Employee Relations - Research Paper Example

Employee Relations Corey Sutton Healthcare Human Resource Management Dr. Queensbury May 24, Employee Relations Introduction The role of HR administrators in the contemporary health care organizations is not as simple as it used to be. One of the salient duties of a successful HR administrator is to chalk out effective functional strategies so that they facilitate the organizational strategies. In a viable health care institution, the organizational strategies and functional strategies need to function in tandem with each other. The HR administrators are required to encourage an improvement in the performance of the employees by giving way to an environment that is conducive and extends maximum opportunities to the employees to participate and furnish inputs in the organizational planning and decision making initiatives (Moynihan, 2008, p. 199). All the activities of an HR administrator need to be focused on the creation of effective performance leaders and extending motivation to employees. In that sense, in the contemporary health care organizations, the role of an HR administrator has graduated from merely being an evaluator to being a precursor and facilitator. Performance management is the key discipline that needs to be taken care of by the organizations striving to be leaders in terms of quality of patient care. Performance management involves a plethora of activities like goal setting, appraising performance, streamlining communication, extending coaching and feedback for enhancing performance, initiation and implementation of employee development programs, and rewarding achievements in a time and appropriate manner (Moynihan, 2008, p. 199). As a VP of HR in a health care institution, I came across multiple lacunas marring the performance management function in the organization I served. Performance Challenges In an academic context it will be really interesting to delve on some of the salient performance management related faults I came across in my organization. One major performance management challenge faced by the organization in which I worked was a lack of clear purpose. Their did not exist any systematic mechanism for planning the organizational work and selecting pragmatic expectations, promptly rewarding good performance, placing a system for a continual monitoring of performance, extension of periodical feedback related to employee performance, and encouraging the development of a capacity to perform (Moynihan, 2008, p. 61). The organization simply lacked a clear perception of the factors that were critical to employee performance and a viable performance culture, based on individual accountability and a timely delivery of results (Khademian, 2009, p. 992). There were simply not any mechanisms for the monitoring of employee performance on a regular basis. Hence, the sporadic performance evaluation extended by the HR was meaningless and was not taken seriously by the employees. The previous HR administrator was simply not serious about the identification and measurement of such critical factors in employee performance that were central to the functioning of the organization. Some of such performance factors were so easily discernible like efficiency, quality of patient care, communication, and development that I was simply surprised how the previous HR simply took no initiative to think about them (Moynihan, 2008, p. 16). The HR also did not take any care to usher in an alignment between the organizational and individual goals. Resultantly most of the employees had no idea as to what was the contribution they made to the organization and what was its relevance in the organizational performance. The other big performance challenge faced by the health care institution in which I went to serve as VP of HR was that the employees did not associate the performance appraisal and evaluation mechanisms in the organization with fairness (Moynihan, 2008, p. 43). The organization simply lacked a balanced and uniform performance appraisal and reward system. Hence when the employees compared their expertise and experience and the inputs extended by them and the resultant compensation with other employees, they ended up believing that the system lacked procedural justice. The decisions regarding further training and skill enhancement were made on an ad hoc basis and lacked any serious consideration regarding merit. Hence, a majority of the employees felt that the performance management system put in place by the HR failed to convey realistic expectations, often failed to reward good performance, and simply had no mechanism to address skills and expertise related gaps (Moynihan, 2008). Simply speaking, there was no commitment to performance management right at the top level in the HR, so how could one have expected the employees to commit to performance goals and objectives (Selden & Sowa, 2011, p. 251). There was no system in place to check the effectiveness and integrity of the performance management system from time to time. The HR took no pains to congregate clear organizational values and to promulgate them to all the employees. Hence, as VP of HR I designed and initiated a strategy to integrate job performance and training in my organization. Job Performance and Training Initiatives I realized that the one most viable way to enhance organizational effectiveness and the quality of patient care was to plug in the skill and knowledge gaps in the organization. I felt that the best way to do so was to