Human Resource Management

The Role of HR Management

HR management is a staff function because it provides support to a health care organization's managers. Unlike some organizational functions such as purchasing or legal that are almost entirely self-contained, many of the HR functions are the joint responsibility of the HR department and managerial or supervisory personnel. When a nurse is hired, for example, the hospital HR department typically provides support activities such as processing the written application, scheduling an interview, and ensuring that the necessary tax and benefit paperwork have been completed. The actual hiring decision, however, is usually left up to the nursing supervisor who will be working directly with the new hire. The HR department also formulates and implements a variety of HR policies (for example, the hospital's affirmative action plan).

The HR function has four essential functions:

• 1.
  To help the health care institution to acquire the best employees (through job analysis, job design, recruitment, and selection)
• 2.
  To maximize employee contributions to the health care organization's mission and strategies (through performance appraisal, training, and development)
• 3.
  To enable the health care organization to identify and retain competent employees and get rid of incompetent or counterproductive employees (through performance appraisal, compensation management, employee discipline, and control)
• 4.
  To ensure that the health care organization complies with relevant legislation (equal employment opportunity, health and safety, compensation and benefit, and other laws)

The HR Major Functions

HR management typically entails the following highly interrelated functions:

• Job analysis and design involves systematically gathering information on the job (job description), determining the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the job competently (job specification), and designing a job that can be performed efficiently and competently by a qualified employee.
• HR planning is the process of balancing a health care organization's HR supply and demand so that shortages or excesses of certain personnel are avoided. HR planning, for example, might involve determining how many additional physicians, nurses, therapists, and support technical personnel will be needed to staff an expanded sports medicine center in a large suburban hospital.
• Employee recruitment involves assembling a pool of job applicants from which the health care organization can draw. Recruitment involves identifying and using various recruitment sources (for example, a private employment agency, temporary help agency, university placement office). HR managers recognize that recruitment sources vary with respect to the type and quality of applicant that they yield and the expense that they involve.
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• Employee selection involves identifying and hiring the best applicants from the recruitment pool. The selection process involves the intelligent use of selection predictors (devices used to gather information to “predict” whether an employee will perform competently) such as application blanks, interviews, background checks, personality and integrity tests, and knowledge tests, among others. One selection predictor that has become increasingly important is a background check to verify previous employment and to check an applicant's criminal, driving, and credit history. The use of selection predictors often requires consulting with a qualified industrial psychologist.
• Training and development is used to provide employees with the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform their jobs, stay abreast of the latest developments in their field, and enhance their careers. This HR function may be performed in-house using HR staff or externally using consultants and experts. Training and development activities include identifying training needs, establishing training program goals, selecting employees for training, designing training programs, conducting the programs, and evaluating the effectiveness of the programs.
• Performance appraisal is the process of determining how well an employee is doing the job. Typically, the HR department designs the performance appraisal instrument, and the supervisor or manager administers the instrument on a periodic basis. The performance appraisal process should include a postappraisal interview for employee feedback.
• Compensation and benefit management entails administering salary surveys, performing job evaluation, designing pay structures and benefit packages, and ensuring the proper administration of the compensation and benefit program. Compensation and benefit management is probably the most complex HR function because of the myriad of laws affecting pay and benefits as well as the economic, social, and psychological factors that affect employee perceptions of pay.
• Health and safety is a critical issue in many health care institutions. Although supervisors are clearly responsible for workplace safety, the HR department usually monitors compliance with federal (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA) and state health and safety laws.

The Professionalism of HR Managers

Historically, HR managers have ranked below accounting, financial, marketing, and other managers in terms of pay and prestige. In recent years, however, the importance and recognition of HR managers has grown as organizations have become cognizant of the critical importance that human resources play in the success of an organization. The major professional organization for HR managers is the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). It provides a variety of educational and certification opportunities for HR managers. The organization also keeps HR managers up to date on developments in the field.

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