Workforce Management Strategies Research Articles

Geospatial Mapping of Orthopaedic Surgeons Age 60 and Over and Confirmed Cases of COVID-19.

Background:Although elective surgical procedures in the United States have been suspended because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, orthopaedic surgeons are being recruited to serve patients with COVID-19 in addition to providing orthopaedic acute care. Older individuals are deemed to be at higher risk for poor outcomes with COVID-19. Although previous studies have shown a high proportion of older providers nationwide across medical specialties, we are not aware of any previous study that has analyzed the age distribution among the orthopaedic workforce. Therefore, the purposes of the present study were (1) to determine the geographic distribution of U.S. orthopaedic surgeons by age, (2) to compare the distribution with other surgical specialties, and (3) to compare this distribution with the spread of COVID-19.Methods:Demographic statistics from the most recent State Physician Workforce Data Reports published by the Association of American Medical Colleges were extracted to identify the 2018 statewide proportion of practicing orthopaedic surgeons ≥60 years of age as well as age-related demographic data for all surgical specialties. Geospatial data on the distribution of COVID-19 cases were obtained from the Environmental Systems Research Institute. State boundary files were taken from the U.S. Census Bureau. Orthopaedic workforce age data were utilized to group states into quintiles.Results:States with the highest quintile of orthopaedic surgeons ≥60 years of age included states most severely affected by COVID-19: New York, New Jersey, California, and Florida. For all states, the median number of providers ≥60 years of age was 105.5 (interquartile range [IQR], 45.5 to 182.5). The median proportion of orthopaedic surgeons ≥60 years of age was higher than that of all other surgical subspecialties, apart from thoracic surgery.Conclusions:To our knowledge, the present report provides the first age-focused view of the orthopaedic workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. States in the highest quintile of orthopaedic surgeons ≥60 years old are also among the most overwhelmed by COVID-19. As important orthopaedic acute care continues in addition to COVID-19 frontline service, special considerations may be needed for at-risk staff. Appropriate health system measures and workforce-management strategies should protect the subset of those who are most potentially vulnerable.Level of Evidence:Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

A comparative analysis of NCLEX pass rates: Nursing health human resources considerations.

To examine performance differences among different writers of the National Council Licensure Examination-Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) examination in Canada; to compare Canadian and U.S. writer pass rate data; and to identify if changes in the Canadian nursing workforce can be related to the introduction of NCLEX-RN. In January 2015, the entry-to-practice licensing examination changed from the Canadian Registered Nurse Examination to the NCLEX-RN, and pass rates declined. This comparative analytic study examined NCLEX-RN pass rate data for 2015, 2016 and 2017 using publicly available data. The Canadian data were compared with that from U.S. nurses taking the examination. Overall year-end pass rates among Canadian writers appeared to improve significantly in 2016 (95% to 96.3%, p<0.001, from 2015 to 2016) but declined again from 96.3% to 90.4% in 2017 (p<0.001). Pass rates remain significantly lower for first attempt Canadian writers compared to first attempt U.S. writers (2015: 69.7% vs. 84.5%, p<0.001). The change in licensing examination had a major impact on pass rates for new graduates entering the nursing profession and potentially the number of new nurses entering the profession in Canada immediately after graduation. A loss of entry-level workers to the nursing profession in Canada affects workforce management strategies, particularly with respect to worker shortages.

Solving Nurse Scheduling Problem Using Constraint Programming (CP) Technique

Staff scheduling is a universal problem that can be encountered in many organizations, such as call centers, educational institution, industry, hospital, and any other public services. It is one of the most important aspects of workforce management strategy. Mostly, it is prone to errors or issues as there are many entities that should be addressed, such as the staff turnover, employee availability, time between rotations, unusual periods of activity, and even the last-minute shift changes. In this paper, constraint programming (CP) algorithm was developed to solve the nurse scheduling problem. The developed constraint programming algorithm was then implemented using python programming language. The developed CP algorithm was experimented with varying number of nurses. Experimental result confirmed that CP algorithm was able to solve nurse scheduling problem with promising results.

