Employment of Individuals to Work in St-Patricks Nursing Home - Assignment Example

Human Resources: Case Scenario – St - Patrick’s Nursing Home By al Affiliation June 24, Learning Outcome 1 (1.1, 1.2, 1.3) 1 Explain the factors that need to be considered when planning the recruitment of individuals to work at St-Patrick’s Nursing Home. (M1) The factors that need to be considered when planning the recruitment of individuals to work at St. Patrick’s Nursing Home would first require a comprehensively designed job organization based on the goals of the nursing home. To enable St. Patrick’s Nursing Home to develop this, part of the duties of the Human Resources (HR) Officer is to perform a job analysis which would determine and specify the duties and responsibilities, the work conditions, as well as the relationships among health care practitioners (Martires, 2004). From the job analysis, a job description and job specification would detail what are the tasks and requirements for the job, as well as who would be qualified for the job. Concurrently, part of the planning phase is determining the manpower requirements or needs of St. Patrick’s Nursing Home in terms of the demand and supply of human resources. This would necessitate identifying the current staffing needs against the average number of patients confined in the nursing home. From the current pool of human resources, the HR officer would then discern the approaches that would be used for the recruitment. The sources of manpower could be from internal or external sources; where external sources include educational institutions, employment agencies, recommendations by current health care practitioners, walk-in applicants, or online sources. When St. Patrick’s Nursing Home has determined the most efficient and viable sources of needed personnel, based on the designed job description and specification, the HR Officer would be ready to implement the acquisition and recruitment of personnel. 2 Explain how relevant legislative and policy frameworks of the home country influence the selection, recruitment and employment of individuals to work in St-Patrick’s Nursing Home(M1 and D1) Relevant legislative and policy frameworks of the home country influence the selection, recruitment, and employment of individuals to work in organizations, including St. Patrick’s Nursing Home. The legislative and policy frameworks of the home country provide directional guidelines that organizations must adhere to in able for them to operate, manage, govern, maintain, and develop human resources in the most appropriate and effective manner. Labour laws would ensure that both employers and employees follow similar guidelines that ensure their protection from labour issues, especially those pertaining to compensation, benefits, equality, access to human rights, occupational safety and security, adherence to standards of professionalism, and free from discrimination or harassment in the work setting. For instance, there is the Equality Act of 2010 which govern regulations pertaining to pay between male and female employees, elimination of discrimination, increasing of equality of opportunities, among others (The National Archives, 2010). Likewise, for St. Patrick’s Nursing Home, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is entrusted to be the regulator of health care institutions to ensure that the provision of patient care is consistent with the standards of quality and safety stipulated by the government (Quality Care Commission, 2014). Given these regulatory guidelines, nursing homes would ensure that selection, recruitment, and employment of individuals meet the standards imposed by these agencies to prevent legal impediments or sanctions. 3 Evaluate the different approaches that may be used to ensure the selection of the best individuals, and make recommendations for St-Patrick’s Nursing Home (M1 and D1) The different approaches that may be used by St. Patricks Nursing Home to ensure that the selection of the best individuals are made are hereby recommended as follows: (1) from the accurately and comprehensively developed job organization, the job description and specification of each position would provide details on the requirements and qualifications needed from applicants; (2) from the assessment of demand and supply, the HR officer would determine the manpower requirements or the number of personnel that is needed to be recruited; (3) the HR Officer would also seek potential applicants both from internal (through promotions) and external sources (using online sources and employment agencies, job offers for vacant positions would be advertised and published); (4) from the pool of job applicants who responded to the job postings, the HR Officer would streamline the list by matching job requirements and qualifications needed with those possessed by applicants (as stipulated in their respective resumes and cover letters); (5) those applicants who meet the requirements would be scheduled for examinations and interview with the HR Officer and the immediate supervisor; (6) applicants who successfully passed the examinations and interview would be hired or placed in the section or unit, as needed. To rule out favouritism and biases in the selection process, only applicants who passed the required examination would be scheduled for interview with the HR Officer. As the newly appointed HR Officer, one would schedule those applicants who passed the examination for a preliminary interview with me; then, with the immediate supervisor and finally with the HR Director. A set of criteria would be structured and provided to the interviewees to ensure that acceptance would be consistent with requirements noted in the job description, as well as those that are possessed by the contenders. Learning Outcome 2 (2.1, 2.2) 1 Explain the theories of how individuals interact in groups in relation to the types of teams that work in health and social care (M2 and D2) There are various theories of how individuals interact in groups in relation to the types of teams that work in health and social care. One of the most famous teamwork or group theories in Tuckman’s teamwork theory stipulating four stages of group development (Apex Leadership Ltd., 2014). As identified in the case, there are problems in teamwork and collaboration as manifested through the blame culture where staff members blame each other for lack of communication in endorsement of tasks from one shift to the other. As such, there were presence of conflicts, as indicated in the storming stage; where, although staff members acknowledge being part of the same team, conflict emerges due to the lack of information and the need for more effective means of communication for doing things. Another theory on teamwork within the health and social care setting is that the factors influencing effectiveness of teams are actually multi-dimensional (Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, 2006). As