Method of Recruitment and Selection of NHS - Term Paper Example

202849 INTRODUCTION In the days of globalised business, managing and leading people are the most prominent part of any organisation, and it is no different in NHS. NHS in spite of being the health rendering organisation, has grown into an enormous corporate sector which Bevin would not have recognised today. It is a professional organisation with problems; but the problems have been showing signs of being curbed now. Definitely it is not like a business firm; instead, it is like a model health rendering organisation with further potential to grow and expand. I will argue that my host organisation, that is, NHS, has, in recent years, adopted an impressive and useful method of recruitment and selection. Notwithstanding some issues here and there, I should say that any employee would be able to perform effectively under the circumstances. MANAGING It is not possible to say that NHS always has been above reproach in its management of human resources. The National Survey of NHS Staff, 2005, The Healthcare Commission mentioned that '26% encountered bullying, harassment or abuse from patients or patients' relatives, 15% were abused by their colleagues, 60% of staff had an appraisal, 36% suffered from work related stress, 7% experienced discrimination'. It also said '52% received training, learning or development in infection control and 73% took advantage of flexible working arrangements,' http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2006/03/28/34655/progress-on-violence-against-nhs-employees-is-just-the-starting.html Nevertheless, the report also showed that level of violence reported by staff has decreased and discrimination within the NHS too has come down by a remarkable extent. The relationship between the patients, their relatives and the NHS employees has shown an improving trend in recent years. There had been another instance of high nursing staff rapid turnover and there was a thorough enquiry into the issue. The ensuing report said that there existed serious workplace problems that were not noticed and were not dealt with. There was a deep impact of displacement and many measures were suggested by the HR staff. "The views of senior HR staff were particularly important, because of their experience in staff retention and their expertise in managing organisational change. This second phase took place in December 2005 and March 2006, involving discussions with HR directors, senior managers, nurses, allied health professionals and doctors," http://www.nhsemployers.org/workforce/workforce-1132.cfm. This incident has been regarded as a model and the report as a general guidance. According to the policy of the Trust, ensuring that the current employees are treated with dignity, respect, understanding and absolute fairness is very important. NHS promotes conditions in which all the employees could reach their fullest potential so that their contributions to the Trust are maximised. Discrimination of any kind including racism is completely discouraged in the organisation. Along with the equal opportunities, the Trust feels that it is necessary to understand the diversity in the communities and is adequately represented within the Trust. One of the mission statements of the organisation is to accept the diversity and not ignore or minimise it. It believes in employing a workforce that reflects the community it serves. The dimensions of NHS have changed in recent years and management has not remained what it used to be. Today, in any organisation, the manager's work, has become more complicated and complex. "Managers are overburdened with obligations, yet cannot easily delegate their tasks. As a result, they are driven to overwork and forced to do many tasks superficially. Brevity, fragmentation, and verbal communication characterize their work. Yet, these are the very characteristics of managerial work, that have impeded scientific attempts to improve it," Gabarro (1992, p.18). Managing NHS issues is not an easy matter either, due to the enormous magnitude of the work and responsibilities. Regular analysis of the records and almost daily monitoring assures that unlawful direct or indirect discriminations do not take place and equality of opportunities is maintained. Trade unions are in touch with the ongoing policies of the Trust. An effective action plan is in place to curb any potential discrimination and the policy is based on the long-term vision of the country. Ethnic minority issue has still remained a problem in the NHS and it is reported that the huge organisation has not done much in this direction. "On the specific issue of ethnic minority staff in the NHS, the final report by the King's Fund Equal Opportunities Task Force (1990) revealed that health authorities had made little progress in tackling racial inequalities and, thus, ethnic minority staff were still under-represented in senior posts and disproportionately found among the lower grades of ancillaries and nurses," Bagilhole (1999, p.236). But now this issue is being addressed effectively and is showing a downward trend. This is a self-gratifying matter for NHS and shows that any employee irrespective of the background can function very well in the organisation. RECRUITMENT The recruitment and selection in NHS has always been effective and fair. In recent years, the process has been very transparent. The vacancy advertising, selection procedure, training and the conditions under which the employees work are all governed by the equal opportunities and non-discrimination policies. Vacancy advertising with the job descriptions is exhibited on the Trust's Vacancy Bulletin at least for ten days for proper visibility and it is managerial decision to go for either internal or external recruitment, depending upon the