Advances in Health Care Management Call for Papers SPECIAL ISSUE: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

is pleased to announce a special issue reviewing strategic management of human resource in health care, with publication planned in the summer of 2010. There has been a dramatic shift in the role of human resource management (HRM) in the last two decades. Traditionally, the human resource (HR) function was viewed primarily as an administrative function in that it maintained files and records of people in the organization. In the 1980s and 1990s, an emphasis on the strategic role of HRM in achieving high organizational performance emerged. Strategic management of HR in health care is important in delivering high-quality patient care. Given that salary and wages constitute about 65 to 80 % of the total operating budget in a typical health care organization and also the fact that people play a critical role in delivering high quality patient care, it is imperative for health care organizations to manage their human resources more effectively. Unfortunately, HR function remains one of the most neglected in health care organizations and ‘warm body syndrome ’ seems to characterize the role of HRM in health care organizations. Using the industrial model to manage knowledge-based health care services makes as little sense as using the farm model to run factories. Strategic management of human resources in health care organizations requires an altogether different model of HRM from the one that exists today. To play a new and more significant role, the HR function needs to be provided more resources and it has to be staffed with sufficient number of highly qualified HR professionals