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Business - Mr Simpson > Topic 6 - Decision-Making to Improve Human Resource Performance > Flashcards

Topic 6 - Decision-Making to Improve Human Resource Performance Flashcards

1
Q

Why has effective human resource management become more important in recent times?

A
  • Most businesses now provide services rather than produce goods - people critical resource in quality and consumer service level of any service business
  • Competitiveness requires business to be efficient and productive
  • Move towards fewer layers of management hierarchy placed greater emphasis on delegation and communication.
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2
Q

Define HRM:

A

Design, implementation and maintenance of strategies to manage people for optimum business performance.

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3
Q

Key tools to help meet the strategic needs of the business:

A
  • Workforce planning
  • Recruitment & selection
  • Training & development
  • Rewarding and motivating staff
  • Communication
  • Roles and responsibilities
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4
Q

Important HR objectives:

A
  • Ensure human resources employed cost-effectively
  • Make effective use of workforce potential
  • Match workforce to business needs
  • Maintain good employer/employee relations.
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5
Q

Internal influences on HRM objectives:

A
  • Corporate objectives
  • Operational strategies
  • Marketing strategies
  • Financial strategies
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6
Q

External influences on HRM objectives:

A
  • Market changes
  • Economic changes
  • Technological changes
  • Social changes
  • Political & legal changes
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7
Q

2 broad approaches to HRM:

A

1) ‘Hard’ HR

2) ‘Soft’ HR

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8
Q

Hard HRM:

A
  • Treats employees as resource of business
  • Strong link with corporate business planning
    Focus of HRM: identify workforce needs of business and recruit & manage accordingly.
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9
Q

Key features of hard HRM:

A
  • Short term changes in employee numbers
  • Minimal communication
  • Little empowerment or delegation
  • Taller organisational structures
  • Suits autocratic leadership style.
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10
Q

Soft HRM:

A
  • Treats employees as most important resource in business
  • Treated as individuals and needs planned accordingly
    Focus of HRM: concentrate on needs of employees - roles, rewards, motivation.
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11
Q

Key features of soft HRM:

A
  • Strange focus on longer=term workforce planning
  • Strong and regular two-way communication
  • Flatter organisational structures
  • Suits democratic leadership style
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12
Q

Key influences on job design:

A
  • Maintaining quality
  • Operational efficiency
  • Labour retention
  • Skills of workforce
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13
Q

What is the Hackman & Oldham’s job characteristics model based on?

A

Belief that TASK itself is key to employee motivation.

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14
Q

What are 3 ways of adding challenge to a job?

A

1) Variety
2) Autonomy
3) Decision authority

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15
Q

What are 2 ways of adding variety and challenge?

A

1) Job enrichment

2) Job rotation

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16
Q

5 job characteristics Hackman & Oldham suggested to help predict job satisfaction:

A

1) Skill variety
2) Task identity
3) Task significance
4) Autonomy
5) Job feedback

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17
Q

The organisational structure of a business is important because it determines:

A
  • Authority and responsibility
  • Individual job roles and titles
  • People to whom others accountable
  • Formal routes through which communication flows in business.
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18
Q

The organisation structure of a business will depend on several factors, including:

A
  • Size of business
  • Type of business
  • Management and leadership style
  • Competitive environment
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19
Q

The organisational chart also shows the:

A
  • Span of control
  • Line management
  • Chain of command
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20
Q

Why is the structure of an organisation an important determinant?

A

Hoe effectively can both identify need for change and also respond to necessary change.

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21
Q

What is a flexible organisation?

A

One that’s able to adapt and respond relatively quickly to changes in its external environment order to gain advantage and sustain competitive position.

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22
Q

Organic structures characterised by:

A
  • Informality
  • Flexible and fluid
  • Favours informal
  • Associated with decentralised decision-making & employee empowerment
  • Find change easier to handle
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23
Q

Mechanic structures characterised by:

A
  • More formality & bureaucratic
  • Associated with centralised decision-making & supervision
  • Reliance on formal communication methods
  • Favours standardised policies and procedures
  • Little perceived need to change
  • Greater resistance to change when implemented
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24
Q

Businesses that have a centralised structure keep?