integrate the employee training with the real work. However, the biggest challenge before me was to find out the viable ways to combine training with performance. I felt that if I intended to combine learning and work, as an HR administrator, it was imperative for me to truly understand the work; each of my employees did (Gilley & Maycunich, 2000, p. 141). Not only I encouraged myself to think like a performer, but I also took the initiative to watch and interact with the employees posted at varied levels in the organization (Gilley & Maycunich, 2000). I tried proactively to understand the work of my employees, the pressures they faced and the skills and the tools they used to enhance their performance. A good analysis of the ground situation suggested to me many pragmatic solutions. Not only I redesigned and restructured the business processes in my organization to bolster organizational goals, I also took the initiative to tag information and learning opportunities to those business processes. I identified the salient business processes in the organization and tried my best to embed the opportunities for learning in such business processes. Yet, I also realized with the passage of time that this integration of opportunities to learn and the actual work will yield no results, unless I back that system with a Performance Support System (Gilley & Maycunich, 2000, p. 10). The main objective of the Performance Support System put in place by me was to reduce the time spent in the training of varied processes and skills by extending the right feedback, information, decision making tools, to the employees at the right place and at the right time (Stivers & Joyce, 2002, p. 22). These tools varied from being very simple to being somewhat complex and included decision making aids, simulations, information resources, procedural animations and videos, e-learning platforms, help and advisory teams, relevant software applications, etc. This not only dramatically improved the performance of the employees placed at varied levels but also unraveled an appropriate and relevant environment for skill and knowledge enhancement. This approach ushered in a community like environment in the organization, where learning and performance enhancement goals were not only intertwined, but rather encouraged and fostered. The jobs entrusted to the potentially capable employees were so reorganized and reengineered that they facilitated natural learning and performance enhancement. On the basis of these improvements ushered in the organization over a period of few months, a set of pragmatic organizational learning practices was identified for long term performance and skill enhancement objectives. Performance Management Initiatives Besides I put an effective performance management system in place to enhance employee performance across the organization and to improve employee retention. At the very start I had realized that the organization lacked a clear perception about strategy and values and was confused about it. So, I decided to tackle this weakness first and foremost. I identified the value propositions that made the services rendered by my organization more desirable to those extended by our competitors and ushered in the employee feedback and inputs to chalk out strategies that strengthened those value propositions (Gilley & Maycunich, 2000, p. 40). This initiative also extended to the employees a sense of participation and thereby solicited their cooperation in the envisaged performance goals. The staff was clearly conveyed that the organization they served had discrete objectives and that their performance will be evaluated as to how it contributed to the achievement of these objectives. This nullified the pale of confusion hitherto rampant in the organization and gave the employees a clear idea as to what and how they were expected to perform. Each and every employee was extended in written a draft of one’s job description (Gilley & Maycunich, 2000, p. 107). Care was also taken to update these job descriptions from time to time. Each team operating at the facility was given a written performance planning draft enunciating the short term and long term service and budgetary goals they were expected to accomplish (Stivers & Joyce, 2002). A decisive and clear methodology was envisaged to deal with poor performance. Performance evaluations were made a regular organizational feature and were intricately attached to feedback and reward mechanisms. These measures dramatically improved the performance and boosted employee retention. Conclusion In an HR context, performance management is a function that not only necessitates a proactive approach on the part of an HR administrator, but also requires one’s full time and dedicated participation and engagement. References Gilley, Jerry W & Maycunich, Ann. (2000). Organizational Learning, Performance and Change. Cambridge: Perseus Books. Khademian, Ann M. (2009). Ambiguity, Dialogue and the Underbelly of Performance Management. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 19(4), 192-193. Moynihan, Donald P. (2008). The Dynamics of Performance Management. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Selden, Sally & Sowa, Jessica E. (2011). Performance Management and Appraisal in Human Service Organizations: Management and Staff Perspectives. Public Personnel Management, 40(3), 251-254. Stivers, Bonnie P & Joyce, Teresa. (2002). Building a Balanced Performance Management System. Advanced Management Journal, 65(2), 22-25. Read More