HR Management and Strategic Planning

This assignment delves into the realm of Human Resource Management (HRM) by analyzing strategic planning, employee engagement, and the influence of external factors such as economic, social, technological, and legislative factors on HR practices. The report discusses various books, journals, and online resources related to HRM, including PEST analysis, which is a framework for understanding the impact of these external factors on an organization. It also touches upon the importance of learning capabilities, human resource management innovation, and competitive advantage in the context of HRM.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Human resource management refers to managing the workforce and human resource manager is
responsible for performing the managerial functions such as recruitment, training and
development, performance appraisal etc. Human resource management plays an important role in
healthcare industry and it is complex to understand due to continuous changes takes place in the
environment that impacts the working of healthcare industry and it also affects the dynamics of
professionals that are working in that industry (Noe and et.al, 2017).
The Report will analyse different types of factors that are affecting the human resource practises
in the healthcare industry of Australia. The important factors that are impacting human resource
strategies in the industry will include political, economic, social and technological factors. Some
important findings of the report are as follows. Political factors such as educational reforms by
the Government of Australia will affect the quality and availability of professionals. Policy
related with immigration of workforce will also impact the pattern of human resource
management.
Economic factors such as downturn in the economy of Australia will create an imbalance in the
demand and supply of professionals in healthcare industry. The demand of skilled employees in
the industry will increase the level of competition. To deal with such situations, human resource
department will have to develop the strategies for retention of workforce.
There are certain social factors that will impact the human resource strategies and policies.
Cultural diversity in terms of age, education will result in conflicts at the workplace. To
overcome such situations, there must be proper policy of providing training to the professionals.
To deal with cultural shock, human resource department must develop strategy for improving the
skills and competency of workforce.
Technological advancements such as introduction of new tools, new technology in the healthcare
industry of Australia will impact on the strategy, policies and practises of human resource
management.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................5
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................5
Impact of Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors on Human Resource
practises.......................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Healthcare Industry consist of different sectors operating within the economy of the
country All these sectors make efforts for making available goods and services to help in
treatment of patients. It also includes developing and delivering goods and services for
maintaining and promoting health of the patients. The health care industry has trained and skilled
workforce to satisfy the needs of people related to their health (Snell, 2015). Human Resource
Management is a process of managing human resource of the organization. Human Resource
Manager is responsible for performing managerial functions. They are responsible for
developing policies such as training and development, performance management, recruitment
etc. To ensure that employees will contribute maximum efforts for achieving organizational
objectives. In healthcare industry human resource includes staff such as clinical staff etc. There
are various factors that affects the Human Resource practises. Such as migration of employees to
other countries etc. PEST analysis is a tool of conducting market research. The Report will
describe the role of involves political, economic, social and technological factors in healthcare
industry that impacts human resources practises.
MAIN BODY
Impact of Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors on Human Resource practises.
Figure : PEST Analysis
Source: ( PEST analysis, 2017)

Political Factors-
There are different political factors that affects the Human Resource practises in
healthcare industry. The stability in government, policies of different governments in the country
affects the policies and practises related with professionals in healthcare industry of Australia.
Political factors affects the policies related with human resource such as training and
development policy, industrial relations and rules and regulations of healthcare industry
(Albrecht, 2015).
 Reforms in education sector- Political factor pays a major role in developing the skilled
and competent health care professional. The government of Australia has made reforms
related with education to improve the education sector of Australia. To provide
opportunity of education in the country. Like for example the Japanese health care
government serve as a good example where the municipal authorities and government
provide facilities to develop the skilled and talented health care professionals The
government has set up training centres and schools it helps the healthcare industry to
recruit skilled professionals. There are certain other political factors that has negative
impact on healthcare industry such as poor implementation of policies of government,
lack of focus on rules and regulations related with medical institutions etc. Reforms of
Australian government like reduction in time period for medical training has resulted in
increase in the availability of workforce in healthcare industry for recruitment by Human
Resource Manager. But the negative impact of this reform is that it will affect the quality
and experience of professionals. Due to this, human resource manager has to provide
extensive training to the workforce.
 Immigration policy- The immigration policy of government of Australia is one of the
important factor that has affecting the Human Resource practise in healthcare industry.
Mobility of workforce from one country to another can create imbalance between
demand and supply of professionals in healthcare industry. The migration policy of
Australia is fully controlled by the Government of the country. Protocols and regulations
of Government and requirements for getting visa impact the human resource practises in
healthcare industry such as it will affect the pattern and process of recruiting clinical and
non clinical professionals in the health institutions (Bailey, 2018).

