Category: HR

Introduction

Yasser Al Salman is a result oriented professional with around a decade of experience in Human Resource Strategy, Human Resource Management, Talent Management, Organizational Development, and General Administration. Currently he is heading the HR department in a leading reinsurance organization in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Yasser Al Salman was born in the Kingdom of Bahrain, an island microstate situated in the Persian Gulf, on August 6, 1973. Since 1991 until 1997 he studied in the University of Bahrain (MBA, GPA: 3.95) and continued his education further from 2003 till 2006 at the same higher educational establishment (B. Sc. Engineering, GPA: 3.82).

Main body

Yasser Al Salman has a rich organizational experience. As a Head of Human Resources & Organizational Development since September, 2006 (Arab Insurance Group) he had numerous accountabilities and highlights, some of which included formulating, developing, and implementing Human Resources strategies, policies & procedures in compliance with Arig strategies, legal requirements and industry standards; leading & managing the recruitment plans for the company in a cost effective manner and assists other business units in fulfilling their recruitment needs; establishing the 1^st Talent management system in the company; Implementing productivity improvement studies with the objective of improving staff efficiency and productivity by using appropriate methods; managing the payroll and staff benefits in line with the company established policies, guidelines and procedures and ensures that the remuneration level and related benefits are in line with industry benchmarks and prevailing practices; managing the development of Human Resources Management Information System to ensure timely and accurate reporting to relevant parties within the Group, etc.

Among his responsibilities as a Head of Training & Development (Acting HR Manager since April 2006) in MTC Vodafone are Developing HR department’s vision, mission & strategies, upgrading the HRD processes, polices and producers, developing the annual HR business plan and budget, managing HR activities; developing & managing the Performance Management System; Development & Retention – handling the annual training plan, developing the Training needs assessment / Training Design and Selection / Conduct Training Programs / Training Evaluation / Induction Program / Summer Trading Internship; stellar participation in selecting and training potential internal trainers/ Building the curriculum of training programs/ Coordinate & Negotiate local and external training centers on training courses proposals, etc.

Yasser Al Salman is a member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), UK, American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), USA, Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), USA, and Bahrain Society of Training & Development, Bahrain.

He is also a professional trainer who has delivered training on the following subjects: Interviewing Skills, Communication Skills, Customer Services, Time Management, Supervisory Skills, Stress Management, Team Building, The Art of Motivation, Problem Solving & Decision Making, Empowering Employees, Effective Feedback, Emotional intelligence.

Conclusion

Yasser Al Salman’s book “The Dynamics of Human Resources: A Journey into the Noble Practice of Managing Human Capital” is an individual account by someone who is smitten by the concept of HR. This book is not an academic presentation of HR theory and practices; it is mainly focused at HR variables: “Although many worthy and well-known HR professionals have been generous enough to share their experiences with me, you will not find any dirty laundry aired in these pages. For me, the complex variables inherent in HR are exciting and inspiring, and that is what I hope to share with you throughout this book”.

Introduction

Professional development and management have constantly been among the hotly contested matters by organisations across the globe for decades now, and since all are equally paramount to the success of businesses, there has been considerable concern on the same.

For any organisation to rank among top achievers of corporate growth and champions of corporate social responsibility, issues concerning employee welfare have been key contributors to the achievement.

Cases of spates of suicides, injuries, or even accidental fatalities due to poor organisational management and lack of concern on employee welfare have been on recurrent discussions, consequently leading to the development of workforce-related directives and policies by labour officials globally.

Occupational Health and Safety Laws and Human Resources Laws have been major contributors of hope in the workforce affairs. Central to developing understanding on such policies, this study provides an analysis of case summaries concerning Occupational Health and Safety Law and Human Resources Law.

Koehler v Cerebos (Australia) Ltd [2005] HCA 15

Decision from the highest court

The approach adopted by the Full Court in this appeal was in accordance with the principle stated in Fox v Percy [30]. In doing so, their Honours made no errors. The appeal should be dismissed with costs.¹

One of the profound and renowned Australian cases and that seems crucial to Occupational Health and Safety Law is the controversial case of Koehler v Cerebos (Australia) Ltd [2005] HCA 15. This case involved the issue of work stress and negligently inflicted psychiatric illnesses.

An employee served as a permanent sales representative until she was retrenched. Upon retrenchment, she agreed with her employer to re-employ her on a part time work basis of three working days per week. During the part-time employment, she noticed sudden workload and thus complained to the management and she suggested the reduction of her work coverage within the operational stores, but they ignored.²

Consequently, the employee developed psychiatric illness due to workload. She filed a case against the employee for breaking common law duty of providing safe working environment. However, joint high court decision concluded that it was beyond employer’s ability to foresee psychiatric injury in the employee and only a psychiatrist could, and thus the employee’s claim over her employer’s negligence failed.³

Similar/related cases

Some of the vital cases that involved similar psychiatric injuries and illnesses and their foreseeable circumstances include [2005] HCA 15 (Unreported, McHugh, Gummow, Hayne, Callinan, and Heydon JJ, 6 April 2005), and most recently, the case of Finlay v State of Western Australia [2012] WADC 132.

Beginning with HCA 15 (Unreported, McHugh, Gummow, Hayne, Callinan and Heydon JJ, 6 April 2005) a great similarity is evident to the case of Koehler v Cerebos.

Following the case of McHugh and friends, foreseeable psychiatric-related health conditions in individuals’ inner feeling and more unfortunately using simple assumptions seem complicated than how people consider it.

In a joint judgment of intellectual judges, the jury concluded that an employer recruiting an employee to perform certain duties must presuppose the absence of evident signs indicating the possibility of an underlying psychiatric injury, with the intention of employee considering his/her ability to accomplish the stated tasks.⁴

The case of Finlay v State of Western Australia is one among the cases that elicited controversies within the District Court of Western Australia.⁵ Judges in this case employed the decision employed by the High Court in the case of Koehler v Cerebos.

Several issues emerged from the court’s decisions made prior to the circumstances of the case of Finlay v State of Western Australia.⁶ According to the courts final summary, an employer may not possess the liability of any psychiatric injury of an employee concerning the performance of a given task originally specified within the job contract.

Secondly, “there must be a presumption that an employer engaging any employee to perform stipulated duties has the obligation to assume the absence of evident signs of likelihood of psychiatric injury”.⁷ Thirdly, judges deem unnecessary for employers to foresee psychiatric injuries.⁸

As stipulated in the law of law of tort, “employers should ensure that their relationship with employees leads not to psychological distress in workers and employers must not breach their duty of care unless on an occurrence of a situation that requires reasonable intervention.”⁹

Journal, newspaper discussing Koehler v Cerebos

The case of Koehler v Cerebos was extroverted and it led to several literal discussions that affected several governmental and no-governmental organisations.¹⁰ In the journal of modern Australian law of mental harm, outlined major points that concerned the case of Koehler v Cerebos.

Providing important facets of the case, Mendelson, discussed important matters concerning the employer’s negligence and circumstances leading to reasonable ‘Foreseeability’ in the case of ‘psychiatric injuries’ in the workplace.¹¹

Mendelson further discussed the elements of ‘liability of psychiatric injuries’ as well as issues of duty of care and ‘breaching of contractual agreements’ between employers and employees. More importantly, this journal provided impressive coverage of information about contextual cases that have remained imperative within courts before and after the case of Koehler v Cerebos.

Northern Sandblasting Pty Ltd v Harris (1997) 188 CLR 313

Decision from the highest court

“The appeal should be allowed. The orders of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland should be set aside.

In lieu thereof this Court should order that the appeal to the Court of Appeal be dismissed save for the deletion from the orders of Derrington J, dated 1 June 1994, of the words “with costs, including reserved costs, if any, to be taxed” in respect of the order dismissing the plaintiff’s action against the third defendant. The appellant should pay the respondent’s costs of the appeal to this Court.”¹²

Another significant case that may reflect the policies governing Occupational Health and Safety Law is the case of Northern Sandblasting Pty Ltd v Nicole Anne Harris of 1997. The case entails the landlord, tenant, and an electrical contractor. The landlord bought a house electric property, which the local electricity supplier and the electric board examined the installation position in July 1984.

It developed mechanical problems in November 1986 and Mr. Briggs, who was the landlord’s customary electrical contractor, repaired a stove and a refrigerator in the building, which Mr. and Mrs. Harris occupied as tenants in 12 December 1986.

After first dismissal of the charges in the appellants favour, the respondent appealed in the Court of Appeal. The judges in the court of appeal remained in mixed opinions based on common law and statute.

Fitzgerald P. ruled in favour of the respondent through ‘special’ duty that the landlord breached the duty of care and that he/she was required to a safe environment for the tenants. McPherson JA dismissed this claim and argued on two bases: non-delegable duty and landlord’s house inspectional duty.¹³

Similar/related cases

Similar cases relating to negligence of duty and liabilities that have been a challenge to courts given the mysteriousness of situations are the cases of Leichhardt Municipal Council v Montgomery [2007] HCA 6; (2007) 233 ALR 200 and the case of Gration v C Gillan Investments Pty Ltd [2005] QCA 184.

