MG411: Strategic People Management in the National Health Service

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of people management practices within the National Health Service (NHS). It explores three key areas: leadership and management, training and development, and talent management, examining how these elements underpin performance management. The report delves into the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required for effective people management within the NHS context, evaluating key HR processes such as safe workplaces, fair evaluation systems, open-book management, rewards, knowledge sharing, and training programs. Furthermore, the report addresses contemporary issues faced by line managers, including diversity challenges, training and development problems, staff retention, and the need to influence employees to adapt to change. The analysis draws upon relevant academic literature and provides insights into the strategic importance of effective people management for the NHS's operational success and the delivery of healthcare services.

Introduction to People
Management
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
Knowledge, skills and behaviors to be an effective people manager..........................................1
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................3
Evaluation of key HR processes that affect the performance management of people at work. . .3
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................4
Contemporary issues faced by line managers related to people management.............................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
People management can be defined as a process of motivating, training, directing as well
as managing employees so that work productivity can be improved. Most of the managers of
large organizations uses people management in order to boost their employee’s overall
performance (Moore and et al., 2018). This assignment will lay emphasis on 3 main people
management areas at NHS that are: leadership management, talent management and training &
development. National health service (NHS) is an independent public health provider in UK that
provide healthcare services to people.
MAIN BODY
LO 1
Knowledge, skills and behaviours to be an effective people manager
Success of an organization completely depends upon effectiveness of people working
within an organization. In order to increase overall profitability of an organization it is important
for organization to manage their employees in a better and effective way. An effective people
manager requires various kinds of knowledge, skills and behaviour (Changcoco, Cole and
Harlow, eds., 2018). It is extremely important for organization like NHS to manage their
employees in a effective manner as it is a public healthcare organization who provides healthcare
services and products to people and a people manager helps them to manage their employees in
order to achieve their desired goals and objectives.
Knowledge: A people manager is required to have knowledge about his/her field in a
much better and effective manner. Some of the most common knowledge required by people
manager of NHS are:
Project management: It helps the managers to plan, manage project budgets,
organizational employees and resources required by them.
Degree in leadership: It helps people managers in enhancing their communication skills, decision
making, employee management etc.
Skills: Some of the most important skills that are required by a manager of NHS
organization are:
Managerial skills: it is one of the most important skill which is required by a manager as
this skill helps a people manager to allot desired resources in order to get expected results. A
manager is required to have this skill so that they can manage effectivity of their employees,
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their overall performance etc. people manager of NHS need to allot resources so that they can
enhance their employee’s overall performance and can provide excellent products or services to
their patients.
Technical Skills: People manager is also required to have technical skills as this skill
helps them to understand and gain knowledge about the roles and responsibilities of their
employees (Sousa and Rocha, 2019). People manager at NHS need to have basic understanding
of technical equipment’s, processes, techniques in a better manner. this helps them to understand
their employees work, responsibilities and resources required by them in a proper manner.
Human skills: One of the most important skill desired by a people manager is human
skill. This skill includes their ability to understand, motivate, direct and communicate with
employees working within organization like NHS. People manager of NHS need to focus on
managing all of their employees who are working either in group of individually so that he/she
can focus on enhancing their overall performance and efficiency. This skill also helps them to
maintain their relationship with all the employees of an organization.
Conceptual skills: This skill helps a manager to understand the organization, its functions in a
proper manner. It also helps the NHS people manager to understand main, important and
working parts of the organization. With the help of this skill manager can easily problems or
issues faced by employees faced in different situation and can resolve them in an easy and
effective manner.
Behaviour: Behaviour is one of the most important things which is required by a people
manager as it helps them to maintain their relationship with organization’s employees. Positive
behaviour also helps people manager to encourage and motivate their employees as well. Some
of the most common behaviour that are required by a people manager of NHS organization are:
Show that they understand employee’s perspective. This helps them to motivate their employees
in a better manner.
Bring outside in- By enhancing communication between customers and employees helps
employees to understand what their customers want and expect from them (Taylor and et al.,
2017).
Make employees feel important- this helps people manager to enhance motivational
level of their employees as well as helps in increasing their job satisfaction level.
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LO 2
Evaluation of key HR processes that affect the performance management of people at work
HR practices can be defined as techniques and other means by which HR manager and
employees develop performance of employees of the company for which they work. The main
aim of HR practices is to improve performance of employees and make the company profitable
by helping them in accomplishing their goals. There are several HR practices which can be used
in NHS or are being used such as:
Safe and healthy workplace: It is one of the effective HR practice which helps company
in retaining employees with the company for the long run by providing them safe working
environment. By using effective safety tools, employers of NHS make employees feel safe and
healthy (Stubbs, 2018).
Fair evaluation system: In this practice, HR of NHS makes a link or relation between
organisational goals and employees performance in order to measure effectiveness of employees
for providing them appraisal opportunity. By evaluating performance of employees fairly on the
basis of achievements, employers increases morale and honestly towards the company.
Open book management style: According to this practice, HR of NHS shares all
necessary and company related informations with employees such as: management objectives,
sales of the company, company policies etc. The main aim of communicating all these
informations to employees is to make them feel respected and valued as well. It also helps
employees in accomplishing goals when they have knowledge about what they have to achieve
actually.
Rewards: Rewards is considered as other effective HR practice for NHS in which
employers of NHS provide financial and non-financial rewards and other benefits as per their
performance and achievements. When employees get these types of benefits on the basis of their
performance then it motivates them towards improving their productivity. It directs impacts on
the overall productivity of the company.
