Question

Describe the concept of skill mix and why it is important. Develop a scenario that requires the use of skill mix and explain how the actions you chose accomplish skill mix.

Answer 1

Skill mix: It is the grouping or combination of different categories of employees who are employed in different work, grade & posts. Skill mix is developed by providing adequate training and opportunities to people.

Importance:

It helps to bridge the gap of skill manpower availability

It lets the employee do multi-tasking and contributes more efficiently

It improves the knowledge level of people and gain advantage from cross functional learning

At organization level, it improves manpower utilization

It helps to nurture the skill set and do self-evaluation

It improves quality of service to customers

It also helps to reduce cost of operation

Scenario that requires the use of skill mix:

When a person suffers from serious injuries and need operation, a hospital provides all the required staff like surgeon, physician, nurse and assistant to conduct an operation successfully. It emphasis on:

* Flexible working to make best of the range of staff members skills and knowledge

* streamlining workforce planning and development, which focus on patient not of professionals

* maximizing the contribution of all staff to patient care

In the context of healthcare it applied to broad planning of local service delivery. It can refer to:

* A combination of skills available at a specific time

* A mix of employees in a post

* A combination of activities to each employee

* A mix of posts in a given facility