Abstract
The value discipline of product leadership applies to the service sector as much as it applies to manufacturing. The Prime Healthcare Group is an innovative healthcare company that operates corporate clinics for its clients. It also operates site clinics for clients with large projects. These two aspects of the service delivery model of the Prime Healthcare Group demonstrate its mastery of the value discipline of product leadership. A work-life balance policy must increase the productivity of employees. It covers only the aspects of employees’ lives that deal directly with work.
Its main provisions include discouragement of overtime work, stressing physical fitness, the use of telecommuting, flextime, shifts and part time work. The main lessons learnt from this project include the fact that service oriented companies can also practice the value discipline of product leadership. Other lessons include the need to involve stakeholders in policy development, and the need to fit new policies within the broader policy framework.
Introduction
This paper contains three parts. The first part presents an analysis of the value discipline of product leadership in the context of the Prime Healthcare Group. The second section presents a policy on work-life balance, and the third section is a reflection on the lessons learnt in the course of developing this project.
Value Discipline of Product Leadership
The Prime Healthcare Group is one of the leading healthcare providers in Dubai. The company has operations in various parts of the UAE including Dubai, Sharjar, and Abu Dhabi (Prime Healthcare Group, 2013). This company has very innovative approaches to healthcare delivery based on the value discipline of product leadership. An initial examination of the operations of the company may mislead one into thinking that Prime Healthcare is Group is simply one of the healthcare providers in the UAE. However, a deeper examination of the operations of the institution reveals a company with a strong entrepreneurial culture and a very innovative approach to healthcare delivery.
The value discipline of product leadership refers to the focus on the creation and delivery of innovative products. This discipline is usually associated with high-tech companies dealing with technological products. For instance, Apple Inc. has a solid reputation as a product leader going back to the days of the Apple 1, and Apple 2 computers. In recent times, Apple Inc. has led the market in the production of the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. These products became instant market leaders in their market segments. The value discipline of product leadership is not restricted to product manufacturers. Rather, the disciple applies to all business regardless of whether they provide goods or services (Eichen, 2014).
The three reasons why Prime Healthcare Group provides good examples of product leadership are as follows. First, the group runs several health centers as part of its service delivery model. In addition, it has a diagnostic laboratory, and is in the process of constructing an ultra modern inpatient facility in Dubai (Prime Healthcare Group, 2013). The specific aspect of interest in the company’s service delivery model is the presence of corporate clinics. The Prime Healthcare Group agreed to open corporate clinics within the premises of various corporate clients (Prime Healthcare Group, 2013). This saves the corporate client valuable time usually lost when employees go off site to seek medical attention.
The second aspect showing the dedication of the Prime Healthcare Group to the value discipline of product leadership is the establishment of site clinics for clients who undertake site based projects (Prime Healthcare Group, 2013). The Prime Healthcare Group can establish a site clinic to take care of sick employees and those who sustain injuries in the course of the project. The site clinic is a very innovative service delivery model that reduces commuting time to health facilities and can even save lives. This product is very popular with construction companies, mining companies, and drilling companies.
Work-Life Balance Policy
This section covers a work-life balance policy intended for a medium sized organization. The policy assumes that the organization can accommodate flextime and telecommuting. It also assumes that the organization uses a shift system to organize its workforce.
Purpose
The purpose of the work-life balance policy is twofold. First, it seeks to ensure that all employees have an effective strategy of involvement in aspects that enhance the quality of their lives (UCL, 2013). Secondly, it seeks to ensure that all employees have stable living environments away from work (UCL, 2013). This comes from the recognition that conditions at home can affect the productivity of an employee.
Scope
The scope of this policy covers aspects of work that can impinge on the work-life balance of every employee. These aspects include time spent at work, working from home, and scheduled breaks (time off and leaves). The policy does not handle issues individual employees should manage on their own. The company fully respects the ability of its employees to manage their private lives.
Definitions
Work-life balance
The ability of employees to find equilibrium between work-related activities and activities related to their personal lives (UCL, 2013).
Flextime
Provision for employees to report to work at a flexible time provided the employees fulfill their contractual working hours (Kazmi, 2008).
Stakeholders
Stakeholders refer to all persons affected by this policy directly and indirectly (Kazmi, 2008).
Policy Statements
Overtime
The company discourages overtime work by any employee beyond the normal hours. While it may be necessary for certain employees to work for longer hours during certain periods, consistent overtime work is not encouraged.
Exercise
All employees are encouraged to undertake activities that will help them to keep fit physically. This includes taking advantage of workplace facilities such as the staff gym to maintain their physical fitness. Staff members are also required to take an annual medical check to ascertain their medical fitness for work. Its purpose is to keep the employees aware of their health status in order to take any required action to stay healthy.
