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Towards balanced personalized client care: Human Resources Planning and Workforce (Re)scheduling in the Elderly care, Home care, and Maternity care

Westerop, Bo van (2010) Towards balanced personalized client care: Human Resources Planning and Workforce (Re)scheduling in the Elderly care, Home care, and Maternity care.

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Abstract:Motive A general research has been conducted on behalf of the social partners of the Elderly care, Home care, and Maternity care (EHM) organizations (SOVVT: ActiZ, ABVAKABO FNV, FBZ, NU’91, De Unie Zorg en Welzijn) about employment contracts and working hours. To cover the most important aspects of this broad topic, four specific research themes have been formulated, of which each of them forms the topic of a graduate student’s master thesis: Human Capacity Management, Work-Life balance, Labour flexibility, and Care concepts. This thesis focuses on the Human Capacity Management theme of the general research. The main research question of this thesis is: “How is Human Capacity Management (i.e. Human Resources Planning, Workforce Scheduling, and Rescheduling) currently applied in Elderly care, Home care, and Maternity care (EHM) organizations and how could it be improved with a better balance between employees, operations management, and client care as a result?” Based on the theoretical background, five dimensions are formulated which appear to be of importance regarding Human Capacity Management: Human Capacity Management term: planning horizon, scheduling period, publication period; Human Capacity Management at centralized/decentralized level; Workforce schedule characteristics; Collective or individual workforce schedules: level of employee influence; Application of Workforce Scheduling ICT Tools. Research method Regarding this research, a multiple-case study design is chosen consisting of multiple holistic cases. The cases were selected based on a list of 50 member organizations provided by employer’s association ActiZ. The most important selection criteria were: Size of the organization (FTE) Sector in which the organization operates (Elderly care, Home care, or Maternity care) The region in which the organization operates (urban or rural) Innovative behavior regarding at least one of the four research themes As a result, 9 organizations were selected to participate as the units of analysis (or ‘cases’) in the research. Data was collected by guided conversational interviews with different staff members, a distributed theme specific questionnaire to the contact persons and theme specific policy documents. Data was analyzed by use of the cross-case synthesis analytic technique. Based on this analysis, conclusions are drawn both on organizational ‘case’ level as well as sector level. Conclusions Little emphasis on Human Resources Planning, which results in difficulties regarding Workforce Scheduling and Rescheduling; Workforce Scheduling and Rescheduling often executed decentralized as additional function, large distances experienced by employees if a centralized scheduling department is applied; Longer scheduling- and publication periods maintained, certainty appreciated by employees; Provided influence to employees over their workforce schedules does not result in cyclic workforce schedules; ICT Tools generally underused in almost all organizations. Introduction 5 Recommendations Professionalize Human Capacity Management in the organization: Actual demand information should be registered and used as input for forecasting methods; Workforce schedules should be created by correct use of ICT Tools; All stakeholders involved in the Workforce Scheduling process should be offered sufficient knowledge to perform scheduling related tasks in an effective and efficient way. Provide employees more influence on their workforce schedules: Could contribute amongst other things to a better work-life balance, decreased employee absenteeism, and decreased employee turnover; Could be used as a recruitment instrument, given the shortage of personnel on the labour market; Could result in easier allocation of large employment contracts. Organizational position of Human Capacity Management: centralized overview should be maintained: Because of this, improvements of the allocation of flexible labour, improved Rescheduling of employees, and healthier workforce schedules (because of improved insights concerning possible violations of the collective labour agreement (CAO) and the labour law) should be accomplished. Cooperation should be achieved among organizations regarding the computerization of Human Capacity Management: Organizations should share their knowledge and experiences and translate them to their individual situation in order to bring their Human Resources Planning, Workforce Scheduling, and Rescheduling to a higher level: professional organization ActiZ could take the lead by bringing member organizations in touch with each other. Motivation All of the studied organizations must deal with the tight labour market and the increasing demand of work because of the ageing population. However, organizations do posses the capacity to organize their Human Capacity Management in a better way. Organizations and employees should cooperate together: a healthy balance should be found between the interests of both the organization and its employees. To achieve this, appropriate Human Resources Planning and Workforce Scheduling is needed, supported by ICT Tools, which allow employees to influence their workforce schedules within the limits stated by the organization. Consequences - As demonstrated by earlier research, increased influence of employees on their workforce schedules could contribute amongst other things to a better work-life balance, decreased employee absenteeism, and decreased employee turnover. Paying increased attention to individual preferences of employees could also be used as a recruitment instrument. Because of this, EHM organizations must be able to handle the increasing future demand of work. - If organizations share their knowledge and experiences regarding Human Capacity Management, it must be possible to bring their individual Human Capacity Management to a higher level. In addition, ICT Tools are expected to be better used as a result of knowledge sharing with more effective and
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Business Administration MSc (60644)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/60027
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