The case of Leichhardt Municipal Council v Montgomery has a great correlation with the case of Northern Sandblasting Pty Ltd v Harris in the sense that they both involve the aspects of duty of care and negligence. The appeal was unsuccessful as the judge ruled that public road construction is risky only under certain negligence, though the road authority is not liable for negligence acts of the contractor.¹⁴

The case of Gration v C Gillan Investments Pty Ltd of 2005 is another significant case that involves negligence and duty of care. Judith Gration was the plaintiff/respondent and a tenant in support of her husband in this case trying to litigate Gillan Investments Pty Ltd, the defendant. On 6^th August 2000, one of the treads of the front stairs slithered and made her fall thus causing bodily injury.

She filed a case at the district court to claim the damages over breaching of appellant’s duty of care as documented in Residential Tenancies Act 1994.

This act’s contractual and statutory provisions stated that the landlord should ensure that the premises are clean and as the tenant continues to live, the landlord must provide continual maintenance of the premises. The judge ruled in respondent’s favour by claiming that the landlord was responsible for conducting regular visual inspection maintaining standard repairs and thus liable for the tenant’s injuries.¹⁵

Newsletter related to the case initial case

The case of Northern Sandblasting Pty Ltd v Harris had attracted several legal firms that ended up articulating the judge’s decisions and conclusions in subsequent coverage. The United Kingdom’s residential tribunal bulletin of May 2001 articulated the issues of negligence and duty of care at length.

Residential tribunal bulletin summarises the cases related to negligence of a certain kind resulting from lesser or landlord’s negligence in the context of ensuring a safe environment for tenants and liabilities of injuries incurred in such cases.¹⁶

In this newsletter, relevant referral cases like Jones v Bartlett [2000] HCA 56, McAuliffe v HabgoodRT 99/14051, OSP 52146 & MisrachiSB/99/357, featured with significant information on the hearings, proceeding and decisions made by different judges. More importantly, it is important for contenders to understand that “joint and several liabilities of tenants withstand assignment of a tenant’s interest.”¹⁷

Czatyrko v Edith Cowan University (2005) 79 ALJR 839

Decision from the highest court

1. “The appeal should be allowed with costs.
2. The orders of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Western Australia made on 9 December 2002 should be set aside and in their place it should be ordered that the appeal is dismissed with costs.”¹⁸

Czatyrko v Edith Cowan University (2005) 79 ALJR 839 is another significant case that highlights the understanding of negligence and duty of care involving employer and employee and concerning occupational health and safety in Australian courts. Edith acquired an injury at work.

On believing the platform was raised, Edith stepped backwards only to notice that her presumptions were wrong and thus she fell down and acquired an injury. Brett George Jerzy Czatyrko was the appellant in this case while Edith Cowan University as the respondent where Czatyrko went to the court to take legal action against Edith’s negligence of duty of care.¹⁹

Within the premises, there were no beepers or oral warnings to notify workers. Occupier’s liability act (WA) and Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 (WA) were in place during this moment. The respondent fruitfully appealed to the Supreme Court.

Three Supreme Court judges argued that the appellant (employer) failed to provide safe system of work, and thus under common law claim, they noted that the appellant failed to provide a warning device. They concluded that since ‘risk’ is a common issue in workplace, absence of warning breached employer’s duty of care and thus the appellant was liable for the injuries.²⁰

Comparable cases

Among the comparable cases reflecting duty of care and disregard, AFS Catering Pty Ltd v Stonehill [2005] NSWCA 183 and Pollard v Baulderstone Hornibrook Engineering Pty Ltd [2008] NSWCA 99 can fit this profile. The facts about the case AFS Catering Pty Ltd v Stonehill [2005] NSWCA 183 seem unambiguous.

The case of (30 May 2005), simply involves an employer (appellant) and an employee (claimant) with negligence of duty of care being the matter just like the case of Czatyrko v Edith Cowan University (2005) 79 ALJR 839.

Patricia Stonehill (respondent), sustained injuries at the workplace and went to sue AFS Catering Pty Ltd (appellant) for negligence of common law duty of care. In the high court of appeal, judges considered the decision of the district court to set aside the damage.²¹

Another significant court case that forms a replica of the conditions that accustomed the case of Czatyrko v Edith Cowan University (2005) 79 ALJR 839 is the case of Pollard v Baulderstone Hornibrook Engineering Pty Ltd [2008] NSWCA 99.

This case unfolded in 27 May 2008, when the appellant, Clint Pollard, proceeded to the court to sue Baulderstone Hornibrook Engineering Pty Ltd and Bilfinger Berger AG for alleged contributory negligence of duty of care. The plaintiff acquired injuries at the workplace after slipping on a wash bay of wet metal truck.

It was then a quandary whether it was due to employee’s lack of reasonable care of own safety or employer’s non-delegated duty of care for employees. Using common law, the judges concluded that the employee was guilty of contributory negligence in the circumstances that he exposed himself to a risk of injury that was reasonably foreseeable.²²

Article about the initial case

Central to determining challenges affecting New South Wales Court of Appeal, the president of the court, Justice James Allsop sought to examine the recurrence of court related issues in this court, where much of the issues emerged.

The concern over the judgements concluding this case protracted from this angle when the president of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, Justice James classified the case of Czatyrko v Edith Cowan University under the contributory negligence section.²³

However, the president noticed that judges had the obligation to make the correct judgement, though cases might have protracted from contradicting circumstance that make judgement complicated.

Using a general statement, President James highlights that, “contributory negligence requires more than mere inadvertence, inattention, or misjudgement”. From such statements, it is clear that cases within the negligence and duty of care and liabilities might lead to unfair judgement and a continual misjudgement if the initial cases act as referrals.²⁴

Mayer v A.N.S.T.O. [2003] FMCA 209

Decision from the highest court

The Court declares that the respondent unlawfully discriminated against the applicant contrary to ss.7(1), 5(2), 14(2)(a) and 14 (2)(c) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), by refusing to extend the applicant’s contract of employment for a period of more than one year, and by imposing a condition that the applicant work full-time following a period of maternity leave that the applicant could not accept, thereby leading to the constructive dismissal of the applicant.”²⁵

The case of Mayer v Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation [2003] FMCA 209 is another controversial human resource law related case. The case involves Mayer (an employee), who commenced to sue the employer, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) (Mayer v A.N.S.T.O., 2003).

It entails gender discrimination in the workplace with the themes of family responsibilities, sex, and pregnancy. Mayer, a business development manager, requested 12-months maternity leave from her employer. Her three-year contract was to expire during the maternity period, but it was extended for one year.²⁶

The claimant insisted that the employer discriminated her based on her pregnancy in contract extension as others enjoyed extensions of more than two years. The defendant breached several sections of Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (“the SDA”) that was actively working by then. The jury concluded that the appellant unlawfully discriminated the employee and the former was charged.²⁷

Analogous cases to this case

Several gender prejudice cases have existed and proven harmful to the human resources law and policies. The case of Fenton v Hair & Beauty Gallery Pty Ltd & Anor [2006] FMCA 3 and Cross v Hughes & Anor [2006] FMCA 976 are complete replica of the initial case.

Just like the case of Mayer v A.N.S.T.O., the case of Fenton v Hair & Beauty Gallery Pty Ltd & Anor carries important human resource laws and policies related facts as well as articulating important human rights, discrimination, and other related factors. It carries the facts about pregnancy and disability discrimination.

The story of this case involves an applicant, who falls sick while pregnant and is consequently sent home on her attendance to the workplace and later dismissed from work. The dilemma remains whether the dismissal resulted from pregnancy or disability. The defendants are found guilty and charged with discrimination offences and made to pay the case damages and case interests until judgement.

The case of Cross v Hughes & Anor is another replica of mistreatments resulting from discrimination and prejudice based on sexual discrimination at the workplace that violates human resource related laws. Melanie Cross, the case applicant, files a sexual harassment case against Justin Owen Hughes, Hokonui Enterprises Pty Ltd T/A, and Oakbank Insurance Services.

Melanie seeks a concession over the three respondents to pay her compensation for economic loss. The court finds the three respondents guilty of sexual felonies against Melanie and the judges conclude significant charges over the respondents.

They note that the first respondent, Justin Owen Hughes, is answerable for unlawful sexual harassment contrary to sections stipulated within the actively working Sex Discrimination Act 1984.

Article discussing the initial case

The legal analysis undertaken by Arnold Bloch Leibler has highlighted many facts pertaining to issues of gender biasness and disability related prejudice in an evaluation of employment & industrial relations. Important aspects related to court judgements in relation to the case of Mayer v Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation feature in this article.

Leibler asserts, “A recent decision from the Federal Magistrates Court is a reminder to employers that requests to work part-time, based on family or carer responsibilities, warrant serious consideration.”²⁸ This simple statement can reflect all the necessary facts that both employees and employers can better understand the issues concerning law and court processes.

Leibler presents manifold discussions covering gender discrimination in comprehensiveness and connects these circumstances with certain contemporary cases that have emerged after the initial case. He tactfully connects his arguments and uses this case as a referral to the issue of Inappropriate IT usage in certain companies.

