Managing Human Resources in Health and Social Care: A Comprehensive Guide

This essay explores the complexities of managing human resources in the health and social care sector, focusing on the recruitment, selection, training, and development of employees. It examines relevant legislative frameworks, leadership theories, and team dynamics, drawing on real-world examples to illustrate key concepts. The essay also analyzes strategies for promoting individual development and fostering effective working relationships within the health and social care workplace.

Managing Human Resources in H&SC
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
1.1....................................................................................................................................................4
1.2....................................................................................................................................................5
1.3....................................................................................................................................................5
2.1....................................................................................................................................................6
2.2....................................................................................................................................................7
3.1....................................................................................................................................................8
3.2....................................................................................................................................................9
3.3....................................................................................................................................................9
4.1..................................................................................................................................................11
4.2..................................................................................................................................................11
4.3..................................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
Reference list.................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction
The health and the social care are the services provided by the concerned providers, wherein the
health and social care practitioner provides a varied range of support to their clients and their
family and takes the relentless responsibility of working in a professional manner and interact
with the clients to meet their care needs. To maintain the smooth and subtle execution of all the
functions, it is significant to ensure that the selection and recruitment of the individuals must
follow some prominent approach and theories. The legislative and the policies must also be taken
into account.
London Nursing Home has been facing serious problems regarding the retention and
recruitment of suitable employees. To ensure a proper understanding of the various factors that
can improve the condition within the organisation, the essay will focus on those key factors that
determine the recruitment of the employees and how training and development can improve their
expertise. The leadership theories and the attitude of the care workers working in a group have
also been focused.
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Discussion
1.1 Explain the factors to be considered when planning the recruitment of individuals to
work in health and social care
Health and social care sector needs to consider lot of factors before considering a candidate for
recruitment in the industry. HR department is responsible for recruiting candidates in any
organisation. They are responsible for managing human resources such as staff workers who take
care of public and individual health. In health and social care, the most important factor is
providing high quality care and service (Aveyard, 2014). Staff workers working in the health and
social care are responsible for taking care of patients. Thus, the quality of staff workers, their
knowledge and experience is very crucial to be considered while hiring any individual, as this
will have a direct impact on the overall performance of the organization. HR managers of
London Nursing Home are responsible for maintaining the efficiency of staff workers,
identifying workers who are lacking the necessary skill set and knowledge application. Thus,
proper management of human resources is very essential in health and social care. The process
of recruitment of involves three steps such as identifying good candidates from various
application, screening and selection.
The factors that are considered while recruitment by the HR managers, in order to hire ones that
are best suited for a specific job. Managers need to consider the needs and requirements of
different departments in the health and social care organization and then hire people (Cameron et
al., 2014). The organization needs to hire new individuals if it is undergoing any sort of change
in the organizational structure, policy, work roles or use of services. Managers in London
Nursing Home need to do appropriate planning before the recruitment process and need to decide
whether they wish to hire individual for full time or part time purpose. Accurate analysis of the
needs of job is required to be outlined; this will help to understand the qualities and specification
they are looking in an individual to be considered for the job. Human resource department also
need to make plans about the method of advertising, they wish to use for attracting talented
candidates. They can use traditional media such as newspapers, radio and magazines, while other
alternatives are social media campaign and websites.
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1.2 Explain how relevant legislative and policy frameworks of the home country influence
the selection, recruitment and employment of individuals
Government bodies and institutions have introduced certain policies and legislations for the
welfare of the employees at workplace. These have been developed with the aim to develop and
encourage partnership and efficient employment relations in different organisations. In UK,
labour laws or employment laws are mainly derived from to acts that are The Equality Act, 2010
and Employment Rights Act, 1996. Few other laws and acts that also exist are The Trade Union
and Labour Relations Act of 1992. The employment laws in the country have remained the same
since past 30 years, and the last amendments were made in 2001 or 2002 (Sirrs, 2016).
According to the regulations introduced as per the government reports that the Working Time
Regulations provides the an individual certain rights, according to which 48 hours per week is
the limit a person is required to work along with rest and small breaks for at least 20 minutes. In
London Nursing Home, managers need to take a note of this regulation and stop forcing
employees to work for long hours. One day off from work is mandatory and suppose a individual
is working for a night shift, then the person needs to be provided with free health assessments
and is required to work for an average 8 hours. Government has introduced codes of practise and
policies related to employer’s right. This makes it mandatory for employers to check the passport
of the employee, examine if the person has work permit, and if the person has recently joined
EU, then they need to register in the home office within the first month. As per the guidelines
issued by government, employers in London Nursing Home need to check the background and
make sure the person has no criminal records while hiring a candidate. This needs to be done
before the beginning of job (Betts and Thompson, 2016).
