Human resources 123-133 Flashcards

1
Q

Flexible hours

A

-Agreed number of working hours, made up from core hours which must be worked and the remainder of the contracted hours can be worked on a flexible basis

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2
Q

Part time staff

A
  • suits women/workers with young children and helps to meet their needs and requirements
    -can also benefit business by having more staff working during peak hours and meet needs of employer
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3
Q

Zero hours contracts

A
  • Employee has to be
    available for work but is not guaranteed any work. This
    provides employers with total flexibility
  • No income security?
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4
Q

Homeworking

A

Employees benefit from time saved and the stress of commuting. Businesses
benefit by a reduction in overheads if less office space is required.

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5
Q

Hot desking

A
  • no fixed work space within an office environment
    (+)Reduces need for office space
    (-)Breakdown of workplace relationships and can feel disconnected from the organisation
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6
Q

Temporary staff

A

-Employed for a limited time period
(+)Hired when required
(+)Try out workers before hiring
(+)Costs lower - don’t receive same benefits as full-time staff
(-)less motivated
(-)less reliable

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7
Q

Define workforce planning

A

Deciding how many and what types of workers are required (planning for the future)
-Trying to ensure there are the right number of workers, with the right skills, doing the right jobs, at the right time and in the right place
- Can mean recruiting or shedding workers (e.g.redundancy and early retirement schemes)

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8
Q

Internal and external staffing issues

A

Internal:
-staff loss, retirement, training, promotion, flexibility
External:
- competitors, availability of skills, unemployment

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9
Q

Evaluate the impact and importance to a business of having the correct number of employees with appropriate skills and experience

A

(+)Ensure the workforce is the right size - cuts costs by not over or under hiring
(+)Encourages managers to prepare and plan for future requirements rather than reacting to them
(+)Identifying problems early
(+)Preventing problems
(-)Decisions may have cost implications - training, recruitment, redundancies

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10
Q

The recruitment process

A

Job analysis -> Job description -> Person specification -> Job advert -> Shortlisting -> interview

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11
Q

Explain what is meant by internal and external recruitment

A

Internal:
- Fill the vacancy from within the business from its existing workforce
-Through promotion (e.g. notice board, in house magazine, email etc), reorganisation
External:
- Looks to fill the vacancy from any suitable applicant outside the business
- Advertisements, job centres, recruitment agencies, personal recommendation etc

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12
Q

Benefits and drawbacks of internal recruitment

A

(+)careers development - greater motivation and staff retention
(+)Faster - shorter induction
(+)know more about the internal candidates abilities, skills, experience - reduced risk
(-) external may be more suitable
(-)another vacancy will be created and will need to be filled

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13
Q

External recruitment benefits and drawbacks

A

(+)potentially new ideas and skills
(+)Reduced training expenses by hiring staff with required experience/skills
(-)Takes longer and can cost the company more
(-)Increased risk of appointing the wrong candidate and may not be able to tell if they will fit in
(D)structure of the business

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14
Q

Explain what is meant by job analysis

A

process which identifies and determines requirements of the job, and what the position requires in terms of aptitude, knowledge and skills

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15
Q

Explain what is meant by:
-Job description
-Person specification

A

-sets out the purpose of the job and should contain basic details about the job e.g.job title
-sets out the details of the qualities of the person required to fill the vacancy e.g.skills, necessary qualifications, personal attricutes and experience required

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16
Q

Different appropriate methods of selecting employees

A

*interviews
*Work trials
*Testing - psychometric (personality, suited to job) and aptitude and ability testing
*Telephone interviews
*Assessment centres (hosted over a one to three day period usually 6-8 candidates)

17
Q

Evaluate the importance of recruitment to a business and its stakeholders

A

-they effect the outcome of the business and how well the business handles: HR, marketing finance ad operations
-Higher labour turnovers if its poor

18
Q

Define training

A

Training provides workers with knowledge and skills which enable them to perform their jobs more effectively. Modern theories of motivation suggest that training is successful in motivating staff. Untrained staff may feel let down by their employers as they may not be able to reach their full potential

