Defining HR Roles of Nursing Line Manager in Workplace Learning

In this paper, HR roles of nursing line manager towards effective workplace learning in Malaysia are discussed. Numerous researches had examined the devolving of the HR roles in various perspectives and general roles of line managers in nursing. However, less study has been paid specific to the HR roles of nursing line manager towards effective workplace learning, especially in the context of Malaysian public hospitals. This paper argues that line managers play a vital role in the development of their employees. In Malaysian healthcare services, where Malaysian nursing shortage is critical, it is essential that nursing line managers play pertinent roles in the development of their nurses learning. In this paper, the researchers integrate HR Business Partnership Model by Conner and Ulrich into HR roles of nursing line managers in Malaysian public hospitals. In particular, this paper attempts to explore the level of nursing line managers’ involvement in HR roles in relation to strategic partner, change agent, administrative expert, and employee champion roles. Several prepositions are highlighted and developed.