The Public University Hospitals in Ghana - Research Paper Example

?Management College: Critical Analysis of Client Care Practices, Innovation and Pathways for Rewarding Healthy and Productive Behaviour among Senior and Junior Staff of the Public University Hospitals in Ghana Abstract The duty of a human resource manager is to ensure that all the employees are satisfied to ensure that labour resource is optimally utilized. The aim of this research survey is to investigate the how the effective the Public university hospitals in Ghana have achieved worker motivation, which is critical if quality client service is to be achieved. The study takes advantage of the merits of both qualitative and quantitative studies to come up with a research based conclusion. This will assist to recommend possible improvement strategies which will energize the employees to achieve the organizational target. Introduction In modern organizations, worker motivation is an issue of significant concern to the human resource managers due to its close association with employee satisfaction. Consequently, global research has considerably paid attention to employee satisfaction strategies in different organizations (Aizcorbe, Moylan & Robbins, 2009: Arthur, 2000). The reason why worker motivation has garnered a lot of interest is because research has proven that satisfied workers are productive workers (Braganza, Awazu, & Desouza, 2009). Since employees form the labour resources in a business environment, there is need to seek optimal utilization of their skills and knowledge towards the development of organizational goals (Borzaga & Tortia, 2006). Different organizations adopt different employee reward strategies but the common objective is to align the employees to the business goals and objectives (Carl & Patton, 2001). In the health sector, employee satisfaction is important due to the great sacrifice that this sector requires given the existing shortage of working personnel in this sector (Damanpour, 1991: Hong Lu, While, & Barriball, 2005). Hence, rewarding productive staff, both junior and senior, would significantly increase their contribution to client service. The aim of this research is to investigate the staff reward strategies that Ghana university hospitals have employed to maintain a high morale among their staff. Both qualitative and quantitative surveys will be conducted to examine for this research to come up with research based conclusions and recommendations. Problem statement Lack of effective employee reward schemes in organizations limits the utilization of the labour resource in a business (Commongood Careers, 2008). Poorly motivated employees work for money and have their goals misaligned with the organizational goals. The shortage of medical personnel in the health sector requires that the few be optimally utilized to increase ensure that service delivery is efficient (Greene, 2009 : Gruneberg, 2001). Therefore, there is a need to employ innovative and dynamic motivational strategies in the health sector in order to ensure that employees drive both short term and long term goals of the organization to a success (Heskett, Sasser, & Schesinger, 1997). In Ghana, the ration of the patients to doctor ratio is high and hence efficient services can only be achieved if the employees are adequately motivated. The essence of this research paper is to evaluate the policies that have been put forward in Ghana University hospitals, and to provide recommendations to improve these policies. Objectives Main objectives To evaluate the innovation and pathways that public university hospitals of Ghana employ to reward healthy and productive behavior among senior and junior staff. Specific objectives To examine the different criteria used to assess the productivity of a staff in Ghana university Hospitals. To examine the staff-reward mechanism that is used to reward productive employees in these hospitals. To examine the degree of employee satisfaction that has been achieved in these public hospitals. To establish the quality of service that has been achieved from the employees’ productivity. To come up with viable recommendations that can be used to improve employee motivation in the public university hospitals in Ghana. Literature review Employee satisfaction is one of the areas that have garnered a lot of research in the medical sector worldwide (Launderweerd, & Boumans, 1998: Kinicki, 2002). Apart from management of finances and time, labour force has attracted a lot of attention due to the scarcity of this resource in most public hospitals. According to The American Association of Critical-care Nurses (AACCN), lack of employee motivation results in medical errors, poor service delivery, stress and conflict among health professionals. AACCN recognized the scarcity of nurses in the health sector and recommended that employee loyalty must be attained through innovative motivation schemes (Lincoln, & Kallerberg, 1990). In Africa, various researches have been conducted to measure the effectiveness of health professionals in public hospitals (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990). Although it has been a challenge for researchers to quantize the effectiveness of employee motivation programs, many of them have used the employee satisfaction as the best way to measure effectiveness of these programs (McGregor, 2006: Manso, 2009). In Africa, research has proved that employee dissatisfaction has affected the employees’ morale leading to