Strategic Human Resources Management

Strategic human resources management aligns human resource practices with the strategic objectives of an organization. Successful health care managers need to understand how human resource functions can be utilized to fulfill their organization's mission and goals, such as the promotion of high-quality care, a customer-service orientation, and financial viability.

In addition, today's health care environment requires that organizations demonstrate the value-added for the services they provide-and this includes those related to human resources management. The traditional approach to evaluating HR services has been based on productivity, volume, and efficiency measures. Such measures include the percentage of people who participated in a training program, time to fill a position, and cost per hire. These are valid measures but only capture part of the HR role. In current thinking, the HR department should not only work efficiently and productively, but also shouldadd value to the organization. This means that the work of HR begins with the concerns of the business. And while HR groups typically see themselves as responsive to internal customers, a value-added approach means that HR needs to be aligned with internal and external stakeholders and be a source of competitive advantage for the organization.

In preparation for this Discussion, review this week's Learning Resources and consider the following:

• Based on your experiences and the information presented in the Learning Resources (particularly the article "Why We Hate HR"), how would you assess the HR function in most health care organizations? Is it closer to the negative or the positive view of HR? Why does HR often have a negative reputation?
• What have you learned in previous courses or through your professional experiences that informs your understanding of strategic human resources management? What do you see as your current or future responsibility for ensuring that an organization's human resources practices align with its mission and objectives?
• How do you think the efficiency, productivity, and/or value added by HR services should be assessed? What types of metrics would you suggest be used? Why?

Response to the following:

• Share key insights you have gained about the impression (positive, negative, or mixed) that you and others have of human resources management. Also, explain what factors might be contributing to this perception.
• Describe how you view your current or future responsibilities for promoting strategic human resources management within health care.
• Analyze two metrics and indicate how each could be used as an indicator of HR efficiency, productivity, and/or value added.