Knowledge sharing: Knowledge sharing is vital for NHS because the main work of
NHS is to help different types of people in improving their health. For this purpose, it is
important for them to have knowledge about all disease and all areas. When employees return
after attending any knowledge development program then it must be shared with others. For
making aware to all employees about current situations and all areas, employees should have this
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ability to share their knowledge with others. It increases skills of employees which help them out
in performing their functions effectively and improve productivity. It increases their self-esteem.
Training and development: Training is one of the important HR practices which helps
employees to strengthen their those skills which were trying to improve and in which they are
not good. Due to lack of knowledge and skills, employees cannot perform their functions in an
efficient manner. So, with the help of training and development program they get opportunity to
improve their skills and show their worth and potential (Currie and Procter, 2017).
There are several advantages and disadvantages of all these practices which can affect the
performance of NHS in critic manner such as:
Advantages
 It relieves burden and increase knowledge of employees which makes them able to
perform any type function and providing satisfactory services to people.
 It decreases conflicts when employers evaluate performance on the basis of achievements
and performance (Kline, 2019).
Disadvantages
 One of the main factor which occur and create some barriers is cost. Making an effective
use of all these practices like training and development programs, rewards can increase
overall cost of the company.
 For measuring security, there is a requirement to have skilled workforce and getting as
per the requirement of workforces can increase cost and consume time as well.
LO 3
Contemporary issues faced by line managers related to people management
Line managers are responsible in directly managing individual employees, their
performance and well-being etc. (Schlegel, Boone and Hall, 2017). There are various kinds of
contemporary issues that can be faced by line managers in terms of people management.
Contemporary issues faced by line managers helps them to focus on strategic development of
business. All the line managers are required to understand contemporary issues in people
management so that they can utilize their workforce In an appropriate manner. Some of the most
common contemporary issues faced by line managers are as follows:
Diversity issues: A diverse workforce that works together in a harmony helps in building
a strong workforce which further helps in enhancing customer satisfaction. If harmony is missing
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within diverse workforce then it can result in lower employee morale and lower productivity
(Changcoco, Cole and Harlow, eds., 2018). Line managers are required to ensure that
organizations like NHS has proper protocols so that they can deal with any kind of complaints
and focus on diverse workforce is maintained. This issue can be resolved with the help of
training and organizing various kinds of programs so that differences within each other can be
reduced.
Training and development issue: Line managers are required to understand all kinds of
training and development issues that are faced by employees of an organization. Understanding
training and development issues helps line managers to enhance human resource development
within NHS organization (Taylor and et al., 2017). Line managers are required to make
suggestions themselves in order to bring improvement within training process as this helps the
line managers to understand issues faced by employees in terms of training.
Retention of people: Retention to top talent or skilled workforce in NHS is one of the
main problem which their employers are facing nowadays due to some reasons. Getting as well
as retaining staff with the company for the long run affect the performance of the company.
When employees leave the organization then it directly impacts on the image of the company.
Work burden is considered one of the main reason in NHS of staff turnover (Figueroa and et.al.,
2019). There are several employees who has left NHS to the great extent and great rate and it
impacted the image and performance of the company. So, it can be said that retention as well as
attracting skilled workforce is one of the main contemporary issue which line manager of NHS
face.
Influencing people to adapt changes: NHS is one of the organization where different
types of changes occur because NHS has to improve health of different types of people.
Changing regulations needs of people all makes several other changes like changes in
management and leadership styles. Due to all these changes, company has to face several
problem. One of the main problem in this regard is resistance of employees to make changes.
They do not want to accept changes because if they do then they have to make changes in their
way of performing and other strategies, It takes time and decrease their productivity initially. So,
making people able or influence to adapt changes is considered the main issue which affect
overall productivity of the NHS.
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So, from the above, it can be said that HR and employer of NHS needs to focus on
adopting effective HR practices which are being discussed above such as training and
development, knowledge sharing, rewards etc. By doing this and following these, they can
accomplish its all goals and objectives (Townsend and Hutchinson, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been summarized that HR practices played a vital role in a
voluntary organization as it makes an organization and employees beneficial to accomplish their
goals. Leadership and management also played a vital role as an effective practice support
employees in improving their performance. Further, it has also discussed some skills and
knowledge which are required to become an effective people manager. Lastly, it has shown some
contemporary issues which manager face in an organization such as training related issues,
diversity issues etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Changcoco, R., Cole, M. and Harlow, J. eds., 2018. Focus on Them: Become the Manager Your
People Need You to Be. American Society for Training and Development.
Currie, G. and Procter, S., 2017. The Role of Middle Managers in Realising Human Resource
Strategy: Evidence from the NHS. organization Development in Health Care: Strategic
Issues in Health Care
Figueroa, C.A. and et.al., 2019. Priorities and challenges for health leadership and workforce
management globally: a rapid review. BMC health services research. 19(1).
Kline, R., 2019. Leadership in the NHS. BMJ Leader, pp.leader-2019. Management.
Moore, P.M., and et al., 2018. Communication skills training for healthcare professionals
working with people who have cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. (7).
Schlegel, K., Boone, R.T. and Hall, J.A., 2017. Individual differences in interpersonal accuracy:
A multi-level meta-analysis to assess whether judging other people is one skill or many.
Journal of nonverbal behaviour. 41(2). pp.103-137.
Sousa, M.J. and Rocha, Á., 2019. Skills for disruptive digital business. Journal of Business
Research. 94. pp.257-263.
Stubbs, R., 2018. The evolution of the NHS cervical screening programme. Primary Health Care.
28(1).
Taylor, K.L., and et al., 2017. A description of the “event manager” role in resuscitations: A
qualitative study of interviews and focus groups of resuscitation participants. Journal of
critical care. 39. pp.254-258.
Townsend, K. and Hutchinson, S., 2017. Line managers in industrial relations: where are we now
and where to next?. Journal of Industrial Relations. 59(2). pp.139-152. p.239.
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