Coherence of personal strategy as determinant of enterprise development

In the paper a topic of strategy management of the workforce is being approach along a state-of-art method as a measurement of invariability of the strategy in an organization. A study is performed on a branch of an international organization based in Poland. The organization is applying uniform set of rules in the area of personnel management across all branches. Category of the workforce management strategy persistence is used to acquire characteristic of the HR department. Comparative analysis is conducted based on a questionnaire submitted to two groups of employees: HR and other employees. Outcome of the statistical test is showing that both groups impression of the strategic management of the workforce is resembling. In practice this can be extrapolated as the strategy being consistent in the organization. Moreover, the research confirmed usefulness of the state-of-art method as a valid approach to obtain and improve the level of before mentioned workforce management homogeneity.

Keys to optimising workforce resources across the enterprise

Purpose – Optimising workforce resources has become increasingly complex, particularly for large enterprises and those operating in multiple locations or countries. To be successful, human resource (HR) and the organisation’s line managers need to be strategic and nimble – able to quickly and decisively respond to any number of complex factors at a moment’s notice. These factors include internal considerations, such as employee qualifications and availability, as well as external dynamics, such as supply chain changes and expanding labour compliance regulations. Failure to respond quickly can prevent organisations from being able to reach optimal productivity and performance goals. Design/methodology/approach – Organisations seeking to achieve complete visibility should look first to the three pillars of an effective workforce management strategy – demand, utilisation and measurement – to better understand how they can be optimised to increase agility, improve customer service and reduce labour costs. Findings – Organisations that incorporate all three of these pillars – demand, utilisation and measurement – into their ongoing workforce management strategy will see the greatest impact in terms of increasing productivity and efficiency, as well as identifying new best practices that can be applied across the enterprise. Investing in solutions and practices that support workforce optimisation can also deliver greater agility, improved customer service and lower total costs. Originality/value – The ability to manage change effectively, whether it stems from external or internal factors, is critical to creating a sustainable, resilient organisation. Particularly because your workforce is likely the greatest asset and contributor to your overall success, equipping HR and managers with the right tools and data to increase effectiveness is essential to helping your organisation meet customer expectations, respond to change quickly and effectively and drive measurable gains in business performance.

US Military Primary Care: Problems, Solutions, And Implications For Civilian Medicine

The US Military Health System (MHS), which is responsible for providing care to active and retired members of the military and their dependents, faces challenges in delivering cost-effective, high-quality primary care while maintaining a provider workforce capable of meeting both peacetime and wartime needs. The MHS has implemented workforce management strategies to address these challenges, including "medical home" teams for primary care and other strategies that expand the roles of nonphysician providers such as physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and medical technicians. Because these workforce strategies have been implemented relatively recently, there is limited evidence of their effectiveness. If they prove successful, they could serve as a model for the civilian sector. However, because the MHS model features a broad mix of provider types, changes to civilian scope-of-practice regulations for nonphysician providers would be necessary before the civilian provider mix could replicate that of the MHS.

Keeping the sparkle on

PurposeThe Indian diamond cutting and polishing (CPD) industry enjoys a global leadership position, but at the same time is vulnerable to economic shifts in the global market. Historically, such shocks have resulted in shake down of the industry, including closures, bankruptcies, job losses and labour unrest. Most recently, the vulnerability was experienced during the economic recession of 2008, which impacted both entrepreneurs and diamond workers alike. The shock elicited different adaptation strategies from individual firms. The paper aims to understand the adaptation strategies of large and formally organized diamond enterprises in Surat, India, with particular reference to “labour hoarding” as a strategy for workforce management.Design/methodology/approachUsing case studies of four large CPD firms, the paper investigates patterns in managerial decision making pertaining to workforce management and adaptation strategies taken during recession. The authors also traced the subject companies' performance post‐recession. The tool used for data collection was semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews with entrepreneurs and human resource managers. For additional inputs and triangulation of findings, content analysis of news reports, along with interactions with several knowledgeable persons from both industry and government, were conducted.FindingsThe authors' study of the sample firms neither supports the popular notion of “workforce retention by large diamond enterprises, in spite of recession” nor the generalized statements about “massive lay‐offs by all”, as reported in popular media. The authors found that, due to recessionary pressure, there was a deep managerial dilemma in the companies about how to strike the right trade‐off between workforce retention (labour hoarding) and downsizing. The paper argues that, post‐recession, the companies whose decisions were pro‐labour retention (hoarding) oriented were able to come back in business stronger and perform better.Originality/valueThe diamond industry of India is ethno‐bound in its functioning, where community and regional/linguistic affiliations of both workers and entrepreneurs traditionally played a vital role. Therefore, the employee management practices adopted do not strictly fall within the general realm of western management practices or popular HRM frameworks. The study shows that context‐dependent employee management strategies, suiting the need for maintaining the traditional ethno‐bound values even during recessionary pressure, created long‐term positive effects for the firm.

