Globally, attention and focus towards human resource management in healthcare is augmenting exponentially. As one of the three major inputs of health systems, human resources are at the center of the other two, which are consumables and physical capital (Kabene et al., 2006). Pertaining to healthcare, human resources are the various kinds of clinical and non-clinical staff responsible for both individual and public health interventions (Buchelt, Frączkiewicz-Wronka, & Kaminska, 2017). Arguably, by being the most significant elements of healthcare systems, the human resource staff benefit health institutions through their performance and the delivery of pertinent knowledge, skills, and motivation. Moreover, in addition to having a balance of human and physical resources within a healthcare institution, it remains imperative to maintain an appropriate mix of individuals in terms of both healthcare promoters and caregivers in order to ascertain the success of a functioning system. Such maintenance of mix primarily centers on gender and the minorities, which when observed effectively create an atmosphere of diversity. Inherently, the relationship between healthcare and human resources is complicated and as such needs further study and proper examination. This paper presents a purposeful plan for the retooling of the Methodist Hospital Health System for it to mentor women and minorities into acquiring top executive management positions.
In 1998, Witt/Kieffer conducted their maiden research on healthcare leadership and diversity (Gauss & Tomlin, 2015). After this research, it became apparent that assessing the state and impact of leadership within the industry was decidedly significant and imperative. Similarly, a study conducted by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) concluded that less than two percent of the chief executives and chief operating officers in healthcare positions consisted of minorities, a staggeringly punitive number. Moreover, the Witt/Kieffer research group further noted in their key findings that having a diverse leadership team remains essential for the formation of germane goals and objective. In addition, they pointed out that it is difficult to find executive minority candidate and that the promotion of minorities from within organizations and their subsequent build-up remained to be one of the most notable best practices for retaining and recruiting diverse executives. Gauss and Tomlin (2015) survey reports indicated that diversity in leadership results in various advantages, which are the attainment of strategic goals, the implementation of successful decisions, and the promotion of equity of care. As such, the inclusion of female and minority leadership is eminently pivotal for the Methodist Hospital Health System (MHHS).
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Consider the scenario at MHHS. For the past ten years, Methodist Hospital Health System (MHHS) celebrated the fact that sixty percent of its new hires in management positions were women and minorities. The MHHS leadership assumed that with such a practice, women and minorities would eventually represent at least fifty percent of their top management executives; these are those among the vice president level and above. However, something unexpected transpired within the system. It became apparent that instead of seeing an increase in the number of women and minorities in executive positions, the organization was observing a decline. As such, MHHS become concerned that its diversity program was not producing results. Talented female and minorities managers were leaving, draining the pool of capable and qualified staff, who were to represent top management positions. To address this conundrum, MHHS formed a task force whose aim was to pinpoint the reasons why female and minority executives were leaving by conducting a massive information-gathering initiative. Through the initiative, it became apparent that some of the concerns were limited advancement and opportunities, the lack of proper mentorship, work, and family issues, the lack of succession planning, the lack of positive cultures and transparent communication, and the lack of relevant training, job development, and employee empowerment among others. As such, to rectify these issues the excogitation of the strategies below is indispensable for recruiting and retaining female and minority leaders in healthcare.
Recruitment, Selection, and Retention
The combinatory exploration of these topics within healthcare is decidedly essential not only to each other but the human resource functions as a whole. It is emphatically clear that successful efforts in recruitment resultantly generate ample applicants for the employer to identify proper applicants selectively. Therefore, the stringency of used criteria in selecting job applicants relates to the success of recruitment efforts within organizations (Fried & Fottler, 2018). An organization remains more selective while a larger pool of qualified applicants is at its disposal. In turn, retention becomes partially related to the selection process. Under human resource management, the likelihood of employee retention is much higher when the employee, the organization, and the job have conversant assimilation and interrelate. Fundamentally, successes within the company and under job performance remain key factors in the retention of employees. In addition, chief HRM functions also play crucial roles to supplement successful retention and recruitment.
