Introduction
The process of choosing and hiring candidates to fill vacant positions in healthcare organizations is one of the most important steps within an organization. Hiring the right candidate has a great impact in the operations of the healthcare organization as it helps the organization in meeting its objectives in providing its services to the patients. The needs of the patients are some of the factors that should be considered in hiring candidates to fill vacant positions in the healthcare organizations. Hiring the wrong candidate may make an organization lose some of its customers. Some anomalies do exist in the hiring process where the healthcare organization may be forced to hire individuals on basis of gender, race, nationality, etc. These are discriminatory practices that may appear unethical but are important for the strength of the organizations and gives the organization a competitive advantage over other organizations. Some patients feel that they need privacy when their problems are being attended. Such issues dictate to the management in the healthcare organization on who to hire for a specific job. The issue of gender is very important in the healthcare organization especially in determining who to hire for specific jobs and those that are sensitive to gender. In the United States, there is a law that permits some organizations especially the healthcare organization to use gender in hiring in hiring decisions. This paper will seek to analyze the issue of gender in hiring and choosing candidates in the healthcare organizations.
Gender in the Healthcare Organization
The healthcare organization is a unique field that at times deals with some individual’s private matters and therefore a close observation needed in hiring the individuals who deal with these issues. The issue of fairness in employment is affected by some patient’s private problems. Fairness requires that all individuals be offered equal opportunities in an available vacancy in a field. It may appear a bit unethical to hire a practitioner who is less competent due to his or her gender and leave a competent candidate who is more qualified for a job (Joseph & Stoney, 2006, 451). The process of hiring and choosing a candidate for an available vacancy in a healthcare organization will therefore be affected by the private needs of the individuals that the candidate is being hired for. Some women feel that their problems are a bit private and they are not always willing to reveal these problems to male doctors. Such patients will investigate the gender of the individuals who attend to such peoblems in a healthcare organization and this will determine if they will go for services in this particular healthcare organization. It is a rare case to find a patient willing to reveal her private problems to a male gynecologist. On the other hand, some men would like to reveal some of their issues that they feel private to a male gynecologist and not a female one. The department responsible for the hiring of individuals in healthcare organizations is therefore required to be very cautious in hiring a candidate as this may result in a loss in many customers in the healthcare organization (Thomas, 2008, 118). Some private healthcare organizations are businesses and are competing with both public and other private organizations. To maximize profit in the healthcare organization, the gender of the practitioner attending to private matters of patients is a requirement in addition to the competence of the individual. It adds to the competitive advantage of an organization that is competing with other organizations.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Issue of Gender
Title VII of the civil rights act provide that the employer will not have broken the law by hiring and employing candidates in a business on the basis of religion, gender, or nationality in a case where these issues affect the operations of the business greatly (Leiyu, 2007, 341). The demands and desires of the consumers affect some businesses in a great way especially where the customers are supposed to be attended by these practitioners on private matters. The law supports the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) which has it that the demands of the consumers affect many of the profit making organizations. Some people and organizations have argued against the law but there are certain exceptions that have been accepted by many. The issue of gender is therefore an important consideration in hiring candidates in healthcare organizations especially where private matters of individuals are the subject.
Great Care Needed
When the healthcare organizations are hiring candidates for vacancies in their organizations, great care should be taken and some policies are required to help in the process. This helps in protecting some sexes against unnecessary discrimination in some jobs. The policies should specify the meaning of the word private in the context of the healthcare organization and the qualifications of individuals to attend to such issues. The issue of gender may result to hiring of unqualified practitioners in a healthcare organization and this is a disadvantage to the patients and may result to long-term losses in the healthcare organization (Patricia, 2002, 321).
Conclusion
The process of hiring and choosing candidates in a healthcare organization is very important and may affect the organization in many different ways. Hiring the right candidate will lead to attraction of more customers and the healthcare organization and will also be able to meet its objectives in offering its services to the patients. Some private issues on the part of the patients may force the organization to hire an individual of a certain gender so as to attend to these issues. The issue of gender may therefore be a good consideration in hiring candidates to fill certain vacancies in the healthcare organizations. However, great care should be taken so that discrimination does not occur unnecessarily.
Reference List
Joseph, G. & Stoney, G. A. (2006). Achieving Ethics and Fairness in Hiring: Going Beyond the Law. Nevada: Springer Netherlands, 449-456.
Leiyu, S. (2007). Managing Human resources in the Healthcare Organizations. New York: Jones & Bartlett, 341-343.
Patricia, B. (2002). Human Resources Management: All the Information you need to manage your Staff and Meet your Business Objectives. New York: Adams Medias, 320-323.
Thomas, P. B. (2008). Strategic Staffing: A Comprehensive System for Effective Workforce Planning. New York: Amacom Publishers117-121.