A

Decision-making firmly at top of hierarchy (among most senior management).

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25
Q

Give examples of businesses that use a centralised structure.

A

Burger King, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s

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26
Q

Advantages of centralised structures:

A
  • Easier to implement common policies and practices for business
  • Prevents other parts of business from becoming too independent
  • Easier to co-ordinate and control from centre
  • Economies of scale and overhead savings easier to achieve
  • Greater use of specialisation
  • Quicker decision-making - easier to show strong leadership.
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27
Q

Disadvantages of centralised structures:

A
  • More bureaucratic - often extra layers in hierarchy
  • Local or junior managers likely to much closer to customer needs
  • Lack of authority down hierarchy may reduce manager motivation
  • Customer service not benefit from flexibility and speed in local decision-making.
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28
Q

What happens in a decentralised organisation structure?

A

Decision-making spread out to include more junior managers in hierarchy, well as individual business units or trading locations.

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29
Q

Examples of businesses who use a decentralised structure:

A

Morrison, Tesco

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30
Q

Advantages of decentralised structure:

A
  • Decisions made closer to customer
  • Better able to respond to local circumstances
  • Improved level of customer service
  • Consistent with aiming for flatter hierarchy
  • Good way of developing junior management
  • Should improve staff motivation
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31
Q

Disadvantages of decentralised structure:

A
  • Decision-making not necessarily ‘strategic’
    = More difficult to ensure consistent practices and policies
  • May be some diseconomies of scale
  • Harder to achieve tight financial control - risk of cost overruns.
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32
Q

What do individuals do in a matrix structure?

A

Work across teams and projects as well as within own department or function.

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33
Q

Advantages of matrix structures:

A
  • Can allow individuals to use particular skills within variety of context
  • Likely to result in greater motivation amongst team members
  • Good way of sharing resources across departments.
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34
Q

Disadvantages of matrix structures:

A
  • Difficult to co-ordinate
  • Team members may neglect their functional responsibilities
  • Takes time for matrix team members to get used to working in this kind of structure.
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35
Q

What does the traditional organisational structure of a business focused on?

A

Functions, departments and main activities.

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36
Q

What principles are involved in the traditional functional structure?

A
  • Specialisation
  • Authority
  • Responsibility
  • Definition
  • Span of control
  • Chain of command
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37
Q

How do businesses achieve a flatter organisational structure?

A

Through delayering

38
Q

Define delayering:

A

Popular strategy to remove one or more levels of hierarchy from organisational structure.

39
Q

What does delayering usually involve increasing and in effect, what can this do?

A

Increasing average span of control of senior managers within business. This can chop number of layers without removing single name from payroll, as people affected moved elsewhere in business.

40
Q

What is increasing delayering seen as?

A

Way of reducing operating costs, particularly as response to economic downturn.

41
Q

Advantages of delayering:

A
  • Offers opportunities for better delegation, empowerment and motivation as number of managers reduced and more authority passed down hierarchy
  • Improve communication within business as messages have to pass fewer levels of hierarchy
  • Can reduce costs as fewer managers required
  • Can encourage innovation
  • Brings managers into closer contact with customers.
42
Q

Disadvantages of delayering:

A
  • Period of disruption may occur as people take on new responsibilities and fulfil new roles
  • Not all organisations suited to flatter organisational structures - mass production industries with low-skilled employees may not adapt easily
  • Can have negative impact on motivation due to job losses.
43
Q

What is recruitment and selection the process of?

A

Identifying need for a job, defining requirements of position and job holder, advertising position and choosing most appropriate person for job.

44
Q

How can recruiting employees with the correct skills be beneficial to a business?

A

Adds value to business and recruiting workers at wage or salary that business can afford, will reduce costs.

