Case Study: What Shall It Be and Where Do We Put It?

"Things were much simpler when we were just a small-town hospital with a four-person personnel department," said personnel director Sharon Kelly to her immediate superior, chief operating officer Don Thomas. "But now that we're a so-called health system, it's almost impossible to tell who is supposed to be doing what for whom on any given day."

Sharon's allusion to a system was in reference to the recent merger of their facility, Community Hospital, with a somewhat smaller rural facility located 15 miles away. At the time of the merger, Community Hospital, newly renamed the Affiliated Community Health and Education System (ACHES), acquired an organization consisting of three health centers that became satellite facilities for the system and became affiliated with two sizable group practices, one medical and one surgical.

Sharon continued, "And now, as I understand it, we're going to be called human resources, not personnel. Is that right?"

Don nodded. "Yep, it'll be Human Resources from now on." He grinned and added, "We might as well call it HR. That's what every other place is doing."

"Don't get me wrong," Sharon said. "I'm not complaining. I'm really pleased with being named personnel-that is, HR-director for the system. But look at what we've got to work with. There are four of us here at Community. Two people are in the department at the other hospital and one personnel person at the biggest of the satellites, with just a secretary taking care of personnel stuff at the other two satellites. Office managers at the group practices are overloaded trying to take care of personnel matters along with a dozen other concerns. And now we've got such a far-flung setup that if I were to get in my car and make a circuit of all of our facilities, I'd travel more than 60 miles. What can we do with all of this?"

Still smiling, Don said, "That's what we want to know. We want to know how to organize the new HR department to best serve the Affiliated Community Health and Education System. Every essential base has to be covered, but keep in mind that nothing is forever, given that we'll probably continue to grow and change."

"But what does the CEO want from Pers ... ah, Human Resources?"

Don shrugged. "In some respects your guess is as good as mine. You know how she's been about your area since she's been here. She expects us to recruit good employees for the hospital system and keep good records. Keep the system out of legal trouble, but don't make waves."

At that moment Sharon had very little idea of the direction she should recommend.

How would you respond to Don's request? How should the new HR department be organized? What issues should the HR department focus on first? What aspects may change over time? Why?