HRM innovations in rapid growth contexts: the healthcare sector in India

Abstract

Human resource management (HRM) researchers have shown that rapid-growth organizations face HR challenges that vastly differ from their low-growth counterparts. These include acquiring and retaining key talent, and adapting the mind-set of the employees as the organization expands in size and scope. However, there is a paucity of research that examines the HRM challenges faced by rapidly growing organizations in dynamically growing sectors in emerging economies, particularly healthcare. In this study, we attempt to fill this gap by examining the HR challenges faced by rapid-growth organizations in the healthcare sector in India. Through interviews with 23 key top managers in healthcare organizations, the study identifies the specific challenges arising out of the privatization and corporatization of healthcare facilities, and the new emerging business models being used in healthcare delivery. Some of the challenges are at the sectoral level requiring policy interventions by government, such as stepping up educational curriculums to keep pace with the rapid growth in the need for healthcare workers. Others are at the firm level demanding hybridized approaches to HR both as a function and as a strategy, specifically encouraging companies to innovate to fill the voids rather than waiting for crisis to appear.