human resources

What are the roles of the human resource department?

Managing workers e.g. workforce planning, motivation, recruitment, training and dealing with trade unions.

List nine types of flexible working.

Part-time, temporary, zero hours, flexible hours, multi-skilling workers, home-working, freelancing, hot desking, job sharing

What are three advantages of using part-time and temporary workers?

Can have more staff when busy, only pay staff for those hours and can attract workers who do not want a full-time job.

What are two disadvantages of part-time and temporary workers?

Problems communicating with these staff; may feel less a part of the organisation so less motivated.

What does the term flexi-time/flexible hours refer to?

Workers have to work their contracted hours but can choose when they do this - can be within certain limits.

Why might flexible hours /flexi-time help recruitment?

Workers can choose hours to suit their lifestyle therefore the job is more appealing.

Why might flexi-hours not work with all jobs?

Some firms need a set number of workers in at any one time so need a set rota of hours for employees.

What are three advantages to a firm of home-working?

Workers might be less distracted so increase productivity; workers might prefer it so be more motivated; less office space needed reducing fixed costs.

What are three disadvantages of home-working for firms?

Might be more difficult to monitor workers reducing productivity; not possible for some jobs; might reduce communication.

What is work force planning?

The process of determining the labour needs of the business now and in the future and then devising a plan to achieve them.

What tasks are involved in workforce planning?

Analysing skills needed, devising a plan to recruit relevant staff (or make staff redundant), planning training which might be necessary and deciding how best to deploy staff.

What are the different measures of work force performance?

Labour productivity, absenteeism and labour turnover.

What is the formula for labour productivity?

Output per period / number of employees

What is the formula for labour turnover?

No. of employees leaving in a year/Average number of people employed x 100.

What are the drawbacks of a high labour turnover?

• Higher recruitment costs (more adverts, interviews, etc)

• Lower productivity if experienced workers are replaced by less experienced

• More difficult to achieve good teamwork

• May indicate problems with the way workers are treated.

What are the disadvantages of a high absenteeism rate?

Puts stress on other workers who have to carry out extra tasks, adds to wage costs if temporary staff are used to cover the absences, can indicate problems in the way staff are treated.

What is meant by the term 'organisational design'?

Refers to the way an organisation is structured e.g. tall, flat, etc.

What does the term 'span of control' mean?

The number of employees who a manager is directly responsible for.

What does the term 'chain of command' mean?

How decisions pass from the top of the organisation to the bottom.

What does the term 'delegation' mean?

Passing authority to carry out a task to a subordinate (i.e. a person lower down the hierarchy).

What does the term 'empowerment' mean?

Giving employees freedom to make their own decisions.

What are four advantages of a flat organisation structure?

Quicker decision making, better communication, possibly more autonomy for workers, less management costs.

What are three disadvantages of a flat organisation structure?

Larger span of control means less supervision of workers and more stress for managers; fewer opportunities for promotion.

What are three advantages of a tall organisation structure?

Smaller span of control means more supervision of workers and less stress for managers; more opportunities for promotion.

What are four disadvantages of a tall organisation structure?

Less autonomy for workers; slower decision making; poorer communication (due to long chain of command); higher management costs.

What is a matrix structure?

An organisation in which people are organised in departments by function (marketing, etc) and by project (e.g. developing a product).

What are three advantages of a matrix structure?

Improved communication; get ideas from a variety of departments; improves team working

What are three disadvantages of a matrix structure?

Increased management wage costs; unclear whether project or department manager takes precedent; can increase work load for managers.

What is management by objectives (MBO)?

A process in which managers and employees discuss and select goals, develop tactical plans, and meet regularly to review progress toward goal accomplishment

What is the difference between leadership and management?

Leadership - setting a vision and motivating people to achieve it.

Management - administration, directing activities to ensure everything is happening as it should be.

What are the roles of managers?

interpersonal (dealing with employees and other managers) informational (communicating) decision-making (making decisions about their functional area e.g. marketing)

What are the advantages of management by objectives?

• It can motivate workers since they are included in the process.

• Clear goals means all employees know what they are trying to achieve.

• Improves managers' control of the organisation

• Improves communication

What are the disadvantages of management by objectives?

• Takes a lot of time setting the objectives

• External changes might make the objectives unachievable or irrelevant.

What is McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y?