Schiliro v Peppercorn Child Care Centre’s Pty Ltd [2000] QCA 18

Decision from the highest court

“These proceedings relate to an incident which preceded application of the Work Cover Queensland Act 1996. Therefore, no consideration has been given in this case to arguable inconsistency between certain provisions in that Act, (especially s 312, s 313, and s 314) and the provisions of the Workplace Health and Safety Act that have been here considered.

Questions concerning the effect of these Acts in combination must await another day. [74] On the findings of the primary judge, the claim of negligence is not established and it fails. It is therefore unnecessary to consider quantum. [75] The appeal must be dismissed with cost.”²⁹

Schiliro v Peppercorn Child Care Centre’s Pty Ltd QCA 18 of (2000) is among the recently debated cases in the Supreme Court of Queensland concerning occupational heath and human resource related laws and policies. The case involves a childcare assistant who sustains injuries at work while transferring sand to sandpit.

The case originated from District Court at Brisbane where an appellant, Schiliro Lisa, brought a claim against her employer Peppercorn Child Care Centres Pty Ltd., to the court after the aforementioned happenings.

The predicament here is whether the court made a mistake by failing to justify if the employer was liable to breaching of laws governing constitutional duty or was unable to identify the risk associated with manual handling.

After proper filing of an appeal in the Supreme Court of Queensland, the judges managed to make informed decisions based on the prevailing laws and acts.

However, the appellant’s case remained unsuccessful depending on the prevailing acts as stipulated below. On the judgement, the Supreme Court, which ruled based on the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, noted that the respondent did not breach any law of statutory duty under section 28(1) of this act.³⁰

Interrelated cases

In relation to industrial law, safety, healthy, and work welfare, the breach of the case of Parry v. Woolworths Limited [2009] QCA 26 and the case of Griffiths v State of Queensland [2011] QCA 57 can best suit this profile. The case of Parry v. Woolworths Limited is among the contemporary cases within the Supreme Court of Queensland’s court of appeal.

Akin to the case of Schiliro v Peppercorn Child Care Centre’s Pty, the case carries the concept of statutory powers and duties that involved breaching of statutory duty in the context of industrial laws and safety.

Mervyn John Parry, an employee, proceeds to the Supreme Court to file a case against Woolworths Limited, the employer, after sustaining a lower back injury at the workplace. Foreseeability of the risk remained questionable though the appellant managed to win the case against the defendant who finally took the liabilities.³¹

The same issue prevails in the 2011 case of Griffiths v State of Queensland when an appellant, who is a nurse employee, went to court to sue Nambour General Hospital. The appellant, Tracey Leanne Griffiths, proceeds to the court to take a legal action against her employer after acquiring a back injury while lifting medical equipment from a steel trolley.

The quandary here remains whether the appellant failed to commence the proceedings against the employer for breaching statutory duty and actions of negligence, or whether the employer managed to discharge its operations in respect to the section Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 (Qld).

In addition, it remained controversial whether the employer exercised its obligations in sensible precaution and proper diligence or even if the judges made mistakes in finding the employer legally irresponsible for the liabilities in the case.³²

Article discussing the initial case

A comprehensive coverage featured in the Annual Report of the President of the Industrial Court of Queensland, where a broad discussion of industrial laws, policies, and related matters prevailed. ³³ Apart from providing a succinct summary of the entire case of Schiliro v Peppercorn Child Care Centre’s Pty Ltd, the document examined and provided a broad discussion and summaries of cases relating to the Schiliro.

Reference List

AFS Catering Pty Ltd v Stonehill (2005) NSWCA 183

Allsop, J. Recurring issues in the New South Wales court of appeal (2012). Web.

Cross v Hughes & Anor (2006) FMCA 976.

Czatyrko v Edith Cowan University (2005) 79 ALJR 839

Fenton v Hair & Beauty Gallery Pty Ltd & Anor (2006) FMCA 3

Finlay v State of Western Australia (2012) WADC 132

Gration v C Gillan Investments P/L (2005) QCA 184

Griffiths v State of Queensland (2011) QCA 57

Industrial Court of Queensland, Annual Report of the President of the Industrial Court of Queensland (2009). Web.

Koehler v Cerebos (Australia) Ltd (2005) 15

Leibler, A.B. Employment & industrial relations (2003). Web.

Leichhardt Municipal Council v Montgomery (2007) HCA 6

Mayer v A.N.S.T.O. (2003) FMCA 209

Mendelson, D, ‘Modern Australian law of mental harm: parochialism triumphant’ (2005) 13 Journal of law and medicine 164-172.

Northern Sandblasting Pty Ltd v Harris (1997) 39

Parry v. Woolworths Limited (2009) QCA 26

Pollard v Baulderstone Hornibrook Engineering Pty Ltd (2008) NSWCA 99

Residential Tribunal Bulletin, A fair hearing according to law (2001). Web.

Schiliro v Peppercorn Child Care Centre’s Pty Ltd (2009) QCA 18

Unreported, McHugh, Gummow, Hayne, Callinan and Heydon (2005) 15

Footnotes

¹Koehler v Cerebos (Australia) Ltd (2005) 15

² Ibid. 15

³ Ibid.

⁴McHugh, Gummow, Hayne, Callinan and Heydon (2005) JJ, 6 April 2005

⁵ Finlay v State of Western Australia (2012) WADC 132

⁶ Ibid

⁷ Mendelson, D, ‘Modern Australian law of mental harm: parochialism triumphant’ (2005) 13 Journal of law and medicine 164-172

⁸ Finlay v State of Western Australia (2012) WADC 132

⁹ Mendelson, 117

¹⁰Ibid. 164

¹¹Ibid. 172

¹² Northern Sandblasting Pty Ltd v Harris (1997) 188 CLR 313

¹³Ibid

¹⁴ Leichhardt Municipal Council v Montgomery (2007) HCA 6

¹⁵ Gration v C Gillan Investments P/L (2005) QCA 184

¹⁶ Residential Tribunal Bulletin, A fair hearing according to law (2001)

¹⁷ Ibid

¹⁸ Czatyrko v Edith Cowan University (2005) 79 ALJR 839

¹⁹ Ibid

²⁰ Ibid

²¹ AFS Catering Pty Ltd v Stonehill [2005] NSWCA 183

²² Pollard v Baulderstone Hornibrook Engineering Pty Ltd [2008] NSWCA 99

²³ Allsop, J. Recurring issues in the New South Wales court of appeal (2012)

²⁴ Ibid

²⁵ Mayer v A.N.S.T.O. [2003] FMCA 209

²⁶ Ibid

²⁷ Ibid

²⁸ Leibler, A.B. Employment & industrial relations (2003)

²⁹ Schiliro v Peppercorn Child Care Centre’s Pty Ltd [2000] QCA 18

³⁰ Schiliro v Peppercorn Child Care Centre’s Pty Ltd [2000] QCA 18

³¹ Parry v. Woolworths Limited [2009] QCA 26

³² Griffiths v State of Queensland [2011] QCA 57

³³ Industrial Court of Queensland, Annual Report of the President of the Industrial Court of Queensland (2009)

The Government’s Commitment to Unions

There is no use denying the fact that the HR sector is of great importance nowadays. The thing is that in a coherent society people try to respect and protect the rights of workers, guaranteeing fair and safe conditions for their functioning. That is why, HR professionals tend to organize the functioning of a certain company or organization following these statements for people to be satisfied with their work (Holley, Jennings, & Wolters, 2012). Moreover, various laws control the state of affairs in the given sector and protect the rights of workers. Besides, workers organize unions that also monitor the functioning of a company and are supported by various Federal government statements. According to them, unions can protect workers in case of unfair treatment and refer to laws that regulate the functioning of this sector.

It should be said that to help unions to protect people, the National Labor Relations board exists. The main aim of this independent federal organization is “to safeguard employees’ rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative” (What We Do, n.d., para. 1). Moreover, “the agency also acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions” (What We Do, n.d., para. 1).

It should be said, that in terms of the functioning of this agency, HR professionals obtain more remedies and limitations in their work. They should take into account the main statements of the agency and government, in order not to break the existing laws and not discriminate against some workers, otherwise, unions and NLRB can interfere in their functioning and enforce some penalties.

Labor Relations Survey of Resources

There is no use denying the fact that the issues of job and work search are very important for every person as a good vacancy serves as the guaranty of stable development of a worker and his/her prosperity. However, many various shades are, though, very important and should be taken into account while accepting an employers proposition. That is why there are many various means of social media devoted to this very issue. LikedIn is among them. Labor relations is a complicated issue, and it regulates the functioning of the sphere of jobs and everyone should have at least basic knowledge to guarantee a fair attitude of the officials. Having looked through the various LikedIn groups devoted to the issue of work search and hiring, it is possible to say that the first thing which should be given the most careful attention is the work contract as it is the document that describes and establishes the main peculiarities of a workers rights and duties (Maurer, 2014). That is why more experienced employees warn their younger colleagues that this contract should be studied to find out all peculiarities of the proposal. Moreover, curriculum vitae should also be carefully thought through. Analyzing various requests placed in LikedIn, it is possible to conclude that a well-organized curriculum vitae and approach to the work search can help to obtain the job which is needed.

