Annotated Bibliography of HRM in the Healthcare Sector, T1 2019

This annotated bibliography examines five peer-reviewed journal articles focusing on Human Resource Management (HRM) within the healthcare sector. The articles explore various aspects of HRM, including benchmarking management practices in Australian public healthcare, the implementation of Lean Six Sigma, the impact of workplace relationships on employee engagement and well-being, the evaluation of mindfulness programs for staff in the disability sector, and the reduction of burnout in nurses. The analysis covers research methodologies, key findings, and implications of each article, highlighting strengths, limitations, and contributions to further studies. The bibliography emphasizes the importance of effective HRM in improving healthcare quality, employee satisfaction, and organizational performance, particularly in the context of Australian healthcare settings. The articles collectively demonstrate the evolving challenges and opportunities within HRM in healthcare, offering insights into employee relations, management techniques, and the well-being of healthcare professionals.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND HEALTHCARE SECTOR
Human Resource Management and Healthcare Sector
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND HEALTHCARE SECTOR
Agarwal, R., Green, R., Agarwal, N., & Randhawa, K. (2016). Benchmarking
management practices in Australian public healthcare. Journal of health organisation
and management, 30(1), 31-56.
The primary objective of the above-cited article is to analyse the evolution of Human
Resource Management in terms of the health care sector. In this connection, the major focus
of the article is to jointly examine the quality of the Human Resource Management practices
and processes implemented by the healthcare system of Queensland and NSW hospitals of
Australia and compares it with the benchmark of other international countries such as USA,
France, Sweden, Germany, Canada and UK. The research question of the mentioned article
is – the practices of the public hospitals as well as the management system focusing on the
health care sector. In this connection, the report demonstrates the evolution of the HRM in
terms of healthcare.
The authors of the cited article have adopted the unique methodology of deploying a
survey instrument namely – double-blind, double scored and also an interview-based survey
questioning 21 dimensions of management that covers the vital area of HRM. The areas
included the operation management, performance analysing, target market and the
management of the people.
The authors on the examination of the hypotheses presented by them came to a
resulted finding that the HRM of the hospitality sector in Australia gains strength and
potentiality as compared to the other countries taken to compare the result. The areas of
strength recognised were examined as the operation management system to be performing
with the best of the capabilities, and that was then followed by the performance level of the
Queensland and NSW public hospital. However, the article also critically stated after the
research that the concerned hospitality sector of Australia lacks behind in the dimension of

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managing the people and there is a high scope of improvement in the same. The significant
implications of the above-examined article are that it will prove helpful to the hospital
administrators in Australia to analyse their weakness and strengths and work upon the same
to improve the future aspects. Likewise, the article may also prove helpful to the government
of Australia who proposes policy-making strategies under the laws and norms of the
Australian legacy. The same will help the HRM in increasing their management quality in the
health care sector and attain the highest quality and premium hospitality sector. The authors
of the article propose that this will help the HRM of the hospitals gain a higher competitive
advantage in the market.
Based on the understanding of the article it may be concluded that the authors
successfully demonstrated the development of HRM in the sector of healthcare and also
demonstrated the areas where it has scope to develop in the future. However, the only
limitation to the article was that it was reviewed only upon the public sector hospitals, the
sample of dimensions could have been diversified.
The contribution of the mentioned article to the further studies would make a clear
understanding about the challenges the HRM has to face in the context of developing the
management system of the healthcare sector and the evolution of the same.
Stanton, P., Gough, R., Ballardie, R., Bartram, T., Bamber, G. J., & Sohal, A. (2014).
Implementing lean management/Six Sigma in hospitals: beyond empowerment or work
intensification? The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(21),
2926-2940.
The primary objective of the above-cited article is to analyse the context of Human
Resource Management concerning the healthcare sector in Australia. In light of this, the
mentioned article critically examines the process of improvement project of HRM in the

3HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND HEALTHCARE SECTOR
department of emergency concerning an Australian hospital. The authors of the report
consider the experiences of the managerial as well as the clinical staff who are liable for
managing the project plans and processes of the hospital. The research question implied in
the particular research is – the effectiveness of the methodology of Lean Six Sigma technique
used by the concerned hospitality industry. The article in this regard whether the same is
beyond the empowerment level of the hospital or works efficiently for the hospital.
The research methodology used in the above-cited article is based on the empirical
findings done by examining the physical activities of the hospital. No proper method of
sampling techniques or secondary resources was done to investigate the outcome of the
management of the hospital.
The findings of the article showed that the implications of the Lean Six Sigma
technique improved the transfer of the patient from the emergency department to different
wards and proved decisive for the managerial staffs to avoid haphazard of shifting the
patients. However, the study also stated that this outcome was the result of the efforts
confronted by the higher level management to use the concerned technique to gain resources
and do the work and not alone the implementation of the method. The study also examined
that the intensification of the work that contributed to the management of the systematic
issues in the hospital was the attribute of the administration to resolve the same and not the
use of LSS in particular. In this context, the study states that the HRM of hospitality was
efficient enough to handle the situations and put effort, but the techniques implemented to
tackle the same are not active enough.
Based on the examination of the article, it may be concluded that the article is limited
to many factors. The article does not provide an adequate research methodology and the
hospital taken into consideration remains anonymous. This brings doubt in the mind of the

4HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND HEALTHCARE SECTOR
readers to analyse the genuine nature of the same. Moreover, no pieces of primary or
secondary data survey were taken into consideration.
The contribution of the given article is that it will help in creating an understanding of
the techniques and tools to be used in the hospitality sector and check the efficiency of the
same. It also helps in understanding the liabilities of the HRM in case the techniques do not
work and how the management handles the situation.
Brunetto, Y., Xerri, M., Shriberg, A., Farr‐Wharton, R., Shacklock, K., Newman, S., &
Dienger, J. (2013). The impact of workplace relationships on engagement, well‐being,
commitment and turnover for nurses in Australia and the USA. Journal of Advanced
Nursing, 69(12), 2786-2799.
The fundamental objective of the above-cited article is to understand the impact of the HRM
that fosters well-being for the nurses working in the hospital of Australia and the USA. In this
connection, the authors of the article examine the impact of employee management
relationship managed in the hospitals of the USA and Australia. The research question
followed in the article is – how does the relationship management maintained by the HRM
influences the behaviour of nurses in the healthcare sector.
The research methodology used in the particular article is the survey method of
questionnaires. The sample size that was taken into consideration was a number of 510 nurses
from the hospitals of Australia and 718 nurses from that of the US. A structure of the multi-
group model equation analysis was taken to compare the impact between the two countries.
The findings that were examined by the authors indicated that the model used for
research was useful to analyse the co-relation of nurses between the two countries. The
outcome showed that the HRM of Australia were competent enough to maintain a healthy
manager employer relationship to motivate the nurses to work effectively. The nurses from

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Australia claimed that they work together in a team to handle the hospital and thereby it
fosters the turnover in the organisation. In contrast to this, the USA hospitality sector failed to
maintain the same, and there were no paths of teamwork seen in the same.
The conclusion analysed on the examination of the above study was that to work
effectively and efficiently in the hospitality sector, teamwork plays a key role. In this
connection, the HRM of the concerned organisation is solely responsible for maintaining a
human-friendly relationship with all the employees to gain their loyalty and sustainment.
The contribution of the above article to further studies is that it helps in the
examination of the importance of managing the effective and efficient relationship with all
the level of employees, which would assist in gaining competitive advantage in the market as
well as the loyalty of the employees.
Brooker, J., Julian, J., Webber, L., Chan, J., Shawyer, F., & Meadows, G. (2013).
Evaluation of an occupational mindfulness program for staff employed in the disability
sector in Australia. Mindfulness, 4(2), 122-136.
The primary objective of the above-cited article is to analyse the nature and adherence
of the managerial employees that are employed in the sector of handling disabled people. The
report in this regard investigated the conflicts and challenges the employees have to go
through to treat the patients. The research question of the same is – the role of HRM in
providing facilities to the employees allocated in the disability sector.
The method of research used for the same is the longitudinal design of observation.
The sample size taken for the same were 34 participants that included 22 managers and 12
disabled support workers. The age of the participants is recorded as 23 to 60 years old. The
respondents were asked to complete a range of psychological questions about wellbeing and
health priorities.

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The findings of the article indicated that the respondents reacted positively to the
program and answered the questions that followed. The outcome of the research proved that
the managers got gradually habituated to the work environment after receiving training and
development program for the same. The negative impact that was analysed was the stress
level, anxiety and the emotions of the employees increased recognisably. However, several
complex issues took place with the disabled people and were reported in the survey that had
to be tackled by the managerial employees. Those issues were published as burnouts,
dissatisfied with life, accidents and inner peace. In this connection, the articles discuss the
role play of Human Resource Management to leverage the managerial staffs with stress
relieve management programs so that it does not feel bothersome to continue working with
the disabled sector. As proposed in the above article, in order to maintain their organisation
of disability the HRM is liable to provide variable payout plans for the employees to keep
them motivated.
Based on the illustrations provided in the mentioned article it can be concluded that to
manage the disabled sector the employees recruited for the same has to face many difficult
challenges and stress issues to understand the patients and their needs to treat them
effectively and efficiently. In this connection, the HRM is liable to provide the employees
with prior training and development programs and also monetary benefits to retain the
employees in the organisation in the long run.
The contribution of the mentioned article for further understanding is analysed as the
concept of examination of the contextual role of Human Resource Management concerning
the maintenance of the health care sector and the retention of the employees recruited to work
in the industry of disabled hospitality.

7HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND HEALTHCARE SECTOR
Holland, P. J., Allen, B. C., & Cooper, B. K. (2013). Reducing burnout in Australian
nurses: the role of direct employee voice and managerial responsiveness. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(16), 3146-3162.
The prior objective of the above-cited article is examined to assist the role of Human
Resource Management in reducing the burnout in the nurses working in Australia. The article
focuses on explaining the stressful nature of work nurses have to bear while working and the
same resulting in burnout. In this connection, the presented article fosters its hypotheses on
the voice of the employee and also the sensitive nature of managers concerning the issue of
burnout. The research question based on this scenario is what is the responsiveness of the
HRM in reducing the burnout and is that significant to the rights of the Australian nurses.
The methodology for research that is used in the mentioned article is examined as
primary data collection through the means of an online survey method. A sample size of 762
nurses was taken into consideration. The nurses in this regard were asked to fill a
questionnaire that concerned the dimensions of negativity and positivity of burnout and are
burnout necessary and beneficial to them or not and whether their demand is fulfilled about
the same or not.
In this connection, the findings that are interpreted by the authors of the article were
shown to prove the hypotheses presented by the authors. This implies that the question that
the voice of employees and that of the managerial response got a negative answer to the same
but a positive to the vague statement presented in the article. The response given by the
nurses proves that there should not be any decrease in the burnout rate as the job they do is
very stressful for them. The nurses also stated that the response of the managers are negative
in this prospect and they are not given their rights of burnout. In this context, the article
discusses the importance of the management process of the Human Resource Management

8HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND HEALTHCARE SECTOR
where the managers should implicate their findings on the debated topic and deal with the
intervention of the burnout rate in the profession of nursing. The authors of the article
critically present a practical implication that nurses are an essential part of the health care
sector who manages and takes care of the patients. If the burnout issue brings to the
resignation of the nurses, then the hospitals would be affected on a high basis. Therefore, the
HRM should have a thorough look out to the same in order to develop themselves in their
managerial skills of the health care sector.
Based on the above-cited article, the study comes to a conclusion that in order to
improve oneself in the context of managerial skills concerning the health care sector, the
human resource manager of any hospital has to look out to the needs and demands of the
nurses. The managers are liable to maintain a healthy work relationship with the nurses in the
hospitality sector as because they are analysed as an integral part of the same. Elimination of
the nurses will affect the efficiency of the working structure of a hospital and in turn, may
also result at the end of the working of the hospital. However, it was also analysed that there
were certain limitations to the article, which were related to the response of the managers to
the same. The authors of the report only recorded the reaction of the nurses and not
managerial employees. Since the hypotheses presented in the article was related to both, a
response of both should have been recorded to create a better understanding.
The contribution of the given article to further understanding and studies is that it
creates a concept about the responsiveness of the Human Resource Management towards the
nurses of the health care sector and their rights to the burnout rate because of the stress in
their job sector.

9HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND HEALTHCARE SECTOR
Bibliography
Agarwal, R., Green, R., Agarwal, N., & Randhawa, K. (2016). Benchmarking management
practices in Australian public healthcare. Journal of health organisation and
management, 30(1), 31-56.
Brooker, J., Julian, J., Webber, L., Chan, J., Shawyer, F., & Meadows, G. (2013). Evaluation
of an occupational mindfulness program for staff employed in the disability sector in
Australia. Mindfulness, 4(2), 122-136.
Brunetto, Y., Xerri, M., Shriberg, A., Farr‐Wharton, R., Shacklock, K., Newman, S., &
Dienger, J. (2013). The impact of workplace relationships on engagement, well‐being,
commitment and turnover for nurses in Australia and the USA. Journal of Advanced
Nursing, 69(12), 2786-2799.
Holland, P. J., Allen, B. C., & Cooper, B. K. (2013). Reducing burnout in Australian nurses:
the role of direct employee voice and managerial responsiveness. The International
Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(16), 3146-3162.
Stanton, P., Gough, R., Ballardie, R., Bartram, T., Bamber, G. J., & Sohal, A. (2014).
Implementing lean management/Six Sigma in hospitals: beyond empowerment or
work intensification? The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 25(21), 2926-2940.