Management of Human Resources at Patton-Fuller Community Hospital - Essay Example

Management of Human Resources Patton-Fuller Community Hospital Introduction Patton-fuller community hospital is a community hospital that was initially set up in 1975. It was set up to address the health care concerns of the most serious medical conditions. The Hospital Human Resource department is supposed to ensure that it constantly supports and develops the hospital policies at all times. This paper seeks to assess the degree to which the Organization’s human resources are able to actively support and contribute to the hospital’s missions and objectives and the possible recommendations that can be made that will result in better contribution towards the organization’s objectives and mission by the human resources. Patton-Fuller Hospital’s Mission and Objective Patton-Fuller Community Hospital states its mission and objective as being the treatment of the most important health concerns – the patients. It also states that it is keen to provide healthcare services that are carefully designed to effectively meet the patient’s needs at every stage of their lives. Patient care is their most important job. The hospital also seeks to ensure that a patient’s stay at the hospital is the most pleasant experience possible for the patient (Patton-fuller Community Hospital). SWOT Analysis of Patton-Fuller Community Hospital’s Human Resources A good method that can be used to effectively analyze Patton-Fuller Community Hospital’s human resources contribution to the organization’s missions and objectives is to conduct a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is crucial in the establishment of an organization’s strength’s, opportunities, weaknesses and threats. The analysis is seen to force an organization’s management to carefully take an objective look at the external (threats and opportunities) and internal (weaknesses and strength) aspects of its overall operations so as to be able to identify both the areas of concern and those of opportunity. This will enable them to be able to take actions that will be necessary to help increase or defend the organization’s market share (Walker & Miller, 65). Strengths The human resources at Patton-Fuller are seen to offer several key strengths that can be seen to actively contribute towards the support of the organization’s objectives and missions. Key among these strengths is the fact that the hospital boasts of employing a stable and experienced workforce across the board in all departments (Wilson, 147). This has played a pivotal role in ensuring that the medical procedures and every day operations at the hospital run smoothly and effectively. This is seen to be in line with the hospital’s objective of ensuring that a patient’s experience is as pleasant as possible (Patton-fuller Community Hospital). Another key strength that the human resources at the organization display is a good morale among the workforce. The good morale positively reflects on the overall job performance and delivery seen across the organization’s workforce (Wilson, 147). By the overall effective job performance of the human resources at Patton-Fuller Community Hospital, the organization’s objective of ensuring that the patient’s care is their most important job is seen to be achieved. Patton-Fuller Community Hospital is also seen to have at its disposal advanced medical technological devices that the organization’s human resources use to analyze and perform procedures on patients with extremely high levels and degrees of success rates. This is seen to further strengthen the organization’s mission of meeting the patient’s needs at every stage of their lives (Patton-fuller Community Hospital). Weaknesses Patton-Fuller hospital is seen to exhibit a number of weaknesses which are seen to adversely affect its human resources contribution to the organization’s mission and objective. Key among these weaknesses is the fact that the organization is seen to currently be seriously understaffed. This condition is seriously affecting the human resources in terms of the time taken to offer proper care and attention when dealing with patients. This is as a result of the excessive workload that the human resources have to bear effectively limiting the amount of time that they can dedicate towards attending a single patient. The staff members are also greatly fatigued as a result of the heavy workload. This is seen to sometimes negatively affect their temperament causing frequent clashes between the human resources and sometimes even between the human resources and the patients that they are attending. Some members of the organization’s human resources are sometimes seen to be underperforming in terms of effectively and punctually performing their duties. This has been attributed to the members feeling underappreciated as a result of their low wages and salaries. Opportunities One of the major opportunities in the human resources at the organization is the implementation of the “Employees return to learning” scheme. The scheme has been positively received by all the company employees since its inception and has played a major role in ensuring that the organization’s human resources have adequate and updated skills relevant to the performance of their duties. The scheme could be expanded to accommodate more employees at a time so that more of the employees can be able to benefit from it. The Organization’s recent purchase of computers and machines designed to replace the old and manual methods of patient data collection and analysis is seen to greatly help in increasing the speed at which a patient’s diagnosis is made and the success rate of the patient’s treatment. This has led to the doctors at the hospital being able to attend to and treat more patients in a day than they could previously be able to (Wilson, 147). The hospital is currently able to afford to hire some of the best specialized doctors in all the different fields of medicine. If a strategy targeted at employing these specialized doctors is initiated, the hospital will stand to gain as it will be able to offer some services that the surrounding hospitals cannot be able to deliver. As a result of this, it will be able to attend to more patients; this will ultimately lead to the hospital being able to obtain more funds to facilitate its day-to-day operations and hence be able to stay in line with its missions and objectives. Threats Currently, the hospital is seen to be facing some major threats both from external and internal forces. Some of the threats from the internal sources are seen as a result of some of its staff members being offered better paying positions at rival hospitals. This is especially seen among the professionals who have undergone the return to work program and have been able to improve their skills and qualifications. Another possible threat