Solving Staffing Problems At Northmoor Hospital - An Essay.

Recruitment Problems at Northmoor Hospital

Discuss about the HRM Practices and Individual Performance.

The Northmoor Hospital is currently facing certain problems with respect to its staffing. The staffing in the organization is quite inconsistent, which then leads to problems relating to the availability of the employees. As the hospital plans to expand recently, such an unstructured system of Human Resource System will not be working well for the organization. The given report will throw light on the solutions arrived at to solve the given problems.  The problems at Northmoor Hospital will be discussed followed by an analysis of the external environment which may cause problems for the firm for its staffing. The last section of the report will evaluate the different problems which may be faced by the organization in implementing the new structure.

The first problem which can be identified at the Northmoor Hospital is the problem with respect to the Recruitment plans. As given in the given case study, the recruitment system of the organization was inconsistent and there existed no particular season in which the hospital recruited new employees (Alfes et al., 2013). The employees were recruited as a when a need arised and due to this there existed a huge gap between the replacement of a new staff due to the comprehensive process. However, as the hospital has expanded right now, it is not suitable to let this gap be present for a long period of time (Renwick, Redman & Maguire, 2013). This might lead to consequences for the given organization.

The second problem being identified relates to the problem of lack of an induction program. According to Jackson, Schuler and Jiang (2014), induction plays a key role in helping an organization to assist its employees and making them feel comfortable in the given domain of business. If the organization does not have a proper induction program in place, then the different members of the organization may face difficulties with respect to the introduction to the different members of the firm and the policies which are prevalent to the different departments.

The third problem being identified relates to the problem with the lack of skills. The different members in the organization, which is the hospital, lack skills (Alfes et al., 2013). There is a lack of skilled employees as the company does not have a set defined recruitment system and secondly the company does not consider recruitment from a nearby college. As the company is not recruiting the skilled employees and the number of new employees listing in the firm is also limited, the organization lacks talent management program.

Lack of Induction Program at Northmoor Hospital

The Political aspects having an impact on the staffing at Northmoor shall include factors like the culture the culture of the firm, the perception of other departments on the Human Resource Department, the political adversaries of the Human Resource and the views of the different shareholders (Marchington et al., 2016).

The economical aspects affecting the staffing at the organization are the budgetary position of the HR department, the amount of funds which are available for the staffing problems, the inflation rates, the interest rates, trends of the salary package in the given sector and the willingness of the customers to spend the amount on the given product being offered by the hospital (Cascio, 2018).

The socio cultural aspects are the departmental attitudes towards the HR department, the age profile of the existing and potential candidates, the level of education, the diversity in the region or the given organization, health and safety aspects, housing trends, living standards of the employees and the attitude towards the career.

The technological aspects impacting the firm relating to staffing at the hospital are the different changes to the HR software, communication technologies, concept of work from home, method of recording attendance and performance, changes that may come in the way of the organization (Alfes et al., 2013).

The legal factors which may have an impact on the firm may include factors like the minimum wage rate, the population under 18, the working time of the different employees, the industrial training which is a must before joining an organization and other factors.

The environmental factors are the factors like staff morale, engagement of the employees, storage needs, and attitudes of the management and the culture of the organization.

The employees have a different perception towards the change which exists in a given society. For this purpose, their resistance can play a key role in determining the staffing changes that are to be bought about in the given organization (Alfes et al., 2013). When a new change is being introduced then, there might arise a situation whereby the different employees might feel that they may be hampered in a strong manner and thus for this purpose, the change to be bought about may become difficult.

If the HR department of the company is not experienced enough then they might not be able to gauge the extent to which the new hr policy is important for the organization and furthermore, they might not even be able to understand how to proceed with a particular situation and hence, might act as a barrier.

Lack of Skilled Employees at Northmoor Hospital

The current system of ‘ad hoc’ recruitment needs to change to one that is more planned. This would necessitate estimating staffing needs in advance.

The given procedure states that the company is required to change the manner in which it recruits the different employees. The hospital till now has been following a rather simple method of recruitment. This method includes replacing the employees who tend to leave the organization, with new employees. Hence, the given system often causes trouble for the organization whereby many posts remain empty for a long time. As the company has been planning to increase its operations, this system shall not work anymore.

Selection processes need to be streamlined so that preferred candidates can be offered positions as quickly as possible after being interviewed.

The selection process is a rather rigorous one where the different employees are interviewed at various stages and the time frame between the recruitment and the actual interviews are quite long (Bratton & Gold, 2017).  Hence, it has been suggested that the firm needs to adopt a simplified manner of selection whereby a proper team is employed who will be looking after the given procedure and ensure timely recruitment of the employees.

A formal induction and socialization program is needed to ensure that new employees are appropriately welcomed. Supported, informed and acculturated when they begin work.

The role of induction programs in an organization cannot be undermined. Induction programs go a long way in introducing the various policies and visions of the organization so as to ensure that the employees do not face any problem in their stay (Purce, 2014). A good induction program would go a long way in assisting the employees to work well for the welfare of the hospital.

Conclusion

Therefore, from the given analysis it can be stated that the problems at Northmoor Hospital have been occurring because of the faulty system of Human Resource Department in the Hospital. The Human Resource Department of the organization has a crucial role to play in the strategic development of the organization (Kehoe & Wright, 2013). Any problem being faced by the organization with respect to staffing problems must be solved immediately. The various reasons for the staffing problems being faced had been discussed along with an analysis of the recommended solutions. The following sections will be providing the recommendations so as to facilitate the solutions that have been derived earlier.

External Factors Affecting Staffing at Northmoor Hospital

The induction program which has been planned for the Hospital needs to be executed properly. The hospital can form a separate team of individuals for the implementation of the induction. The given team should be looking after the contents of the induction program and also the policies of the program which will be given to the new employees (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).  The contents of the program need to be drafted carefully because too much information may cause problems for the different departments (Hendry, 2012).  The induction program at the hospital needs to follow a holistic approach where all the components of the hospital may be discussed carefully. The induction program is also required to boost the morale of the different individuals so as to ensure that they work properly.

An external recruitment agency can be hired to make the staffing at the hospital consistent. This is because, the hospital might leak the expertise to deal with the different staffing problems and therefore, it is suggested that if the hospital is able to hire a different agency who will be looking after the staffing matters (Marler & Fisher, 2013). In this manner, the hospital authorities will not need to bother about the different staffing issues.

Furthermore, according to the staffing theory, if the organization is understaffed or overstaffed, it causes problems in the current employees of the organization who may be psychologically affected. If it sis overstaffed then the employees may sit idle and if it is understaffed then the employees may take extra stress. Hence, maintaining the right balance is crucial.

References

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Alfes, K., Truss, C., Soane, E. C., Rees, C., & Gatenby, M. (2013). The relationship between line manager behavior, perceived HRM practices, and individual performance: Examining the mediating role of engagement. Human resource management, 52(6), 839-859.

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.

Cascio, W. (2018). Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.

Hendry, C. (2012). Human resource management. Routledge.

Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Jiang, K. (2014). An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 1-56.

Kehoe, R. R., & Wright, P. M. (2013). The impact of high-performance human resource practices on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of management, 39(2), 366-391.

Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R., & Kynighou, A. (2016). Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.

Marler, J. H., & Fisher, S. L. (2013). An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 23(1), 18-36.

Purce, J. (2014). The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.

Renwick, D. W., Redman, T., & Maguire, S. (2013). Green human resource management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(1), 1-14.