These policies and framework provides appropriate guidelines for both employers and
employees that they need to follow while hiring anyone in the country. This allows both the
employee and employers to be aware of their own rights and related laws. During any
infringement of laws and acts, both employers and employees can take appropriate actions and
even take the matter to court.
1.3 Evaluate different approaches that may be used to ensure the selection of the best
individuals for work in health and social care
In health and social care, the quality of workers, the way staff workers treat patients, their
efficiency and their ability to apply knowledge for curing ailments is the most indispensable part
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(Glasby, 2017). Human resource department in London Nursing Home needs to develop tough
screening and selection process in order to evaluate all the qualities and knowledge background
of the applicant. In London Nursing Home, managers need to analyse number of skills such as
communication, typing and computer skills. Human resource department can divide the whole
process into three parts that may include three stages- short listing applicants, models of
selection and involvement of stakeholders. While short-listing candidates from thousands of
applicants, managers can set certain objectives or set of standards that a person needs to satisfy
in order to be selected for the next stage. They may analyze the skills, abilities, specifications,
and additional requirements such as comfortable to work for long hours. This stage is necessary
as it will improve the effectiveness of the selection procedure and ensure fairness.
In models of selection, the managers of London Nursing Home can choose to conduct personal
interviews (PI) of all the short listed candidates. In PI, managers can interact directly with the
candidates and judge their behaviour, attitude and skills face to face. This will ensure that only
the best candidates are selected. Depending upon job specification, group of member’s expert in
that particular job can assess the candidates, rather than a single one (Scott, 2016).
Communication skills, human relation skills, experience, and many more factors about the
candidate can be assessed. Decisions based on race, colour and sex should be avoided. Rather
managers can select the candidate based on facts and by matching the actual requirements of the
job with the complete profile of the candidate.
In London Nursing Home, the present situation is very critical, as most of the employees are not
adequate as per the job specification. Thus, managers can bring changes in their selection and
screening process. This will ensure that only the best candidates are selected. Along with that,
the managers can make sure that the guidelines issued by government for the welfare of the
employees are followed in the organization. Employees are given breaks and off days at the end
of every week and no employee are forced to work more than 48 hours a week. This will help to
reduce high employee turnover.
2.1 Explain theories of how individuals interact in groups in relation to the types of teams
that work in health and social care
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Tuckman established the first group working theory in 1965. According to his model, individuals
interact in groups covering four phases (Levi, 2015). Even for health care teams this four phases
are applicable.
Forming is where the team members comes to know about the chances that helps in wellbeing of
the health care and challenges that needs overcoming in order to help the health care reduce their
problems. In this stage, the duty of a manager is huge, as they are required to guide the
employees and motivate them to work effectively (Levi, 2015).
Storming: This is the second phase, which includes developing ideas about the problems that are
found in the health care. This is a very crucial stage because with the help of this stage the
management will be able to get ideas about the problems the employees are facing. The
management also needs to resolve those problems to avoid employee retention (Raes et al.,
2015).
Norming is the third stage, which will help the employees to coordinate with each other as well
as the management. This stage is equally important because after fulfilling the first two steps in a
proper way, this is the stage where the employees will be taking an initiative of providing
solutions on their own. This stage will also allow the managers to talk with the team members in
an open manner and convey to the employees about the health care objectives and train them to
manage the patients in a better way (Levi, 2015).
Performing is the last stage and with the help of this stage, the team becomes qualified enough to
perform tasks in a coordinated and cooperated way. After the health care teams have successfully
completed the first three stages, this stage provides the outcome of the group interaction process.
With the help of this stage, the health care will be able to increase job satisfaction among the
employees. While the health care team reaches this stage, the employees will have proper
knowledge about managing the patients, maintaining work place culture and ethics, which will
enhance wellbeing of the organisation (Raes et al., 2015).
2.2 Evaluate approaches that may be used to develop effective team working in health and
social care
To develop an effective teamwork it is important to follow few approaches in the health and
social care services
Proper Leadership helps the team members follow the right pathways to success.
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The judgement of the leader is very significant in the effective working of the employees. The
employer must have the leadership skills to maintain their team and enhance the teamwork
(Nica, 2015).London Nursing Home must ensure that the higher authority must have unbiased
and strong judgemental power.
Building a relationship with employees can enhance teamwork. The leaders must ensure a strong
relation with their employees and incorporate them in the decision making process. Providing an
open-ended project to the team and asking solution to it is an excellent idea of building the unity
among the social care providers (Körner et al., 2016). The managers of London Nursing Home
must have intense relationship with the employees so that they can perform well and work
without making mistakes like passing wrong messages and not handing the work properly at the
end of the shift.
