Introduction
Human Resource Management (HRM) is an important formal system that guides the management of employees within an organization. In essence, HRM creates a firm, goal-oriented, and effective organization by maximizing the efficiency of the workforce and directing on the policies of the organization (Chadwick, 2005). Also, the HRM creates an efficient team of the workforce that guides the entire process of planning, recruiting, selecting, hiring, and retaining the best-suited employees to enhance the organization success.
In this paper, we analyze some of the stages and steps involved in the employment of staffs/employees. Next, the paper develops a strategy for training new employees focusing on their new roles within an organization. Also, the paper proposes three training strategies to motivate the employees understand key aspects regarding their new roles. Furthermore, the paper will determine key issues that new employees are likely to encounter in the healthcare field as well as plans to addresses such issues. The paper winds up by designing 3 virtual components to elaborate on the plans discussed.
Stages and Steps Involved In the Employment of Staffs/Employees
Planning Stage
Planning is the primarily stage the employment process an essential stage in a healthcare organization since it acts as a key influence on other HR management functions. In essence, planning allows the HR to plan and determine the number and type of physician it requires to promote efficient healthcare services. During the process of planning, the healthcare HR conducts a thorough market research to determine the right staff required depending on the needs of the organization. The process of planning guides the HR in the job description, job analysis, and job specialization. Through these processes, the HR can identify the nature of positions, skills and knowledge qualifications, and expectations of the prospect employees (Lawler et. al., 2004).
Recruitment Stage
Recruitment is a crucial stage in the employment process that allows the HR to evaluate and hire employees that are best suited for the job. Using the developed position description, HR identifies skills, knowledge, and qualifications of the candidates and aligns them with the goals and expectations of the organizations (Richardson, 2007). It also involves developing a recruitment plan that defines the perfect strategy to attract and hiring the suited applicants. The process of recruitment of employees is mainly undertaken through an external sourcing such as the use of newspaper, media and internet advertisement. This approach allows the organization to attract a wide number of prospect employees to create a diverse workforce.
Selection Stage
The selection stage aims to establish the right candidates for the job based on their knowledge and skills. Some of the available selection options may include standard interview, cognitive ability test and work sample test. When evaluating the selection criteria or process, the organization takes into account the reliability and validity of the selection technique. The aspect of validity measures the selection method in relation to the actual employee performance. On the other hand, the reliability of the selection criterion measures the extent to which the criteria for selecting the candidates are free from error.
Hiring Stage
After the right candidates get selected, HR has to make a final assessment by conducting a references check. Often, the hiring managers make personal contacts with the former employers for the purpose of obtaining credible information relating to the performance record of the prospect employee. Also, HR assesses the qualification records and documents presented by the applicant. After the record assessment, the HR makes positions offers where the prospect employees are usually ranked according to the order of preference.
Comprehensive Strategy for Training New Employees
Training is a planned effort by an organization to support the learning of the employees on job-related competencies and expectations. The competencies entail knowledge and skills vital for effective performance. Essentially, training process aims to equip the employees with a vast of skills and knowledge promoted in training process and then to use skills in their assigned roles in the organization (Tannenbaum, 2002).
Identify the Organization Business Strategy
The strategy of the organization is influenced by three main factors, mainly the mission, vision and values, its strength and weaknesses as well as its competition. The mission is the organization key reason for operation; vision reflects the prospects that organization aims to attain, and values specify the principles of the organization. In a healthcare organization, training of the staff and physicians aim to focus on these most important aspects. It links the mission, vision, values, strength and weakness as well as it competition to ensure efficient delivery of services to patients.
Strategic Training and Development Initiatives
When diversifying the learning portfolio, human resource ensures that the new employees are equipped with wide learning opportunities. This includes both informal learning through interaction with peers and mentors and through the use of technology. To boost the speed of learning, the human resource quickly identifies the needs of the employees, creates a quality learning mechanism, and minimizes the time to provide the training program. The process of promoting customer service ensures that the prospect employees have skills required to interact efficiently with the patients.
Creating Training and Development Activities
After selecting the training and development initiatives, the human resource develops the specific ways to ensure achievement of the initiatives. These activities entail creating initiatives that may relate to the application of new technology, promoting access to specialized programs that handle specific patient care services, and expanding the course offerings. The ongoing programs for training may include a combination of classroom and web-based training. The prospect physicians are given ample time to familiarize with new healthcare facilities they will use. Fundamentally, the human resource identifies outcomes measures and metrics to assess whether training program has been successful and effective in line with the required skills, knowledge and values of the healthcare organization.
Training Strategies to Motivate Employees Learn Key Aspects of Their New Jobs
The success of the training program and the capacity of the prospects employees to be motivated in learning key aspects of the organization are influenced by efficient support by the management, staff involvement, and creating a conducive environment.
Efficient Support By The Management
The behavior of the healthcare organization management to promote the focus on the training process and learning activity impacts significantly on the motivation of the trainee. To ensure their motivation, HR can clarify the organization goals and ensure a continuous uniformity when interpreting the policies and procedures of the training programs. Also, the management can ensure that they treat all the prospect employees with respect, as well as listening and responding honestly to the questions and concerns of the trainees. To encourage intense learning, the human resource can create a skill-based reward system which rewards the trainees depending on the level of skills they acquire.
