This is a St Patrick College Managing Human Resources Assignment in which we discuss HR management in  health & social care sector.

Introduction

Health and Social Care Sectors require special attention w.r.t recruitment of well-rounded professionals. This assignment is a case study to explore the best mechanism to hire the staff for St. Patrick’s Nursing Home. It recommends the techniques for employing suitable staff in the nursing home. It takes into account the specific legalities and the regulatory framework, which the nursing home needs to abide by in the recruitment process. It then reflects on the best practices to facilitate the growth of a dynamic and productive team within St. Patrick’s Nursing Home.  It also does a thorough research to discover means of constantly engaging and training these employees to keep them aligned with the needs of the nursing home. Finally, it concludes with an evaluation of the leadership style, which shall best suit the leaders in the St. Patrick’s Nursing Home.

LO 1.1 Explain the factors that need to be considered when planning the recruitment of individuals to work at St.Patrick’s Nursing Home

Health care sector is an important sector and its recruitment process is a very tedious task. The human resource department is entrusted with the recruitment of best candidates to work in this sector. Human resource department of St.Patrick’s Nursing Home has to consider following factors before initializing the process of recruitment:

• Human resource department has to assess the rank, number of vacancies and the nature of openings i.e. whether part time or full time staff is required(Niles, 2012, p. p64).
• Secondly they have to define the goals and personnel policies of the organization so that best matched candidates can be selected.
• The legal policies of the local government have to be also considered. These policies enlist the remuneration, health policies, safety guidelines and working hours of the employees.
• The total expenditure to be incurred on the recruitment process as well as the financial implications also has to be calculated before starting the recruitment procedure.
• The human resource department should also prepare a job description. The job description is a document which explains the roles and responsibilities of the post. It also provides the details of the required qualifications and experience necessary for the particular post.
• Lastly a job specification has to be drawn. The job description contains the abilities, skills and knowledge required for the vacant posts. The health and social sector considers technical competencies, precise experience and training, manual handling capability, specific qualification criterion, specific behavior and attitudes while recruiting for the job openings.

These factors are very essential for recruitment procedure as they help the organization in selecting the best matched candidates and recruiting best available talents in the job market.

LO 1.2 Explain how relevant legislative and policy frameworks of the home country influence the selection, recruitment and employment if individuals to work in St. Patrick’s Nursing Home

Each selection process also has some legal guidelines. These policies and legislations are very crucial and have an enormous influence on the employment procedure. They are drafted to ensure that the employees’ rights are protected and employees don’t face any prejudice and harassment at their workplaces. These policies and legislative frameworks are laid down by the local government of the particular country. St.Patrick Nursing Home is situated in London hence it has to follow the guidelines laid by UK government. Various laws and acts have been made to ensure that the recruitment procedure is fair and appropriate. The most important policy is the Employment policy & legislation employment act 2002(Bratton & Gold, 1994, p. p59). It covers all the constitutional rights like dispute regulations at workplace, equal pay rights, leave guidelines, employment policies. The Equality Act 2010 states all the employees of the organization should be treated equally irrespective of their age, gender, race, creed, faith, sexual orientation and impairments. All the laws regarding discrimination and harassment are covered in this act. Equal Opportunities Act 2004 entails all the professionals in health sector to get equal opportunities for training, growth, working and leave. Sex discrimination Act 1975 protects employees from direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and victimization at workplace. Equal Pay Act determines where pays are equal or not and that both the genders get same salary for the particular post. Several other policies like Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Race Discrimination Act 1992 and Data Protection Act1998 have been formulated to protect the rights of employees and stop the unethical practices at the place of work.

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LO 1.3 Evaluate the different approaches that may be used to ensure the selection of the best individuals, and make recommendations for St.Patrick’s Nursing Home

The health and safety sector has its own requirements of skills and experience for the job posts. Human resource department takes care of the procedure of recruitment. The following steps are taken to finalize the candidates in the healthcare sector-

• Posting of job vacancies on internet job sites, advertisements in newspaper, medical journals, magazines, contacting job agencies.
• Asking for references from the existing employees
• The health care organizations can put their job openings on notice boards of their organization so it is visible to the employees, visitors, customers and patients also
• Evaluation of the received applications to shortlist the best suited prospects.
• Inviting the short listed candidates for structured interviews conducted by panel of experts in the healthcare sector. These structured interviews consist of interviews where various test like aptitude test, psychometric tests, ability tests(Compton, Morrissey, Nankervis, & Morrisey, 2009, p. p32) are taken to assess the skills of the prospects. It is also important to identify the money-driven candidates as they have the tendency to change jobs very frequently for higher job packages. The applicants may be assessed together in groups to identify their ability to gel with each other, their capacity to influence others, capability to express their opinions freely and their natural alignment within the group.
• Once the applicants pass through all these assessments, they are invited for a final round of discussion for remuneration benefits and their availability to join. The new recruits’ are also made aware of their responsibilities and duties they are going to perform, the rules and regulations of the St.Patrick Nursing Home, the working environment of the nursing home and many such things. The new employees are also given chance to clear their doubts.
• Once the new recruits join, the logistical formalities are taken care of.