Theory x managers are authoritarian, all instructions come from authority. View workers as disliking work and unable to take responsibility. Money is the only motivator.

Theory Y managers are democratic, constantly developing and empowering staff as view staff as enjoying work and willing to take on a challenge.

What is a laissez-faire leadership style?

Leave workers to do the job how they want with little to no interference.

What is an autocratic leadership style?

One in which the leader takes all major decisions and there is little or no worker involvement.

What is democratic leadership?

Decisions are made through consultation with the workforce - all employees are encouraged to be involved in decision making.

What is paternalistic leadership?

The leader acts like a parent i.e. the leader is assumed to know best and therefore makes the decisions; however, these decisions are made to benefit the employees of the business.

What is bureacratic leadership?

Driven by policy and procedures

What is Fielder's Contingency Theory?

States that in order to maximize work group performance, leaders must be matched to the right leadership situation. Classified leaders as task-orientated or relationship orientated. Viewed leadership style as fixed and could be discovered through the least preferred co-worker (LPC) questionnaire.

In Fiedler's theory, what situations was a task orientated leader suited to?

Situations where the leader had a large amount of power and tasks were clearly defined (e.g. Mc Donald's kitchen)

In Fiedler's theory, what situations was a relationship orientated leader suited to?

Situations where tasks were open-ended and unclear (e.g. an advertising agency) and where the leader lacked official power.

What is the Wright and Taylor leadership theory?

-They believed it is possible to improve a leaders' performance through education.

-Wright and Taylor were concerned with improving leadership skills, they did this by providing a checklist.

-They did not believe that it was possible to have a 'one size fits all' approach.

-They believed ability and motivation were the key factors to improve performance.

List financial methods of motivation

• salary

• piece rates

• commission

• bonus

• share ownership

• profit sharing

• performance related pay

List non-financial methods of motivation

Consultation, job enrichment, job enlargement, job rotation, job design, communication, flexible working, empowerment and team working

What is job enrichment?

The creation of jobs with more meaningful content, under the assumption that challenging, creative work will motivate employees

What is job enlargement?

Broadening the types of tasks performed in a job

What assumption did Fredrick Taylor make about how employees viewed work?

They disliked it

What was Fredrick Taylor's scientific management?

The best way to do a task is worked out scientifically through measurement and all employees have to work in that way.

How did Fredrick Taylor think workers should be motivated?

Through piece rates

What were the studies Elton Mayo carried out?

Hawthorn studies

What is the Hawthorne effect?

A group being studied changes it behaviour because they know they are being studied.

What factors motivated workers according to Elton Mayo?

-team-work

-taking an interest in workers and making them feel involved in the business

• managers communicating with workers

What are the five levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?

Self-actualisation, esteem needs, social needs, security needs and basic needs.

What does the term 'self-actualisation' mean?

Workers are able to make full use of their skills and creativity.

What are esteem needs?

Workers feeling good about the job they are doing and their position in the company.

In Herzberg's Two Factor Theory, what are 'Hygiene factors'?

Factors that can cause de-motivation if firms get them wrong but can't motivate.

What do Herzberg's motivating factors have in common?

They involve intrinsic motivation i.e. motivation from within.

Give six examples of Herzberg's hygiene factors.

•Company policy and administration

•Wages, salaries and other financial remuneration

•Quality of supervision

•Quality of inter-personal relations

•Working conditions

•Feelings of job security

Give six examples of Herzberg's motivating factors.

•Status

•Opportunity for advancement

•Gaining recognition

•Responsibility

•Challenging / stimulating work

•Sense of personal achievement & personal growth in a job

What is Vroom's expectancy theory?

Expectancy: effort leads to better performance.

Instrumentality: better performance leads to a reward (intrinsic or extrinsic)

Valence: workers value the reward.

If all of these are satisfied the worker will be motivated.

What is Porter and Lawler's expectancy theory?

Workers motivated by the rewards they expect to get - could be intrinsic or extrinsic)

What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?

Intrinsic comes from within i.e. wanting to do well for its own sake e.g. enjoyment, esteem, etc.

Extrinsic comes from external rewards e.g. pay, bonus or praise.

In the recruitment process, what is job analysis?

Determining the tasks that will be required to be carried out in a job and what skills, qualities will be needed by the person who has the job.

What is a person specification?

A list of qualities required from a candidate for a job