Negotiating the Evolution of the Hr Function: Practical Advice From the Health Care Sector

Abstract

This paper has two aims. First, to consider explanations for the apparent gap between the paradigm of strategic human resource management on the one hand and actual HR practice on the other. Second, to generate practical advice for senior HR specialists who are aspriring to develop a strategic role for their function. the research underpinning these findings was based on case studies in three hospitals in Adelaide and a comparison of the findings with the situation at Leicester General NHS Trust where the first named author of this article was the HR director and a senior board member. the analysis reveals that specific features of each organisation's history, current structure and management, shape powerfully the nature of the HR function. Moreover, the local shaping factors define the degrees of freedom open to the HR function, so much so, that the notion that it can choose its organisational stance is here challenged.

Decentralization in the Public Sector

“…Following the re-organization, there were concerted attempts by the trusts firstly to develop a general senior level policy role for HR and, secondly, to devolve operational responsibility to new clinical directorates (IRS 1996). This generally enhanced the credibility of the personnel function with local line management (Barnett et al 1996). As a result, though institutional obstacles remained in the way of local pay, significant changes were able to be made elsewhere.…”

The role of the personnel department in the management of change in the UK NHS

“…personnel function, he concluded,`must remain at best uncertain ' (1994, p. 113). Barnett et al (1996) have taken a more optimistic view, stressing the ability of the personnel function to overcome these external dif®culties. Using Leicester General as an example for hospitals in Australia facing similar problems, they argue that by embracing HRM and structural change the personnel function was able to take on Storey's`changemaker' role.…”

“…In particular, we need to look at its relationship with other groups and interests. Barnett et al (1996) have alluded to the idea of`contested ownership' and to the process of`negotiated evolution' by which this is mediated, but their study of it amounts to little more than a series of lists. They are in any case concerned only with the role of the function as a whole.…”

HRD as an emergent and negotiated evolution: An ethnographic case study in the British National Health Service

“…The term negotiated evolution (Barnett, Buchanan, Patrickson, and Maddern, 1996) embraces two crucial aspects of HRD. The term evolution seems particularly pertinent to the roles and functions of those people responsible for development in an organization.…”