LO 2.1 Explain the theories of how individuals interact in groups in relation to the types of teams that work in health and social care

Teamwork is very essential for the growth of an organization. The teams go through various stages of growth during their existence.  Bruce Tuckman devised a teamwork theory. This theory is called Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development (Levi, 2013). This theory is relevant in health and social care sector also. The five stages of development are:

• Forming- This is the first step and it is about forming of group. In this stage, teammates start knowing each other. They meet to understand their roles and expectations from them. In this stage, a strong leader is required to guide the team.
• Storming- This is the phase where team members start identifying themselves as the part of the team. Here the conflicts and competition among team members starts emerging. Different factions start forming among the team and each one can be seen contending for positions within the team. The best way to deal this phase is to listen to others and negotiate with other team members.
• Norming- In this stage, teammates start recognizing each other’s contribution and start adjusting with each other’s behavior.  A team bond starts developing and ideas are shared. Factions start dissolving.The group members become more focused on the goals of the group.
• Performing- In this phase team members work efficiently and become more competent. They work towards achieving the goal of the team. Loyalty develops within the teams. There is clarity of roles and creativity is at its peak.
• Adjourning- It is the last step of group development. The team in this phase completes its project and is disbanded. The team members move to other projects.

 Apart from this theory, Belbin in 1993 also wrote a teamwork theory. Belbin’s team theory defines team as a flock of people, where each individual has a role which is understood by the other members of the team. He stated that team members can seek for specific roles in which they can perform most effectively. Belbin identified nine team roles which were assigned to the team namely plant, resource investigator, coordinator, shaper, monitor, evaluator, team worker, implementer, completer finisher and specialist. Belbin suggested that team worked best when each member was allocated work depending on his personality.

LO 2.2 evaluate the approaches that may be used by staff at different levels to develop and promote effective team working at St.Patrick’s Nursing Home

Every team evolves its own style of working and it varies from the other teams’ ways of functioning. The approaches that can be implemented at St.Patrick’s Nursing Home to develop and promote effective team working are given below:

• The very first step should be that the team members should be given time to k now each other individually.
• The team members should recognize each other’s strength and cover for each other’s weaknesses.
• The team members should together devise the strategies for the achievement of task and see to it that is clear to each member of the group.
• Each member should have clarity about his role in the team so that there is no overlapping.
• Team members should have an open communication so that different topics and issues can be discussed. This will help the team members to find the best solutions for the assigned task(Lighter, 2010, p. p26).
• Every teammate should listen to each other’s ideas, respect them, consider their opinions and give their own constructive feedbacks.

All these necessary approaches can be inculcated by St.Patrick’s Nursing Home to complete the given tasks in time and in the best possible way.

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LO 3.1 Explain the ways in which the performance of individuals working in health and social care can be motivated

An individual’s work performance can be monitored by using different methods. Nowadays human resource department of most of the organizations implement 360 degree (Armstrong & Baron, 2005, p. p123)feedback for employees’ appraisal. This method can be applied in St.Patrick’s Nursing Home. In 360 degree feedback, an employee’s performance is evaluated and feedback is specified by number of people. In health care sector it can be assessed by the doctors, managers, patients and health care associates. These assessments are done in the form of ratings of various parameters of performance. The ratings are done on the scale of 1 to 6. If any employee’s total rating is less than the average rating, then that employee is given special trainings o enhance their performance in their field of work. Similarly, if any employee outshines in any particular field of performance, then he is rewarded and honored. 360 degree feedback has been found to very helpful in personal development and forms an integral part of the management development program.

LO 3.2 Assess how individual training and development needs can be identified at St.Patrick’s Nursing Home

Every employee whether he is a new recruit or an existing employee needs regular trainings and guidance to enhance their skills, gain more knowledge. None of the employee is perfect and always has some weak areas. The above mentioned methods help the human resource department in identifying and analyzing the weak areas of each employee. The existing employees may also need training in case of promotion, change of department. The next step is identifying those individual who need support and trainings. Once this list is finalized, it is necessary to recognize the skills they need in these circumstances. Then, the proficiency level of these skills in the employee should be assessed. After doing this the gap between the current level of proficiency and the required level needs to be reviewed. Once all these are done, then the employee can be given training according to the requirement(Cole, 2002, p. p330). This process can be used by St.Patrick’s Nursing Home to identify the development needs and individual training of their staff.

