Human Resource Management

Leap, Terry. "Human Resource Management."

Human resource (HR) management (also known as personnel management) focuses
on the management of an organization's employees. HR management is especially
critical to the core competencies of health care organizations, which rely heavily on
attracting and retaining quality personnel.

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.
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.
The two professional tracks for HR managers are the HR generalist and the HR
specialist. HR generalists, such as a medical center HR director, are in charge of an
entire HR function. They oversee a staff that performs the HR functions described
earlier. A generalist may have a business degree such as an M.B.A. or master's degree
in human resource management. An HR specialist focuses on a specific aspect of HR
management such as discrimination law, health and safety, or benefit programs and
may work as a consultant or at the headquarters of a large organization. HR specialists
may have master's, doctoral, or law degrees, and they may have spent a considerable
amount of time becoming experts in a relatively well-defined HR area.
Terry Leap

Entry Citation:
Leap, Terry. "Human Resource Management." Encyclopedia of Health Care
Management. 2003. SAGE Publications. 15 Apr. 2010. <http://www.sageereference.com/healthcaremanagement/Article_n389.html>.