Prior to the development of a recruitment plan, it is decidedly forthright to come up with current and accurate job descriptions as well as the identification of job requirements and desired qualifications for future applicants. Having a clear and concise initial understanding of pertinent requirements will set the bar for MHHS to select females and minority leaders within its system promptly. Moreover, the incorporation and interdependence of pertinent concepts such as recruitment steps, job applicant sources, organizational fit, selection decisions and their reliability, selection instruments, selection interview types, and factors and strategies related to employee retention are central to the amalgamation of a diversified workforce (Fried & Fottler, 2018). Central to organizations, with the exception of time-limited and otherwise temporary placements, employee retention is highly valuable due to its perquisites in productivity and cost reduction in terms of training. Numerous factors affect retention. Therefore, MHHS should focus on its recruitment and selection process to enjoy proper retention within the organization
Among Human Resource (HR) executives, the creation and maintenance of capacities to attract talented skills to their organizations remain a great challenge. As mentioned above, the underlying goal of the recruitment process is the creation of qualified applicants. Unambiguously, recruitment refers to a number of processes by which organizations employ their tact to attract skillful applicants on a timely basis and in numbers that are sufficient to their goals and objectives. While recruitment strategies are certainly numerous depending on an organization, for MHHS, internal hiring and promotions should work conversantly. There are numerous pros to internal hiring compared to external hiring. First, while the upside potential of internal hiring is uncertain, the certainty of consistent productivity abounds due to the fact of work history displayed among internal hiring (DeVaro, 2016). Secondly, there is power in the numbers with external hiring. However, using the hiring strategy whereby a focus on internal hiring is encouraged results in an increase of productivity efforts owing to the opportunity of stronger incentives. Also, internal hiring results in the development of specialized knowledge and skills since workers anticipate longer and more meaningful careers within organizations. This advantage makes internal hiring conducive for MHHS.
Essentially, the development of specialized knowledge hinges on the area of concern that will lead to the development of employee empowerment opportunities and professional development. Therefore, in the hiring process, there should be the placement of more emphasis on internal promotions as it will resultantly show positive culture. Moreover, since the goal and objectives of MHHS remain to have women and minority-friendly workspace, it is therefore imperative to create targeted recruitment strategies that attune to the encouragement of these groups for proper development. Recruitment success depends on numerous factors. Such factors include the attractiveness of the organization, the work climate, and culture within the organization, the community in which the organization is in, the managerial and supervisory behaviors and attitudes, the workload, and other job-related considerations. While these factors remain external attributes of recruitment success, internal considerations depend on employee needs and concerns. Therefore, the understanding of internal considerations is core to the development and implementation of effective recruitment strategies.
Under recruitment, factors that influence job selection are important for any organization within the healthcare profession since they accelerate organizations to success. More often, applicants consider their competitiveness within the job market and alternative positions that better provide opportunities for progress. As such, to ensure proper retention, MHHS should drastically change their recruitment strategies to attune to such personal factors, which control this change. Moreover, applicants are often sensitive to the attitudes and behaviors of recruiters, or the person they make the first contact with, within a company. Such first contact heavily determines the culture of the company and the attitude by which the employee will perceive the company. Therefore, while MHHS should inherently focus on having the right attitude amongst recruiters, they should not sacrifice looking good over the acquisition of the right talent. Considerable research indicates that the choice of jobs has both cognitive and emotional elements. On the side of cognition, applicants often evaluate factors such as compensation and growth opportunities. Contrariwise, on the emotional side, determinants such as value and familiarity are imperative in that when an applicant sees that the values of the organization are similar to theirs, they are more likely to accept and retain the job.