With this in mind, having analyzed the main peculiarities of the HR and labor sector, it is possible to make a certain conclusion. The given sphere is extremely vital nowadays as it regulates relations between an employer and employee and helps to establish a fair business relationship.

References

Holley, W., Jennings, K., & Wolters, R. (2012). The labor relations process. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Maurer, R. (2014). Avoid Becoming a Target of Global ‘Corporate Campaigns’. Web.

What We Do. (n.d.). National Labor Relations Board. Web.

Introduction

Healthcare Management & Human Resources (HMHR), as a discipline, is critical in the current healthcare sector. Health practitioners require diverse skills to enhance their performance and growth in their careers. The profession contributes credibly to the health systems, administration, and service provisions.

HMHR – An Appealing Career

HMHR is designed to uplift the clinical and non-clinical sectors. Besides, the discipline is helpful in public health and other health sectors with rich human capitals. Currently, several healthcare systems across the world have put much of their attention in the human resources management. In particular, they form great part of the health system contributions, budget making, and health services provisions (Pace, 2006). Arguably, the management of the health sector depends entirely on knowledge of these people (human resource persons in the health sector) involved in health services delivery. Additionally, the issues addressed by such professionals are also dependent on their talents and inspirational aspects.

Through studying Healthcare Management and Human Resource, the common problems facing the global healthcare will be solved. Some of those problems are; inadequate health workers, ratio of distribution of the health workers in different health institutions and the variation of size of different health institutions. Availability of workforce in the health factor will provide a clear picture of a nation’s ability to provide suitable and affordable healthcare services.

In addition, this career is entirely responsible for employing competent workers and their training (Fallon & McConnell, 2007). Through this, the image of the health sector will be improved. Besides, a well trained and experienced workforce is vital when it comes to meeting the achievement goals in all the healthcare systems. This is a critical provision when considered comprehensively.

This career is not only helpful in the development of the health sector but also in the economic development of the country. There is a close relationship between the availability of the health human resources and a country’s economic development. The nations with larger gross domestic product tend to spend a lot on healthcare compared to those with lesser gross domestic product. Besides, they are likely to have a bigger number of health workers. Human resource persons in the health department majorly assist in solving the healthcare problems discussed earlier (Niles, 2012).

Another important aspect of regarding Healthcare Management and Human Resources as the best career is that, it prepares young workers by providing them with relevant skills. This will eventually ensure that the retiring health workers are replaced with other competent young health personnel. Additionally, this will solve the problem of inadequate health persons and continuous increase in healthcare requirements. Through the development of numerous human resource initiatives, there will be increased efficiency in providing the healthcare facilities.

Human resource managers are always praised for the various important roles they play towards obtaining acceptable health reforms. They have successfully succeeded in making vital changes in the health sector by using a variety of healthcare sources. Beside, proper organization of the services offered to the patients through the creation of some organized teamwork, has been part of their healthcare changes. Those individuals who have studied human resource management in healthcare do not take longer time looking for jobs thus it is a lucrative career to pursue. Moreover, their employment is on a permanent basis with a satisfactory salary range. Categorically, through studying human resource management in healthcare system, an individual can provide an excellent healthcare service to the patients and the community at large.

Conclusion

The healthcare sector requires competent and diversified professionals. The aspects of HR management are critical in this context. Administrators in the healthcare sector require diverse skills to enhance their performance competency. The profession constitutes the health systems, management, and service provision.

References

Chmiel, N. (2009). An introduction to work and organizational psychology: A European perspective. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

Fallon, F. & McConnell, R. (2007). Human resource management in healthcare: Principles and practice. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Kaye, K. (1994). Workplace wars and how to end them: Turning personal conflicts into productive teamwork. New York, NY: American Management Association.

Niles, J. (2012). Basic concepts of healthcare human resource management. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Pace, J. (2006). Professional development series: Books 1-4. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

Runde, F. (2010). Developing your conflict competence: A hands-on guide for leaders, managers, facilitators, and teams. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Introduction: Importance of Employee Records

Human Resource Management (HRM) and Employee Relations (ER) are interdependent components, which ensure that the firm has a well-developed pool of employees with the right competencies to reach organizational goals (Phillips & Gully, 2013). Paying substantial attention to these aspects allows the company to create its distinct competitive advantage and maintain its market share. Consequently, discovering the vitality of these matters is the primary goal of this essay.

In the first place, keeping employee records is highly important for HR practice. For instance, accurate information about the employees assists in providing the rationale for the termination of the contract (Buzkan, 2016). At the same time, it could be used as a source of data on employees’ performance and their ability to reach organizational goals (Buzkan, 2016). Furthermore, keeping records in an organized manner can help avoid lawsuits concerning the compensation system and unreasonable layoff (Buzkan, 2016).

Nonetheless, some of the employers disregard the importance of record-keeping and have to face adverse consequences. For instance, the absence of employee records can be a potential cause of insufficient decision-making and unreasonable hiring or firing of staff. Subsequently, it could adversely affect employees’ satisfaction and commitment leading to the low quality of the services and low retention among consumers. Simultaneously, as it was mentioned earlier, the employees are definers of organizational success, and their ineffective distribution can lead to the loss of a distinct competitive advantage.

Formal and Informal Documentation

The records can be maintained in formal and informal forms. In this case, the formal one usually refers to the files and agreements required by the legal authorities (McConnell, 2011). In this case, the documents are represented by payroll records and employment and compensation agreements (McConnell, 2011). As it was mentioned earlier, the employers rely on this data during the decision-making process. Nonetheless, this type of documents also serves an additional purpose and protects the employees. For instance, the workforce can refer to the employment contract in case of the illegal actions of the management and its unlawful termination.

Despite the importance of formal registers, one cannot underestimate that informal documentation is also significant. Informal records can be presented in the plethora of forms including the “manager’s anecdotal notes” and KPIs related to one’s performance (McConnell, 2011). In this case, the employees can take advantage of these notes when facing controversies and prejudice. For example, referring to performance excellence and effective relationship with other team members might be one of the approaches to affect the managerial decisions regarding the layoff.

Effective Legal Termination

In turn, it is critical to discuss the issues associated with the downsizing and layoff, as any organization might experience it during the recession stage. Consequently, paying attention to the legal matters of the employment termination is critical, as they minimize the risks of prejudice. Documentation is the main factor that ensures the effective legal ending of the contract (McConnell, 2011). It helps avoid legal suits and offers a rationale for particular decisions. It could be concluded that employers cannot underrate a pivotal role of documentation in the process of downsizing since it ensures compliance with legal practices.

Despite the significance of the employer’s decision, the employees can refer to formal and informal records to protect their position against downsizing. In this case, the workers can rely on the employment contract and determine whether the actions of management are reasonable. Simultaneously, paying critical attention to meeting organizational goals and performance excellence can protect the employees during the layoff. It could be said that following the corporate rules will help build an image of an essential part of the firm. Meanwhile, maintaining KPIs at a high level will ensure the employee’s contribution to shaping the company’s competitive edge (Phillips & Gully, 2013).

Ethics and Healthcare Managers

Furthermore, ethics is one of the critical elements of HR to assure the effectiveness of decision-making within the organization (Arulrajah, 2015). One of the major challenges is the presence of social media in the everyday activities of the employees. This technological phenomenon can be regarded as a potential source of data leakage (Sevignani, 2015). In this case, trusting the employees is critical, but posting information about the patient on social media might question the ethical principles of the organization. In this case, the leader has to ensure that all online actions of the employees comply with the corporate culture and do not violate the laws.

In turn, another challenge is the changes in the financing of healthcare institutions in the United States of America. Nowadays, the country is required to reduce its spending, and this aspect affects the functioning of the hospitals (Weisbart, 2012). Downsizing and decrease in wages might be viewed as necessities. In this case, the leader has to explain the need for change to the employees and ensure that the employment termination is supported by the legal documentation.

An Outline of Effective Succession Planning Process

Based on the factors provided above, being a manager requires having a substantial blend of knowledge and practical experience. In this case, it is vital to propose a plan to ensure the smooth transition between old and new managers in the organization. Firstly, using the performance KPIs can identify employees, which can be considered for advancement (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). In this case, the performance with the rates above average will indicate the necessity to continue training to become a manager.

The next stage will be half a year of training and development programs. The primary goal of the session will be discussing situations such as ethical issues, downsizing, working with the HR department as a strategic partner, and discovering advantages of unionization and documentation. The sessions will be divided into units and conducted twice a week. It will help future leaders to understand the insights of managerial practice and prepare them for future challenges.

As for the mentorship, each potential leader will be assigned a mentor from senior management. In this case, new employees can ask questions about different situations. The senior managers will help leaders during the program. However, a young leader will be able to consult the manager after completion. Based on the outline of the program described above, Figure 1 provides a summary of all stages.

Unionization: Employer and Employees

One cannot underestimate the significance of unionization, but it has different influences on employer’s and employees’ satisfaction. It remains apparent that the unions were created to protect the rights, freedoms, and benefits of the workers (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). At the same, the establishment of labor unions has a positive impact on the employees’ satisfaction and commitment, as the workforce feels like a substantial contributor to the firm’s success and decision-making (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). A combination of these aspects highlights that unionization is a critical part of the employees’ corporate culture.

