TIKANGA MĀORI AND HRM
Wellbeing of the Māori health workforce Karli Te Aotonga completed her Master’s research in 2020, asking, “How does HRM impact the wellbeing of the Māori health workforce?”. Human Resources magazine summarises her findings and discusses where to go from here.
A
s HR professionals, we are becoming increasingly aware that different cultural contexts are at play within the organisations we serve. These cultural contexts, including te reo Māori and tikanga Māori, intersect with a predominantly Western-centric view of employment law, policy and procedures on a daily basis in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Making a difference
Karli Te Aotonga was interested in providing evidence of how this Western-based HRM service and delivery affects the Māori workforce within the health sector. In addition, Karli wanted to address how HR practitioners can support the wellbeing of the Māori health workforce of Aotearoa, within a Māori cultural context, and so improve the experience of all Māori accessing health services across the country. 26
HUMAN RESOURCES
WINTER 2022
Her research included a literature review that looked at the Māori worldview. For example, the work of Spiller, Craze, Dell and Mudford (2017) discussed the five touchstones of whakapapa (genealogy), wairua (non-physical spirit and part), mana (prestige/influence), mauri (life force) and hau (vitality of a person), and how, together with ancestral leadership strengths and narratives, they can nourish multiple life energies and revitalise relationships. Spiller et al (2017) described this as a means to support an organisation to thrive. The work is published as a Guide to help managers, leaders and HR practitioners with their decision making, management and leadership practice. Tā Mason Durie provided us with a Māori model of wellbeing in the form of Te Whare Tapa Whā, whereby optimum wellbeing for Māori can be achieved by finding a balance within the four dimensions of the model: taha tinana (the body and the physical state), taha hinengaro (the mental and emotional state), taha wairua (the spiritual state) and taha whānau (the family and socially connected state). Durie outlined that the non-Māori ideal is about being able to stand alone and independently as individuals,
yet this is an unhealthy position within te ao Māori, where collective identity, responsibility and reciprocity underpin notions of cultural wellbeing and health. Karli’s work extended to her creating a HRM model. The model opposite shows how exercising good faith through HRM in the workplace could raise the status of te ao Māori and elevate the wellbeing of the Māori workforce by: 1. centring wellbeing through Te Whare Tapa Whā 2. uplifting the mana of Māori and place through the touchstones of the tangible and intangible 3. providing a korowai (cloak) of protection, grounding Māori truth, values and knowledge (mātauranga Māori) through a three-dimensional worldview of Māori 4. the white void surrounding represents the boundless aroha for all things and everlasting mātauranga acquisition.
Findings
Karli researched each of the elements of human resources and conducted her own research by drawing on the voices and experiences of Māori professionals in the field. What
