Introduction
In health care, human resources encompass the various clinical and non-clinical staff involved in a given health intervention. Arguably, the performance and output of any healthcare system are largely dependent on the skill-level, knowledge, and motivation of the individuals directly or indirectly involved in delivery of the health care services (Anson, 2003, p. 22). As a result, maintaining a balance between the various types of health care staff is crucial to ensuring a successful healthcare system. In particular, because of the obvious differences in expertise, it is necessary to manage human capital appropriately in line with organizational goals.
The rising cost of healthcare has strained expenditure in public health systems. This, in turn, affects the ability of healthcare organizations to sustain adequate and effective health practitioners. Thus, given the nature of healthcare settings, both clinical and non-clinical staff should be able to respond effectively and efficiently with regard to emergencies. In healthcare facilities, HRM practices can address the issue of practitioners’ shortage by enhancing the ability of the workforce to render primary care during emergencies. This paper describes an HRM strategy essential in achieving optimal patient outcomes with regard to emergency response.
Organizational Goal
In various health care systems, different practices with regard to HRM and healthcare delivery exist. The relationship between human resource management and healthcare presents three main challenges: a rising cost of healthcare, concerns about the standard of care and the shortage of staff. In resource-limited health systems, involvement of both clinical and non-clinical workforce is pivotal in achieving optimal patient outcomes. The organizational goal should define the strategies for the development and effective utilization of human resources (Pfeffer, 2005, p. 55).
My organizational goal will be to create flexible, responsive and innovative care settings through human resources development. The system will be flexible enough to allow non-clinical staff to respond to emergencies. This can be achieved through training of the workforce (the housekeeper, the business office staff, and the engineer) on basic primary care (Pfeffer, 2005, p. 61). Additionally, the system will allow anybody to respond to immediate patient needs prior to specialized care from the respective practitioner. It will also be innovative in the sense that it allows the integration of diverse specialities, both clinical and non-clinical, to meet patient physical and emotional needs. Ultimately, in healthcare facilities, people conduct care delivery, thus, developing an organizational culture of responsiveness and flexibility can achieve improved patient outcomes.
The Front-line Staff and Leadership Needed
To promote the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare organization, a diverse community comprising of clinical and non-clinical staff will be required. The workforces through entrepreneurial innovations (Reichers, Wanous, Austin, 2007, p. 48) often spur organizational change in healthcare. Organizational change is necessary to address technical, cultural and performance challenges in the everyday activity of the organization (Anson, 2003, p. 24). The organization will rely on employees and management to implement the organizational change. The leadership will involve split management where the different heads of clinical specialties (e.g. nursing, medicine), as well as the personnel management, actively participate in decision-making regarding the implementation and expansion of the strategy. On the other hand, the front-line staff will include the professional staff and physician leaders involved in care delivery.
Frontline managers will contribute to the establishment of effective internal stakeholders. They will hold meetings with physicians and nurses, as well as the non-clinical staff, where they will discuss the opportunities and challenges of non-clinical workforce involvement in patient care, especially during emergencies. In this way, the line managers for personnel and medical services will garner initial support for the implementation of the strategy. Input from the workforce is indispensable in effecting organizational change (Reichers et al., 2007, p. 51). In light of this, recognition of the importance of the employee community in organizational change is imperative. The leadership, through meetings, will explain the rationale behind the plan to the frontline managers and strategies to promote full participation by the organization’s workforce. This will serve as a foundation for trust relationships, where individuals from different clinical and non-clinical backgrounds feel informed and involved in decision-making. As a result, the change process will be quicker and involve all departments.
Skills Necessary for the Change Process
The skills that are required to effect the organizational change should be process-oriented skills to promote connecting with the diverse internal community within an organization (Khaliq et al., 2007, p. 151). To promote the overall standards of healthcare in the care setting, the organization will define the core competencies, values, and behaviors, which are beneficial in the organizational culture of change. Creativity and innovativeness are essential skills of the nursing staff and other employees in emergency care delivery. Additionally, the capacity to take responsibility, high level of motivation, employee potential for training and development, and ability to change behaviour to fit the organizational goals are essential qualities that the management will need to effect organizational change.