ineffective service delivery. For instance, strikes are rampant especially in public hospitals leading to death of patients in these countries. In Ghana, doctors in the public health sector have expressed dissatisfaction through industrial action in various occasions. In March, 2013, Ghana Medical Association (GMA) launched a nationwide strike to coerce the Fair wages and Salary commission to take prompt action to increase their salaries and other welfare (Abugre, 2011). In another incident, the Chairman of GMA claimed that there is a need to provide higher salaries for medical personnel who work in rural areas to motivate them to work in these harsh conditions (O'Reilly, Chatman, & Caldwell, 1999). Although little research has been conducted to analyse the motivation schemes in Ghana, it is clear that poor motivation of health professionals is an issue of concern in Ghana. Methodology For this study, the study population was the public university hospitals in Ghana; the sample population was selected to include two tertiary level medical institutions: The Konfo Anokye Training medical hospital affiliated with Kwame Nkrumah University and the University of Cape Coast medical hospital. In this study, quantitative survey will be conducted by designing closed ended questionnaires and issuing them to the sample population; the designed questionnaires were issued to the human resource managers of the sampled hospitals. Qualitative analysis was employed through oral interviews of 50 medical staffs chosen randomly with the aim of investigating their satisfaction with employee motivation plans of the institutions (Tsui, Peacre, Porter, & Tripoli, 1997: Timmerman, 2009). The following criteria were used to evaluate the promotion plans of these institutions. The promotion plan Employee satisfaction Salary scales Salary satisfaction Period before promotion Promotion schemes Overtime payment Overtime Job-on-leave payment Working when on leave Other benefits Other issues In the data processing stage, the percentage and mean of employees who were satisfied or dissatisfied with the employee reward schemes were computed. Percentage of satisfied employees = The remuneration schemes were compared with the international standards to come up with a critical view of the salary paid in Public university hospitals in Ghana. A critical approach was used to assess the degree of innovation employed in rewarding productive employees. Findings/ Results The results of this survey indicate that less than average employees were satisfied with their salaries. In Cape Coast Hospital, 40% were satisfied with their salaries, 39% percent were dissatisfied while the rest had no opinion. In Komfo Anokye, only 38% were satisfied, 40% were dissatisfied while the rest did not have a say about their welfare. In both institutions, the employees admitted to work for extra money during the overtime, while they indicated a negative attitude towards working during their leave even during instances of emergency. Although most employees indicated satisfaction with employee promotion schemes, 70% in Cape Coast Hospital and 68% in Komfo Anokye indicated did not understand the criteria for promotion. Other benefits that were common in both institutions include lunch and morning tea. The response of both the employees and the questionnaire respondents indicated suppressed innovation and pathways of rewarding employees in the health sector. Conclusion The Findings of this study point out that the employees are demotivated due to poor salary schemes. In addition, there exists no clear mechanisms to identify and reward productive employees and no communication has been made to the employees. In addition, the employees are not motivated to work during their live periods since there is little payment during this period. In this view, the employee morale is down and the strikes associated with public university hospitals have a direct linkage with poor motivation programs (Skarzynski, & Gibson, 2008: Shen et al, 2009: Timmerman, 2009). This research points out that the health sector has demonstrated little innovation in building pathways for recognizing productive employee. The impact that this has is that the employees have no much loyalty for these organizations and hence their service delivery is poor (Stood & Tellis, 2009.). Recommendations There is a need for public university hospitals to design and communicate to the employees the criteria for reward or promotion. This will ensure that only dedicated employees are recognized to ensure transparency and fairness (Mobley, 2000: Rucci, Kirn, & Quinn, 2008). This will tap the labour force efficiently in order to achieve high profits which in turn will enable them to pay the employee satisfying salaries. It would be recommendable to integrate innovation in reward programs in order to maintain the employee morale high during their service delivery (Silvestro, 2002: Spector, 1997). For instance, the public university hospitals should award special talents such as surgery with the privilege of visiting international surgery forums to enhance their expertise (The Brookings Institution, 2002). Innovative and efficient pathways will energize the employees to remain active in their service delivery, which in turn will add customer value in Public university hospitals in Ghana. Appendix 1: Questionnaire Respondent Date___________ NAME :____________________ POSITION :____________________ 1. 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