The Staff Shortage Situation in Hunter New England Health - Term Paper Example

Running header: Case study Student’s name: Instructor’s name: Subject code: Date of submission: Introduction Despite management taking care of employee satisfaction through meticulous human resources management, disputes arise between the employees and management owing to the conflict of interest between capital and labor. Profit maximization / wealth maximization is the goal of management while wage maximization is the goal of employees which therefore contradict with that of management. In other words, the company’s goals do not tarry with those of workers. The management interest is what is best for the company’s success and its profitability. The employer is also interested in efficiency and effectiveness as well as compliance. On the other hand, the employee always seeks a good wage as well as fairness, respect and equality (Sternberg, 2000). As such, the diversified goals of management and employees result in conflict of interest and hence industrial conflicts. When a dispu6te arises between the management and the employees, the ER/HR manager can play a very great role in determining how the conflict between the two parties will be solved. This is because he/she stands in a middle ground and is a link between the management and the employees. This essay discusses the responsibility of the HR/ER managers in industrial dispute resolution. It also analyzes the staff shortage situation in Hunter New England Health and the options available to the HR manager in solving such a dispute. Business ethics Business ethics refer to the moral set of rules as well as regulations that govern the world of business. They are the moral values which guide the way corporations and other businesses make decisions. As such, business ethics is the critical, planned assessment of how individuals and institutions ought to conduct themselves in the business world (Lafer, 2005). It involves examination of appropriate constraints on the pursuit of self interest (incase of employees and firms) or profits (incase of firms) when the actions of the firm (management) or individuals affect others. In other words, business ethics will help in conflict resolution between the management and the employees. The HR manager will employ business ethics in his/her bid to resolve the disputes that may arise between the employees and the management. Professional ER/HR As earlier stated, the ER/HR plays a significant role in conflict resolution between the management and the employees. A professional HR is a person who has been professionally trained in human resources laws as well as other related issues. He/she is responsible for management and overseeing the organization’s personnel department. Some specific duties for HR include advertising for job opening as well as involvement in the selection process. The HR also provides employee supervision and evaluation, employee training as well as recommending firing of unproductive employees (Sillanpaa and Jackson, 2000). They also design organizational human resource plans and policies and ensure that the plans and policies are implemented. In relation to conflict resolution, the professional HR performs specialized employee relations work which includes serving as chief spokesman for management in negotiations, implementing employees’ discipline, administering union contracts, investigation and resolution of grievances as well as communicating employees’ complaints to the management and advising management on all issues pertaining to the human resource (Fletcher, 2010). As such, the professional HR is expected to play a mediation role between the employees and the management incase of a conflict owing to the fact that he/she is the sole link between the two groups. Hunter New England Health’s case- the case of shortage of nurses The case of Hunter England Health’s case is one of conflict of interest involving the organization and the human resources. There seems to be a misunderstanding between the management and the staff on the issue of staff shortage. According to the nurses, nurses are not enough to fill the shortage in Hunter New England health’s newly balanced roster system that has been introduced in the entire region. As a result, the nurses are insisting on the need to employ more nurses since staff are being given shifts which are impossible for them to work (Jonathan, 2006). In fact, the staff shortage issue is so severe that the staff recommend that some wards be closed incase the management is unable to staff the wards to safety levels so as to ensure patient’s safety. Although the new system is intended to improve service quality, the nurses term it as unworkable since it does not allow sufficient flexibility. In other words, the nurses are being overworked by being forced to go even for two shifts nonstop. On the other hand, the management does not seem to recognize the staff shortages. According to the management, the changes are intended to improve service quality by allowing mixture of skills. This is in contrast to the employees who do not see the system being flexible. In other words, the management intends to improve service quality and hence improved performance at the expense of employees. On the issue of staff shortages, the organization seems not to have any plans to employ more nurses. This is probably supposed to ensure no increase in expenses at the expense of the existing nurses. According to the director of clinical operations, the staff shortage is normal and the health service will not be able to fill the vacant shifts. According to her, the short term vacancies occur from time to time during the year and Hunter New England Health employs a range of strategies for the short term vacancies which include approaching other highly experienced clinical staff such as clinical nurse educators. In other words, there exists a conflict of interest between the nurses/employees and the management. On one hand, the nurses insist that the vacancies be filed while the management insist that the vacancies are normal and occur from time to time during the year. The ER/HR manager therefore has a role to play in ensuring that the two conflicting issues are resolved (Simon, 2009). Options available to the HR/ER manager in solving the conflict The following are the three options that would be available to the HR/ER professional in approaching this issue of conflict of interest between the management and the employees. Option 1 Avoidance approach In this option, the human resources managers employ an avoidance approach. In this case, the manager chooses not to involve him/herself with the current conflict and hence does not take the necessary steps in solving the conflict as a human resources manager. This has the advantage of avoiding the conflict that might arise between the manager and either the staff or the management and is meant at safeguarding the human resources managers interests. However by taking such a decision, the