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Human Resources Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the 3 HR objectives

A
  • matching the workforce to the needs of the business
  • maintain employer/employee relations
  • make full use of the workforces potential
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2
Q

what are the 3 internal influences on the HR objectives

A
  • the corporate objectives
  • that attitudes andbeliefs of senior mangers
  • the type of product
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3
Q

what are the 4 external influences on the HR objectives

A
  • the state of the market
  • price elasticity of demand for the product
  • corporate image
  • employment legislation
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4
Q

what is the philosophy of a hard and soft strategy?

A

hard - employees are seen as a resource

soft - employees are seen as the most important and valuable resource

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5
Q

what time scale to a hard and soft strategy see?

A

hard - hired and fired

soft - workforce are used as efficiently as possible to achieve long term corporate objectives

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6
Q

what leadership style is associated with hard and soft strategies?

A

hard - autocratic

soft - democratic

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7
Q

what motivation techniques do hard and soft strategies use?

A

hard - pay

soft - empowerment and delegation

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8
Q

5 advantages and disadvantages of a hard strategy

A

+ managers have complete control
+ easy to adapt the business to respond to changes in the market
+ cheap as low skilled workers on minimum wage
x high labour turnover
x demotivating

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9
Q

5 advantages and disadvantages of a soft strategy

A 
\+ good reputation
\+ more people can contribute ideas
\+ creates a more creative workforce
x expensive
x hard to change the workforce in response to a change
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10
Q

the 5 stages of a workforce plan

A

1) what do you want to achieve
2) look at the current workforce
3) look at what workforce is neede
4) compare them -look for any gaps
5) review plan

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11
Q

Internal influences on workforce plans

A
  • corporate plans
  • marketing plans
  • operations plnas
  • financial constraints
  • the type of business
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12
Q

external influences on workforce plans

A
  • sales forecasts
  • demographic trends
  • wage rates
  • technological changes
  • changes in legislation
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13
Q

3 issues in implementing workforce plans

A
  • the cost
  • employer employee relations
  • corporate image
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14
Q

advantages and disadvantages of workforce plans

A

+ good for planning for the future
+ good for assessing whether the objectives are feasible
+ matched the workforce for the needs of the business
x expensive
x only as accurate as the info its based on

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15
Q

the 4 types of organisational structures

A
  • formal
  • matrix
  • entrepreneurial
  • informal
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16
Q

what is centralised an decentralised power

A

central - power at the top

decentral - employees have more power

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17
Q

advantages and disadvantages of traditional structures (6 points)

A

+ clear chain of command
+ clear promotion path
+ employees are loyal to their department
- this loyalty could result in competitiveness which is bad for the business
- communication only vomes down and is hard to do horizontally
- business is slow to respond to customer needs

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18
Q

what is a matrix structure?

A

organised into product teams
both a chief executive and project manager are in charge
they focus on the task in hand e.g the launch of a new product

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19
Q

advantages and disadvantages of matrix structures

A

+focuses on tasks that help with business success
+ business is flexible and responsive to customer needs
+ motivating
+ skill and ideas are shared
- conflict can occur between the 2 leaders
- staff are skilled so expensive

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20
Q

what are entrepreneurial structures?

A
  • the decisions are very centralised

- only some people make the decisions and everyone else follows

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21
Q

advantages and disadvantages of entrepreneurial structures

A

+ rapid decisions can be made

  • core workers have to make the right decisions
  • hard to manage as the business grows
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22
Q

what are informal structures?

A

there is no obvious structure e.g doctors

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23
Q

advantages and disadvantages of informal structures

A
  • lacks coordination
  • not much communication
  • no cleat direction of where the business is going
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24
Q

what 6 things affect your decision about what organisational structure to have?

Study These Flashcards
A
  • size of the business
  • skills of the workforce
  • culture of the organisation
  • nature of the product
  • the corporate objectives
  • the business environment
25
what is delayering?
removing layers from the structure
26
what are the advantages and disadvantages of delayering?(9 points)
``` + reduces costs +speeds up decision making + lower down workers get more work which is motivating + communication improves - knowledge and experience is lost -redundancies costs - loss of motivation - training - increased work which can be stressful ```
27
are temporary workers increasing or decreasing?
increasing
28
are part time workers increasing or decreasing?
decreasing
29
are the self employed increasing or decreasing?
increasing
30
are contractors and consultants increasing or decreasing?
increasing
31
are full time employees increasing or decreasing?
decreasing
32
what are core and peripheral workers?
core - full time, highly skilled, trained, important roles, job security peripheral - part time, temp, self employed, hired and fired when needed
33
why is homeworking a good thing? (4 points)
+motivating + take out travelling itmes + less pollution + don't have to pay office rent
34
What are the disadvantages of homeworking (3 points)
x less communication x less social interaction x managers can't monitor work
35
What is outsourcing?
paying a person or business to do a part of the production process
36
what is informal and informal communication?
formal - board meetings, emails, letter, team briefings | informal - gossip
37
issues in communicating with employees
- it has to be a 2 way process - the right management style is needed - the organisational structure should make it easy
38
what is collective bargaining?
negotiations between management and employees representation over pay and other conditions. The employee representative argues for all employees to receive the same things
39
what is individual bargaining?
individuals are paid according to their contribution. This reduces labour costs and is an incentive for employees to work hard.
40
what is more popular nowadays, individual or collective bargaining?
individual bargaining
41
2 methods of employee representation
trade unions and work councils
42
What are trade unions?
organisation of workers that strive for good pay and working conditions
43
what are the 3 objectives of trade unions?
- maximising pay - safe and secure working conditions - job security
44
what are work councils?
a forum with in a business where workers and management meet to discuss issues such as working conditions, pay and training. There are employee representatives.
45
when is it common for work councils to be used?
when there is no trade union
46
what are the 6 types of industrial action?
``` strikes picketing work to rule go slow sit in over time ban ```
47
what is picketing
when workers stand at the entrance of the business and persuade other workers to not go in
48
what is work to rule
only doing what you are contracted to do
49
what is a no strike deal?
unions agree not to strike for a certain time period in return for a pay and conditions package
50
What is a single union agreement?
employees agree to be represented by one union
51
What does ACAS do?
prevent and resolve industrial disputes
52
what do ACAS provide?
arbitration and conciliation
53
What is arbitration?
parties agree to be bound by the decision of the arbitrator
54
What are the 3 types of arbitration?
non binding binding pendulum
55
what is binding and non binding arbitration?
binding - parties have to take the award of the arbitrator | non binding - a neutral third party makes an award to settle the dispute
56
What is pendulum arbitration?
arbitrator decided entirely for one side or the other
57
what is conciliation
sometimes called mediation. A third neutral party encourages the continuation of negotiations and delaying industrial action. The conciliator doesn't make any judgement
58
what are employment tribunals
an informal courtroom where legal disputes or unfair dismissal is settled. They involve a chairperson, employer representative and employee representative

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