CASE 1: THE CASUALTY HOSPITAL

( 1 HOUR)
On March 21 2013, Harriet Mercy, a staff-nurse reported for night duty at 9 p.m. There was
the usual crowd in and around the casualty department where she worked. Some of the
patients were waiting to see the doctor and others to receive treatment. After taking over from
the evening nurse, she started with those for injections but was soon interrupted by 9:45 p.m.
when a taxi cab brought four men who had been seriously injured in a road accident. While
they were being attended to, a child was rushed in unconscious with very high temperature
after a convulsion. The mothers of two other children (aged seven and ten months) who had
frequent stooling and vomiting also began to panic. The conditions of both children had
deteriorated having waited for treatment since 8 p.m. An infusion of Hartmans solution was
ordered for them and was to be set up by the doctor. In the meantime, a lady with an
inevitable abortion continued to bleed while a man with acute retention of urine was restless
as he waited for catheterization. Although the doctor, the staff-nurse and two student- nurses
worked strenuously, one of the accident victims died. Stella, a student-nurse, also fainted at
the casualty floor and was resuscitated. She was later taken to the Nursing Sisters office to
rest.
By 3:15 a.m., most of the very serious cases had been seen and admitted into the wards
except the last of the surviving accident victims who was still in the X-ray department with
two porters. As the atmosphere became relatively quiet, the second student-nurse obtained
permission to use the toilet in the female surgical ward because the casualty toilet was out of
use. The card issuing clerk had gone to sleep somewhere on the premises. The exhausted
Doctor who was on National Youth Service, left by 3:30 a.m. to rest in the doctors room- a
private room in the female surgical ward for doctors on call. The staff-nurse then settled
down to complete her records of patients who had been treated.
At exactly 4 a.m., Mr. Henshaw walked into casualty with a cut on his bald head. He was
bleeding moderately and was accompanied by his wife and two men. He had been attacked
by armed robbers. The tiny hair around the cut was removed, the blood on his chest and back
cleaned off. He looked around and seeing no one except the staff-nurse, asked Where is the
doctor? He has gone to the ward and the student working with me went to the toilet and
will soon be back to call the doctor. Im sorry Im not supposed to leave the casualty ward for
any reason without any medical staff around. However, Mr. Henshaw became impatient and
after about ten minutes he left with the others.
The student-nurse and porters returned a few minutes later. Another patient with palpitation
was brought into casualty. Although the doctor was called, he refused to come. Mr. Henshaw
returned at 5:15 a.m. with the Commissioner for Health. Without responding to the greetings
of the staff-nurse the Commissioner said, I was told by this man that he came to casualty and
did not see anybody. You see, I have been receiving a lot of bad reports about this place and I
dont want this to continue. How can a man already suffering from the shock of having been
attacked on two occasions now not be treated? (Pause) Where is the doctor? He is in the
female surgical ward, sir. Let me send the student to call him, answered the staff-nurse. The
Commissioner went with the student and came back after about eight minutes with the doctor.
Some injections were prescribed and while the wound was being sutured, the Commissioner
asked for the night administrative sister on duty. After complaining to her, he asked for the
log book, wrote something and left.

At 7:30 a.m. as the staff-nurse was handing over, she was asked to report to the Matrons
office immediately. After interrogations, she was given an official query to answer within 24
hours. She became very miserable and planned to resign.
The incident was one in the series of similar cases in the department. Management regarded
the Casualty Department as one of the gateways to the hospital in the municipality and
therefore demanded a high sense discipline from the workers. All emergency cases were first
treated there before being transferred to any section of the hospital. Patients for admission
remained there until vacant beds were available in wards. Others who needed observation
after treatment were also kept in the casualty ward before discharge. The congested situation
usually got worse at weekends when the out-patient department remained closed. The
increase in accidents during festive periods and public holidays accentuated the problem.
Most nurses did not like working for more than the usual three-month period in casualty
because in spite of their hard work, they were always criticized by the public. The other
workers in the department also felt that management never appreciated their services and so
did not work enthusiastically. Ambulance drivers would siphon petrol from the ambulances or
puncture the tyres when on night duty to avoid being sent on errands. Cards issuing clerks,
account clerks, porters, mortuary attendants and even doctors had their little tricks for
obtaining some gratification from the relations of patients.
The young house-officers (doctors) who worked there on rotational basis often had a lot of
their social life disrupted by official duties and that caused friction among the staff in the
department, with criticisms from the watching crowd of sick people.
The Medical Staff Dilemma
A phenomenon peculiar to the out-patient and casualty departments was preferential
treatment. The wealthy and upper social class also wanted to be attended to first irrespective
of their time of arrival. The poor with sometimes more serious cases waited for long periods,
occasionally with disastrous consequences.
The situation often left the nursing staff and doctors in a dilemma. They could choose to
stand by their professional ethics and suffer official victimization by the offended top
officials, queries, warning letters, withholding of salaries, demotion and postings to remote
areas. The alternative was to accept the norm of preferential treatment with its promotion
benefits. As a result of this situation, some hospital staff resigned their appointments. Others
were planning to leave should the situation persist.
Discussion Questions on steps you would take as an HR Business Partner
1. Identify the main problem in the casualty ward.
2. What recommendations would you make and what steps would you employ to
achieve your plans which should improve the situation in the hospital?
3. Others were planning to leave should the situation persist Comment with counter
measures and financial plan.
4. What are the likely innovations you will bring and how will you implement them with
time lines to achieve your Key Result Areas i.e KRAs or KPIs? Name them?