45
Q

Advantage of an interview for the employer:

A
  • See how applicant reacts under pressure
  • Conversational ability
  • Natural enthusiasm or manner of applicant
46
Q

Advantage of an interview for the candidate:

A
  • Whether job/business is right for them
  • What culture of company is like
  • Exact details of job
47
Q

What is a disadvantage of interviews?

A

Can be unreliable as applicants can perform well at interview but not have qualities or skills needed for job.

48
Q

How can other selection tests be beneficial?

A

Increase chances of choosing best applicant and so minimise high costs of recruiting wrong people.

49
Q

Internal recruitment is when:

A

Business looks to fill vacancy from within its existing workforce.

50
Q

External recruitment is when:

A

Business looks to fill vacancy from any suitable applicant outside business.

51
Q

Advantages of internal recruitment:

A
  • Cheaper and quicker
  • People familiar with business and how it operates
  • Provides opportunities for promotion within business - motivating
  • Business already knows strengths and weaknesses of candidates.
52
Q

Disadvantages of internal recruitment:

A
  • Limits number of potential applicants
  • No new ideas can be introduced from outside
  • May cause resentment amongst candidates not appointed
  • Creates another vacancy which needs to be filled.
53
Q

Advantages of external recruitment:

A
  • Outside people bring in new ideas
  • Larger pool of workers from which to find best candidate
  • People have wider range of expertise.
54
Q

Disadvantages of external recruitment:

A
  • Longer process
  • More expensive process due to advertising and interviews required
  • Selection process may not be effective enough to reveal best candidate.
55
Q

A well-motivated workforce can provide the following advantages:

A
  • Better productivity: can lead to lower unit costs of production and so enable firm to see its product at lower price
  • Lower levels of absenteeism as employees content with their working lives
  • Lower levels of staff turnover
  • Improved industrial relations with trade unions.
56
Q

Labour turnover is defined as:

A

Proportion of firm’s workforce that leaves during course of a year

57
Q

There are many reasons why a high labour turnover figure (poor employee retention) may cause problems for a firm:

A
  • Increases recruitment costs
  • Reflects poor morale in workforce and so low productivity levels
  • Increases training costs of new workers
  • Loss of productivity while new worker settles in
58
Q

Advantages of a firm experiencing labour turnover:

A
  • Gives chance for new people to be brought into business who may have fresh ideas and up to date market knowledge
  • Workers with specialist knowledge or expertise can be employed rather than having to train existing lower skilled employees.
59
Q

A business can improve its employee retention by offering:

A
  • Financial incentives
  • Non-financial incentives
  • Improving effectiveness of its recruitment and selection processes
  • Conducting research to understand why employees are leaving.
60
Q

Training can be defined as:

A

Process of increasing knowledge and skills of workforce to enable them to perform their jobs effectively.

61
Q

Training takes place at various points and places in a business. Commonly, training is required to:

A
  • Support new employees
  • Improve productivity
  • Increase marketing effectiveness
  • Support higher standards of customer service and production quality
  • Address changes in legislation
  • Support employee progression and promotion.
62
Q

Effective training has the potential to provide a range of benefits for a business:

A
  • Higher quality
  • Better productivity
  • Improved motivation - through greater empowerment
  • More flexibility through better skills
  • Less supervision required
  • Better recruitment and employee retention
  • Easier to implement change.
63
Q

Effective training starts with a ‘training strategy’. The 3 stages of a training strategy are:

A
  • Identify skills and abilities needed by employees
  • Draw up an action plan to show how investment in training and development will help meet business goals and objectives
  • Implement plan, monitoring progress and training effectiveness.
64
Q

Most common reasons for under-investment in training:

A
  • Fear employees will be poached by competitors
  • Desire to minimise short-term costs
  • Cannot make justifiable investment case
  • Training takes time to have desired effect.
65
Q

With on-the-job training:

A

Employees receive training whilst remaining in workplace.