situations. Adverts will cover the disability policy and equality policy both. People with disability and even mental health problems are encouraged to apply if they find the job-related criteria and description suitable. To make it easier for the minorities, a very high standard of English is not imperative; instead, the potential performance is given more weight. This enables minority communities to compete better. External adverts are sent to career offices, schools, job centres, voluntary organisations, universities and schools etc. so that the deserving candidates do not miss out on the opportunity. If there is an occasion of targeting a particular minority, managers even might reach out the media with stress laid upon the "Genuine occupational qualification" more than other branches of personality. Selection is governed by job analysis, development and suiting of role profiles, self-assessment questionnaires, evaluating interview and the feedback of all tests and interviews. SELECTION PROCESS During the selection, the candidates are informed the various dimensions of the role, key tasks and the way they are expected to be performed, competencies required etc. so that the role profile is clear to the candidate, because Human Resource identification is still considered to be a complex job. "The roles undertaken by HR professionals are, in reality, multiple, not single. HR professionals must fulfil both operational and strategic roles; they must be both police and partners; and they must take responsibility for both qualitative and quantitative goals over the short and long term," (Ulrich, 1997: 24) in Proctor (1999, p.1079). The East Sussex Hospital Guide of NHS Trust says: "The aim of the recruitment process is to select the best possible candidate for the vacancy.Recruiters should be mindful of the Trust's commitment to equal opportunities and recognise and value the differences between people. This means giving everyone a fair chance to fulfil their potential, regardless of race, ethnic origin, sex, marital status, religion, disability, age or sexual orientation," Recruitment and Selection Guide, 2005, http://www.esh.nhs.uk/ses/attachments/2005-08_recruitment_selection_guide.pdf Once the person is recruited, with all the rules and regulations in place, it should not be enormously difficult to reach the fullest job potential, as NHS tries to render equal opportunities to all. In addition, the goal of NHS remains the same. The patient satisfaction is kept as the highest goal while applying policies on recruitment and selection process. NHS thinks that recruitment is an important interface with the public and also is the best investment with long term implications and focuses on finding applications with appropriate level of experience, potential to enhance knowledge and capability of skills improvement to suit the aims of NHS. The guidelines have been made clear to the Appointing officers with specific principles and mission statements to make them conduct the recruitment and selection process carefully and impartially. NHS has struggled to give 'equality of opportunity, fairness, consistency, transparency and openness to scrutiny, competency based approach, internal staff development wherever possible' etc. Racial equality is one of the cornerstones of NHS policy and minorities are not excluded now in any way. Purpose, goal, achievement all being the same with openness in every step, any individual who has been selected and recruited, should not find it difficult to function. GOOD PRACTICE Line managers and supervisors, HR managers have a say in recruitment, selection and staff development that usually follows the selection. Once employed, the staff is trained in better communication because poor communication can lead to misunderstanding and discrimination in the long run. General diversity awareness training is provided to supervisory staff to increase diverse cultural awareness and the staff is encouraged to take advantage of all the trainings. Induction programme familiarises with the existing policy, staff rights and duties and their responsibilities. There are many programmes where all the barriers between the communities are pulled down and additional facilities like flexible hours etc. are introduced. Every step tries to make the working life easier for the new employees. LEADERSHIP In an interview with the British Journal of Health Care Management, Professor Halligan said that the NHS was suffering from a leadership void which had caused the service to lose its way. In particular he cited lack of leadership as a reason for the failure to take advantage of smart processes and enabling technology to deliver the quality of care that doctors wanted to see, http://www.e-health-insider.com/News/1807/halligan_speaks_out_on_nhs_leadership This has been one of the key issues that have plagued NHS unendingly. There are many questions about the leadership in NHS, the way it is funded, even though it is peopled by brilliant and dedicated medical professionals, it is not blessed with enormous leadership dimension. Mostly the blame rests on the government policies, which have changed the professionals into ordinary salaried employees without much scope for personal decision making. This kills their leadership potential, responsibility initiative and personal involvement. But the framework of personal leadership qualities of NHS stresses on self belief, self awareness, self management, drive for improvement, personal integrity, setting direction, seizing the future, intellectual flexibility, broad scanning, political astuteness, drive for result etc. http://www.nhsleadershipqualities.nhs.uk/portals/0/the_framework.pdf. It is important to know that leadership is a commendable criterion in a huge organization to make it work without hindrances. "The management and