LO3.3 Analyse the different strategies for promoting the continuing development of individuals in the health and social care workplace

The best way to promote continuous development in any organization is performance feedback and incentives. Performance feedback is the most suitable way to improve an employee’s performance because this feedback helps the individual as well as the organization the strengths and weak areas of the individual. Each employee with the help of these feedbacks can realize their shortcomings and works on its improvement. These performance feedbacks also recommend the trainings that these employees need to enhance their skills.

The other method of this continuous development is giving incentives. There are some employees who do extremely well in their field of work. Giving incentives, awards and recognitions(Armstrong, 2010, p. p82) to these employees makes them happy and motivates them to work hard. These incentives also inspire other employee’s to perform better to get these recognitions.

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LO4.1 Explain theories of leadership that apply to the health and social care workplace

Leadership is defined as the process of motivate others to achieve the target in best possible way and capability to influence others. Leadership theories can be of two types and they can be applied in healthcare sector also. The two leadership theories are of two types-

• Behavioural Theory- This theory says that once we know the behavior of successful leaders and their traits it is possible to teach others about the leadership(Rowley & Jackson, 2010, p. p98). The theorists of this theory study the behavior of the flourishing leaders, their style of functioning. This theory believes that leadership can be learnt rather than inheriting it.
• Situational Theory- This theory believes that the leadership is determined by the situation. Situational theory can be further classified into three types:
• Authoritarian Style- In this type of leadership, the leader takes all the decisions and expects his subordinates to follow them without any questioning. This style is viable in times of crisis but if it is followed every time, it can lower the morale of the team
• Democratic Style- In democratic style, the leader puts the problem in front of the team and discusses it with them. Each team member is allowed to give his suggestions and the best suggestion is implemented. Here the leader is only the part of the team.
• Laissez Faire Style- In Laissez faire theory the leader is very passiveand only talks to team members when the team members initiate the communication.

In health and social care democratic style of leadership is the best possible method of functioning. The democratic allows the team to delegate their work and encourages every member to actively participate in every task. It helps to develop bond between the team mates and sharing each other’s ideas. It helps the team to work more effectively towards the realization of their goals.

LO4.2 Evaluate how working relations may be managed at St.Patrick’s Nursing home

It is very necessary to have good relations at workplace. It helps in maintaining a good environment and positive attitude. There are some strategies listed below which can be useful in managing good working relationships(Farm, 2006, p. p48) at St.Patrick’s Nursing Home –

• Each member should be polite with other.
• Every team should have a clarity of his role in the team
• There should be trust among the team members as trust is the root of any successful team.
• All the members should be open to listening to others and respecting their suggestions. This will help in better creativity. Effective communication is also very essential for managing relationships at workplace. The conversation can be face to face or over the phone.
• Each member should check whether his manager or leader is satisfied with his work.
• Every time a presentation is held or written, the team members should use the word “We” instead of “I”. This helps in motivating the team and creating bonhomie within the teammates.
• One should avoid gossips or rumors as it affects the individual’s professional image and can destroy his relationships with others.

LO4.3 Evaluate how your development has been influenced by management approaches that you encountered in your own experience

There are some matters where my own development has been influenced by the management approaches:

• I have been deeply influenced by the democratic style of leadership. It has helped me that the leader is a part of a team and he should work with the team. He should discuss all the tasks with the team and ask for the suggestions from the team mates. The leader should be approachable and always ready to initiate the talk with the members of the team. This style of functioning helps the team to build a trust between them and helps them to avoid altercations.
• Teamwork- This assignment also helped to evolve into a better team member. This assignment helped me to understand that collaboration of team is very essential for the accomplishment of goal. Team work is very essential for better performance of every individual at their workplace. A good teamwork can only be achieved by good communication skill, good relationship, resolving of conflicts, better knowledge of each other’s behavior.
• Recruitment- I also got to understand the procedure of recruitment process. I learnt that the human resource department has to decide many factors before initializing the procedure. They have to work within the legal framework and legislative policies of the home country. Gender discrimination, harassment at workplace, equal pay rights, protection of employee rights have to be taken care of.
• Interacting- There are different stages on interaction namely forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Each stage has its advantages and disadvantages. All these forms of interactions are essential for the successful completion of task given to the team.

Conclusion

This assignment successfully ensures that effective factors are considered while planning the recruitment of individuals at St.Patrick’s Nursing Home. It also states the relevant legislation and policy framework that has to be implemented while recruitment process. The assignment also lists the steps that have to be taken during recruitment. The assignment deals with all the problems of St.Patrick Nursing Home individually and provides effective solutions. St.Patrick’s Nursing Home, if implements all these measures in an appropriate manner, can solve the entire crisis it is currently facing. The employees would thus acquire the knowledge and skills to enable them to apply the core standards set by the Care Quality Commission.

References

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