The organization has to take advantage of the labor unions, as they not only support the employees but also enhance the overall performance. One of the benefits is the fact that having these entities eases the negotiation process, as both parties have well-defined views and opinions (Bohlander & Snell, 2010).

It helps enhance the financial performance of the firm, as the membership in unions pertains to employees’ satisfaction and motivation. Labor unions have a positive impact on the workforce and employers simultaneously. The workers have their rights and freedoms recognized while management can express their views clearly and focus on organizational performance.

HR as an Effective Strategic Partner

Despite various debates associated with HR functions, the HR department continues to be one of the definers of the organizational success and strategic partner. In this case, the HR should view the employees as a major contributor to the firm’s profitability and ensure the compliance of HRM practices with the mission statement (Jacobson, Sowa, & Lambright, 2014). In the first place, the HR department has to focus on the training of the employees to comply with organizational needs.

Highlighting this aspect will assist in meeting corporate goals and enhance the overall profitability. Simultaneously, the firm should not underestimate the essence of unions and working conditions and take advantage of their existence. Finding compromises with the labor unions will assist in aligning their objectives with the company’s mission statement. A combination of these factors depicts that the alignment is an essential goal of the HR department as a strategic partner, as it improves profitability, increases satisfaction and motivation, and ensures that employees have a required set of skills to shape a competitive edge.

References

Arulrajah, A. (2015). Contribution of human resource management in creating and sustaining ethical climate in the organizations. Sri Lanka Journal of Human Resource Management, 5(1), 31-44.

Bohlander, G., & Snell, S. (2010). Managing human resources. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Buzkan, H. (2016). The role of human resource information system (HRIS) in organizations: A review of literature. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 5(1), 133-138.

Jacobson, W., Sowa, J., & Lambright, K. (2014). Do human resource departments act as strategic partners? Strategic human resource management adoption by county governments. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 34(3), 289-301.

McConnell, C. (2011). The health care manager’s legal guide. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Phillips, J., & Gully, S. (2013). Human resource management. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Sevignani, S. (2015). Privacy and capitalism in the age of social media. New York, NY: Routledge.

Weisbart, E. (2012). A single-payer system would reduce U.S. health care costs. Virtual Mentor, 14(11), 897-903.

Introduction

Every patient, regardless of his/her ethnic and social background, level of income, and state of health, has the right to receive high-quality care. Although the significance of medications and procedures applied in the course of treatment is hard to overestimate, effective communication and trusting relationships established between the patient and the care provider is none the less significant for effective treatment.

This task is especially challenging in case of individuals who do not speak English or do not possess sufficient knowledge of the language to be able to communicate their needs fully and correctly. In order to provide equal care to diverse populations, it is essential to find methods of enhancing communication with patients of different backgrounds; otherwise, racial and ethnic disparities in health care access and quality of care delivery may get aggravated (Jeffreys, 2015). The major task of Joint Commission is to prevent this and assist hospitals in their efforts towards HRM improvement.

The Joint Commission is a non-profit organization that sets standards and accredits health care units, policies, and programs across the country. Since all medical organizations in the United States have to adhere to these standards, it can be stated that the Commission has a direct influence upon the major functions of HRM. The latter is supposed to maintain all hospital activities in such a way that they allow the organization to remain accredited.

Furthermore, the Commission has drastically changed the role of leadership, expanding it from the control function to planning, coordinating, directing, and improving all services provided. The Commission specifically stresses the role of culturally and linguistically proper care that hospital leaders have to ensure through the development of effective frameworks (Shaw et al., 2013). That is why HRM has to update its practices regularly in order to comply with the current position statements and recommendations.

For acute care hospitals, this implies annual reviews of policies and procedures since these units are subject to numerous risks for patients that must be minimized to guarantee safety. In addition, it is essential to make sure that not only employees but also leaders are in compliance with necessary training and are well aware of new standards HRM has to meet (Shaw et al., 2013).

The Importance of Collaboration Between HR and Department Managers

Effective collaboration between HR department and department managers is the key factor allowing a health care unit to select and hire the best specialists in each field. There are numerous cases when the process of filling open positions takes too long owing to the lack of cooperation between managers and HR. The former slow down the process by delaying interviews, responding, selecting, and making decisions (being sometimes too preoccupied with other problems, requiring immediate actions), while the latter have to wait for the right moment to interfere.

Moreover, it is not infrequent that managers simply do not inform HR about the criteria that potential employees are expected to meet until the very last moment when there appears a position that must be filled in the shortest possible time. It creates the situation of urgency when there is a risk to take anyone who at least partially meets the requirements. That is why forward-looking managers try to engage in the process of solving talent gaps before they start threatening the quality of care.

HR should involve them not only in recruiting but rather in the whole process of workforce planning, selection, and hiring. They must be held accountable for recruiting even despite the fact that it is not their direct duty. Otherwise, the lack of collaboration between the two parties will bring about deplorable consequences: The hospital will have a lot of vacant positions to be filled immediately, HR department will have to lower standards to be able to find more candidates, managers will feel pressed for time and will skip important selection steps, and finally, no one will be satisfied with the results.

A Training Program for Managers

Preliminary of the training program

• choosing the most suitable type of assessment (MBTI, FIRO-B, the 360 assessment, DISC or any other that will allow performing detailed evaluation);
• making sure that all members of the HR staff are aware of online modules;
• introducing the program and making the participants acquainted with one another and the trainer via conference call;
• organizing an interview with highly competent and experienced leaders;
• providing instructions on how to review learning objectives in person;
• sending all the participants the journal containing guidelines with the key points;
• giving a reading assignment to cover at least several articles and books both in business and law for managers to be well-versed in employment laws and regulation as well we the most effective hiring practices.

The classroom part

• teaching how to eliminate arrogance and the feeling of superiority while remaining self-confident;
• discussing questions, interpretations, insights, peculiarities of the application process, etc.;
• studying practices of the most successful people of the industry and identifying the most effective of their solutions;
• reviewing laws and regulations in a group to make sure that everyone has a proper understanding of them and there is no ambiguity left;
• learning interviewing techniques that could be helpful to select the best candidate for the position, which include:
  • setting proper place, time, and character of the interview to eliminate uncertainties;
  • preparing the plan of the interview and the questions in advance since all candidates must have equal opportunities (the same challenges, questions, and the same amount of time) to facilitate comparison;
  • reviewing facts concerning the jot and learning to look at each resume being prepare to assess it;
  • listening actively to the information provided by the applicant and ask clarifying questions to obtain required details;
  • paying close attention to the candidate’s ethnical, racial, and heath care background, which is essential to comply with the anti-discrimination law, prohibiting bias attitude to people of color and physically handicapped candidates;
  • taking notes of everything to be able to assess observations later;
  • encouraging interviewees to ask question to see how much interest he/she has in the job and the organization;
• studying Performance management, which involves proper goal setting, providing coaching and feedback, ensuring compliance and discipline, and evaluating the outcome;
• concentrating on motivation methods, incentives, and recognition;
• going into daily practices that include issues concerning development of employees, meeting organization, team building, action planning, etc.

Practical assignments

• developing a personal plan of conducting an interview;
• testing the plan in an experiment;
• applying reflective journaling of the course of the experiment;
• assessing the results together with the training manager;
• making conclusions and developing the best suiting scenario;
• implementing it in practice;
• evaluating the outcome in 60 days.

Factors That Should Be Considered in Order to Develop Compensation and Benefit Plan That Is Fair, Competitive, and Aligned With the Organization’s Strategic Objectives

For the organization to achieve its goals, it is crucial to provide employees with incentives that would act as motivation. The compensation plan has to be developed in such a way that the outcome of its implementation is beneficial for both parties involved. The following factors are to be taken into consideration:

• The vision of the organization has to be clearly determined so as to be reflected in the provided compensation. Managers must remember that the impact of a strong retirement program, reimbursement plan or non-financial incentives could have an equally strong impact upon employees inducing them to stay in the organization. Thus, the company must consider which option will be the most competitive and advantageous. This factor has a direct affect on the company’s position in the market.
• Identifying if the selected plain fits the budget of the organization. This factor is highly influential since in case of wrong assessment of the budget capabilities, it could become impossible to keep the plan regular.
• Estimating research options. Since there are numerous ready-made compensation plans, it is recommended to borrow some of their solutions to come out with a unique product. This factor determines how multifaceted and comprehensive the plan will be.
• Taking into account both short- and long-term opportunities. The balance of these incentives is essential for keeping employees constantly inspired and motivated.
• Remembering to be realistic rather than generous. Employees must be sure that they are going to receive everything of the promised so that they do not get disappointed in the authority of the leader.
• Resorting to the services of a lawyer as soon as the plan is ready. This factor is decisive in providing legal guarantees that no issue has been left unanswered, contradictory to law or vague.

References

Jeffreys, M. R. (2015). Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care: Inquiry, action, and innovation. Berlin, Germany: Springer Publishing Company.

