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Human Resource Management in Health Care Organizations Carol Johns Professor GARY JOUETT HSA320 10/28/2011 Human Resources department provides vital services to any organization. In a health care organization, HR is especially important. It provides support, benefits, and the list goes on. 1. Which of the HR models appears most appropriate for managing personnel in a health care organization' Why' The Counseling Model is my chose; this model is relatively common in hospital and other service organizations where the total cost of employees represents a relatively large proportion of the budget, and where an organization places an emphasis on maintaining employees as effective producers. Under this model, HR is likely to act as an advocate for employees, provide a resource to managers for people problems, resolve disputes and disciplinary issues, place a high priority on preserving privacy and confidentiality, stress training and development throughout the year at all levels of an organization, lag behind the state of art in effective compensation and benefits administration, and maintain a posture that is primary reactive. 2. Discuss at least three (3) reasons why a department manager should be familiar with the organization’s compensation scales even though the manager is not expected to make specific salary quotations or negotiate salaries with prospective employees. They should be familiar with the organization’s pay scales because it affects the pay of all departmental employees. Knowing relevant wage scales, what they mean, where departmental employees are relative to the scales and the relative position of each employee. All managers should know how the pay scale works at his or her organization; it lets employees know that their manager is up-to-date on the requirements of the pay scales. When people that do the same job and similar lengths of employment but might be paid at a different rate, or when questions come up from other employees about pay then the manager should know how to handle and discuss the pay scale. They should never discuss another employees pay. An accurate job description is a necessity when determining the pay grade and salary range for any particular job. 3. Describe a health care organization or department that has a heterogeneous work group consisting of at least three levels of staff that differ in their educational backgrounds and job responsibilities. * Food service personnel- can vary from entry-level employees who are hired without any specialized skills or training to therapeutic dietitians who has a master’s degree. * Diagnostic imaging- this may range from entry-level clerks and transporters to highly skilled special-procedures technologists and even physicians with whom a department supervisor must maintain working relationships even though they do not report directly to the manager. * Nursing- a nurse manager may have several levels of staff such as LPNs, RNs, CNAs, and Unit clerks. Managing people with such diverse backgrounds requires skill and a manager has to maintain a constant supervising their department in order to have things run smoothly. 4. Provide at least three examples of activities that could thrive under production-centered management and discuss whether they are related to health care or not. An emergency room provides a good example, people seeking treatment enter on their own timing, not on any established schedules, and the services they require are extraordinarily varied. In manufacturing positions the work is ordinarily highly repetitive, many units of output are similar, output can be scheduled with some accuracy, and jobs can be rigidly defined in considerable detail. Employees are assigned to work stations. Other than keeping up with the pace of an assembly line, they have little control over how they complete their jobs. In this environment, the speed of the line determines the rate of output. A manager’s concerns are keeping supplies and services entering the process and keeping the output flowing. A manger’s primary focus is on output. This is true if the medical office is to keep supplies on hand and keep things running smoothly. 5. Provide at least three examples of activities that proceed most appropriately under people-centered management and discuss whether they are related to health care or not. In a people-centered environment, the willingness of employees to work maintains output rather than the pace at which the work arrives or the manner of supplying the processes. The work is often irregular and varied, in a medical office if an employee is late often; it makes other employees pick up the tasks of completing the work. In a health care organization, people primarily control the processes. Scheduling patients can an example, where employees control the amount of patients seen that day. 6. Describe in detail at least three important uses of compete and up-to-date job descriptions. Whether you are involved in providing services, research and development or are on the business end of the industry, health care jobs are always moving and changing in scope and direction. Having a complete and up-to-date job description is important. Communication Tool A well thought out, well written job description provides an effective employer-employee communication tool. Indeed, the material on job descriptions provided at the Pay scale website goes as far as to assert that accurate, up-to-date job descriptions provide "the most effective employee communication tools" for an organization. Recruitment A good job description serves a crucial function in the recruitment arena, because at this stage an organization is communicating internal standards to individuals external to the organization. Applicants for any position need to know the duties and qualifications of a job to determine the likely match between the position and their own expertise. Even in the instance of internal hires, the candidate may approach a potential new position with complete unfamiliarity with that job's requirements. An accurate, clearly stated, job description provides information essential for accomplishing a recruitment process successfully. This can avoid such embarrassments as seeking a corporate personnel trainer and receiving applications from those whose expertise involves fitness training or training horses: examples the Pay scale website also cites as actual past occurrences in business. Reviews Another key area that job descriptions provide essential employee communications is that of reviews. The job description details the manager's expectation for each employee's specific position: and it is on the criteria as given in the job description that managers need to base performance reviews. Job descriptions also provide the manager with a communications tool in terms of illustrating for the employee what expectations the employee falls short on, and forms a basis for corrective action leading to performance improvement. Advancement In contrast with corrective action where performance does not measure up, or even just has a lackluster quality while meeting essential criteria, job descriptions also provide managers and employees with insights into pathways that can lead to advancement within the employing organization. By understanding the qualifications to advance through increased responsibilities in an existing position and through internal applications through job descriptions, an employee can determine what skills or training he may need to qualify for such opportunities, as explained at the Pay scale website. Legal A crucial significance of the job description involves the legal ramifications. The absence of accurate, up-to-date job descriptions has an association with an increased risk of unfair hiring events and other legally risky personnel practices. The use of good job descriptions for all positions enhances the probability of an organization's conducting its recruitment efforts in a fair and legal manner. References: Fallon, L. F., Jr., & McConnell, C. R. (2007). Human resource management in health care: Principles and practice. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlet The Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) (www.shrm.org) eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info