 Industrial relations- Political factors plays an important role in managing industrial
relationship between management and professionals of healthcare industry. Efficiency in
the operations of healthcare industry plays an important role in improving the economy
of Australia. The productivity and efficiency of the professionals in healthcare industry is
affected by relationship between professionals and employer in healthcare industry of
Australia. The policy of government of Australia affects the industrial relations.
Government and other agencies plays an important role in promoting negotiation between
peoples working in healthcare industry of Australia. For example- policy related with
industrial relations help in negotiation between agencies that represents the workers such
as medical council that are set up at national level and the Government of Australia
(Amarakoon, 2018). The policy that are beneficial for the professionals such as working
for reasonable hours, better structure of the salary of professionals that are working in
healthcare industry helps human resource department to retain skilled and trained
workforce so that, they will not leave the healthcare organizations such as hospitals,
medical centres etc. It will help in promoting industrial relations. According to the
industrial relations commission of Australia, the flexibility in working schedule of nurses
has resulted in improvement in satisfaction and productivity of professionals. Whereas, if
the government of Australia fails to consider the needs and demands of clinical and non-
clinical staff then it will result in strikes and lockouts by the employees. And it also
results in increase in the rate of turnover of professionals and it will impact the industrial
relations in healthcare industry in negative manner (Bratton, 2017).
Competency of professionals-
The rules and regulations of Australian Government in respect of licensing impacts the quality of
services that are provided by healthcare professionals in healthcare industry. The government has
made regulation regarding compulsory license for the practitioners that are working in healthcare
industry. The policy of Government in respect of compulsory certification has motivated human
resource department for providing training opportunities to the staff working in the industry
(Stone, 2015).
The government of Australia has provided a framework for maintaining quality standards, safety
for the professionals while offering variety of health related services to the patients. The human
resource department has to ensure that these standards are being followed in the organization by

the staff and to ensure proper implementation of these standards, human resource manager
should implement policies and programmes. Safety and quality related standards includes
prevention of infection etc.
Economic Factors-
The organizations in healthcare industry of Australia has impact by various economic
factors. They are as follows-
Healthcare industry of Australia contributes in inflow of foreign currency in the country. It helps
in increasing gross domestic product, exports etc. The people of Australia are having high
standard of living and people of Australia are very conscious towards the quality of healthcare
services. Thus, human resource departments of the organization that are operating in healthcare
industry must ensure that there is an effective implementation of policy related with recruitment
and selection of staff. So that, professionals can fulfil the need of patients in respect of better
quality of services (Noe, 2017).
The human resource manager should give proper direction to the workforce and for proper
management of various facilities that are provided to the patients. This will help in increase in
the contribution of healthcare industry to the economy of Australia.
The human resource department should analyse the potential of human resource so that, more
and more foreign direct investors will invest in healthcare industry. The healthcare sector of
Australia is an important sector that is providing employment opportunities to various
professionals. So, human resource manager should have an effective policy for providing
training opportunities to the new clinical and non-clinical staff. There must be proper training
sessions on weekly basis for developing new skills in the professionals (Brewster, 2016).
The healthcare sector has potential to become one of the important industry in respect of in terms
of exporting items such as medical equipments etc. The management and government of the
country should work in collaboration so that, healthcare industry can become one of the main
contributor in providing employment opportunities to the people of the country.
The private sector companies has increased the foreign direct investment in the healthcare
industry of Australia. This has motivated the human resource department to develop programmes
for overall development of clinical and non-clinical staff. It has resulted in increase in the
revenue of the industry.
Downturn of the economy-

Downturn of the economy refers to an unexpected and unfavourable change in the environment
and it will have impact on process of taking decisions. The downturn in the economy of
Australia will impact the demand and availability of the skilled workforce in the healthcare
industry. The downturn in economy due to financial constraints will impact the decision making
of human resource management. Human resource manager has to consider the ways to tackle the
redundancy in workforce.
Competition for health workforce
The competition among different healthcare institutions has been increasing it has change the
pattern of recruiting and selecting the professionals. The demand of skilled professionals at
global level has increase the level of competition in healthcare sector of Australia. Therefore,
global level competition has created an imbalance in the availability of skilled employees. The
global competition for skilled health care professional has caused significant imbalance in the
supply of health care professionals (Banfield, 2018).
Human resource manager should develop strategies for retention of skilled professionals.
by offering them attractive salary and incentives.
Remuneration- There are various regulations related with remuneration. Lower remuneration of
the professionals in healthcare industry affects the level of job satisfaction of professionals. The
process of providing salary to the employees such as fixed payment, pay on the basis of
performance also affects the human resource practises.
Social Factors-
There are various social factors that impacts the human resource management practises in
healthcare industry of Australia. They are as follows-
Gaps in generation-
The increase in the demands of skilled workforce has resulted in late retirement of professionals
and recruiting the young population in healthcare industry of Australia. Both of these has
resulted in generation gaps between the workforce. This will directly affects the working
environment in the health institutions, it also affects the human resource management practises.
To deal with such type of situations, human resource manager should develop policy for
resolving conflicts between professionals (Reiche, 2016).
Discrimination-