Encouraging team workers are one of the key necessities for developing effective team work.
Encouraging the team to share their views and the information and communicate well within the
team (Sarwar and Devlin, 2017). Nursing home has been failing in this genre of sharing
information and messages, hence tight and tactful teamwork can be supremely beneficial.
The establishment of the team can be done through the creation of common goals and values
(Valentine et al., 2015). Moreover the evaluation of the performance of the team is also worthy
to mention. In this context, one can mention that London Nursing Home can encourage the
health care providers to work efficiently by incorporating the reward and appraisal system within
the organisation. This motivates the team to perform well and thereby help the organisation to
attain their goals and objectives. Individual Talent of the social care workers can hardly be
effective to run the entire system.
3.1 Explain ways in which the performance of individuals working in health and social care
can be monitored
Monitoring of performance of staff workers is essential as it ensures that the desired service care
and support is provided to all individuals. Human resources manager in London Nursing Home
can apply many methods to analyze the performance of all employees. The best way to get an
idea about the performance of the staff workers is to obtain feedback directly from the service
users. The service users will always provide an honest feedback about the experience they had
while they used the service. Thus, managers in London Nursing Home can evaluate the staff
worker by gathering views and opinions from people. The managers analyze the performance of
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the organization in every quarter; this will also provide a clear idea about how well the
employees are performing. If the organization is able to achieve the objectives and set priorities
on the set period of time, will prove that the organization is on proper track and everything is
going well (Patterson and Slymen, 2017). The managers can utilize the previous year reports and
analyze the performance with the present year to identify and monitor the performance of its
employees. Managers can collect feedback from all leaders of every department and obtain
knowledge about all employees working in each department.
3.2 Assess how individual training and development needs can be identified
The training and development needs of individuals in Health and Social Care are very necessary,
more than any other sector. In London Nursing Home, managers can assess these needs of their
employees by following three simple stages. These three stages involve identifying the needs
of the organization, performing task analysis and finally analysing the needs of each employee.
The purpose of this stage is to analyze the training needs of the organization (Lawrence et al.,
2016). This allows to identify the future needs of the organization due to upcoming changes in
laws or installation of technology. The best way of analyzing the organizational needs is by
setting up of advisory panel, conducting SWOT analysis, reviewing processes. After analysing
the organizational needs, managers in London Nursing Home need to compare the job
requirements of the business with the skills and experience of their employees. These way
managers can identify the areas where employees are lacking the potential and expertise. In
London Nursing Home, there have been many complaints against employees, stating that they
lack the appropriate amount of skill to handle the patients. Third or the final stage, involves
assessing the training needs of employees. In London Nursing Home, employees urgently require
to undergo training and development, otherwise it will be difficult for the organization to achieve
its goals and objectives.
3.3 Analyse different strategies for promoting the continuing development of individuals in
the health and social care workplace
In London Nursing Home, employees are lacking the ability to apply their knowledge and serve
the patients to the required level of standards. It is pivotal for the human resource managers in
London Nursing Home to promote continuous development in their employees and strongly
build this idea into their minds. The managers can use different strategies for creating a learning
environment in the organization (Buckley et al., 2015). These include establishing partnerships
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among various departments to allow sharing of objectives through a mutually agreed and
division of labour. Employees in London Nursing Home were often blamed for not reporting
important messages to other employees. Establishing partnerships will have a direct positive
impact on this habit of employees. This step will help to build a common understanding of
organizational values and culture among employees of the organization. Healthy partnership
among co-workers will assist in learning and development. Managers need to invest in providing
training programs and sessions to employees so that they are able to learn required skills,
knowledge and competence.
Building partnerships will help to open mindsets of employees and provide opportunities to learn
from each other. Managers need to distribute the funds and resources for the development of
employees as well as technology and equipments (De Raeve et al., 2017). Managers can use
online training process to educate the staff workers. They can invest in implementing
conferences and mobile based learning procedures for promoting development. This is a very
efficient method as it does not involves high cost or expenditure along with that staff workers
will learn about new technologies.
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4.1 Explain theories of leadership that apply to the health and social care workplace
The leadership styles followed by the managers or leaders in an organization are the corner stone
for improving organizational performance and productivity. In simple words, leadership can be
described as power and influence of a manager to communicate and interact with employees,
build trust and enthusiasm in them. Different theories that are applicable in health and social care
workplace are participatory leadership, situational leadership and transactional leadership. In
transactional leadership, employees are motivated to improve their performance by providing
reward and punishment. This they way the managers can boost the morale of employees and
enforce the idea to take their job responsibilities seriously. In this leadership styles, the managers
create a clear structure for their employees to follow. Employees who strictly follow the
procedure and work with full dedication and commitment are rewarded (Webber et al., 2015). In
early stage, employees are given the salary and few benefits and managers take full authority
over them. Managers assign the work to employees and subordinates are expected to complete
it. In case, the employee is unable to complete the task, they are considered to be responsible and
liable for failure.
