Human resource planning process in private Hospitals in Nairobi
Abstract
This study sought to establish several facts related to the human resources planning
processes used by private hospitals in Nairobi.
The need for this study arose from the realization that unlike in public hospitals which are
fully funded by the government and whose human resource activities are coordinated and
uniformly implemented by the ministry of health on behalf of the government, private
hospitals operate as purely business ventures and their human resources planning is
guided by individual hospitals corporate strategic goals and objectives. There was need to
establish the human resources planning processes used by each of the private hospitals in
Nairobi and to find out whether those processes had any common features or similarities
given that the hospitals were different in terms of size and operational capacity.
The objectives of the study were to establish the process of planning in private hospitals
and to determine the challenges faced by the hospitals in planning their human resource
activities. The research design was a descriptive census survey. The research data was
gathered from 30 hospitals which have both inpatient and outpatient services. Primary
data was collected using a semi structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using
descriptive statistics through use of percentages and content analysis.
The analysis revealed that majority of the hospitals have corporate objectives which form
a basis for their human resources planning activities. The findings show that different
hospitals use different approaches in planning for their manpower requirements and in
formulating programmes for recruiting, retaining and maintaining a highly motivated and
competent work force.
The results of the study also reveal that the biggest challenge to human resource planning
in the hospitals studied is the inability of the human resource planners to predict the
future due to constant changes in business strategies, high labour turnover and the lack of
a functioning human resource unit in most of the smaller hospitals with the result that
their human resource processes and practices are not fully developed. The study
recommends that all private hospitals should endevour to have a specialized human
resource unit in order to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of
human resource processes and practices.
Citation
MBASponsorhip
University of NairobiPublisher
University of Nairobi School of Business, College of Humanities and Social Sciences