Despite so many laws against the discrimination, still gender biasedness exist against many
health care professionals. The healthcare industry of Australia is having laws to prevent
discrimination between employees. Despite this, there may be situation of gender bias such as
bias on the basis of profession etc. Inequality may be on the basis of wage, bias during the
process of recruiting the professionals (Bailey, 2018.). So, it is necessary for the human resource
management in healthcare industry to develop and implement policies for preventing
discrimination, and to promote gender equality.
Cultural diversity-
Due to the increase in globalisation and migration of professionals from one country to another,
the diversity has increased in the terms of race, background, education of workforce. The diverse
workforce in healthcare industry of Australia help in generation of creative solutions and unique
ideas for solving difficult problems while delivering health related services to the
patients(Brewster, 2016). Human resource management should develop and implement effective
strategies for resolving the conflicts between the professionals and to increase their potential and
to maximise their productivity.
Culture shock-
It refers to the anxiety, stress that was felt by the professionals in healthcare industry of
Australia. Human resource department should develop strategies for development of competency
so that, health professionals can provide proper care to the patients. In Australia, culture shock
mainly affects the patients and workers that are living in regional areas.
Technological Factors-
The Technological factors which can affect the health care industry are
Education and training
Health Information Technology that have impact on technology and infrastructure which is used
to record, analyse and share patient health data. Various technologies like health record system,
including personal, paper and electronic, personal health tools including smart devices and apps
are the technological factors which affect health care industry. Some technologies also affect the
diet of a patient by telling them whether to go on a diet or most of the time going go lo diet.
Healthcare IT helps the doctors to understand the patient's medical history better. By having a
accurate patient history empowers doctor to treat ailments and prevent over-prescribing

medication which can be fatal. Innovation in the medical engineering has assisted the health care
industry to make use of new and innovative techniques to perform operations.
Change management
Health IT is to provide better health care for patients and help in achieving health equity. Health
IT supports recording of patient data to improve the delivery and helps in analysis in order to
treat and spread the disease. The technology also affects the patient's safety, medical errors and
the interaction between patients and healthcare providers (Stone, 2015).
Communities also affects the healthcare industry as they develop and support the Open Medical
Record System (OpenMRS) which is an open electronic heath record (EHR) platform designed
for low resource environment. The function of OpenMRS community is to bring the
implementers and organizers from around the world with the wide range of skills which can help
to develop the software to support health care in these areas. The use of Health IT in healthcare
industry helps in improvement of quality of healthcare that is done by delivering accurate patient
records and provides better medical history of patients. Therefore, without technology,
physicians would need to depend on the patient's memory, which can lead to inaccurate medical
history due to forgetfulness, complex drugs name which will affect the patient's recollection
(Taylor, 2015).
CONCLUSION
The above Report has described the term healthcare industry, human resource management and
about the framework of political, economic, social and technological factors that are affecting the
healthcare industry of Australia. The Report has also explained political factors such as
educational reforms, policy of migration such as immigration that impact human resource
strategies. The Report has also described economic factors such as level of competition, social
factors like cultural diversity and technological factors such as advancement in technology etc.
Information related with external factors that benefits human resource department.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals-
Albrecht, S.L. and et.al., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices
and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational
Effectiveness: People and Performance. 2(1).pp.7-35.
Amarakoon, U., Weerawardena, J. and Verreynne, M.L., 2018. Learning capabilities, human
resource management innovation and competitive advantage. The International Journal
of Human Resource Management, 29(10), pp.1736-1766.
Bailey, C. and et.al., 2018. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.
Banfield, P., Kay, R. and Royles, D., 2018. Introduction to human resource management.
Oxford University Press.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and practice in european human resource
management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield survey. Taylor & Francis.
Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W. and Morley, M. eds., 2016. New challenges for European resource
management. Springer.
Cascio, W.F., 2015. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
Nankervis, A.R. and et.al., 2016. Human resource management: strategy and practice. Cengage
AU.
Noe and et.al.,2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Noe, R.A. and 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Reiche, B.S. and et.al., 2016. Readings and cases in international human resource management.
Taylor & Francis.
Shen, J. and Benson, J., 2016. When CSR is a social norm: How socially responsible human
resource management affects employee work behavior. Journal of
Management.42(6).pp.1723-1746.
Snell, S., Morris, S. and Bohlander, G.W., 2015. Managing human resources. Nelson Education.
Stone, D.L. and et.al., 2015. The influence of technology on the future of human resource
management. Human Resource Management Review. 25(2).pp.216-231.

Taylor, T., Doherty, A. and McGraw, P., 2015. Managing people in sport organizations: A
strategic human resource management perspective. Routledge.
Online
PEST analysis. 2017. [ONLINE] Available through: <http://www.netmba.com/strategy/pest/>