AQA A level Business - Unit 6

Hard Human Resource Management

when managers treat the human resource in the same way they would treat any other resource. Employee relations likely strained and staff may see the need to get trade union involved.

Line Managers

Staff responsible for achieving specific business objectives, and with the resources to get things done.

Soft Human Resource Management

Treat workforce as a special strength of the business and therefore make sure that staff welfare and motivation are always top priority.

Staff Appraisal

A regular (perhaps annual) meeting between employee and line manager to discuss past performances and future business and career objectives.

Division of Labour

Subdividing a task into a number of activities, enabling workers to specialise and therefore become very efficient at completing what may be a small, repetitive task.

Hygiene Factors

'Everything that surrounds what you do in the job', such as pay, working conditions and social status; all are potential causes of dissatisfaction, according to Herzberg.

Job Satisfaction

Sense of well-being and achievement that stems from a satisfying job.

Piece Rate

Paying workers per piece they produce (for example, £2 per pair of jeans made).

Productivity

Output per person (that is, a measure of efficiency).

Trade Union

An organisation that represents the interests of staff at the workplace.

Motivation

Doing something because you want to do it. Most business leaders think of it as prompting people to work hard. (Herzberg)

Delayering

Removing a management layer from the organisational structure.

Span of Control

Number of staff who are answerable directly to a manager.

Matrix Management

Where staff work in project teams in addition to their responsibilities within their own department. Therefore, staff can be answerable to more than one boss.

Job Description

A statement of what the job tasks and duties are, that is, the job itself (rather than describing the right person for the job).

Induction Training

Familiarises newly appointed workers with key aspects of their job and their employer, such as health and safety policies, holiday entitlement and payment arrangements. The aim is to make employees fully productive as soon as possible.

Person Specification

An account of the qualifications, attributes and experience required from a successful candidate for the post.

Poaching

Persuading staff to leave the company that trained them, thereby getting fully trained staff without paying the training cost (premier league clubs accused of this by lower league clubs).

Soft Skills

Personal qualities such as warmth, openness, willingness to act on criticism and empathy.

Arbitration

When an independent person listens to the case put by both sides, then makes a judgement about the correct outcome.

Conciliation

Independent encourages both sides in a dispute to get together to talk through their differences. The conciliator helps the process but makes no judgement about the right outcome.

Feedback

Obtaining a response to a communication, perhaps including an element of judgement (e.g, praise for a job done well).

Vertical Communications

Messages passing freely from the bottom to the top of the organisation, and from the top to the bottom.

Culture

Accepted attitudes and behaviours of people within a workplace.

Labour Productivity

Output per person

Labour turnover

The rate at which people leave their jobs and need to be replaced.

Zero-hour Contracts

Employment contract that promises nothing more than a last minute offer of work for the following week. This is flexible for employers at the cost of uncertainty for employees.

Whistleblower

An employee who reveals unethical or risky practices that line managers have been trying to keep quiet. The secrets may be passes up the hierarchy or (if that has no effect) be revealed to the media/outside world.

Calculate for labour costs per unit

labour costs

--------------

unit of output

Calculation for employee costs as percentage of turnover

employee costs

----------------- x100

sales turnover

Calculation for labour productivity

output per time period

-------------------------

number of employees

Hackman and Oldham

model based on the belief that the TASK itself is key to employee motivation.

Mayo

theory that states that employees are motivated far more by relational factors such as attention and camaraderie than by rewards.

Herzberg

there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction.

Maslow

motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.

Taylor

workers are motivated mainly by pay. His Theory of Scientific Management argued the following: Workers do not naturally enjoy work and so need close supervision and control. Therefore managers should break down production into a series of small tasks.

human resource objectives

- talent management

- employee engagement and involvement

- training

- diversity

- alignment of values

- number, size and location of employees

benefits of fulfilling HR objectives

- low labour turnover

- motivated workforce

- high labour retention rates

- higher productivity

- full compliance with any UK legislation

external influences on HR objectives

+ economic cycle

+ political factors

+ technology

+ competitive environment

internal influences on HR objectives

+ Corporate objectives - expanding

+ Type of product or service

+ Style of management ( hard or soft approach )

Hard approach to HRM

managers see employees as another resource to be used a sufficiently as possible

- short term : [employees are hired and fired whenever]

- link to autocratic leadership style

- financial incentives are used as motivation or delegation

key features of hard approach to HRM

> pay is kept to a minimum

> little or no empowerment

> communication is mainly downwards

> emphasis is on the short term in recruiting & training employees

soft approach to HRM

employees are seen as a valuable asset that needs to be developed

+ employees are developed over a long period of time to help the firm complete its corporate objectives

+ links to democratic style of leadership

+ gives workers more control over their working life e.g : empowered teams

Key features of soft approach to HRM

> employees are empowered and encouraged to make decisions

> employees are encourage to extend their skills

> employees are consulted regularly by managers

> a long term relationship is developed with employees through internal recruitment and ongoing training programmes

labour turnover

(Number of staff leaving / average number of staff employed) x 100

labour retention

(Number of staff employed more than 1 year / average number of staff) X 100

- the proportion of employees with one or more years of service

labour productivity

Output per time period / number of employees

- measure output per worker over a given time period

Labour costs as a % of turnover

Employee costs / sales turnover x 100

labour costs per unit

Labour costs / units of output

internal data used for HR decisions

- productivity

- unit labour costs

- retention rates

- labour turnover

- skills

- age profile of workers

- corporate objectives

external data used for HR decisions

- wage rates

- sales forecasts

- market trends

- competitor actions

- unemployment rates

- skills available

- operational capacity

job design

The process by which managers decide how to divide tasks into specific jobs

factors affecting job design

> organisational factors : ergonomics , work practices , task characteristics , process or flow of work in organisation

> environmental factors : employee ability & availability , social and cultural expectations

> behavioural factors : feedback , autonomy , variety

methods of job design

Job enlargement,

job rotation,

job enrichment,

empowerment

job enrichment (vertical loading)

vertically loaded

job has more challenging tasks

gives employees more responsibility by increasing the range and complexity of the tasks

job enlargement

extends employees range of duties

horizontal loading

hackman and oldham model

influences of organisational design

- Levels of hierarchy (lots of levels = harder communication)

- Span of control (the number of people directly under supervision of a manager)

- Chain of command (The reporting system)

- Delegation (passing authority down the hierarchy)

- Centralisation and decentralisation (how much delegation happens)

factors influencing span of control

ability of the manager

the type of work

the skills of the employees

flat structure

has a wider span of control

tall structure

has a narrower span of control

Influences on centralisation and decentralisation

+ uniformity of decision

+ management style

+ skills and ability of workforce

+ economic influences

+ technology

process of recruitment and selection

non financial motivation methods

+ meaningful work

+ involvement

+ responsibility and recognition