leadership of organising and evaluating education for empowered caring albeit within a regulated framework requires teaching and learning using insightful and autonomous strategies that develop creative, flexible, interdependent, independent, accepting people" Calpin-Davies (2003). One of the major responsibilities of the staff is familiarising the new employees with Trust policies and procedures and every work needs leadership skills. Leadership in NHS has deteriorated to an alarming extent, according to recent studies. This is not entirely the problem of employees. They are struggling with many disadvantageous circumstances that are piling up against them. "The combination of financial pressures, rapidly rising public expectations, and legitimate concerns about unacceptable variations in clinical practice have led to questioning of professional performance. In this context, the challenge for clinicians and the organisations speaking on their behalf is to acknowledge the inevitability of increased accountability and to work with reform" says Chris Ham (2003). Leadership provides direction; security and sense of belonging to the new workers. Many scholars have spoken in favour of transformational leadership being introduced in NHS. "Central to all policies, and coherent throughout the NHS modernisation, is the notion of 'transformational leadership' as opposed to 'transactional leadership' as being the way in which the work force will be led through service developments and change," Jasper 2005, p.7). Transformational leadership is identified as that mode of leadership where leaders and the followers can help and inspire each other. According to Jasper, there exists a possibility of leadership in all the people in varying degrees and for an organisation like NHS, all the leadership available is needed. "The notion of leadership-for-all challenges the very idea of leadership itself as being vested in the few. Fundamentally though, it is a recognition of human potential that there is a possibility for us all to lead in some way, however small, and that it is incumbent upon everyone to encourage individuals in striving toward this potential," (ibid, p.248). Still the question of leadership remains as a nagging point. It could also be mentioned that the frequently changing policies of NHS create further problems to leadership in the desperate bid for adjustment to the eternally altering government directives. Any employee, who joins NHS, should be able to function to the fullest potential in the current atmosphere. Personal problems of the employees are dealt within the managerial level with sufficient counseling, advice and understanding. Hence, growth of the employee to the fullest potential should not be hindered in any way by the prevailing employment policies of NHS. RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION All policies regarding sickness, grievances, harassment, redundancy etc. have to be applied without any kind of discrimination. This is necessary in the light of the Human Rights Acts of EU and UK. Promoting equality becomes one of the main responsibilities of the managers. They should deal with the concerns of the staff fairly and monitor the behaviour of the staff within their sphere of responsibility. Positive action has to be taken on issues of racial and sex discrimination. It is not possible to simply dismiss the achievements of NHS in management and leadership regions. NHS has created tremendous awareness and an unbelievable amount of health work has been achieved in recent years. It is not right to disregard its achievements even though it has fallen short in many areas. But the public expectation and the government policy resolutions could be very difficult to meet. This does not mean that NHS lacks the management and leadership skills. If NHS shows more adapting ways to meet the eternally growing new requirements like flexible time, communication with the patients and their relatives, less of orthodox approach and more of public relations, it is difficult to say that NHS should be written off. All it needs is a combination approach of old and new. Imbibing management and leadership qualities with updated dimensions is important to create a better atmosphere for the employees. This does not mean that the current recruitment and selection programmes are inadequate to meet the needs of NHS. They are adequate; but with multi-dimensional approach, they could enhance further opportunities. This report reiterates that the atmosphere for the work potential is immense in NHS. It could only get better with the implication of the above recommendations. BIBLIOGRAPHY . 1. Bagilhole, Barbara, 'Management Responses to Equal Opportunities for Ethnic Minority Women Within an NHS Hospital Trust,' Jnl Soc. Pol., 28, 2, 235-248. 2. Gabarro, John J. (1992), Managing People and Organisations, Boston, Harvard Business School Publications. 3. Ham, Cris, 'Improving the performance of health services: the role of clinical leadership,' The Lancet, Vol 361, Issue 9373, pages 1978-1980 4. Jasper, Melanie (2005), Effective Healthcare Leadership, Oxford, Blackwell. 5. Procter, Stephen, 'The role of the personnel function: roles, perceptions and processes in an NHS trust,' The International Journal of Human Resources Management, 10:6 December 1999 1077-1091. 6. Recruitment and Selection Guide, 2005, http://www.esh.nhs.uk/ses/attachments/2005-08_recruitment_selection_guide.pdf ONLINE SOURCES 1. http://www.e-health-insider.com/News/1807/halligan_speaks_out_on_nhs_leadership 2. http://www.nhsleadershipqualities.nhs.uk/portals/0/the_framework.pdf 3. http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2006/03/28/34655/progress-on-violence-against-nhs-employees-is-just-the-starting.html 4. http://www.nhsemployers.org/workforce/workforce-1132.cfm Read More