In situational leadership, the managers and employees have good relationship with each other.
The decision making process of mangers is affected by this relationship. Thus, the action of
manager depends upon several factors. The managers try to focus on improving the quality and
effectiveness of their action. In participatory leadership, managers encourage the participation of
employees in order to improve the decision making process. The role of manager is to encourage
employees to be more collaborative in working and form teams to complete individual task
(Humphries, 2015). This way the managers are able to make better decisions and properly guide
and support everyone at workplace.
In London Nursing Home, the managers can follow transactional leadership, as this will allow
changing the internal environment of the organization. Managers can direct employees to follow
certain guidelines and work accordingly. This will help to improve the quality of customer
service and care. Punishments to employees who are not performing up to the required standard
level will force them to improve and take necessary steps.
4.2 Analyse how working relationships may be managed
In health and social sector, many teams work together and coordinate with each other to
complete several tasks. The most important factor is to establish a strong line of communication
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between all layers of the hierarchy within London Nursing Home. This will remove all the
barriers that may existing in the communication process and improve the efficiency. London
Nursing Home has a very poor communication process and there have been many complaints
from the patients related to this matter. The organization can use technology counter this
obstacle. Other important criteria are shared values, a common understanding among the
employees about organizational goals and objectives. Managers need to communicate and
explain the set priorities and mission of the organization to employees and outline what the
organization expects from the employees. This way the employees will learn about the changes
they need to make.
Managers can have a direct influence on the performance of the employees; the management
style followed by them can either boost the confidence or deplete their morale (Chapman et al.,
2014). Managers can assess the performance of employees and thereby guide and support the
ones who are lacking in some areas or skills. Managers can establish and encourage employees
to form teams and work by breaking the task into smaller ones. This will allow distributing the
work to individual teams and increasing involvement of every member. The managers are
responsible for framing the organizational structure and culture. This has huge impact on the
behaviour and attitude of the employees. Thus, establishing a healthy environment and
organizational culture will allow boosting of employees performance and productivity. In
London Nursing Home, managers need to boost team building, as this will allow them to learn
from each other and improve their communication skills. Managers need to adapt proper
leadership styles in order to influence the employees and encourage learning and development in
them. This will help to build trust and good relationship between each other. Forming teams and
developing work relationships will allow the top managers to improve their skills and retain
important employees (Batalden et al., 2015). Managers can work along with the teams to
influence their behaviour and develop team-building attitude a
mong all employees.
4.3 Evaluate how own development has been influenced by management approaches
encountered in own experience
The attitude and confidence of employees have a direct relationship with the management
approach followed in office environment. Managers in many ways influence the atmosphere that
prevails inside the office. This atmosphere is responsible for determining the way employees
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work and carry out different activities. As an employee in different offices, I have encountered
different people and managers who have different approach towards handling people inside the
organization. In my career, I have had experiences when my manager was very friendly and calm
and followed approach based on the situation. In one case, my manager used to actively involve
with the employees, supervise their performance, and guide them to improve. He always tried to
give inputs, whenever necessary, in order to help us improve our efficiency and effectiveness. A
good boss is better than reading 100 books on self-development. I truly learned and gained
valuable experience from him.
In my last job, I was working as a human resource representative and my manager was a highly
experienced man with exceptional thinking and problem-solving approach. The best part was
that he was very hearty in his appreciation, which greatly influenced the confidence of the people
around him. He always thought of everyone as a team member and aimed to work together. This
helped me to gain experience and learn the importance of team building. I think this learning will
help a lot in my job career. I also realised that by appreciating people I can positively influence
people and boost their morale. People improve themselves when they are appreciated for every
small improvement rather than punishing or rebuking people for every mistake.
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Conclusion
The discussion has helped in concluding that, as London Nursing Home is undergoing severe
problems of employee retention. This particular essay focuses on the factors that will help in
improving the condition of the nursing home and reduce employee retention. This essay also
focuses on the importance of training programmes to influence the performance of the
employees. This essay discusses sheds light on the leadership theories that the health care
workers practises. Furthermore, this essay discusses about the approaches that helps in
developing effectiveness in health care. The approaches include establishing proper leadership,
enhancing relationship with the employees, encouraging teamwork and setting up rules to create
an effective team. This essay also sheds light on the individual theories, which are used to
interact in groups, and this essay discusses the relation of this interaction to the types of teams
that work in health and social care.
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