Recruitment strategies such as career ladders are also essential for MHHS. Traditionally, within the healthcare profession, opportunities for clinically or technically trained individuals are relatively scarce since the sole avenue to their advancement remains the promotion to positions that are on a supervisory and a management scale. For clinicians, taking on responsibilities on a supervisory scale leads to the impression of a professional loss of identity. Therefore, the creation of a dual career ladder is decidedly essential not only within the healthcare profession but also in other professions as well. In healthcare, effecting such specialization often results in a condition whereby clinicians and other technical persons are able to move up the ladder consistently while still practicing their interests and clinical practices efficiently. Dual career development augments the employee and allows upward employee mobility without necessarily needing constant managerial and supervisory responsibilities. Having such a dual strategy for development, and making it known during the process of recruitment, will enable MHHS to nourish individuals who have technical and educational proficiencies, but are also willing to undertake managerial and supervisory roles.
Following the outlining of pertinent strategies for recruitment, the recruitment process comes second and is profoundly essential for the selection and retention of applicants. The foundation of all recruitment processes remains to be the HR plan of the organization. Often HR plans include specific information concerning strategies within an organization, the approaches to hiring and recruitment, the types of individuals required within the organization, and a concise statement outlining how the practices of HR resultantly support the goals of the organization. Therefore, for MHHS to gain an edge in attracting females and the marginalized, their strategies of recruitment have to be on par with their organizational cultures, goals, and objectives. An initial query in the methodologies of recruitment remains the sourcing of applicants or the specification of the location of job applicants. As technology continually evolves with the advent of the internet and social media, the processes entailed in recruitment have undergone massive alterations from traditional perspectives such as classified advertisements to the internet and mobile devices. Such progress and change in technology remain indispensable to MHHS since it will aid in the provision of relevant talent within the organization. For MHHS, the use of technology for the recruitment process should encompass websites, RSS feeds, employee generated content on companies and even mobile devices. Presently, mobile devices enable job seekers to apply for employment conveniently from any location; this speeds up the recruitment process immensely.
By definition, the process of selection refers to that of evaluating and collecting data that aids the employer to extend a job offer. This makes selection characteristically distinguishable from simple hiring (Gatewood, Feild, & Barrick, 2011). In the selection process, to ensure retention, MHHS should carefully analyze the knowledge, abilities, and skills of applicants as well as their attitudes and other relevant factors. Moreover, in the analysis of these attributes, MHHS should ensure that they fall under their goals and objectives so that they may have the right employee who is well motivated to deliver and does not have any reserves regarding their purpose within the organization. A common example of unproductive selections is the hiring of persons based on political considerations or the relationship of the applicant with the owners or managers within an organization. Such instances, often fueled by non-job-related factors take precedence over measures that are objective, thereby, bringing about incompetence, under-productiveness, and eventually non-retention (Gatewood, Feild, & Barrick, 2011).
Communication
The Webster’s Dictionary defines communication as “the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.” As such, communication is not verbal entirely (O’Daniel & Rosenstein, 2008). Commensurately, studies indicate that close to 90 percent of all communication is non-verbal and entails the body language, tone, and attitude. In any organization, effective communication is decidedly essential and critical. The implementation of proper communication strategies helps such organizations in numerous ways. Communication plays central roles in customer relations, employee management, and service development. In healthcare, research evidence abounds linking the strong relationship between the communication of healthcare team members and the capacity of patients to follow through their medications, self-manage chronic medical conditions, and adopt behaviors that prevent health risks. On a patient perspective, therefore, the understanding of healthcare quality received is commensurate to the interactions between healthcare clinicians and their teams (Asnani, 2009; Clark, 2003).
Present healthcare systems require immense delivery processes, which in turn involve various interfaces and patient handoffs among divergent practitioners who vary immensely in terms of educational and occupational training. In a simple case scenario, during a 4-day hospital stay, a patient may interact with 50 divergent employees who include nurses, physicians, technicians, and others. Moreover, amongst the physicians, nurses, technicians, administrators, and supervisors, pertinent communication may abound. Therefore, effective clinical practices often involve various instances whereby the implementation of critical communication is necessary. Moreover, team collaboration is also essential in ensuring proper communication as it is its backbone. Ineffective communication often consists of the lack of critical information, the misinterpretation of information, the receivership of unclear orders over direct means such as the telephone, and the overlooking of changed status (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, 2005).
