Managing employees

Question 1

What is human resource management

Answer 1

the role of controlling the relationship between the business and its
employees by establishing, motivating and finally terminating employees

Question 2

What is motivation

Answer 2

the inspiration that drives an employee towards the achievement of a goal or objective

Question 2

What are human resources

Answer 2

the employees of a business who perform the day to day activities or core functions of a business.

Question 2

What are business objectives

Answer 2

are the goals that a business and its employees set out to achieve that should be specific and measurable in order for performance to be measured.

Question 2

What is productivity

Answer 2

measure of the efficiency of a business in its use of resources. If a business can
reduce the time or costs of production per unit of output, it is considered as being more productive.

Question 3

What are typical activities of human resource managers

Answer 3

• Train employees
• Apply motivational strategies that will improve the businesses profit levels
• Introduce performance management to employees
• Termination

Question 4

What is the relationship between managing employees and business objectives

Answer 4

The Human Resource manager is responsible for managing the relationship between employees and the business. Employees are critical to the success of a business as they perform the core functions. Using strategies such as recruiting, selecting, motivating, training, the human resource manager will increase the skills and motivation of employees, leading to an increase in productivity and quality of goods and services which then increases revenue and further increases profits.

Question 5

What are Maslow’s five needs

Answer 5

Physiological, safety and security, social, esteem, self-actualisation

Question 6

What are physiological needs

Answer 6

adequate wages to meet living needs

Question 7

What are safety and security needs

Answer 7

long term contracts and training to protect workers

Question 8

What are social needs

Answer 8

creating a sense of belonging and friendships such as christmas party

Question 9

What are esteem needs

Answer 9

recognition and responsibility such as promotion

Question 10

What are self-actualisation needs

Answer 10

fulfilment and personalised growth such as loyalty and long-term career aspiration

Question 11

Advantages of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 11

1st advantage is Maslow’s levels acknowledge that each individual requires different needs to be met (in hierarchical order) and therefore is a systematic and individualised theory.
2nd advantage is that Maslow’s theory can offer a range of motivational strategies to employees and will continue to motivate in the long term with higher order needs being met as employees move up through the hierarchy

Question 12

Disadvantages of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 12

1st disadvantage is that Maslow’s takes time to identify the correct level of need of each employee and then apply the correct motivational strategy, increasing the workload of the HRM and reducing their productivity.
2nd disadvantage is that Maslow’s relies on the HRM to correctly identify the level of need and apply correct strategies, however, if an error is made, resources will be wasted with training or social activities, promotions etc not providing motivation leaving unmotivated employees which could damage corporate culture.

Question 13

What is Locke and Latham’s goal setting theory

Answer 13

Goals must have Clarity, Challenge and Task Complexity

Unclear, overwhelming or easy goals are not motivating.

Management must give feedback to employees and support them in achieving their goals. Management, finally, evaluates the actual results against the target or benchmark and provides recognition and/or rewards if goal is achieved or further training if goal has not been
achieved.

Question 14

Advantages of the goal setting theory

Answer 14

advantage is when goals are negotiated between employees and management and feedback is given, positive relationships are developed further increasing motivation.
another advantage is easy to apply

Question 15

Disadvantages of the goal setting theory

Answer 15

1st disadvantage of Locke and Latham is that it assumes ALL employees will be motivated by GOALS and it does not look at the individual motivational needs of each employee.
another disadvantage is that if the employee fails to achieve the goal, because it was difficult, unrealistic or there was a lack of support, that employee could lose confidence and workplace morale could drop.

Question 16

What are the four drives in Lawerence and Nohria’s four drive theory

Answer 16

Drive to acquire, drive to bond, drive to comprehend, drive to defend

Question 17

What is the drive to acquire

Answer 17

The need to own material goods (pay and bonuses), status, power, promotion, responsibility, acknowledgement and improvement.

Question 18

What is the drive to bond

Answer 18

Friendships, teamwork, feeling needed by the business, ability to form relationships, trust and support at work, positive
corporate culture

Question 19

What is the drive to comprehend

Answer 19

Training, learning new skills, get broader experiences, challenge within the job, interesting job with a variety of duties, job
share and job rotation

Question 20

What is the drive to defend

Answer 20

protecting your family or family life, resistance to change, need to stay in your comfort zone and avoid threats

Question 21

Advantages of the four drive theory

Answer 21

1st advantage The four drives do not need to be met in a specific order or hierarchy so by structuring jobs to satisfy the four drive areas, all employees will be motivated. 2nd advantage The four drive theory offers a more individualised approach by attempting to specifically target each employees drive factors with testing used to determine the strength of each drive for each employee

Question 22

Disadvantages of the four drive theory

Answer 22

one disadvantage is it is very time consuming to identify employee drives especially if drives are constantly changing for individuals. another disadvantage is if the HRM offers motivation strategies that relate strongly to a single drive area, some employees will not be motivated.

Question 23

What are similarities between all theories

Answer 23

Each motivational theory has been developed by experts who have studied the motivation of employees. Each of the motivation theories adds a significant workload to the HRM and assumes that the HRM (or delegate) has the skills and understanding to implement each theory

Question 24

Differences between the theories

Answer 24

PAY Maslow says that pay is a motivator but will only motivate in the short term by meeting employees physiological needs whereas… PAY Locke and Latham says that pay is not a motivator because all motivation comes from the setting of challenging and difficult goals and the feedback and recognition of achieving those goals, whereas… PAY Lawrence and Nohria says that pay is a motivator, but will only motivate those workers whose dominant drive is the drive to acquire because these employees will be motivated by money to pay for material goods, whereas,….. GOALS Maslow says that the way to motivate employees is to meet their lower and higher order needs and doesn’t address goals specifically in his hierarchy of needs, whereas… GOALS Locke and Latham says that goal setting in critical to the motivation of employees and that once difficult and challenging goals are set, the employee will be motivated. Locke and Latham’s theory ignores needs and drives. whereas … GOALS Lawrence and Nohria says that the achievement of goals would be motivating for employees with a strong drive to acquire due to the recognition of the achievement of the goal as well as the drive to learn as achieving difficult and complex goals will encourage skill development. TRAINING Maslow says that training employees would meet safety and security needs by improving the skills of employees who will feel more job secure which will provide short term motivation, whereas… TRAINING Locke and Latham says that training could be used to assist and support an employee in achieving goals or might be used if a goal was at risk of not being achieved, whereas…. TRAINING Lawrence and Nohria says that training would satisfy those workers whose drive relates to the drive to comprehend but would not necessarily motivate employees who do not value this drive area highly, whereas ….