Strategic Management of Human Resources in Construction

Human resource management in construction has typically been an emergent rather than a strategic or deliberate process. This has resulted in the infrequent use of comprehensive workforce management strategies in the industry. Researchers at the Center for Construction Industry Studies (CCIS) have proposed a Two-Tier Approach to workforce management. The Tier I strategy is designed to improve the effectiveness and productivity of the construction workforce through effective supervision and project management. This paper presents the concepts behind the Tier I strategy and discusses the metrics and the procedures needed to implement this strategy. An analysis of 19 on-site project visits of industrial construction projects, including surveys collected from over 900 journey-level craft workers and supervisors, is also presented in order to validate the feasibility and potential of the Tier I strategy. It is anticipated that increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, and reduced turnover will be results of ...

Workers’ Skills and Receptiveness to Operate Under the Tier II Construction Management Strategy

Several diverse factors have contributed to the construction industry’s shortages of skilled workers; these factors include decreased real wages, transient nature of work, poor industry image, lack of training, and lack of a worker-oriented career path. The consequent impact of this problem on project performance has been reported with increasing frequency over the last few years. Various studies to address individual issues have resulted in limited successes. However, none of these approaches has comprehensively addressed all the issues within a single framework. A work force management strategy, referred to as Tier II, has been proposed as a comprehensive approach to address the problem. Projects executed under the Tier II strategy would utilize fewer, better-educated and skilled workers who perform craft functions and some lower-management functions and receive higher compensation, while delivering improved or comparable project results. With the participation of industry leaders, labor organizations and experienced craft workers, the strategy and its implementation metric have been developed. This paper presents results from the analysis of baseline data gathered from 20 industrial construction projects located in seven states within the United States, including surveys from over 900 workers. Descriptive analysis of the data gathered showed that the skill levels indicated in the Tier II strategy metrics are feasible and achievable and that the workers already have some Tier II skills, mainly technical skills, but opportunity for improvement is large. Also, this study discovered that the construction workers are receptive to be trained in technical and management skills and operate under specific nontraditional work force management practices that would allow full utilization of those skills. Independently from the potential impact of the Tier II strategy in the success of projects’ construction phase, the results of this paper can prove useful for refining the current strategy, devising new ones, or simply for having a better understanding of the work force in order to achieve improved construction work force management practices.

Improving Labor Flow Reliability for Better Productivity as Lean Construction Principle

New management thinking, like that of lean production, has suggested that better labor and cost performance can be achieved by improving the reliability of flows. In this context, lean thinking portrays reliable flows as the timely availability of resources, i.e., materials, information, and equipment. Little attention has been given to labor as a flow. Further, little discussion can be found related to flexible capacity management strategies. Efforts to utilize lean thinking in construction, so far, have generated limited evidence to support the need for more reliable labor flows. This paper investigates the lean principle that more reliable flows lead to better labor performance. Actual data from three bridge construction projects are examined to document the instances of poor flow (resource) reliability and its effect on labor performance. Inefficient labor hours are calculated. The results show that there is strong support that more reliable material, information, and equipment availability contributes to better performance. However, the projects showed considerable deficiencies in the utilization of the labor resource. It is concluded that lean improvement initiatives should focus more on workforce management strategies to improve labor utilization that will lead to better labor performance.

Market Relationships and the Management of Teachers

Abstract The success of the Conservative government's project for education depends upon securing the compliance of teachers. The key elements of the new management regime which is being installed in the school system are the intensification and regulation of teachers’ work, an attack on conditions of employment, and the creation of a new organisational culture in the schools. The new management regime in the schools has both similarities and differences with new workforce management strategies in the private sector and other sectors of the welfare state. It is the product of a specific combination of state regulation and quasi‐market relationships. It is however facing growing resistance from teachers and their unions.