HR fails to play his role effectively since he is supposed to advice the management on issues that pertain to the human resources and hence act as a mediator between the management and the employees. It is therefore not advisable for the human resources manager to take this option as it does not help in solving the conflict. Option 2: Collaboration approach In this case, the human resources manager/ professional decide to take sides and press for acceptance of the interests of a single party to the conflict. For instance, the human resources professional could decide to collaborate with the management and force/compel the employees to accept the current state of affairs. In this case, He might argue from a professional point of view that the current number of staff is sufficient and hiring more employees would mean expansion of staff budget and possible reduction in wages. He might also decide to suggest laying off of uncooperative employees in a bid to resolve the conflict. On the other hand, he might collaborate with the staff in pressing the management to give in to employees’ demands. In this case, he/she might encourage the employees to take action against the management in a bid to compel them increase the number of employees. He may also explain to the management that hiring of more employees is not an option to them but it must be done. However, taking a collaborative approach might not be good since it might magnify the conflict owing to the fact that one party to the conflict will feel cheated when its demands are not met and is forced to accept the other party’s position. Option 3- compromising approach In this case, the Human resources manager takes a middle ground approach to conflict resolution. In this case, the manager attempts to resolve the conflict by making both parties of the conflict to meet. Each party states its position as well as demands. A solution that is partially satisfactory to both sides of the conflict is then identified with the help of the HR professional (James, 2006). However, the solution so identified does not fully solve the conflict but helps the affected parties to organize resources which might help in fully resolving the conflict in future. It is therefore the recommended approach for the nurses’ shortage case. However, before attempting to adopt any of the options, the professional HR needs to carefully study the situation causing the conflict and adopt the option that will have the best results for the company in the long run. This is because taking a position that maximizes the companies returns in the short run while ignoring the workers plight will not be good for the company in the long run since there will be high employee turnover as well as deterioration of the services delivered to customers. The goal of profit maximization will therefore not be met eventually. The option that HR/ER manager should use Of the three options stated above, the HR/ER manager should employ option three. In this case, the manager should analyze the reasons for the conflict and initiate dialogue between the management and the nurses union with an aim of reaching a compromise between the employees and the management. This is the best option since it will take care of both the staff interests and those of the management although no group will be completely satisfied. The HR/ER manager should explain to the management the importance of having adequate number of staff within the health care and its implication on service quality (Raymond, 2008). He should explain that although failing to employ more nurses may keep the cost of running the health care at the minimum, this might have detrimental effects in the long run since the health care may experience high staff turnover as well as poor services from the overworked nurses. He should advice the management to look for ways of alleviating the staff shortage problem so as to ensure quality service and to retain the current staff. On the other hand, he should explain to the staff union the constraints that the management may experience in its bid to deal with the staff shortages. He should explain that such a move is capital intensive and may require some time to implement. The HR/ER manager should also explain that employing more staff may imply wage cut or inability to sustain the healthcare owing to increased running costs (John, 2006). It is on the basis of these explanations that the HR manager should help the management and the staff/staff representatives to reach a compromise. In this case, the manager should ensure that the management agrees to employ some more nurses while he should also ensure that the staff agrees to work in a situation of staff shortage as the management comes up with ways of tackling the staff shortage. The above option is the best for dealing with the issue of staff shortage since it would prevent the situation from going out of hand. It would prevent a situation where the staff would go on strike to protest staff shortage and ensure that the relationship between the management and the staff is maintained (Ferris, 2008). On the other hand, the approach would not interfere with the long run goal of profit maximization. This is because the staff would continue giving quality services and staff turn over would be prevented. In addition, the option gives the management time to mobilize resources with which to hire more workers in a bid to deal with the issue of staff shortages. Conclusion As has been established, there are many times when the interests of workers coincide with those of the management. While workers are solely interested in good wages and fair treatment, the management’s sole goal is that of profit maximization. However, it is worth noting that companies should listen and respond constructively to the values and needs of their stakeholders including those of employees. Failure to listen to them reduces the long-term commercial viability while increasing the risk of corporate demise. However, at times conflicts do occur between the organisation and the employees. In such circumstances, the HR/ER manager being the link between the employees and the management ought to play a role in resolving such conflicts. Although there are many options available to the manager regarding conflict resolution, the option adopted should ensure that both parties to the dispute are satisfied in order to ensure the long run survival of the organisation as well as job security for the employees. References Lafer, G 2005, The critical failure of workplace ethics, in Budd, J and Scoville, J (eds), The Ethics of Human Resources and Industrial Relations, pp. 273-297. Sillanpaa, M& Jackson, C 2000, Conducting a Social Audit: Lessons from the Body Shop Experience, Ethical Issues in Contemporary Human Resource Management, pp. 227-49. Jonathan, S2006, The employer employee relationship: Solving industrial conflict, International human resources management journal, vol.55, no.3, pp.58-65. 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