CASE 2: CREATING
1 HOUR

A HIGH PERFORMANCE CULTURE

Introduction
The culture of an organization is a way of describing the typical way in which that
organization operates. It is something that is created over time by the organization and the
people that work for it. Siemens is built on a high performance culture. This means that
everyone shares the same vision and, values and trusts each other's contribution.
Siemens is a global electronics business with a turnover of around 60 billion a year. Its
global headquarters are based in Germany but has sites around the world including around
100 in the UK with its UK HQ in Berkshire. Siemens products touch all ranging from kitchen
equipment to power generation and from traffic lights to hospital scanners.
HR development
Siemens is committed to helping its employees to develop and fulfill themselves at work.
They may want more training, more interesting jobs or just a better work-life balance.
Siemens knows that to maintain and develop the excellent workforce that it has, good people
management is a must. It believes that its human resources should be actively involved
(called 'engagement') in its activities. This is a key plank of Siemens' business strategy.
People Excellence
This is the name given to the part of the strategy that relates to people management. It
consists of four main elements:
* achieving a high performance culture
* increasing the global talent pool
* strengthening expert careers
* Siemens Leadership Excellence Programmer (SLE).
At its heart is the building of a high performance culture. Employees know that they are
valued and trusted and this helps to motivate them. Siemens uses a number of ways to make
sure that it shows its appreciation of employees. This helps them to feel part of a successful
team and helps Siemens compete more effectively.
Creating the culture
The high performance culture is based on teamwork. Targets are set for the business and these
are related to individual and team targets. In this way, everyone is working towards better
results. As team performance improves over time, so does the business.
Talent management
Siemens makes sure that all of its employees, not just the high fliers, are supported to reach
their potential. It matches individuals' talents with tasks. Talent management allows for:

* Job enrichment. Where extra tasks or responsibility can make a job more rewarding and
* Job enlargement, where the scope of a job is widened and extra skills developed.
Talent management is applied to the business globally as a key part of the business strategy. It
is closely linked to performance management. Performance management is used to monitor
progress and set objectives for employees. It allows an honest dialogue to take place so
everyone knows how well they are performing and how they might improve. This feeds
directly into the high performance culture.
Conclusion
The success of an organization can be traced back to its people. Siemens demonstrates this
well. Its high performance culture supports people and helps them to reach their potential.
This helps Siemens to be competitive.
Issues for Discussion
1. How does Siemens seek to provide good career opportunities for employees?
2. Describe one of the systems that Siemens has created which provides development
opportunities for employees at work.
3. How important is the appraisal system in helping to create shared understandings the
objectives of the organization and personal objectives of individual employees?
4. Draw up an end-to-end work plan to acculturate the Siemens approach to people
management to your organization which has three subsidiaries (3 schools and 1 clinic) and
link this plan to the theme creating great results?

CASE 3: CRAFTING &

PLAN
1 HOUR

CASCADING

HR STRATEGY

FROM

BUSINESS

Our business plan is highlighted in the various headings for all the business units comprising
2/No Nursery & Primary Schools, 1/No Secondary School and 1/No Hospital as follows:
CORPORATE
We intend to expand our client base by increasing our pupils/students/ patients base (a
minimum of 50% increase by the year end and progress upwardly each year). By the end of
the fiscal year we should have completed the rebranding of all our schools which includes the
on-going renovations at Primary & Nursery School 1, upgrade of the facilities at Primary &
Nursery School 2, renovation of the Hospital and construction of the sporting facilities at the
Secondary School.
FINANCE
Our income from all individual SBUs must increase by a minimum of 60% increase by the
year end and progress upwardly each year. Running costs must be reduced by at least 50% by
the end of 2014 financial year. In order to do this we need to set up a finance policy. We
intend to minimize overdraft and bank charges as much as possible because of unfriendly
rates. Also we need to set up an internal control procedure and asset management procedures.
In addition, we shall introduce a responsibility accounting across functions and departments
in order to measure and identify costs via cost centres. By the first quarter of 2014, our aim is
to establish a budget and subsequently, a budgetary control system. Also a procurement
procedure and process must be put in place by year end. We will have to get an adequate
accounting package.
SERVICE DELIVERY
Our customer service must increase by 100% and we must have zero complaints.
PROCUREMENT AND LOGISTICS
In 2014, we intend to establish a process of getting things to the right location at the right
time in the right quantities and right quality at the right price.
SECURITY AND SAFETY (CASHES)
In order to meet our Security and Safety targets, we shall improve on our security and set up
a CASHES unit, commence weekly/ quarterly/termly CASHES meetings/ briefs and these all
are to be established and running before year end.

PEOPLE
Being a people motivated company, we plan to meet the following targets in order to improve
on our people objectives.
With a new HR department in place, performance management should be our key focus and
the department must function in line with international best practice.
Namely, all non confirmed employees are to be confirmed if they qualify; Also we need to
conduct a job evaluation and draw up job description for every post/ personnel; Also in order
to raise morale management will be encouraged to go on regular field visits; We also shall
measure competency for all key jobs and develop our human capital development for 2014;
Finally, we intend to arrange a career orientation for key managers before the year end.
ICT
For effective communication across the business units, our ICT facilities are being upgraded
and by the end of the first quarter of this year, the deployment and use of the intranet should
be in place. Also, HR communication will be electronic and the use of the email will be very
functional by the end of this year
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the business plan has been drawn up with the companys chief objectives and
targets in mind. Although it serves as a guide in the direction of the business in the fiscal year
of 2013, it is mention worthy that it is also dynamic in order to meet up our ever evolving
business environment. It is intended that the business plan naturally cascades into individual
objectives and targets for every personnel of the organisation if we are to achieve our goals as
a company.
Required:
Assuming that as a newly engaged HR Business Partner & Team Leader you were given this
business plan at the end of the business year in 2014 against 2015. Draw up an appropriate
HR Strategy, work plan and budget showing how you intend to implement execute your plan
and for what salient reasons.