The lack of proper communication causes situations whereby medical errors occur. Such errors have the potential to cause severe injury or even unexpected death within individuals. Failure to communicate effectively in emergency events is a pervasive problem among local, national, and international healthcare systems. In the US, medical errors have a high rank ahead of morbid cases such as diabetes, accidents, AIDS, breast cancer, and gunshot wounds (O’Daniel & Rosenstein, 2008). Such an enormous number shows the importance of proper communication within healthcare organizations. In MHHS, communication is of utmost significance when it comes to retention due to the fact that it determines proper administration and eventually the life of the patient. Primarily, effective communication establishes clear expectations, ideas and innovation, strong relationships, and eventually a stronger collaboration among workers (Richards, 2018). Collaboration, in turn, brings about appreciation and the value of respect among employees, which fosters conversant working conditions resultantly encouraging retention. In addition, effective communication, technical and managerial, ensures the achievement of professional success, which brings about career advancement and is an addition to employee retention strategies.
Research
One of the prime hallmarks of a society that is democratic is the provision of equal opportunities for its citizens regardless of markers such as ethnicity, gender, and race. Within the healthcare sector presently, diverse employees represent an augmenting percentage of all healthcare employees. However, research indicates that while the number of diversity is numerous, they represent a smaller percentage of top healthcare management positions. Further research data according to the Association of University Programs in Health Administration in the academic year of 2000-2001 shows the proportion of graduate students who were racial minorities was 30 percent; by 2009-2010, this percentage increased to 42 graduate students (American College of Healthcare Executives, 2018). Such research data shows the increasing disposition towards diversity among healthcare organizations and institutions, which translates to the workforce.
Therefore, to utilize research properly, MHHS should develop policies alongside the embrace of inclusion and diversity stemming from research information. Policy development attuned to research has not only the hallmarks of ethical imperatives but also shows business considerations. Thus, MHHS should use research to develop diversity policies for recruitment. Such strategies as the promotion of healthcare careers to diverse populations through school programs and community organizations; the development of outreach mechanisms to attract ethnically and racially diverse candidates to healthcare management; the encouragement of racial/ethnic diversity in the appointment of job search committee members; and the offering of internships to diverse students are necessary. Moreover, in terms of promotion and career support, research should guide MHHS to implement diversity strategies that will become useful to the organization
Performance Management
By definition, performance management refers to the process by which managers and employees work together effectively to monitor, plan, and review employee work objectives and their overall organizational contribution. As such, most performance management is more than just annual performance reviews; it is a continuous process of objectives setting, progress assessment and the provision of on-going coaching and feedback that ascertain the achievement of employee goals and objectives. Thus, performance management is eminently essential in engagement and retention. Hearn (2016) notes that one certainly feeds to another, in that, employees who are dissatisfied from not being engaged will leave an organization in favor of an enterprise that perpetuates a more robust and productive atmosphere.
Within enterprises, employees leave their organizations for various reasons, a number of them being beyond their control. However, certain pertinent aspects are controllable within a system of performance management that eventually ascertains the reduction of redundancies such as poor communications, unclear expectations, unrealistic workloads, and the lack of recognition and opportunities for progress. Such elements affect employee engagement and commensurately employee retention. The first strategy under performance management that MHHS can implement is the use of flexible hours within the working environment. Most managers think that running a functioning, successful, and profitable environment entails the implementation of strictly regimented working hours; however, in reality, flexible hours are much more preferred and lead to happier and productive employees who are always willing to go the extra mile. MHHS should consider the example of a stressed employee working 50 hours a week or a creative, enthusiastic employee working 30 hours a week. It is evident that flexible working conditions lead to heightened efficiency, motivation, and resultantly, productivity (Hearn, 2016).
