IB Business Management Unit 2: Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management (HRM)

the process of making the most efficient use of an organization’s employees

Personnel Management

a range of discrete tasks necessary to administer the human dimension of business activities

Flexible Workforces

organized to enable workforce to respond to the changing needs of the organization

Organizational Culture

described as the values, attitudes, and beliefs of people working within a business

Human Resources Plan

assesses the current and future capacity of a business’s workforce and sets out actions necessary to meet the business’s future human resource needs

Redeployment

when an employee is offered suitable alternative employment within the same business.

Redundancy

takes place when an employee is dismissed because a job no longer exists.

Flexi-time

a way of working which allows employees to fit their working hours around their individual circumstances

Demography

study of human populations

Migration

movement of people between different countries

Immigration

takes place when a person move to live in a different country

Geographic Mobility of Labor

the ability and willingness of people to move to jobs in different areas.

Occupational Mobility of Labor

the ability and willingness of people to move to jobs in different occupations

Labor Mobility

the ability of people to move to jobs in different areas or in different occupations

Gig Economy

a labor market in which short-term contracts or freelance work are common, as opposed to permanent jobs.

Authority

the power to control situations or the decisions and actions of others

Responsibility

duty to complete a task and to be accountable for one’s actions.

Delegation

passing down of authority through an organization

Labor Turnover Rate

the rate at which employees leave a company and are replaced by new employees

Levels (or Layers) of Hierarchy

the number of layers of authority within an organization. i.e. the number of layers that exist between the Chief Executive and a shop-floor employee

Shop-Floor Employee

Employee who will work in production; usually the lowest level of hierarchy.

Span Of Control

the number of subordinates directly responsible to a manager

Chain Of Command

line of communication and authority existing within a business. Thus, a shop-floor worker reports to a supervisor, who is responsible to a departmental manager, and so on.

Bureaucracy

a system under which an organization uses complex rules and procedures which can cause slow decision-making and reduce it’s efficiency

Centralized Organizations

ones in which managers hold the greatest decision-making power

Decentralized Organizations (Decentralization)

greater decision-making power to employees further down the organizational structure

Delayering

reduction in the levels of hierarchy within an organizational structure

Knowledge Management

process of identifying, maintaining, and effectively using an organization’s resources of knowledge

Matrix Organizational Structure

uses teams of employees with suitable skills drawn from across the normal departments to respond to the customers’ needs

Organizational Charts

used to visually represent the internal structure of the organization

Shamrock Organization

operates with 3 distinct elements within it’s workforce – core workers, contract workers, and peripheral workers.

Project-Based Organization (PBO)

most of the business’s activities are carried out by temporary teams who are assembled for the duration of the project.