Mohapatra, M. (2015). 360 Degree Feedback: A Review of literature. Research Scholar of Management KIIT University Bhubaneswar Orissa, 2(1), 112-116.

Shaw, C. D., Braithwaite, J., Moldovan, M., Nicklin, W., Grgic, I., Fortune, T., & Whittaker, S. (2013). Profiling health-care accreditation organizations: An international survey. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 25(3), 222-231.

Introduction

Although cases of employee illnesses are a common problem in business practice, such issues in the healthcare sector may have severe consequences for all stakeholders. It is seen in Sarah’s example, when her case of tuberculosis and the subsequent declassification without her consent led to her isolation in the workplace and possible infection of another home health assistant. The assistant manager is obliged to inform the Home Health Care Agency’s employees and clients about precautions while maintaining Sarah’s privacy to prevent a possible outbreak and spread of the infection.

Researchers note that “health information is the data related to a person’s medical history, including symptoms, diagnoses, procedures, and outcomes.” (“What Is Health Information?” n.d., para. 1). The most appropriate methodology for providing information in such conditions would be a theoretical and practical educational training course on pulmonary diseases, focusing on the types of tuberculosis. This paper will examine the three steps of the training course for each group of stakeholders and discuss the possible implications of this problem.

Talk, Demonstration, Role Playing, and Reinforcing

The educational course includes a theoretical part, talk or lecturing, and a practical part, which involves a demonstration and role-playing. According to Chaghari, Saffari, Ebadi, and Ameryoun (2017), “training programs are essential for the survival and viability of the organization in the competition arena” (p. 26). The HR Department Assistant Manager may appoint as a trainer one of the experienced employees of the organization or hire a freelance specialist.

The first step, or lecturing, should include the causes and conditions for the occurrence of pulmonary diseases with the emphasis on tuberculosis, as well as the results and consequences of treatment. Researchers note that “this is an effective way to help the group work together to solve a problem” (“B. Choose appropriate training methods,” 2019,para. 10). This category should also include debunking myths and prejudices about people who have had pulmonary diseases to stop the isolation of Sara by other coworkers.

The lecture should be supported by a demonstration of scientific data and statistics, as well as video materials with people who had overcome tuberculosis, and their spouses, relatives, and friends. Researchers have proven that learning and understanding are faster and more productive when multiple senses are involved (“B. Choose appropriate training methods,” 2019). In the role-playing process, employees should apply and remember the knowledge gained about practical methods of primary identification of pulmonary diseases, ways to prevent infection, and the rules of interaction with current and former patients.

Also, everyone can undergo reinforcing learning for a better understanding of the knowledge gained. In parallel with this process, it is also necessary to inform the management of the Home Health Care Agency and its clients. These procedures may be limited within the framework of theoretical training and should be held through such communication methods as face-to-face and email (Liebler & McConnell, 2020). Emails should include both original materials and links to peer-reviewed and popular sources.

Possible Implications for Different Stakeholders

Ignoring the need to solve the problem may lead to a number of serious negative consequences. It is worth noting that social isolation in the workplace that Sarah has experienced worsens physical and mental health (Tanskanen & Anttila, 2016).

Such a situation also leads to less productivity and, therefore, weakening financial independence. Management may suffer financial losses because multiple cases of employees’ infection reduce the number of work staff, which limits the range of services provided and, therefore, profits. The situation with tuberculosis contagion is the most dangerous for clients, because they may also get sick. Such an incident will cause further rejection of medical services and distrust of home health care organizations. This may even lead to premature deaths due to the absence of a specialist in the vicinity. Such cases have a negative effect on the entire organization in the form of reputation losses.

Conclusion

This paper considers possible ways of informing various groups of stakeholders within the framework of Sarah’s privacy. Several steps have been proposed for this problem from the HR Department Assistant Manager perspective. All these steps are combined into an educational training program. The first point is a lecture focusing on pulmonary diseases, especially tuberculosis subtypes. The informative speech is aimed at studying the causes and methods of infection, as well as the consequences of the disease and treatment. All this is supported by various visual materials, after which the coworkers participate in practices for the correct protection and interaction.

The purpose of this training is not only to reduce the risk of the disease, but also to destroy the social isolation in which Sarah found herself after recovery. Possible negative consequences of such a problem were also put forward from the prospect of it being further ignored. One of the most important implications is the general deterioration of Sarah’s well-being. Agency’s clients also risk not only getting a pulmonary infection but also being even in a worse situation due to the absence of a medical professional.

References

B. Choose appropriate training methods. (2019). Web.

Chaghari, M., Saffari, M., Ebadi, A., & Ameryoun, A. (2017). Empowering education: A new model for in-service training of nursing staff. Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism, 5(1), 26-32.

Liebler, J. G., & McConnell, C. R. (2020). Management principles for health professionals. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Tanskanen, J., & Anttila, T. (2016). A prospective study of social isolation, loneliness, and mortality in Finland. American journal of public health, 106(11), 2042-2048.

What is health information? (n.d.). Web.

Introduction

Health care systems play important role in ensuring that health needs of any given population are met. This can be achieved by organization of sufficient resources, establishment of credible healthcare institutions and harnessing of human resource required in healthcare delivery. The main goal of human resource management in health care in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda is to provide better health care services with positive outcomes that benefit patients. It has been pursued through stewardship, financing and generation of other resources needed to deliver healthcare. However, the latter is prone to management problems. This essay will compare and contrast health care provision in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda based on human resource perspective.

Situational analysis- overview of each country

Kenya

Kenya is an East African country located at Longitude 42 E and 34 W, Latitude 4.28 S and 4.21 N. The country borders Indian Ocean with a shoreline of up to 400 kilometers (AHWO, 2009). To the east, it borders Somali. The southern neighbor is Tanzania while Uganda is located in the western side of Kenya. Additionally, Sudan borders Kenya to the northwest while Ethiopia shares a common border with Kenya to the north.

It covers a total are of 84,646 km² out of which arable land constitutes only about 20% of land mass while the rest is semi arid and arid land. It is also well endowed with parks and water bodies. The latter covers an area of 11,230 km². Population growth rate, distribution, age and gender constitute Kenyan demography. According to statistical reports, Kenyan population has been growing steadily growing over the years. The figure below illustrates population growth rate in Kenya for three consecutive decades

Source: KNBS 1979, 1989, 1999 census, growth rate facts and figures 2008.

Economy

Kenya’s economy can be analyzed in terms budget comparisons, unemployment, budget proportion for HRH as well as proportion of health GDP and poverty. Other areas include inequality in wealth and income, labor force, growth in GDP and GDP per capita (Ministry of health-Kenya, 2006). The table below shows the GDP and GDP per capita.

Health

Health issues affecting Kenyan population are largely demonstrated in the morbidity and mortality rates that have been compiled over a considerably long period of time (Ministry of health-Kenya, 2006). Some of the major illnesses that heavily contribute to disease burden in Kenya include diarrhea, lower respiratory tract infections, malaria, prenatal period conditions and HIV/AIDS among others. In addition, it is important to note that some of the indicators that have been used to analyze health in this country include sanitation levels, accessibility to safe drinking water, prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS, l life expectancy and mortality rates (see table below).

Source GBD 2004.

Rwanda

Rwanda shares its borders with Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is a landlocked country with high population density within an area of 26338km². It has 30 districts and 5 provinces. Additionally, two dry and wet seasons define the distinct vegetation and tropical climate of Rwanda. In 2010, Data from the National Institute of Statistics (NISR) indicated that the population of Rwanda was approximately 10 million. Projections made by the NISR indicated that only 15% of the total population lives in urban centers. The remaining percentage lives and work in rural areas (Brown, 2006). Birth rate is relatively high in Rwanda compared to Kenya. According to a survey conducted by the Demographic and Health Department in 2007, the rate of population growth rate in Rwanda stands at 2.7% per annum (Ministry of Health-Rwanda, 2009). The male to female ration in Rwanda is 1:1.

Distribution of population in Rwanda according to age group and year

Source: NSIR 2002.

Source: NSIR 2002.

Economy

Since 1994, Rwanda’s economy has experienced growth as depicted by a recent GDP average of 8.83% (Ministry of Health-Rwanda, 2009). According to Human Development Index report in 2005, Rwanda was ranked 161 out of 177 in terms of GDP per capita growth. Its goo track record in alleviating poverty has made it easier for the country to receive debt relief from major international bodies such as Multilateral Debt Relief Initiatives (MDRI) and the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) as well as IMF. In spite of its exports, balance of payments is still unfavorable due to quite a number of factors such as over dependency on tourism and reliance on external aid (Brown, 2006).

Rwanda boasts of good governance, stable economic growth and security. Its major sources of revenue are statutory taxation, tourism, loans, multilateral and bilateral grants as well as agriculture.

Economic growth indicators in Rwanda

Source: MINECOFIN, NISR & BNR, 2009; EICV 2, (2005/6).

Governance and Political stability

Rwanda is headed by a president elected through democratic election. Additionally, it has a senate, parliament and a cabinet. In 2006, the country instituted reforms on public and decentralization process thereby fostering a structure that had cells, sections, districts, and provinces.

