Challenges of Strategic People Management in NHS: A Report

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes people management challenges in the NHS.

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Introduction to People Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Theoretical models for three management areas and its application in the context of NHS.......2
The role and priorities of the NHS management and HR department to support its management
.....................................................................................................................................................4
Impact of internal and external influences on three highlighted areas of NHS management.....5
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
People management refers to human resource management, which is the biggest asset of an
organization. The success or failure of a business depends on how its employees perform. In
order to make an employee effective the HR manager needs to motivate, lead and inspire the
employees. At present managing people becomes a rising problem in the healthcare industry. In
UK due to advances in treatment, standards and administrative policies the healthcare
organizations have been facing pressure to improve their traditional system. In the NHS, the
performance quality is low as per the historical standard.
Due to the slowly growing financial budget, the HR department of this organization has been
facing great challenges in managing people. This study deals with the challenges of three
specific areas of people management in this organization.
Discussion
Theoretical models for three management areas and its application in the context of NHS
Strategic people management highlights three major areas include leadership and management,
training and development and talent management. The Behavioral theory of leadership
allows the leader to show proper attitude based on the situation (Cooke and Bartram 2015). This
theory highlights autocratic, democratic and laissez fair models of leadership. However, the
democratic model of leadership will be suitable for those leaders who are suffering from
financial challenges. The HR department of NHS has been facing challenges due to the slow
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growth of financial budget. Hence, the application of the democratic model allows the leader of
the NHS to make a proper financial decision by involving the people and its team members. This
leadership model allows the HR of NHS to influence its employees to show creativity, which
results in better productivity. However, the HR of NHS faced challenges in managing the people
as this organization failed to cope with the changing medical technology. Application of Human
Relations theory would be effective for NHS management to improve their current system as
per the national standard by establishing a human-centered system in this organization.
Training and development is the core area of people management. In order to cope with the
changing demand of the market an organization needs to train and develop its employee in a way
that can meet the business objectives (Erasmuset al. 2016). As per the given scenario, NHS
management has been facing extreme pressure for changing the medical system. Their low
budget resists them to manage the different departments. Application of reinforcement theory
gives especial emphasis on the learning behavior of the individuals (King 2015). This theory will
allow the management to suggest training and development of employee in a way, which can be
aligned with the organizational objectives. The NHS aims to apply some practical practices to
boost the performance of its different departments. Hence, this reinforcement theory will help the
management to introduce human resource practices that will support employee development.
Talent management is another specific area of strategic people management that allows an
organization to boost its employee skill. According to Hudson’s competency model, an
organization should understand the right combination of knowledge, skill, and behavior
(Sparrow et al. 2015). According to the given scenario, the management of NHS has been facing
difficulties in managing its talent. However, the rising pressure of changing the medical system
and administrative policies forces this organization to improve its system. Hence, application of
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Hudson's competency model would help the HR professionals to combine the knowledge and
behavior of employees in the right way, which develops an ordinary employee into exceptional
talent. Such talent acquisition will allow the management to grab the advanced policy and system
and meet the global standard.
The role and priorities of the NHS management and HR department to support its
management
The major role and priority of a management system in the healthcare sector are to create value
for its stakeholders. Besides this, the management needs to increase competitiveness through the
determination of competitive priorities (Martinet al. 2016). For NHS the management needs to
provide value to its employees while managing them. To cope with the changing administrative
policies and medical system the management needs to make its employee competitive by
involving them in financial decision-making as a low budget is the main barrier of people
management in this organization.
The HR of NHS is responsible for various functions one of the most important is maintaining
labor management relation. To boost the leadership the HR needs to improve the employee
management relation while trying to shape a new practice. Therefore, to improve the training and
development process suitable employment practice should be implemented. However, good
employment practice allows the management of the NHS to make its financial budget while
managing the departments. By taking short-term training the HR of NHS can develop the
employees personally and professionally. However, short term training would be suitable for the
management to deal with the current crisis quickly (Gannon et al. 2015). To support the
advanced administrative policy the HR of NHS should ensure the health and safety of the
employees as it is a global demand in the healthcare industry. To acquire talent the HR of NHS
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needs to evaluate the candidate personally and professionally during the selection process.
Moreover, proper compensation and befit should be given to retain the talent in NHS.
Impact of internal and external influences on three highlighted areas of NHS management
External influences
Government policy
The government policy in UK is a big external influence that affects the operation of healthcare
sectors. At present, the UK government focuses on improving UK policy framework for health
and social care through implementing ethical conduct and protecting the customer and employee
interest (Gov.uk 2019).
The government has aimed to deliver free medical service to the native people. However, NHS
delivers free medical service but all services are not free like people have to pay for dental care
and mental treatment. Hence, the changing policy framework forces NHS to modify its care
providers to protect individual interest. For this purpose, the management of NHS needs to train
and develop its staff in a way that will deliver service by offering a suitable health budget. On
the other hand, to maintain the ethical conduct and employee interest the HR needs to change
their leadership in the way, which can support the employee right. However, proper
compensation should be given to the employees while the management is hiring talent. On the
other hand, ensuring health and safety is a must for the employees to develop them effectively.
Economic condition
UK has a high GDP. In 2018 the GDP grew up to 1.4%. To improve the leadership and
management of an organization strong financial resource is required. Stable economic condition
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and high GDP of UK allows the NHS to hire talent and boost the employee development
program. The economic condition of a country not only affects the talent pool but also affects the
ability of an organization to hire anyone. However, the recession in 2008 affects the talent
acquisition and employee development of NHS due to slow budgeting. Good health means a
good economy. According to the statistical data the life expectancy in UK grew by 10% that
means people have access to combat illness and they have no financial burden (Nao.org.uk
2019). In 2014 the UK government spent £179 billion in the healthcare industry. This
contribution of government boosts the talent management, leadership skill and employee
development in NHS (www.nhs.uk, 2019).