Telecommuting
The company accommodates telecommuting as a viable way of enabling employees to achieve work-life balance. In this regard, any employee whose nature of work can allow for offsite management can apply to become a telecommuter. Such an employee must prove that telecommuting will not affect working time and the quality of work. In addition, the employee must show that telecommuting will not interfere with the objectives of the company in any way.
Flextime
The company recognizes flextime work practices as a genuine approach towards achieving work-life balance. In this sense, the employee can choose late reporting time option, early reporting time option, a long break option, or flexible hours on different days of the week. In any case, the employee must respect the contractual hours, and must have worked for the full number of hours stated in the contractual hour at the end of every week.
Shifts
Since the company uses shifts in its work design, employees are free to apply for shifts that support their work-life balance objectives. In regards to shifts, no employee will work for more than one shift without taking a break of at least six hours between shifts. An employee can also request for longer shifts of up to three hours in excess of normal working time if this can help to support a personal work-life balance objectives.
Part-time Work
The company discourages full time employees from taking a second job, or running a parallel business concern while working for the company. On the other hand, the company respects the decision of part-time workers to take more than one job. Part-time workers are eligible for all the work-life balance policy provisions. The company also acknowledges that some employees may choose to become part-time workers in order to meet personal work-life balance objectives.
Non-Compliance
The impacts of non-compliance with this policy on the employees will be as follows. An employee risks the termination of their contracts if they do not abide by all the mandatory provision of this policy. These policies include overtime work, holding multiple jobs with the exception of part-time workers and failure to attain weekly contractual working hours. All employees should also be aware that failure to take advantage of the provisions of this policy might affect their productivity. Productivity is a key factor in promotion decisions and during the review of remuneration packages.
The company shall take note of issues arising from the personal lives of employees that adversely affects the family life, professional development, and productivity of every employee. While the company will prefer to take a compassionate view in regards to such matters, it shall not hesitate to reprimand any employee who could have attained better work-life balance by taking advantage of the provisions of this policy.
Responsibilities
The persons responsible for the implementation of this policy are as follows. First, the HR Department shall be responsible for a review of all policy provisions presented in this document in line with the objectives of the company. The HR Department shall also keep and analyze the time logs for each employee, and shall write monthly reports. The HR department shall also be responsible for analyzing requests for flextime, part-time work, requests to telecommute, and all shift proposals. The HR Department shall ascertain that the proposals presented by employees are realistic and will not have an adverse effect on the operations of the company.
The heads of departments shall approve all requests presented by their subordinates based on written recommendations from the HR Department. The heads of department shall also discipline errant employees.
The Board shall consider all cases requiring the adjustment of contracts, termination of employment, and applications for career breaks. The main advisors to the board in regards to this policy will be the HR Department and the various heads of department.
Dates
This policy will come into force at the end of January 2014, and after the first meeting of the Board in the Year 2014. The HR department shall prepare the necessary forms, and sensitize the employees on the contents of this policy within January 2014.
Lessons Learnt
The lessons learnt from this project are as follows. First, policies must fit within the operations of an organization. This means that every organization must analyze its environment to determine how to apply specific components of a policy. Even if the organization borrows a policy from another organization, it must domesticate it to meet its unique needs. In the same vein, it is important to determine how each new policy interacts with existing policies. This is important because failure to fit a new policy within the overall policy framework of the organization can lead to confusion.
The second lesson learnt from this project is that it is not enough to prepare a policy. Every policy requires an implementation plan and a schedule. A new policy cannot come into effect immediately if the infrastructure needed to implement it is missing. The organization must prepare for the adoption of the policy. A policy also needs monitoring and evaluation to determine its effectiveness. From the policy prepared above, it is clear that the HR Department is the custodian of the work-life balance policy. This gives the HR Department the responsibility of ensuring that the policy is active and that it does not interfere with the operations of the organization.
The third main lesson learnt in the process of developing this policy is that the process should be stakeholder driven. In this case, all the proposals arose from research. However, it is clear that if the policy is to fit in a real life organization, some of the options given may not apply. In addition, there may be more effective policy options for the organization that are not included in the list provided. A policy development process that involves stakeholders ensures that the policy has wide acceptance, and is relevant to the needs of the organization.
The main lesson learnt in the process of writing the section on the value discipline of product leadership was that even service sector organizations in established industries could create unique service delivery models. In this case, they can attain product leadership through a superior product delivery model.
References
Eichen, M. (2014). Value Disciplines: A Lens for Successful Decision Making in IT. Web.
Kazmi, A. (2008). Strategic Management and Business Policy. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
Prime Healthcare Group. (2013). About Us. Web.
UCL. (2013). UCL Human Resource. Web.