disclosed, “effective collaboration can lead to effective teamwork. Some studies have focused on collaboration as an outcome (that is, as an end point). In models of team effectiveness where outcomes are defined as enhanced patient care and provider satisfaction, collaboration is defined as a process” (Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, 2006, p. 6). In this regard, St. Patrick’s Nursing Home should recognize that teamwork is a collaborative process among health care practitioners. Through recognition that teams go through stages of development, management and personnel must be made aware that the goal is to provide high quality of patient care within the standards of safety and professionalism, as defined by the CQC. As such, the HR Officer should design teambuilding activities to enhance collaboration and cohesiveness to achieve a unified goal. 2 Evaluate the approaches that may be used by staff at different levels to develop and promote effective team working at St-Patrick’s Nursing Home (M2 and D2) The approaches that may be used by staff at different levels to develop and promoted effective team working at St. Patrick Nursing Home are as follows: (1) scheduling regular meetings to discuss objectives, problems and issues, policies and guidelines, as well as performance evaluation expectations and results;(2) group dynamics which aim to articulate experiences, feelings, concerns, problems, and even aspirations for the roles and responsibilities within the health care setting; (3) sensitivity training which uses an expert facilitator to resolve issues, emphasize goals, enhance productivity and team performance; and (4) quality circles, which is a “process of identifying, recognizing, and resolving problems which serve as bottlenecks in the workplace and which is performed by a group directly affecting its members” (Martires, 2004, p. 118). Learning Outcome 3 (3.1, 3.2, 3.3,) 3.1 Explain the ways in which the performance of individuals working in health and social care can be appraised (M3 and D3) It is to be emphasized that performance management is undertaken to measure the ability of the personnel to undertake their responsibilities, as defined in the job description, towards the attainment of organizational goals. Performance of individuals working in health and social care can be appraised through various means. Health care practitioners’ performance could be evaluated through the use of well-designed performance evaluation ratings. One of the rating methods is a graphic rating scale where points and ratings based on significant traits or abilities to accomplish tasks are stipulated (Martires, 2004). Likewise, other methods include: weighted checklists, ranking, forced distribution, among others (Martires, 2004). These methods could be classified as merit-based and according to work studies. Other ways to measure performance include the 360 feedback which incorporates comments and inputs from various health care practitioners and even from clients (Linman, n.d.). In addition, those working in this particular field of endeavor must be provided with appropriate and clear standards of performance, as well as the strategies or guiding principles to aid them toward accomplishments of defined tasks. 2 Assess of how individual training and development needs can be identified at St-Patrick’s Nursing Home (M3 and D3) Individual training and development needs can be identified at St. Patrick’s Nursing Homes using tools such as the performance evaluation forms where strengths and weaknesses of the staff would be clearly determined. In addition, supervisors and managers could use interviews, interpersonal communication, customer feedback, and the 360 degree feedback, noted above. When weaknesses have been appropriately identified; these should be compared to the requirements of the job or of the position. As such, training programs should therefore be designed to cater to these developmental needs to improve on skills and knowledge in identified areas. For instance, there are evident needs to develop team building, collaboration and camaraderie; as well as communication skills. More importantly, there have been weaknesses noted in the provision of health care according to high quality standards. As such, health care practitioners who directly deliver patient care need to trained according to the standards of care as prescribed by the CQC, as well as the strategies to minimize errors, customer complaints, and low performance or productivity. 3 Analyse the different strategies for promoting the continuing development of individuals in the health and social care workplace (M3 and D3) To promote continuing development of individuals in the health and social care workplace, it is important to design continued training and development programs throughout the career path of each personnel. This means that the employees should be accorded with opportunities to acquire additional and advanced capabilities to prepare them for future positions within the health care setting. Aside from training and management development programs, St. Patrick’s Nursing Home should provide career planning to guide the personnel on potential promotions that could be assumed with advanced learning and development of needed skills (Martires, 2004). As such, the different strategies for promoting continuing development are as follows: (1) encourage behavioral change towards commitment to their work and responsibilities; as well as adherence to standards of quality, safety, and professionalism; (2) promote continuing education through reading best practices, current and future trends, as well as in enrolling to higher education courses; (3) provision of facilities and support to train and develop personnel; and (4) creating an environment that supports the delivery of high quality of patient care (Woodward, 2000). A behavioral change is essential to inculcate to the personnel that undertaking of their responsibilities require commitment and adherence to quality standards. This would address the weakness of employees’ behavior that work that they just have to complete their shift and then go home. In addition, promoting continuing education could be created through emphasizing the benefits of excellent performance of their responsibilities, as pre-requisites for promotions. Likewise, by learning advanced concepts and best practices to be applied in the work setting, there would be manifested improvement in the quality of care which would provide a positive image to the nursing home. All of these would only be made possible with support from management in terms of provision of facilities, training, career planning, promotions, as well as an effectively designed incentive and motivational program (Martires, 2004). Learning Outcome 4 (4.1, 4.2, 4.3,) 1 Explain theories of leadership that apply to the health and social care workplace (M2 and D2) The leadership theories that apply in organizations also apply to