Uganda

Uganda is a land locked country in East Africa with a population of 27.7 million. It covers a total area of 241,038km². Ugandan land surface occupies about 197,096 square kilometers while the remaining portion is swampy. Mortality rate during child birth per 100,000 births stands at 506 while infant mortality rate per 1000 live births is 88 (United Nations Organization, 2005). The table below shows the population and housing report for four consecutive decades.

Source: 2002 Population & Housing Census Report, UBOS.

Economy

Uganda has been commended by various international bodies such as the World Bank for its ability to control inflation and steer economic growth (Anon, 2002). According to a report finding by World Bank in 2002, absolute poverty in Uganda had reduced by 21% owing to its proper allocation of resources to health, education and other social needs (Anon, 2002).

Governance and political stability

Politically, Uganda has three organs of governance namely the judiciary, legislature and an executive. It is headed by a president supported by a cabinet of ministers. The legislature addresses issues such as sanitation, water, education and health. Additionally, the judiciary tackles contentious issues regarding implementation of heath policies (United Nations Organization, 2005).

Comparisons

Health Systems and services

• Public
  • In Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya, the public health care system services are effective and resources are availed from the community to national level.
• Private
  • Kenya and Uganda partly supports private health care systems while Rwanda does not support.
• Financial
  • Financial resources to tackle health issues are not adequate in all the three counties owing to poverty and slow economic growth.
• Insurance
  • Uganda health care and human resource department lacks health insurance for the public while Kenya and Rwanda have insurance cover on public health.
• Governance
  • All the three countries receive support from government in terms of offering health care policies and governance from health sectors and the government
• Hospital
  • Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda lack enough hospitals to take care of overwhelming number of patients. Hospital resources are insufficient.
• Other health care service provider facilities.
  • All the three countries have private health care facilities that offer health care resources
• Ranking on global scale
  • Kenya leads by 141 in global ranking in provision of health care services ahead of Rwanda that ranks 144 while Uganda trails at 149.

Health status

• Life expectancy in Kenya is higher than Uganda while Rwanda has the lowest life expectancy. However, they share the same life expectancy at birth which is 49.
  • IMR
• Infant mortality rate in the three countries is high. However, Uganda leads by 138 followed by followed by Rwanda and Kenya with 203 and 200 respectively.
  • HIV/ AIDS
• The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Kenya is higher among adults with up to 6.7 than Rwanda which has 5.1 and Uganda that has 4.1
  • TB prevalence
• The prevalence and incidence of TB is higher in Kenya than Uganda and Rwanda.
  • 10 causes of death
• Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda share causes of death emanating from injuries, pneumonia, malaria, measles, diarrhea diseases, HIV/AIDS, birth asphyxia severe infections and neonatal causes.

Human resources for health

• Health workforce. Kenya and Uganda have a high number of workforce while Rwanda’s health workforce is not sufficient to meet health care needs for patients
• Identify shortages. Rwanda has limited laboratory technician and dentists while Kenya has less community health workers. Uganda has less community health workers and dentists

Strategies to solve HRH

Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda share strategies for solving HRH.

• Plan. The various health sectors in the three countries should set up strategies, policies and programs that would optimize the use of available resources.
• Development. Dedicate more finances to health care systems. There is need for more health workers to be deployed in healthcare system
• Support. Support should be given to create more health facilities, and finances

References

AHWO (2009). Human Resources for Health Country Profile Kenya. Web.

Anon(2002). “WHO CAM strategy advocates national policy creation, increased R&D”. The Blue Sheet, 45(22): 18-19.

Brown, G. (2006). International nursing department Rwanda: A Country Still in Post War Syndrome – Twelve Years Later. ABNF Journal, 17(4), 143-6

Ministry of health-Kenya (2006). The second national health sector strategic plan of Kenya –NHSSP II– 2005–2010. Reversing the Trends, 1-96.

Ministry of Health-Rwanda(2009). Situational analysis of the health sector. Health Sector Strategic Plan. 4-100.

United Nations Organization (2005). Preparing the health workforce. The World Health Report 2006. 41-67.

Introduction

COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on the hospitality industry that only a small number of other fields can match. Travel, especially that of the international variety, declined dramatically, reducing the revenues of hotels and similar tourist-oriented facilities. Moreover, in many locations, various bans on in-person dining were put into practice, effectively putting restaurants out of business for their duration or forcing them to resort to deliveries. As a result of these massive changes to business operations, many hospitality companies have been forced to reconsider their strategies. HR is among the most important aspects of these deliberations as employee wages constitute a large portion of the overall costs in hospitality, which need to be reduced for continued survival. This essay will explore the ways in which the situation has changed due to the pandemic and the options available to hospitality businesses.

HR Strategies Leading Up to COVID-19

Before COVID-19, the primary concern of the hospitality industry involved globalization. It primarily concerned hotels and other accommodations, though restaurants were also affected in some ways. As people of all socioeconomic classes became able to travel more, they started demanding high-quality services regardless of their location. As a result, many global hotel chains found that their prior approach of standardization was no longer viewed as adequate despite its ability to save costs, as customers demanded variety and expressions of local culture. With the emergence of new markets such as China and India, additional locations were also constructed to capitalize on new demand. Moreover, with the advent of computer technologies and the Internet, customers of many hotel chains, especially more luxurious ones, began expressing demand for improved loyalty program rewards. Examples include the memorization of their habits and catering to them when first visiting the chain’s locations elsewhere.

All of these new needs required staff with contemporary views and the knowledge needed to solve the problems. As such, HR departments moved forward with additional hires of people with the necessary competencies. They attempted to integrate as many knowledgeable workers as possible in a quick manner to obtain a competitive advantage over the opposition. At the same time, they engaged in work to train their current employees in the skills they would need to support the transition. Information technology competencies and familiarity with the local culture were topics of particular interest, as they correspond with the needs expressed in the paragraph above. Combined with the hiring of staff for the new hotels in emerging markets, the industry was overall on a trajectory of expanding its workforce and improving its competencies.

Changes as a Result of COVID-19

As was mentioned in the introduction, hotels were affected particularly strongly by COVID-19. Restrictions on international travel effectively eliminated much of the traffic many hotels usually received. Even after some of the bans were lifted, the recovery of passenger flow has been slow due to a variety of reasons. At the same time, lockdown orders were introduced internally that affected other hospitality facilities significantly. Many restaurants had to close or resort to deliveries, curbside pickups, and other approaches that circumvented indoor dining. While they may have been able to survive in this manner, all of these methods removed the need for service staff. Moreover, with other businesses closed and economies damaged, traffic to recreational businesses such as restaurants dropped, as did their revenues. As such, the need to reduce costs emerged, with the primary method of doing so being staff furloughs and layoffs.

At the beginning of the lockdowns, many companies were faced with the need to lay off staff to remain solvent. Under conditions of impending bankruptcy, strategic planning retreated to a secondary role, letting immediate concerns take precedence. It likely influenced specific layoff decisions, with more valuable workers retaining their positions while those less beneficial to the company long-term were removed. However, economic need presumably dictated the removal of many employees who should have stayed from a strategic perspective. Moreover, while attempts to hire them back have likely been made after recovery, they were likely to have failed. Former workers presumably found employment elsewhere in the time that passed after they were dismissed from their positions and would not necessarily be willing to return. Additionally, after being fired, they may have developed distrust toward the company, seeking a more employee-oriented employer.

Future Strategic Decisions

The most important effects of COVID-19 are the changes in operations that it has introduced, such as the need for social distancing. Ensuring employee safety is now critical, as they have to interact with each other as well as clients on a constant basis. If one individual is infected and spreads the disease, the entire location may need to be closed for an extended period. As such, workers need to be taught appropriate countermeasures and be provided with the protective equipment they need. These measures will likely remain in place following the end of the pandemic, as they will enhance overall safety against a variety of respiratory conditions. As such, HR needs to develop and implement protocols that maximize safety without interfering with operations.

At the beginning of COVID-19, hospitality businesses could choose one of two primary strategies: retain employees or lay them off. If they decided to do the former despite the economic pressures and succeeded, they are likely not to need many significant adjustments for the new conditions. Knowing the situation across the industry, the team can be expected to be loyal to the company that retained it. Moreover, its reputation as an employer would be likely to improve, attracting new highly skilled workers. Conversely, the approach of laying off employees would reduce loyalty and damage the company’s reputation as an employer. With that said, it would also let the business optimize its operations, reducing the number of redundant workers and enabling superior performance after recovery. Still, the cost of hiring and training new workers would damage the savings that the business may have made through the layoffs.

This discussion of past strategies is relevant because it will inform the strategic decisions that different hospitality companies will need to make to adjust to new needs. Those of them that retained their workers can continue pursuing priorities that were prevalent before the pandemic. Their staff will also have been trained in COVID-19 countermeasures, having worked under these conditions for a considerable time. On the other hand, companies that conducted layoffs will have to return to normal operations first, hiring and training new staff. With a less well-coordinated and experienced team, they will need to emphasize the basic aspects of operations, creating synergies that may have been lost during COVID-19. Still, after they succeed in doing so, the priorities of hospitality companies will align regardless of the approach they had taken prior.