As a human resources manager, I will empower all employees to be more creative through staff training and development. I will emphasize a model that involves multi-disciplinary teams to make units more approachable and accessible by nursing staff and non-clinical employees. Employee development for both clinical and non-clinical employees will help foster creativity and promote the roles of human resources. This will facilitate change of the existing cultural and structural systems in the organization. I will encourage the line staff to identify areas that need to be addressed to spur innovation in line with desired outcomes of the organization.
Incentives are essential for employee improvement in their daily activities (CIT). I will reward employees who identify who identify new methods or approaches of improving patient care. In the health organization, the staff will be allowed to listen and interpret patient diverse needs. In this way, the staff will learn to take responsibility and adhere to strict performance measures. Personal commitment among the frontline staff to the patients can be ensured through formal performance measures. This will lead to frontline staff being able to identify and meet diverse employee needs within the healthcare context.
Skills needed by Employees for Organizational Change
The workforce community in the organization will need diverse skills to effect the organizational change. Collaboration and teamwork is essential skill for the physician staff. It facilitates professional learning, which promotes personnel development. Interdisciplinary learning involving different specialties will help improve collaboration and team efforts in the management of emergency cases. The staffs also need efficient communication skills to communicate effectively during clinical operations. It allows the senior and junior staff to understand and address problems affecting the patients. Enhanced communication can be achieved through employee involvement in decision-making (Reichers et al., 2007, p. 53). The staff will provide feedback regarding the intervention and ways of improving care delivery.
Improved understanding of healthcare delivery by the non-clinical staff is another noteworthy approach to facilitating organizational change. This will be achieved through training on basic clinical operations and the practice guidelines. Additionally, through volunteer clinical consultations, the senior staff will be able to provide information to junior staff and non-clinical staff regarding various clinical operations such as case management. As a result, non-clinical staff such as the data manager, the housekeeper and the accountants will understand various health problems and the relevant primary care for each case prior to specialized care.
Decision-making in the Organization
For a successful transformation, the involvement of the workforce in decision-making is crucial in effecting the change process on a grand scale (Eisenhardt, 2002, p. 89). To achieve consensus, the organization will adopt a decentralized decision-making model, which allows reciprocal information flow and feedback from the staff. Interdisciplinary teams will provide information and assess the program development and implementation. Service lines will obtain information from the grass roots especially with regard to resource allocation. The consultations will make the staff feel involved and thus, take a more active role in the implementation process.
An approach that focuses on customer (patient) interests, rather than the interests of the stakeholders, such as medical practitioners, results in improved care delivery (Parekh et al., 2004, p. 397). Decision-making will revolve around customer interests rather than services that may not be the best for patients. In this way, individuals will identify appropriate service or a product for a patient irrespective of their professional discipline. Data on the outcomes in terms of satisfaction and service quality will be given emphasis. The service lines will then focus on improving their performance, which will create a competitive and engaging atmosphere.
Conclusion
Given the hierarchical nature of many healthcare systems, the involvement of the workforce in decision-making is crucial in effecting organizational change. This can be achieved through the action of frontline managers and an approach that focuses on patient needs within care settings especially during emergencies.
References
Anson, B. (2003). Taking charge in a volatile health care marketplace. Human Resource Planning,23(4), 21-24.
Eisenhardt, K. (2002). Has Strategy Changed? MIT Sloan Management Review, 88-91.
Khaliq, A., Huang, C., Ganti, A., Invie, K., & Smego, R. (2007). Comparison of resource Utilization and clinical outcomes between teaching and nonteaching medical services. J Hosp Med, 2,150-153.
Parekh, V., Saint, S., Furney, S., Kaufman, S., & McMahon, L. (2004). What effect does Inpatient physician specialty and experience have on clinical outcomes and resource utilization on a general medical service. J Gen Intern Med, 19, 395-401.
Pfeffer, J. (2005). Producing Sustainable Competitive Advantage through the Effective Management of People. Academy of Management Executive, 9(1), 55-62.
Reichers, E., Wanous, P., & Austin, T. (2007). Understanding and Management Cynicism about Organizational Change. Academy of Management Executive, 11(1), 48-53.