Human Resource Management Practices and Health

ABSTRACT The study investigated the relaticnship between human resource management practices and health service delivery in Kampala, Uganda. The specific objectives of study were to: (1) to determine the perception of health workers on human resource management practices in Kampala; (2) to determine the perception of health workers on health service delivery in Kampala; (3) to establish the relationship between reward management practices and health service delivery in Kampala and (4) to establish the relationship between employee development management practices and health service delivery in Kampala .Descriptive correlation research design, cross-sectional and expost-facto designs with mixed methods were employed. Through a self-made questionnaire and interview, data was collected to answer three specific questions on reward management practices, employee development management practices and difference on the perceptions of health workers on human resource management practices and health service delivery in Kampala. Sample size of 220 respondents was selected using purposive, stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Data analysis was done using frequencies, means, one way ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis. The findings revealed that the human resource management practices in terms of reward management (1.62) had a poor perception value while development management (2.21) had a fair perception and effectiveness of health service delivery (3.45) were rated very satisfactory. On testing the research hypotheses, the results showed that reward and development management practices differed significantly among the division urban councils while in effectiveness of health service delivery among division urban councils; setting services standards (F=0.643, at p=0.05), responsiveness (F=0.702, at p=0.05), productivity (F=0.776, at p=0.05) and availability of health worker (F=0.180, at p=0.05) had no significant difference. The findings further revealed that there was no significant relationship between human resource management practices and health service delivery and regression results showed that human resource management practices in terms of reward (Beta= 0.182) and development (Beta=-0.216) cannot significantly explain effectiveness of health service delivery. The study also revealed that there are other factors that may affect health service delivery like employee attitudes, teamwork and environment other than human resource management practices. It was recommended that the Directorate of Public Health and Environment of KCCA and in charge of health centers should promote human resource management practices and other related management practices to attain effective service delivery. The compensation policy should be harmonized for health workers to reduce the gap that exist between the workers of ministry of health and KCCA pay structure to motivate workers for better service delivery