The Role of the HR-Manager in Crisis Management - An analysis of the role of the HR-managers in Dutch healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In order to gain deeper insight into the strategic role of the HR manager in crisis management in the Dutch healthcare sector, two case studies of representative cases in the Dutch healthcare sector were performed. These cases were chosen to represent different facets of the Dutch healthcare context in order to compare two typical, but different situations. These cases where then compared to establish the differences in the application of strategic HR management. We found that the strategic role fulfilment of the HR manager is during a crisis is broad, and aligns with the theoretically desired role for HR managers as described in literature in both cases. This observation is contrary to practical observation in literature where the role of the HR manager in crisis management is often shown to be diminished. These results suggest a more evolved strategic role for HR management in the Dutch healthcare sector than in theory, or in other sectors discussed in literature, and provides us with a distinct justification for future research into strategic HR role fulfilment in crisis management.