Alternative Clustering of Standard Errors 1 Firm Level: 7,783 clusters.

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UNIT 5 ORGANISING THE HUMAN RESOURCE

lxi performed efficiently or economically. It is essential that the importance of hospital human resource management be recognised, so that by the establishment of a separate human resource department, the workload of the general administrator may be reduced and better service rendered to the patients.

There are certain symptoms which indicate the need for establishing a human resource department. An alert, administrator will easily recognise these symptoms: poor selection of employees, irrational pay scales, high staff turnover, increase in absenteeism and frequent employee grievances, differences in total hours of work required for similar tasks in different departments, lack of adequate records concerning employees, and absence of human resource policies.

Once the administrator of a hospital decides to have a human resource department, the question then arises as to whether there should be a full-time or part-full-time human resource manager. In general, a hospital employing 200 or more employees can use the services of a full-time human resource manager and a hospital employing less than 200 employees can also use the services of a full-time human resource manager but he should be assigned some other responsibilities such as purchase, public relations, transport management, legal work, etc. In hospitals which employ more than 300 employees, assistance should be given to the human resource manager. As the size of the hospital increases, there will be specialisation within the human resource department. The exact size of the staff of the human resource department will depend upon the functions assigned, the degree to which the hospital administration wishes those functions to be implemented and the availability of funds for the implementation. One formula used as a guide to determine the required size of the staff is that at each interval of 200 employees, the staff of the human resource department should be increased by one employee. Establishing the human resource department according to this formula makes it possible for it to assume all the major functions considered to be a part of human resource management. Normally, all hospitals have an organisational structure. The place of the human resource department in the organisational structure of a hospital is shown in the organisational chart in figure 1.

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Fig. 1: Hospital Organisational Chart. (Solid lines indicate line functions and broken lines indicate staff functions)

This chart indicates that the human resource manager‟s function in a hospital is basically a staff function. He is to guide, counsel and serve the line officers. The line officers have direct responsibility for accomplishing the major objectives of the hospital. Physicians, surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, anesthetists, matrons, etc. are line officers. Staff officers help the line officers in accomplishing their objectives. The finance officer, accounts officer, human resource manager, etc. are all staff officers. A physician, whose objective is to provide the best medical care to his patients, is a line officer. The human resource manager‟s job is to assist the physician in the recruitment and selection of his subordinate doctors. The human resource manager is thus a staff officer. The human resource manager and his department assist and generally act in an advisory capacity with regard to other departments. This often causes resentment in line officers, because most of them feel that a person who does not belong to their department has no business to interfere in their department affairs. The human resource manager should therefore develop a patient attitude to avoid conflicts and win the confidence of the line officers. He should also follow a policy of passing on credit, rather than of grabbing credit. The human resource manager should play the role of a social worker (i.e. the role of an enabler) instead of indulging in spoon-feeding while dealing with the officers. Once the line officers are reassured, they will look forward to receiving assistance from the human resource manager and his department.

Hospital Administrator

Department Head

Department Head

Department Head and Human Resource Manager

Department Head

Department Head

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3.2 Internal Organisation of the Human Resource Department

While in the overall organisation chart of a hospital, a human resource manager is placed as a staff specialist, his relationship with his subordinates in hi own department is always that of a line specialist.

Within the human resource department, there is a chain of command from top to bottom, just as in line departments. A good human resource department should possess certain characteristics: (a) the ability to replace key personnel with minimal loss; (b) the capacity to solve the personnel problems encountered; (c) a clear understanding with other line and staff departments, because they misunderstand and are often at loggerheads with each other; and (d) definite objectives. Since the human resource manager must shoulder the responsibility of all the human resource functions, including those of his own department, he must be a man of high caliber who can lead his department, guide others and report in various matters with confidence to the administrator.