Debrah, Yaw A. (1990) Human resource management : a study of two English district health authorities. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The thesis is primarily about personnel management in the National
Health Service (NHS). It uses managerial strategy theory to examine
the arguments about the changing style of personnel management and the
emergence of human resource management (HRN). Some scholars have
argued that the adoption of HRM results in an increasing role of line
managers in the formulation and implementation of personnel issues.
It is further argued that HIM results in increased ambiguity in
personnel issues, and consequently poses a threat to personnel
management.
Using a case study qualitative approach involving the analysis of
documents and in-depth, semi-structured interviews, the thesis
examined the implications of the integration of the personnel strategy
of quality circles into the organizational strategy of quality
assurance in two English district health authorities in the Post-Griffiths period.
The research revealed that both quality assurance and quality
circles initiatives are responses to the potential deterioration in
health service delivery as a result of the cuts in health care
expenditure. They are, thus, opportunistic and reactive approaches
for managing under financial constraints and as such cannot be
considered as HRK The empirical evidence indicates that personnel
managers did not play any significant role in the quality initiative
programmes; as such both programmes did not pose any major threat to
personnel management although they encourage line management
involvement in personnel issues. This heightens the ambiguity between
line and staff functions and relationships in personnel.
This research is significant in showing how higher level
managerial decisions, a response to environmental pressures provide a
link between organizational policies and the employment practices at
the lower levels within an organization. It has shed some light also
on the supposed effects of employees commitment programmes on
personnel management thus contributing to the debate on the supposed
'transformation' of personnel management into HRM.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Great Britain. National Health Service -- Personnel management, Medical care -- Personnel management -- Great Britain, Medical care -- Great Britain -- Case studies
Official Date:	September 1990
Dates:	Date Event September 1990 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Industrial and Business Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Winchester, David
Sponsors:	Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme (ORSAS) ; University of Wisconsin-Madison
Extent:	[9], 327 p.
Language:	eng

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