and strategic planning processes. You learned about the importance of the HR function in healthcare organizations, the types of healthcare organizations, and the role of strategic planning in healthcare. You also explored the functional roles in the organizational structure of a healthcare organization. Next you will learn about some of the challenges Human Resources faces in organizations.
Describes the hierarchical levels in a healthcare organization.
Challenges for Healthcare Organizations
HR professionals face many obstacles in their attempt to deliver high-quality healthcare to people. Some of these obstacles include budgets, regulatory compliance issues, a lack of congruence between different stakeholders’ values, absenteeism rates, turnover rates, unionization threats, and low morale of healthcare personnel.
Since all healthcare is ultimately delivered by people, effective HRM plays a vital role in the success of any healthcare organization. HR professionals help healthcare organizations determine how best to use their people.
Sociodemographic elements such as age and distribution of the population play a key role in the healthcare system. An aging population leads to an increase in demand for health services and health personnel. An aging population within the healthcare system itself also has important implications. For example, additional training of younger workers is required to fill the positions of the large number of retiring healthcare workers.
Workforce training is another important issue. It is essential that HR professionals consider the composition of the health workforce in terms of both skill categories and training levels. A trained and competent workforce is essential for a successful healthcare system.
Workforce mobility creates additional imbalances that require better workforce planning, attention to issues of pay and other rewards, and improved overall management of the workforce. HR professionals play an integral role in organizational success through their knowledge of advocacy of employees. This advocacy includes expertise in how to create a work environment in which people are motivated, contributing, engaged, and happy.
Fostering effective methods of goal setting, communication, and empowerment through responsibility builds employee ownership of the organization. HR professionals help establish an organizational culture and climate in which people have the competency, concern, and commitment to serve customers well.
There are unique challenges and HRM responses to current trends and changes in healthcare. You have examined the challenges in the healthcare industry that can threaten the success of HR strategic initiatives in an organization’s overall plan. Next you will learn about the legal issues affecting healthcare organizations, the role of HRM in dealing with these legal issues, the major laws affecting healthcare, and the legal and ethical responsibilities of a healthcare organization. Review the following resources for more about these topics.
Resources:
Levkovich, N. (2016). The fourth aim: How do we care for our healthcare workforce? Families, Systems, & Health, 34(2), 185-186. https://su.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&AN=2016-27364-013&site=eds-live
· Week 1 Discussion
Discussion Topic
Task: Reply to this topic
Top of Form
Due September 23 at 11:59 PM
Bottom of Form
Before beginning work on this discussion forum, please review the link “Doing Discussion Questions Right” the expanded grading rubric for the forum, and any specific instructions for this topic.
Before the end of the week, begin commenting on at least two of your classmates’ responses. You can ask technical questions or respond generally to the overall experience. Be objective, clear, and concise. Always use constructive language, even in criticism, to work toward the goal of positive progress. Submit your responses in the Discussion Area.
HRM Metrics in Healthcare Organizations
HRM metrics and measurements can be powerful in showing areas where healthcare organizations can improve and better meet the needs of the organization, employees, and patients or customers. HRM metrics can also help provide meaningful data to help make better decisions and changes.
Tasks:
In a minimum of 300 words, post to the Discussion Area your responses to the following:
· How should an HR department of a healthcare organization measure its effectiveness? For example, if job satisfaction has improved among nursing staff, how would you isolate the effect of HRM policies or programs from the effect of other organizational and external factors?
· Which of the commonly used HRM metrics would you, as an HR manager of a healthcare organization, use? Why? Use an organization as an example and briefly describe it.
· How should HRM metrics be used to measure the success of the HR department’s goals related to improving the performance indicators of the entire organization?
Provide reasons and evidence in support of your responses.
To support your work, use your course and textbook readings and also use the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.
Your initial posting should be addressed at 300-500 words. Submit your document to this Discussion Area by the due date assigned. Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.
Respond to your peers throughout the week. Justify your answers with examples, research, and reasoning. Follow up posts need to be submitted by the end of the week.
· Week 1 Project
Assignment
Task: Submit to complete this assignment
Top of Form
Due September 27 at 11:59 PM
Bottom of Form
Before beginning work on this assignment, please review the expanded grading rubric for specific instructions relating to content and formatting. From the South University Online Library, read the following:
The Importance of Human Resources Management to the Health Care System
Research the changes in the healthcare industry in the past five to ten years and the role of HRM in maintaining success while adapting to these changes. Select one healthcare trend for deeper study. On the basis of your research, present an analysis of the trend by addressing the following:
· Describe and explain the trend you selected, citing some important data. Focus on changes in the trends over the past five to ten years and the effects of these trends on HRM.
· Briefly note the common characteristics of an effective healthcare HR department and explain which of these characteristics will equip HRM to respond to the selected trend.
· Explain five common HRM metrics used to ensure positive outcomes and give an appropriate example of each metric as it applies to a healthcare organization.
· Explain the strategic importance of the selected trend as it relates to the overall plan of a healthcare organization and its HR department.
· State your opinion or conclusion about the selected trend on the basis of the research you conducted.
Submission Details:
· To support your work, use your course and textbook readings and also use the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.
· Present your analysis as a 2- to 3-page report in a Microsoft Word document formatted in APA style. On a separate page, cite all sources using APA format.
· Name your document SU_MHC6306_W1_A3_LastName_FirstInitial.doc.
· Submit your document to this appropriate Submissions Area by the due date assigned.