Managing Human Resources in Health and Social Care

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4.1 Explanation of theories of leadership that apply to the Health and Social Care workplace.

There are four key theories of leadership that have recently replaced the traditional hierarchical-based leadership seen within the NHS. These four key domains of leadership are relational, personal, contextual and technical all of which can be applied to the nursing home setting. Relational leadership promotes organisational and individual change, encourages engagement and communication between staff and patients and focuses on the dynamics of working relationships and patient experiences. The personal leadership theory includes the promotion of reflective learning, personal resilience and self-awareness as a leader. Contextual leadership utilises policy and strategy within the healthcare field to promote development by understanding the positions and strengths of various stakeholders and/or employees. Technical leadership involves the improvement of methodologies, approaches and philosophies within the working environment. This theory adopts the position of the leader changing things for the better while a manager maintains existing systems in good working orders.

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Definition of management: Management takes place within a structured organisational setting with prescribed roles. It is directed towards the achievement of aims and objectives through influencing the efforts of others.

Classical management theory

Emphasis on structure
Prescriptive about ‘what is good for the firm’
Practical manager (except Weber, sociologist)

Henri Fayol (1841 – 1925), France

1.Division of work	Reduces the span of attention or effort for any one person or group. Develops practice and familiarity
2. Authority	The right to give an order. Should not be considered without reference to responsibility
3. Discipline	Outward marks of respect in accordance with formal or informal agreements between firm and its employees
4. Unity of command	Oneman superior
5. Unity of direction	One head and one plan for a group of activities with the same objective
6. Subordination of individual interests to the general interest	The interests of one individual or one group should not prevail over the general good. This is a difficult area of management
7. Remuneration	Pay should be fair to both the employee and the firm
8. Centralisation	Is always present to a greater or less extent, depending on the size of the company and quality of its managers
9. Scalar chain	The line of authority from top to bottom of the organisation
10. Order	A place for everything and everything in its place; the right man in the right place
11. Equity	A combination of kindliness and justice towards the employees
12. Stability of tenure of personnel	Employees need to be given time to settle into their jobs, even though this may be a lengthy period in the case of the managers
13. Initiative	Within the limits of authority and discipline, all levels of staff should be encouraged to show initiative
14. Esprit de corps	Harmony is a great strength to an organisation; teamwork should be encouraged

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Advantages

Fayol was the first person to actually give a definition of management which is generally familiar today namely ‘forecast and plan, to organise, to command, to co-ordinate and to control’.
Fayol also gave much of the basic terminology and concepts, which would be elaborated upon by future researchers, such as division of labour, scalar chain, unity of command and centralization.

Disadvantages

Fayol was describing the structure of formal organizations.
Absence of attention to issues such as individual versus general interest, remuneration and equity suggest that Fayol saw the employer as paternalistic and by definition working in the employee’s interest.
Fayol does mention the issues relating to the sensitivity of a patient’s needs, such as initiative and ‘esprit de corps’, he saw them as issues in the context of rational organisational structure and not in terms of adapting structures and changing people’s behaviour to achieve the best fit between the organisation and its customers.
Many of these principles have been absorbed into modern day organisations, but they were not designed to cope with conditions of rapid change and issues of employee participation in the decision making process of organisations, such as are current today in the early 21st century.

4.2 Analyse how working relationships may be managed.

The most effective way of managing working relationships is by trusting your employees to carry out their role to a high standard (Williams, 2007). In addition, an effective leader should always respect their workforce, be honest, considerate and value their employees’ opinions and values (Williams, 2007). They should promote a culture of openness within their team and strive to understand the different backgrounds and perspectives of the team members. There should also be a great focus on communication both within the team and between the manager and team members (Barrick et al, 2007). This focus should be on utilising the most effective form of communication in each specific scenario. For example, when discussing weaknesses, a private meeting would be appropriate whilst for team targets, team meetings or group emails would be more effective. In addition, body language, listening skills, ability to maintain eye contact and attentiveness are all effective ways to develop and maintain a working relationship.

The way of influencing individuals and teams by task allocation

According to Dowding and Barr (1999), task allocation influences both individual and team performance. This is obvious when considering the role and skill set of each individual within the workplace. When considering a nursing home environment, a simplified task list may be used for the doctor to examine and diagnose the patient, the nurse to provide the correct medication and for the carer to feed or bathe the patient. As such, these tasks are allocated in accordance with the skill and expertise of the individual. Where tasks are not allocated effectively within the team and do not match the skill set of the individual, performance of both the individual and the team will obviously be impaired (Stewart and Barrick, 2000). However, if tasks are allocated effectively, team and individual performance will be enhanced.

Working relationships may be inspected in Organisational structure and this

Leadership theories

Management of working relationship

Working relationship

Effective working relationship

4.3 Evaluate how own development has been influenced by management approaches encountered in own experience.

As a HR Manager for Smart Care Residential home my own development has been influenced through a number of leadership and management approaches. Firstly, through the use of personal performance appraisals, I have been encouraged to focus on areas of weakness as well as my strengths. By highlighting these weaknesses, I have then been able to concentrate on relevant training; the gathering of information through self-directed reading, to improve my knowledge in these weak areas. Team-working has been improved through the promotion of working relationships between team members, through the use of team-building sessions and activity workshops. In addition, whilst it is acknowledged that everyone has a poor manager at some point in their career, these poor managers accentuate the skills of the effective leadership and have helped me to develop good leadership skills. I have also been allowed to mentor new employees as I was very effective in my role. However, I consider the most effective management approach for me, to have been through the use of task allocation and team target setting. Whilst I originally assumed that the task allocation was for an individual’s benefit, I can now see how this benefits the whole team.

Managing Human Resources in Health and Social Care

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