to the organization is that some of the key team leaders in the organization’s human resource department are scheduled for retirement after many years of service. If proper and clear strategies are not put in place, there is the fear that a new team of leaders in the human resource department might institute new polices which might have a negative impact on the human resources overall contribution to the hospital’s mission and objective (Wilson, 147). Recommendations to Effectively Deal with the Results of the SWOT Analysis As stated earlier, one of the major strengths in the organization is the experienced and stable workforce it employs. One of the chief recommendations that can be made is that attempts should be made to ensure that the current stable and experienced staff are maintained at all costs. This can be done by improving the wages and salaries that they receive in order to make them more competitive in comparison to what other hospitals and health institutions have to offer. The hospital should also make attempts at looking into employing new members of staff. This is to try and reduce the workload of the current staff members. The staff levels are currently seen to be well below the recommended levels for a hospital of this size. Increasing the number of staff members will also help in further boosting the morale of the hospital’s human resources. The time-table used for the allocation of shifts among the hospital’s human resources also needs to be revised. This is to ensure that the staff members all get equal amounts of workload and sufficient time off to ensure that they are well rested and in prime condition to resume work duties at the end of their off-duty periods. The hospital should design and implement systems which will be used in ensuring that only the right persons with the best policies for the hospital are employed at the end of the tenure of the current human resources management team. This will be so as to avoid a major upheaval of the whole human resources system. A sudden change in the hospital’s human resources policies might have a negative impact on the human resources contribution to the hospital’s delivery of its mission and goals. An Assessment of Patton-Fuller’s Creation of a Successful Employee Culture Patton-Fuller is seen to have successfully created a culture that is keen to stimulate employee loyalty, value their contributions and enhance the organization’s staff retention. This is seen by the ability of all the organization’s employees being given opportunities to make recommendations on how to improve the workings of the hospital. The opinions and views that the employees make are carefully analyzed by the hospital’s management and if found to be sufficient, they are effectively implemented. The hospital’s “Employees return to learning” scheme is also seen to help in enhancing staff retention and stimulating their loyalty. This is because the hospital is seen to portray an image of concern for the welfare and wellbeing of its employees. The hospital also offers greatly subsidized rates for all its employees who happen to be in need of medical attention. This has gone a long way in fostering employee loyalty. The Effects of the Regulatory Environment on Human Resource Management at Patton-Fuller Patton-Fuller Community Hospital hopes to grow the number of its current human resources to sufficient levels that will be better able to serve the needs of the hospital’s daily running. In line with this, the hospital has been trying to employ qualified employees irrespective of whether they are foreigners or Americans. The regulatory environment has, however, ensured that very keen procedures are followed during the hire of any foreigners. This is because the Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) specifically cites that the employers are responsible for ensuring that they only hire foreigners who are authorized to work in the country. Failure to do this can have some very harsh penalties. The act also prohibits employers from practicing any discrimination on the basis of culture, nation of origin, or even a person’s citizenship status (Fallon & McConnell, 49). The wages and salaries that the hospital offers to its employees must be in line with the Fair labor Standards Act (1938). The law regulates the minimum wages and length of working hours. The hospital must ensure that it complies with these regulations even as it seeks to expand its human resources (Fallon & McConnell, 43). Summary of the Effectiveness of the Contribution of Human Resources at Patton-Fuller Community Hospital towards the Hospital’s Missions and Goals From the SWOT analysis conducted, the Human resource department at Patton-Fuller community hospital is seen to play a major role in the promotion and attainment of the hospital’s missions and goals. The results of the SWOT analysis list the strengths of the hospital as being the stable and experienced workforce that it employs the good and positive morale of its staff and the effective utilization of the company’s technological resources in the diagnosis and treatment of its patients (Wilson, 147). The weaknesses that are seen to plague the organization as per the analysis include the acute understaffing experienced in the facility, the fatigue that results from the understaffing, and the underperformance of its staff as a result of relatively low salaries and wages. The opportunities that the hospital is seen to have includes the success of the employees return to work scheme and the ability of the hospital to hire the best specialized doctors from the different fields of medicine (Wilson, 147). The threats that face the hospital include the constant poaching of its qualified staff by other competing hospitals and health facilities and the possible negative impact of a human resources policy change by the new incoming leadership team. Some of the recommendations that have been made to tackle the challenges raised include increasing the wages and salaries paid to the hospital employees to competitive rates, the hiring of new staff members to reduce work load, and the hiring of only the right people with the right policies to replace the outgoing human resources team (Wilson, 147). In general, the human resources team can be seen to effectively contribute to the attainment of the hospitals mission and objectives. References Fallon, F. L., & McConnell, R. C. (2007). Human resource management in health care : principles and Practice., Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Patton-fuller Community Hospital. Retrieved on Oct. 17, 2012 from Walker, R. J., & Miller, E. J. (2010). Supervision in the hospitality industry: leading human resources. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley. Wilson, P. J. (2005). Human resource development : learning & training for individuals & organizations. London [u.a.]: Kogan. Read More