Strategic Human Resources Management

Healthcare organizations can gain a competitive advantage over competitors by effectively managing their human resources. There are seven HRM practices that enhance an organization’s competitive advantage, these practices seem to be present in organizations that are effective in managing their human resources;

1. Provide employment security.
2. Use different criteria to select personnel.
3. Use self-managed teams and decentralization as basic elements of organizational design.
4. Offer high compensation contingent on organizational performance.
5. Train extensively.
6. Reduce status distinctions and barriers.
7. Share financial and performance information.

The SHARM Model

SHRM has not been given as high a priority in healthcare as it has received in many other industries, this neglect is particularly surprising in a labor-intensive industry that requires the right people in the right jobs at the right times and that often undergoes shortage in various occupation (Cerne 1988).

 A strategic approach to human resources management includes the following (Fottler et al. 1990)

 Assessing the organization’s environment and mission

 Formulating the organization’s business strategy

 Identifying HR requirements based on the business strategy

 Comparing the current HR inventory in terms of numbers, characteristics, and practices with future strategic requirements

 Developing an HR strategy based on the differences between the current inventory and future requirements

 Implementing the appropriate HR practices to reinforce the business strategy and to attain competitive advantage

A Strategic Perspective of Human Resources
Managers at all levels are becoming increasingly aware that critical sources of competitive advantage include appropriate systems for attracting, motivating, and managing the organization’s human resources. Adopting a strategic view of human resources involves considering employees as human assets and developing appropriate policies and programs to increase the value of these assets to the organization and the marketplace. Effective organizations realize that their employees have value, much as the organization’s physical and capital assets have value. Management may or may not have an appreciation of the value of its human assets relative to its other assets such as brand names, distribution channels, real

state, and facilities and equipment. An HR investment perspective is not adopted because it involves making a longer-term commitment to employees. However, although investment in human resources does not yield immediate results, it yields positive outcomes that are likely to last longer and are more difficult to duplicate by competitors.