At the center of performance management, the setting of SMART goals and the provision of regular feedback is imperious. It is inherently difficult for employees to feel enthusiastic and engaged without proper purpose within an organization. An employee who feels that they are constantly being left behind or underperforming due to unclear goals is a waste of productivity and engagement. To ensure that organizational objectives are met successfully, employees need to be constantly encouraged and engaged to provide a much-needed motivation. SMART goals are essential. SMART is an acronym meaning Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. The setting of such goals results in employees who are confident concerning their roles and how it influences the whole organization; resultantly, augmenting the nature of organizational teamwork. Moreover, the provision of constant feedback is essential, as mentioned above, annual reviews are becoming extinct as constant daily, or weekly feedback is rapidly becoming the norm. While employees are accorded the chance to interact with managers and managers their bosses, communication within the organization becomes more fluid ensuring that employees are truly engaged in the company’s operation.
Moreover, employee management entails the use of advancement and development and the prioritization of recognition and awards, which ensures select employee recruitment and retention. MHHS should come to the understanding that when employees work the extra mile and deliver impressive expectations, they not only require monetary rewards but as instinctive humans, they need recognition. This recognition and possible reward further increase employee engagement and retention. Similarly, skilled and motivated employees are an important asset to companies and are the cornerstone of productivity and engagement. However, when an employee realizes that there is no room for advancement or promotion, the probability of such an individual to remain within the organization are less, which results in the loss of dedicated, hard-working individuals to other organizations. Therefore, to retain notable talents, MHHS needs to encourage proper development and advancement.
Technology and Innovation
Contemporary times and the emergence of the internet have brought about the design and implementation of healthcare Systems in an exponentially increasing number of hospitals globally (Boonstra, Versluis, & Vos, 2014). Recent initiatives driven by government regulations and institutional financial support within the U. S., Denmark, and the United Kingdom attest to the prevalence of such systems and their reliance in the management of health services, both administrative and technical. These systems among other advantages have enabled enhanced integration of patient data, making this information available cost-effectively and efficiently. Moreover, such systems are purported to have increased the information integrity and quality by forging a strong doctor-patient relationship where care is implemented in a team effort among care professionals (Grimson et al., 2000). Moreover, the enactment of systems such as performance technologies is simplifying issues such as evaluation of managers, the alignment of organizational missions, the communication of clear expectations, and the demonstration of organizational strengths and weaknesses. Such systems and more continue to accord various advantages to healthcare systems and are pivotal in ensuring the retention of employees owing to their efficiencies. Therefore, technological systems and innovation should be at the core of MHHS.
Change Management
As processes, tools, and techniques of managing the people aspect of change, change management employs and incorporates organizational tools that are eventually utilized to aid individuals in the making of personal transitions that result in the adoption and realization of actual change. This process is essential for MHHS since the implementation of the aforementioned strategies require effective change management to ensure smooth transitions within the various organizational departments. Fundamentally, humans are creatures of routine and fear change. Therefore, in numerous cases, change is normally met with fierce resistance. Essentially, change management aims at influencing aspects within the organization such as processes, systems, job roles, and organizational structure among others. Through the implementation of a changing continuum, current situations are altered through specific strategies, and in turn, result in a positive and desired future. Therefore, for MHHS to realize worker retention the use of a change management strategy not only accelerates this goal but it also ensures that the change will not result in adverse effects on company employees.
Conclusion
Present trends in human resource require a diversified outlook. Presently, the rates of medical innovations are augmenting steadily with novel technologies and treatments abounding daily. Such diverse circumstances in healthcare are creating new paradigms whereby the ability to learn, relearn, unlearn, and access new knowledge will become more significant than accumulated knowledge. Such challenges create new paradigms for the clinicians, which require them to stay updated with the latest skills and techniques. This coupled with the shortage of healthcare workforces compels MHHS to alter their HR strategies. Through this focus on various organizational aspects; predominantly, recruitment, technology and innovation, change management, and research, MHHS will achieve its objectives.
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