the health and social care workplace. These theories include: the behavioral approach, leadership manifesting common skills or traits, the manifestation of different styles (autocratic, democratic, or free-rein), the contingency approach or situational model, and even the path-goal theory of leadership (Martires & Fule, 2004). In the health and social care setting, it was emphasized that the applicable leadership theories include modernist and postmodernist leadership theories, as well as dispersed or distributed leadership. As emphasized, “in social care, substitutes for leadership can be found in one’s professional experience. Professionals who possess a high level of expertise are one of several members of a team who may be involved in decision making, goal setting, performance measurement and evaluation, and will hold responsibilities for determining the way in which issues are dealt with in an organization” (Hafford, 2002, p. 27). On the other hand, distributed leadership was defined as “multiple sources of guidance and direction, related to the expertise in an organization, are made coherent through a common culture” (Hafford, 2002, p. 29).These leadership theories are applied in health and social care settings due to the varied teams and groups that require leadership roles and empowerment delegated to designated members. . 2 Analyse how working relationships may be managed at St-Patrick’s Nursing Home (M3) Working relationships may be managed at St. Patrick’s Nursing Home through the establishment of a clear organizational structure or chart that posits positions in a hierarchical manner. The design of an organizational structure would enable health care practitioners to determine delineation of roles and responsibilities; as well as reporting protocols. It would also establish relationships among working teams through stipulating authorities that govern and administer the performance of tasks and responsibilities. When organizational structure has been effectively designed, managers and leaders could manage working relationships through designing strategies that motivate personnel to achieved defined goals. Management function includes planning, organizing, directing and controlling facets of operations within the defined unit or department. Likewise, the management of working relationships require knowledge and application of leadership theories and motivational theories. Likewise, conceptual theories on group and teambuilding, collaboration and cohesiveness, as links to organizational performance should also be applied. At St. Patrick’s Nursing Home, there is a need to ensure that policies and procedures, codes of conduct and behavior, as well as ethical standards, should be designed and communicated to all personnel. The lack of communication of pertinent information in endorsement of tasks from one shift to the next was identified to be a cause for customer complaint and ineffective performance. In addition, problems of low pay, poor working conditions, long hours, not enough benefits or a negative atmosphere from management, fixed/inflexible contracts; inadequate salaries; recruitment based on favoritism should be urgently addressed. The institution of proper acquisition, adherence to labour laws, provision of motivational programs, and unbiased performance management systems would assist in improving working relationships which would minimize the rate of employee turnover and improve overall productivity at St. Patrick’s Nursing Home in the long run. 4.3Evaluate how your own development has been influenced by management approaches that you encountered in your own experience (M3 and D3) One’s personal and professional development has been influenced by management approaches through the lessons learned from the course module, as well as in being apprised of current and future trends in human resources management. For instance, contemporary organizations has resorted to the prolific use of the electronic medium for their acquisition and recruitment of personnel. As such, as a job applicant, for example, one is able to experience a more convenient and accessible manner of sending job applications through sending correspondences online. Learning about recruitment and selection approaches therefore assisted in focusing on essential facets that need to be highlighted. In addition, through lessons on performance management and evaluation, one recognized strengths and weaknesses in the undertaking of responsibilities which provide ample opportunities for improvement. Through the identification of weaknesses, one could outline strategies for development, including enrolling in courses that specialize in developing identified skills (leadership, communication, customer relationships or interpersonal skills). In addition, through the concepts learned on the evolution of leadership theories, one was able to evaluate personal and professional leadership style and skills, and compare these to one’s personal experiences in the academic setting, as well as in the work setting. Recommendations that were read from current scholarly articles on the subject of leadership and management are attempted to be applied, when possible. This includes aspects such as empowering subordinates, being more vigilant and diligent in monitoring performance – for the purpose of proposing areas of professional growth. The management concepts provided the theoretical framework which assisted in applying them in current and future work settings in the most effective and productive manner. Reference List Apex Leadership Ltd., 2014. Teamwork Theory: Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development. [Online] Available at: http://www.the-happy-manager.com/articles/teamwork-theory/ Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, 2006. Teamwork in Healthcare: Promoting Effective Teamwork in Healthcare in Canada. [Online] Available at: www.cfhi-fcass.ca/Migrated/PDF/teamwork-synthesis-report_e.pdf Hafford, A., 2002. The Leadership of Management and Learning. [Online] Available at: www.uk.sagepub.com/upm-data/15603_02_Hafford_Ch_01.pdf Linman, T., n.d.. 360-degree Feedback: Weighing Pros and Cons. [Online] Available at: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/arossett/pie/Interventions/360_1.htm Martires, C., 2004. Human Resources Management: Principles and Practices. Quezon City: National Bookstore. Martires, C. & Fule, G., 2004. Management of Human Behavior in Organizations. Quezon City: National Bookstore. Quality Care Commission, 2014. About Us. [Online] Available at: http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/what-we-do The National Archives, 2010. Equality Act 2010. [Online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/introduction Woodward, C., 2000. Strategies for assisting health workers to modify and improve skills: Developing quality health care - a process of change. [Online] Available at: www.who.int/hrh/documents/en/improve_skills.pdf Read More