In the long term, COVID-19 has also demonstrated a critical weakness in the hospitality industry. It is vulnerable to phenomena that limit travel and visitations, relying too strongly on short-term revenue. In the absence of traffic, many positions become redundant and need to be liquidated only to be rehired later on when it recovers. This outcome is the consequence of inadequate crisis management on the part of the companies that were affected by it. In the future, HR departments will need to design strategies intended to combat such forced closures without sacrificing staff unnecessarily. The methods by which they may achieve this purpose are unclear, though monitoring developing situations ahead of time and instituting practices that may enable the locations to avoid the need to close in cases of conditions such as lockdowns.

Conclusion

COVID-19 has not eliminated the strategic needs of hospitality businesses around the world but added new objectives instead. First, HR departments had to choose whether to lay workers off or retain them despite the financial implications of doing so. Most selected the former option, possibly due to pressure from executive management and other departments. Now, they need to prepare for new working conditions and educate new staff to follow them if necessary. The hiring of new workers with the competencies necessary to address pre-2020 issues will have to continue as soon as possible. Lastly, HR departments will need to improve their crisis management policies to minimize the effects of crises such as COVID-19 in the future. With these measures in place, hospitality businesses will be better prepared to address the needs of the future.

References

“COVID-19 Employer Information for Hotels, Resorts, and Lodges.” CDC, 2020. Web.

“Hospitality Management Guest Panel: Addressing the Future of Hospitality Locally + Globally.”YouTube, uploaded by GeorgetownSCS, 2014. Web.

AHLA. State of the Hotel Industry Analysis: Covid-19 Six Months Later. 2020. Web.

Gitlin, Lindsey Brous, et al. “Managing Restaurants in the Time of Coronavirus: A Look at Emerging Best Practices.”eCornell, 2020. Web.

Sogno, Alex. “Covid-19: Hoteliers Review Their Human Resources Strategies.”EHL Insights. n.d. Web.

The Problem of Violence Against Healthcare Staff

• Violence against healthcare staff is underreported in the majority of organizations;
• There are four types of workplace violence based on the associations between perpetrators and victims (Phillips, 2016);
• Nowadays, risk prevention guidelines provided by OSHA are not mandatory (Phillips, 2016).

Today, nurses and other hospital staff members all over the world are subject to workplace violence. The first problem with violence in healthcare is its being underreported or even ignored. As is stated by the Joint Commission, even the safest healthcare organizations started experiencing an increase in workplace crime rates recently (Phillips, 2016).

There are four forms of workplace violence that help to differentiate between violent acts committed by non-patients with intent, patients or clients, current and former staff members, and people in personal relationships with healthcare providers (Phillips, 2016). The cases with patients acting as offenders are overrepresented when it comes to statistics, but unfortunately, there are no mandatory nationwide guidelines for the reduction of risks.

Violence in Healthcare: Statistics and Risks

• Three-fourths of all physical attacks against healthcare professionals are committed by patients;
• In the United States, more than 70% of all workplace violence cases occur in healthcare settings (Phillips, 2016);
• The highest risks exist for ED nurses and psychiatric staff (Phillips, 2016);
• Known “triggers” of workplace violence: long waiting times, low nurse-to-patient ratios, service quality, patients’ social/economic position (Ridenour et al., 2015).

Continuing on the scale of the problem, it is pivotal to say that healthcare specialists present the group the most vulnerable to workplace violence in the United States. The main source of risk, as is clear from modern studies, is an inadequate behavior of healthcare clients who may have psychiatric issues or be mentally healthy. The risks of being assaulted by patients are extremely high for specialists working with emergency and psychiatric clients; for instance, up to 100% of emergency department nurses experience violence at least once (Phillips, 2016). Also, there are hypotheses that link violence to external factors and problems with healthcare quality.

Nursing Associations and Problem Recognition

• In some states, OSHA guidelines are applied only to specific hospital departments (ANA, 2017);
• Incident reporting requirements are not unified (ANA, 2017);
• Assaulting emergency nurses should be considered a felony in all states (ENA, n.d.).

The need to support the passage of HR 5223 requiring the introduction of national standards for violence prevention is recognized by professional nursing associations such as ANA. In one of its materials on workplace violence, the organization highlights the heterogeneity in the approaches to violence prevention. For instance, in nine states, prevention programs are required to be implemented only at psychiatric and emergency departments, whereas the requirements for incident reporting significantly vary across the states (ANA, 2017). The problem is also widely discussed by the Emergency Nurses Association aimed at protecting the interests of ED nurses who have the highest risks of being assaulted at work.

HR 5223 and Theoretical Models

• Healthcare specialists who face the risks of violence present a large interest group (Lowery et al., 2015);
• Policy-making can be impacted with the help of united efforts;
• Success is predicted by social activity and strong leadership.

The passage of HR 5223 remains a highly sensitive task, and to support the bill, it can be necessary to utilize a proper theoretical model. In case of violence against healthcare workers, there is a great number of stakeholders who have common problems but may be deprived of significant political power as individuals. With that in mind, the interest group model of policy-making can be relevant to the situation (Lowery et al., 2015). To use it, the key stakeholders should unite to change the existing balance of interests. Importantly, internal conflicts between stakeholders based on the degree of vulnerability should be eliminated.

HR 5223: Proposed Changes and Benefits

• Mandated risk identification procedures for employers (weapons owned by patients, substance abuse in clients, etc.);
• The presence of security personnel;
• Collaboration with agencies responsible for law enforcement (Health Care Workplace Violence Prevention Act, 2018).

HR 5223 introduced by Khanna and his supporters raises the problem of workplace violence and requires the Department of Labor to design and implement national violence prevention standards for employers in healthcare. The aspects of the problem paid focused attention to include the absence of mandatory risk assessment procedures aimed at the identification of potential offenders. More than that, according to the project, it is necessary to develop business relationships between healthcare facilities and law enforcement agencies to ensure timely responses to the cases of violence against healthcare staff.

HR 5223 and Benefits for Stakeholders

• Healthcare employers – increased job satisfaction rates, the effectiveness of employee retention strategies;
• Healthcare staff – safety, improved psychological well-being, employee productivity;
• Clients – care quality and safety.

The passage of the bill being discussed will be beneficial to three main categories of stakeholders such as healthcare employers, healthcare staff, and clients. When it comes to employers, they will have to implement a range of new rules, which may require a large amount of resources. However, having increased workplace safety, they will positively impact employee satisfaction rates and, therefore, prevent many qualified specialists from quitting their jobs. The benefits for healthcare specialists will be the most obvious due to the reduced risks’ impact on their psychological health and productivity at work. Finally, in reference to patients, they can benefit from the law because the presence of procedures for the identification of potentially dangerous clients will improve their safety as well. Moreover, nurses’ job satisfaction will positively impact the quality of patient service.

Potential Barriers to the Passage of HR 5223

• Potential conflicts between stakeholders during the stage of plan development;
• There is a threat of manipulations with definitions aimed at achieving healthcare providers’ personal goals.

The initiative in the bill is supported by many organizations, but when it comes to the practical side of its implementation, there can be potential issues that need to be clarified and resolved. First, it is supposed that plans for the prevention of violence will be created individually with the participation of doctors and nursing staff. However, the extent to which the opinion of different stakeholder groups will guide decision-making is not discussed.

Next, unlike the previous bills devoted to the topic, HR 5223 includes threats of violence into the definition of violence. The threat of violence is defined as any behavior or verbal statement that makes people fear for their safety (Health Care Workplace Violence Prevention Act, 2018). Given that the sensation of fear is subjective, there will be an opportunity for healthcare providers to overuse the requirements to avoid providing services to some patients. For some congressional voters, these problems can be important.

How to Overcome the Potential Barriers

• Ensure that the text contains no logical flaws;
• Present the discussion of conflict resolution procedures to be used by teams;
• Ensure that there are no opportunities to make wrongful accusations and violate patients’ rights.

To overcome the identified barriers, it can be pivotal to ensure that the proposed bill does not contain self-contradictory statements or requirements that can be understood in a variety of ways. In order to address the first potential issue, some procedures for conflict resolution in interdisciplinary teams working on prevention plans may need to be introduced. Also, clarifying the criteria to identify some behaviors as the threats of violence would be critical to success.

References

ANA. (2017). Workplace violence. Web.

ENA. (n.d.). Workplace violence. Web.

Health Care Workplace Violence Prevention Act, H.R. 5223, 115th Cong. (2018).

Lowery, D., Baumgartner, F. R., Berkhout, J., Berry, J. M., Halpin, D., Hojnacki, M., … Schlozman, K. L. (2015). Images of an unbiased interest system. Journal of European Public Policy, 22(8), 1212-1231.

Phillips, J. P. (2016). Workplace violence against health care workers in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 374(17), 1661-1669.

Ridenour, M., Lanza, M., Hendricks, S., Hartley, D., Rierdan, J., Zeiss, R., & Amandus, H. (2015). Incidence and risk factors of workplace violence on psychiatric staff. Work, 51(1), 19-28.