Staff Involvement
How well the healthcare organization training program motivates the trainee can be influenced by the extent in which the specialized staff development is involved in the training program. Staff development department needs to be highly committed to creating an effective training process. Also, it can provide ways to boost the pace of learning by quickly identifying the needs of the employees, creating a quality learning mechanism, and minimizing the time to provide the training program.
Creating a Conducive Environment
Fundamentally, human resource aspires to facilitate a working environment that supports the training process mainly by eliminating constraints to the learning process, providing adequate facilities and equipment to facilitate training programs, and allocating physical space that promotes, creativity, collaboration, teamwork, and knowledge sharing.
Keys Issues Human Resource Management Employees Encounters In the Healthcare Field
As the employees acclimatize to their new environment, they may encounter key issues that may influence their roles in providing efficient healthcare to the patients. Some of these issues include cultural competencies, safety concerns, and ensuring quality healthcare.
Cultural Competency
Cultural competency is a core requirement in enhancing high quality and patient-centred care. In essence, it influences how healthcare is to be delivered and received. Studies have shown that lack of culturally competent health care may contribute to a poor patient outcome and high disparity in health provision (Campinha-Bacote, 2002). For new employees, creating a culturally competent patient care may be a key issue as they are required to demonstrate clear behaviours and attitudes to enable them to work successfully with the culturally diverse workforce and patients.
Safety Concerns
The new employees are likely to face enormous safety issues and challenges on their daily activities as seek to provide patient care. As the new staffs adapt to these issues, others issues are likely to emerge, which may disrupt their roles from healthcare acquired infections to pandemics, alarm fatigue to violence in hospitals. These issues may affect the morale of the employees, thus impacting negatively on the entire health organization.
Quality Healthcare
Health care employees are likely to face a high public expectation in providing quality healthcare to the patients. At the same time, the staffs are required to be equipped with skills and knowledge required to carry out their assigned fields. The employees are expected to facilitate quality patient delivery while regulating the underuse and overuse of services and reducing medical errors as prioritized by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Plans That Enable New Employees Address the Issues That They Are Likely To Encounter In the Healthcare Field
Promoting Cultural Competency
Cultural competency is an efficient way to improving patient health care and satisfaction as well as enhancing employees’ retentions as satisfaction. To facilitate cultural competencies, the healthcare management can develop a plan that integrates skills in a culturally competent health care. Such skills take into account the cultural differences and diverse backgrounds of the patients and other staffs. This approaches would enable the staff adapt to the multi-culture health care environment and avoid misunderstanding among workers, patients and their families.
Risk Management Programs
Promoting Quality Healthcare
New employees need to understand the crucial aspects of a quality healthcare before undertaking health care roles. A high-quality patient care services are required to be safe, equitable, patient-centred, effective, and timely (Palmer, 1991). Fundamentally, the management should provide the required medical facilities, equipment, and resources to ensure quality delivery of patient care.
Recognition and Reward Programs
New staffs need to be motivated and encourage working hard in their assigned roles. An efficient way to motivate them is to create recognition and reward programs. Such programs would also help to retain the workforce and maintain their productivity. Examples of motivation programs include bonuses, merit increases, commissions, contests, achievement awards, compensation, and annual events including picnics and parties. When providing motivation to the staff, the management can develop evaluation criteria mechanism to determine the effectiveness and success of the staffs.
Visual Component That Enhance the Cultural Competency, Risk Management and Recognition and Rewards Programs in Healthcare Organization
Figure 1: Risk Management Strategy- Delphi Map (2010). Stratum benefit solution.
Figure 2: Cultural Competency by Bowers (June 7, 2016).
Figure 3: Home health care nurse performance appraisal (n.d).
References
Bowers, D. (2016) Cultural competency. Retrieved May 20, 2016, from http://www.cvahec.org/resources/cultural-competency/
Campinha-Bacote, J. (2002). The process of cultural competence in the delivery of healthcare services: A model of care. Journal of Trans-cultural Nursing, 13(3), 181-184.
Chadwick, C. (2005). The vital role of strategy in strategic human resource management education. Human Resource Management Review, 15(3), 200–213
Ellis, K. (2003). Top Training Strategies: New Twists on Familiar Ideas. Training, 40(7), 30-36
Home health care nurse performance appraisal (n.d.). Home health care nurse performance appraisal. Retrieved May 20, 2016, from http://image.slidesharecdn.com/homehealthcarenurseperformanceappraisal-150515000242-lva1-app6891/95/home-health-care-nurse-performance-appraisal-3-638.jpg?cb=1431650509
Lawler III, E.E., Levenson, A., & Boudreau, J.W. (2004). HR Metrics and Analytics: Use and Impact. Human Resource Planning, 27(3): 27-35.
Palmer, R.H. (1991). Considerations in defining quality of health care. Striving for Quality in Health Care. Ann Arbor, Health Administration Press.
Richardson, M. (2007). Recruitment strategies: Managing/effecting the recruitment process. London: Routledge.
Stratum benefit solution (Jan 6, 2010), Risk Management Strategy: Delphi MAP. Retrieved May 20, 2016, from http://image.slidesharecdn.com/covenantcarestratumco-brandedpresentation-100106085614-phpapp01/95/stratum-benefit-solutions-presentation-13-728.jpg?cb=1262768346
Tannenbaum, S. (2002). A Strategic View of Organizational Training and Learning in Creating, Implementing, and Managing Effective Training and Development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
