| dc.description.abstract | Background & objectives: Commitment, competencies and skills of people working in the health
sector can significantly impact the performance and its reform process. In this study we attempted
to analyse the commitment of state health officials and its implications for human resource practices
in Gujarat.
Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was used to measure commitment and its relationship
with human resource (HR) variables. Employee’s organizational commitment (OC) and professional
commitment (PC) were measured using OC and PC scale. Fifty five medical officers from Gujarat
participated in the study.
Results: Professional commitment of doctors (3.21 to 4.01) was found to be higher than their
commitment to the organization (3.01 to 3.61). Doctors did not perceive greater fairness in the
system on promotion (on the scale of 5, score: 2.55) and were of the view that the system still followed
seniority based promotion (score: 3.42). Medical officers were upset about low autonomy in the
department with regard to reward and recognition, accounting procedure, prioritization and
synchronization of health programme and other administrative activities.
Interpretation & conclusions: Our study provided some support for positive effects of progressive
HR practices on OC, specifically on affective and normative OC. Following initiatives were identified
to foster a development climate among the health officials: providing opportunities for training,
professional competency development, developing healthy relationship between superiors and
subordinates, providing useful performance feedback, and recognising and rewarding performance.
For reform process in the health sector to succeed, there is a need to promote high involvement of
medical officers. There is a need to invest in developing leadership quality, supervision skills and
developing autonomy in its public health institutions. | |