Social factor
UK is the country of the aging population, which influences NHS to improve its care provision.
In order to protect the health of people, NHS seeks suitable leadership and management skill. On
the other hand, people have a good income and health awareness in UK, which enables them to
contribute more in maximizing their health (Wilton 2016). This allows NHS to spend more on
employee development and talent acquisition.
Technological factor
UK is a technology-oriented country. As argued by King(2015), sometimes it is difficult for the
management of an organization to cope with the new technology. In the context of NHS, the
emerging medical technology allows them to boost their employee training and development
program. On the other hand, the training includes the high cost that often decreases the ability of
management in hiring new talent. Moreover, new technological advancement forces the leader to
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manage the people as per the new standard. Often the employees face difficulties to grab the new
technology as a result, the leaders and management face challenges to manage such employees.
Internal influences
Funding
Figure 1: Budget of NHS
(Source: Nao.org.uk 2019)
Funding is a major internal factor that leaves a great impact on strategic people management. In
order to recruit good talent and develop employee sufficient financial resource is required.
However, to hire a skilled leader and efficient employees NHS needs to increase its budget for
recruitment. As per the given scenario, at present, the budget of NHS is low to manage people in
this organization. The above graph shows that the NHS budget has grown every year, which is
good for people management but not sufficient for hiring talent and employee development. The
budget of NHS is low than the required standard, which hampers the training and development
process as a high level of employee training requires a high budget. It is expected that the NHS
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funding will be increased by 3.4% from 2019 to 2023 (Nao.org.uk 2019). This funding strategy
would boost the employee development, management and talent acquisition processes of NHS.
Human resources
Human resource is the vital internal factor that influences leadership style, employee
development and talent management program in an organization. The human resource is a strong
NHS. At present, 1.5 million people are employed by NHS across UK (England.nhs.uk 2019).
This highlights its strong human resource capacity. This will allow the management to choose an
effective leader from a large number of effective staffs. Such strong manpower helps NHS to
make an effective team responsible for providing training and developing employees. Therefore,
the management will be able to make an effective team for recruitment, which will involve in
hiring and managing new talent.
Organizational culture
Organizational culture is important to manage people effectively. The HR of NHS has introduced
workplace diversity in this organization that boosts the communication between the management
and employees. Workplace diversity is a rising demand for every organization to reduce
discrimination from the workplace (Gannonet al. 2015). The leaders need to build an
interpersonal relationship with the employees belong from different cultures. Workplace
diversity allows the leader to motivate people of different cultural background. Next, for
developing employees a positive organizational culture is required in which the employees will
feel comfortable. Moreover, to boost the talent management a good organizational culture should
be established otherwise it will be difficult for HR to motivate the skilled employees in NHS.
Organizational structure
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NHS follows the hierarchical structure that is not suitable for strategic people management. The
hierarchical structure creates bureaucracy in the system that hampers the communication
between staffs and management (Wilton 2016). In order to be a good leader, it is important for
leaders to communicate with the employees freely. Due to the hierarchical structure, the leaders
of NHS are not able to feel free while leading employees. Therefore, the training and
development process is also hampered in this structure as the staffs are not able to solve their
query due to lack of communication gap. Moreover, such bureaucratic structure includes
complex process while hiring and managing talent in NHS that affects the talent acquisition
process.
Recommendations
 By taking a leadership course the leaders in NHS can boost their leadership skills during
the crisis
 The management should outline its goals properly to reveal the reasons for making
improvement in NHS
 Implementation of praising and rewarding practice would be effective for the NHS to
develop its employee
 Providing job security and proper compensation plan would be great to hire and retain
new talent in NHS
 Involvement of the staffs in financial decision making would be effective for NHS to
improve their financial budget that can allow the management to grab the changes
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Conclusion
The entire piece of work highlights the challenges of NHS in managing people due to its slowly
financial budget. However, the changing administrative policy and medical science force the
management to improve its strategic people management process. Application of democratic
leadership model would help the leaders to make them flexible in any situation. Therefore, the
external and internal influences like political factor, economic factor, technology, funding,
organizational structure, and cultures have both positive and negative impact on strategic people
management in NHS. By utilizing leadership courses and introducing compensation plan the
management of this organization will be able to improve the leadership style, employee
development, and talent acquisition program.
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References
Cooke, F.L. and Bartram, T., 2015. Guest editors’ introduction: human resource management in
health care and elderly care: current challenges and toward a research agenda. Human Resource
Management, 54(5), pp.711-735.
England.nhs.uk. 2019. Annual Report. [online] Available at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publications/annual-report/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2019].
Erasmus, B., Strydom, J.W. and Rudansky-Kloppers, S. eds., 2016. Introduction to business
management. Oxford University Press Southern Africa.
Gannon, J.M., Roper, A. and Doherty, L., 2015. Strategic human resource management: Insights
from the international hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 47,
pp.65-75.
Gov.uk. 2019. Healthcare UK. [online] Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/healthcare-uk [Accessed 25 Apr. 2019].
King, K.A., 2015. Global talent management: Introducing a strategic framework and multiple-
actors model. Journal of Global Mobility, 3(3), pp.273-288.
Martin, G., Farndale, E., Paauwe, J. and Stiles, P.G., 2016. Corporate governance and strategic
human resource management: Four archetypes and proposals for a new approach to corporate
sustainability. European Management Journal, 34(1), pp.22-35.
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