19
Q

What does training do

A
  • ensure high quality
    -staff flexibility
    -motivates
    -retaining high quality staff
20
Q

Explain the different methods of training

A

*Induction training- training employees receive when they first join the business
*On-the-job - learning by doing, occurs in the workplace
* Off the job - courses in a college for qualifications or internal courses structured directly for the needs of the business
*Apprenticeships - training and workplace experience, leading to a recognised qualification
*Retraining - training to cope with the changing working environment

21
Q

Explain what is meant by appraisal

A

A regular meeting in which the staff member’s performance is analysed, normally against performance targets

22
Q

Explain the different methods of appraisal

A

> Superior assessment - direct line manager completes an assessment of your performance
Self-assessment
Peer assessment
360 degree appraisal - receiving feedback from people whose views are considered helpful and relevant

23
Q

Evaluate the importance and impact of appraisal for a business and its stakeholders

A

(+)motivates, improves performance
(+)allows achievable targets
(+)identifies training needs and potential
(-)can cause tension in he workplace
(-) puts workers under a lot of pressure and stress
(-)places too much power in the hands of line managers who may be ill-equipped o abuse the power given to them
(d) how workers react and participate
(d) if the managers are able to use the appraisals to solve any problems and the criteria of it must be clear so it can be understood

24
Q

Define workforce performance

A

Measuring the effectiveness of the workforce. When managers examine workforce performance they are examining the effectiveness of human resource management (HRM) policies.

25
Q

Define labour productivity include the formula

A

Labour productivity is a measurement of
the output per employees. It is an important measure of the efficiency of the workforce.
- output (per period)/number of employees (per period)

26
Q

Absenteeism formula

A

Number of staff absence days over a year/ total number of working days x100

27
Q

Labour turnover formula

A

number of leavers/average number of employees x100
- how quick staff leave the firm

28
Q

Evaluate the importance and impact of workforce performance for a business and is stakeholders

A

labour productivity - increase LP results in lower labour costs because fixed costs are being spread across ore units and workers are still getting paid the same amount of money
Labour turnover - save money long term e.g. recruitment process and training
Absenteeism - high costs and often a sign of a bigger problem e.g. demotivated staff

29
Q

Define organisational design

A

the process of aligning the structure of an organisation with its objectives with the ultimate aim of improving efficiency and effectiveness

30
Q

Define authority and chain of command

A

Authority - the power to make decisions and take action
Chain of command - the paths along which communication take place

31
Q

Define span of control and hierarchy

A

span of control - how many workers a manager or supervisor is directly responsible for
Hierarchy - ranked according to status or authority

32
Q

centralised organisations

A
  • most decisions are take by senior managers and then passed down the organisational hierarchy
    (+)standardised procedures are often used
    (-)may lead to demotivated staff as they are not involved in decision making
33
Q

Decentralised organisations

A
  • decision making is spread out
    (+)delegate down the chain of command thus reduce speed of decision making
    (-)control is delegated to department managers so this may lead to poor decision making and branches may begin to compete
34
Q

Define delayering

A

the process of removing one or more layers in a hierarchy/organisational structure. It can result in a flatter organisational structure and wider span of control

35
Q

Tall vs flat hierarchical structures

A

tall has many layers of management and often uses top-down approach with a long chain of command. Managers will have a narrow span of control. Flat is a short chain of command, few levels of hierarchy and wise spans of control, leading to employees operating with more independence

36
Q

Matrix structure

A

often used when cross-functional teams are created t0 run a project
(+)helps ideas and innovation
(+)breaks down barriers to communication and ensures that projects are better coordinated
(-)defining each employee’ main responsibility is difficult
(-)expensive because extra support systems may be needed or work space

37
Q

Empowerment

A

Giving the employees greater control over their work lives
(+)motivation and productivity
(-)may be expensive in short term for training costs etc

38
Q

Evaluate the choice between empowerment and control in the workplace

A

-control may be better due to less risk
-depends on the experience of staff
-depends on trustworthiness of staff and whether they welcome authority and accept responsibility

39
Q
A