66
Q

Main methods of on-the-job training:

A
  • Demonstration/instruction
  • Coaching
  • Job rotation
  • Projects
67
Q

Advantages of on-the-job training:

A
  • Generally most cost-effective
    • Employees actually productive
  • Opportunity to learn whilst doing
  • Training alongside real colleagues
68
Q

Disadvantages of on-the-job training:

A
  • Quality depends on ability of trainer and time available
  • Bad habits might be passed on
  • Learning environment may not be conductive
  • Potential disruption to production.
69
Q

Off-the-job training occurs:

A

When employees taken away from their place of work to be trained.

70
Q

Advantages of off-the-job training:

A
  • Wider range of skills/qualifications can be obtained
  • Can learn from outside specialists or experts
  • Employees can be more confident when starting job
71
Q

Disadvantages of off-the-job training:

A
  • More expensive
  • Lost working time and potential output from employee
  • New employee may still need some induction training.
72
Q

Delegation involves:

A

Assignment to others of authority for particular functions, tasks, and decisions.

73
Q

Advantages of delegation:

A
  • Reduces management stress and workload
  • Allows senior management to focus on key tasks
  • Good method of on-the-job training
74
Q

Disadvantages of delegation:

A
  • Cannot/should not delegate responsibility
  • Depends on quality
  • Harder in smaller firm
  • May increase workload and stress of subordinates.
75
Q

Taylor’s Theory of Scientific Management argued:

A
  • Workers don’t naturally enjoy work and so need close supervision and control
  • Therefore managers should break down production into series of small tasks
76
Q

What does Taylor’s approach have close links with the concept of?

A

An autocratic management style

77
Q

Key summary for Taylor:

A
  • Workers given one repetitive task so can learn to master it
  • Managers should give orders and closely control workers
  • Workers should be paid per item produced - piece rate
78
Q

Key summary for Mayo’s Human Relations School:

A
  • Workers motivated by having social needs met
  • Workers should work in teams
  • Managers should have greater involvement in employee’s working life
79
Q

McGregor’s Theory X workers could be described as follows:

A
  • Individuals who dislike work and avoid it where possible
  • Lack ambition, dislike responsibility
  • Desire security
80
Q

Theory Y workers where characterised by McGregor as:

A
  • Consider effort at work just like rest or play
  • Ordinary people who don’t dislike work
  • Who seek responsibility
81
Q

Herzberg believed businesses should motivate employees by adopting democratic approach to management and by improving nature and content of actual job through certain methods. Some of the methods are:

A
  • Job enlargement: workers being given greater variety of tasks to perform which should make work more interesting
  • Job enrichment: involves workers being given wider range of more complex and challenging tasks surrounding complete unit of work.
  • Empowerment means delegating more power to employees to make own decisions over areas of working life.
82
Q

Key summary for Herzberg’s Two-factor Theory of Motivation:

A
  • Workers motivated to work harder by motivators

- Workers can become de-motivated if hygiene factors aren’t met.

83
Q

Key summary for Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

A
  • Workers motivated by having each level of need met in order as they move up hierarchy
  • Levels are: Physical, Security, Social, Self-esteem, Self-fulfilment
  • Workers must have lower level of needs fully met by firm before being motivated by next level.
84
Q

Job rotation may offer advantage of…… however?

A

Offers advantage of making easier to cover for absent colleagues, but may also reduce productivity as workers initially unfamiliar with new task.

85
Q

A negative aspect of job enlargement:

A

Sometimes viewed by employees as requirement to carry out more work for same amount of pay.

86
Q

What does job enrichment attempt to do?

A

Give employees greater responsibility by increasing range and complexity of tasks they’re called upon to complete and giving them necessary authority.

87
Q

What did Herzberg argue about job enrichment?

A

Should be central element in any policy of motivation.

88
Q

Empowerment involves:

A

Giving people greater control over their working lives.

89
Q

Who identified some of the higher needs of empowered teams?

A

Maslow or Herzberg motivators

90
Q

Advantages of empowered teams:

A

Higher productivity, leading to improved competitiveness and higher profits or market share.

91
Q

Disadvantages of empowered teams (which may only exist in the short term):

A

Cost and disruption of training, and opposition from employees.

Business - Mr Simpson (4 decks)

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