The Benefits of Hospital Human Resource Department - Assignment Example

? Hospital Human Resource Department Hospital Human Resource Department Introduction The human resource department is important in ahospital since is charged with the responsibilities of recruiting, training, selecting, and developing staff. The human resource department provides the organization with an ultimate assurance of having a competent and effective workforce. The human resource of the hospital ensures that all activities are done in line with the hospital’s mission and objectives. The paper will have an overall view of the human resource department in a community hospital. Hospital organization hierarchy and structure An organization hierarchy is a form of organizational structure in which every entity apart from one is subordinate to the other. This means that the subordinate departments and sections report to one another within the hierarchy. This ensures that there is a chain of command flowing from the top. The human resource department in community hospital has a hierarchy in which the chain of command flows from the human resource manager. The human resource manager is at the top of the hierarchy given that he/she is the senior most person in the department. He/she oversees the relationship between staff and the organization and establishes the human resources vision. Subordinate to the HR manager are the employee relations manager, compensation and benefits manager and training manager. The training and development manager handles all issues related to recruitment, placements, and selection. Within the same hierarchy exists the employee relations manager who handles matters related to employee grievances and safety issues. The compensation and benefits manager handles issues related to workers’ remuneration, allowances, and incentives. The hierarchy is as shown in the chart below. Fig 1: A chart of Human Resource department’s organizational hierarchy and structure Basic responsibilities of the Hospital HR department The hospital’s human resource department is charged with the responsibility formulating human resource policies, and recruiting and employing staff, training, establishing workers’ remuneration packages and solving any problems related to staffing. This ensures that the hospital meets its personnel requirements and its missions. When formulating new HR policies, the department considers several factors both internal and external to the organization The human resource department ensures that the hospital maintains adequate staff so that no shortage is experienced in the same respect. Staff shortage may affect the hospital grossly to an extent of putting the lives of patients at risk. In so far as staffing is concerned, the department is charged with the responsibilities of recruiting, selecting, and training the employees. The department also offers placement opportunities to trainees and promotion to those staff members that have contributed a lot to the hospital after evaluating the employees (Goyal, 2005). The human resource department of the community hospital ensures that favorable relations exist between employees and managers. It does this by organizing training programs, meetings, and workshops. This has proved beneficial in the hospital as it makes employees feel that they are valued in the hospital and that their contributions in the organization are recognized. The human resource department also ensures that employee’s morale is boosted. This it does by developing and revising incentive schemes depending on the prevailing situation and considering various factors. The human resource department also ensures that proper procedures and policies are in place for handling employees’ grievances. This goes a long way in avoiding industrial actions including strikes, go slows and litigations as noted by Goyal (2005). Type of department The hospital has a centralized human resource department considering that most of the major decisions are made by the managers. All policies and major decisions are made at the management level and passed downward to employees. Communication similarly flows hierarchically downwards from management to employees. In case of serious issues with the employees, ideally, lower level officers will escalate the matter to their seniors. Generally, this type of department sees the proper flow of information across the department. Human Resource Policies The human resource policies in the hospital are formulated by the human resource manager together with his chief subordinates; the training and development manager, the employee relations manager and the benefits and compensation manager. Together, they ensure that new policies are formulated and the existing ones are improved or amended to match the prevailing situation. Policy formulation in a hospital is necessary because they help in defining employee’s terms and conditions of employment, how the employee’s employment is regulated and the various principles that govern the hospital’s administration. The team ensures that new policies are formulated in relation to general and specific human resource issues. The human resource officers ensure that the policies formulated by the management are implemented and issues related to the same are solved. Ways in which HR information is communicated to the staff of the hospital The human resource managers communicate with HR staff in a number of ways. They can pass information via the internet through their official website. Information that is likely to be communicated in this form are those related to the organization’s policies, employee benefits and long-term strategies affecting the employees. Some pieces of information are usually posted on the notice board in form of internal memos that staff can easily access. The information of this kind includes those that are related to internal affairs such as employee training programs and seminars. The human resource department sometimes prefers to use oral communication between itself and the staff. This is especially where employees feel aggrieved in the hospital and a meeting is called to deliberate on real issues affecting the staff. In this case, they sometimes call for an open-air discussion where employees air their grievances concerning working conditions. In some cases, formal letters are given to staff, for example in case an employee has received promotion or is being warned. Generally, communications flows hierarchically from the manager down to the human resources officers and employees in other departments. How the HR department handles grievances, complaints, or disciplinary process Employees in the hospital sometimes become aggrieved by the policies applied by the organization or issues related to working conditions and remuneration. These, in some cases, have seen employees resort to court action as a way of solving their grievances and or use mass protest. When such grievances arise in the hospital, it is the responsibility of the human relations manager to handle the issues. With regard to JCAHOs score, the hospital has a score of ‘2’ since the hospital has well structures, mechanism and procedures through which grievances are handled. There is the employee relations manager ensures that there is an effective communication channel in place to reduce incidences of disagreements. The hospital also has a safety and wellness officer who ensures that the working conditions of employees are up to standard. As such I feel that the hospital has satisfactorily put mechanisms to handle grievances, complaints and discipline-related issues. Staffing shortage After intense analysis, the human resource department has established that the hospital is in short of nurses. The human resource department has therefore linked with the finance department and established the budget for recruiting and training more nurses. The department identifies staffing needs and evaluates which skills are in shortage. Based on this evaluation, the department determines the qualifications of the recruits. The department advertises the vacancies and receives applications from interested parties. After short listing candidates, the department arranges interviews with the recruits. The department includes members of other departments during the interview process. After conducting interviews and selecting candidates to assume vacant posts, the department communicates the decisions formally to the candidates. Strategic plan of the HR department The human resource department of a hospital has a number of strategic plans to ensure that the hospital’s relation with the workers is favorable. One strategic plan that the community hospital’s human resource department has is in regard to the quality of service it offers to employees and the organization as a whole. Realizing the importance of the human resource, the department strategically plans to handle all HR related issues fast, exhaustively and competently within the shortest possible time. Another of the strategic plans of the human resource department is the establishment of database containing employees’ details. The human resource department is expected to install an information system that provides information about its employees. The data included in the database will range from employee turnover statistics; attitudes, demographics and benefit. Strategic planning will also involve training and educating employees and managers with regard to issues of human resource management. Strengths and weaknesses of my organization’s HR department Following my observation of the human resource department, I have noticed that it is strong in respect of the measures that it has put in place to recruit, select, and train its employees, which has seen the employees of the hospital remain quite motivated. The hospital also has well documented procedures for solving employee grievances, complaints and instilling discipline. It however has a weakness in dealing with employee benefits. This has been the case as most of the complaints being heard from the employees are to do with remuneration and benefits. In addition, the hospital needs to develop a more comprehensive strategic plan to ensure that the organization fully benefits from its workforce. Reference Goyal, (2005). Hospital Administration and Human Resource Management 4Th Ed, New Delhi, India: Asoke K. Ghosh. Read More