Unit 2 Flashcards
What is motivation?
The factors that influence the behaviour of employees towards achieving set business goals.
What is labour productivity?
A measure of the efficiency of employees by calculating the output per employee.
What is absenteeism?
Employees’ non-attendance at work without good reason.
What is labour turnover?
The rate at which employees leave a business.
What are the benefits of having a well-motivated workforce?
- Improved productivity.
- Low rate of absenteeism.
- Low rate of labour turnover.
- Better quality goods and services.
- More competitive.
What are the 5 level of needs in Maslow’s hierarchy?
- Physical needs.
- Safety needs.
- Social needs.
- Esteem needs.
- Self-actualisation.
What are physical needs?
These are the basic needs we must have to be able to survive. They include water, food, shelter, clothing and rest.
What are safety needs?
We need to be safe from physical danger and individuals need to know that they have job security.
What are social needs?
Most people want to be accepted by others and to feel that they are loved and trusted. It is important to have friends and belong to a group where social activities can be shared and enjoyed together.
What are esteem needs?
Individuals want to be respected and to have their achievements recognised by others. For some people, having a certain status is also an important need.
What is self-actualisation?
Not everyone will reach their full potential, but for some individuals it is a very important need. Even the most successful people rarely achieve self-actualisation because they will always set themselves another challenge.
How do people travel up the pyramid according to Maslow?
All humans start at the lowest level of need and once they have satisfied one need they move onto the next one.
What happens once a need has been satisfied?
It is no longer a motivator.
What are some limitations of Maslows’ hierarchy of needs?
- It is often difficult to identify how much of a need has been met and which level each employee is on.
- Money might also satisfy esteem needs as well as those lower down the hierarchy.
- Not everyone has the same needs.
- Self actualisation is rarely, if ever, achieved. Therefore, unless more challenging tasks are always being provided, it is unlikely that work will help to satisfy this need. There is the risk that if jobs are no longer challenging employees will become the motivated.
What did F.W Taylor believe motivated workers?
Only money.
What is the theory of economic man?
The view that humans are only motivated by money, so - to get employees to increase their efforts - they have to be rewarded with more money. The piece rate method was formulated from Taylors findings.
What is piece rate?
Paying employees for each unit produced.
How would piece rate work according to the theory of economic man?
If employees are motivated by the money then they will work harder because the more units they produce, the more money they will be payed.
What are hygiene factors?
The factors that must be present in the workplace to prevent job dissatisfaction.
What is a motivator?
The factors that influence a person to increase their efforts.
What are the hygiene factors?
- Working conditions.
(Clean and safe facilities). - Relationships with others.
(Work relationships and friends). - Salary or wage.
(Had to be payed enough to encourage but not enough to want them to do the job well). - Supervision.
(How closely the employees are supervised) - Company policy and administration.
(Rules and procedures which control and affect the workers).
What do hygeine factors prevent?
Job dissatisfaction.
What is job dissatisfaction?
How unhappy and discontent a person is with their job.
What are the motivators?
- The work itself.
(Needs to be varied and challenging). - Responsibility.
(The manager shows that they trust and value their opinion). - Advancement.
(Employees can be promoted). - Achievement.
(Need to feel that they have reached challenging goals). - Recognition and achievement.
(Need to have their achievements recognised by management and others they work with).
How does the model begin with dissatisfaction and demotivation.
1) Dissatisfaction and demotivation.
HYGIENE FACTOR
2) Employees aren’t dissatisfied but still demotivated.
MOTIVATORS
3) Employees are satisfied and motivated.
What are the two ways that employees can motivate their employees?
- Financial rewards.
- Non-financial rewards.
What are financial rewards?
Cash and non-cash rewards paid to employees which are often used to motivate employees to increase their efforts.
What are non-financial rewards?
Methods used to motivate employees that do not involve giving any financial reward.
What are examples of financial rewards?
- Hourly wage rate.
- Salary.
- Piece-rate and commission.
- Bonus schemes.
- Fringe benefits.
- Profit sharing.
What is an hourly wage rate?
A payment to employees based on a fixed amount for each hour worked.
- An advantage is that businesses pay employees only for the number of hours they are at work.
- A disadvantage is that an employee’s pay is not linked to how much they produce.
What is a salary?
A fixed annual payment to certain grades and types of staff not based on hours worked or output
- An advantage is that employees do not receive more pay if they have to work longer hours to complete a task.
- A disadvantage is that salary is not linked to employee effort or the amount produced.
What is a piece rate?
A payment to employees based on the number of units produced
- Employees are only paid for the number of items they produce
- The quality of goods they produce may be poor because employees try to work too quickly to increase their output and pay.
What is a commission?
A payment to sales staff based on the value of the items they sell.
- Pay is linked to the value of goods sold.
- The employees are never certain about how much they will earn so they cannot guarantee that they will earn enough to pay for their basic needs.
What is a bonus scheme?
An additional reward paid to employees for achieving targets set by managers.
An Advantage is that it is linked to Performance targets, which will lead to an increase in productivity.
A disadvantage is that if the targets are unrealistic than employees could become demotivated and it could also lead to conflict among employees.
What are fringe benefits?
Non-cash rewards often used to recruit or retain employees and to recognise the status of certain employees. This includes a company car or health insurance received by the employees in a business.
- An advantage is that they can help in the Recruitment and Retention of employees.
- A disadvantage is that fringe benefits are often linked to status and not performance.
What is profit sharing?
An additional payment to employees based on the profits of the business.
- An advantage is that profit sharing is directly linked to the performance of the business. The better the performance, the higher the profits and the greater the share of profits for employees.
- A disadvantage is that any profit given to employees might reduce the dividends to shareholders or reduce the amount available to be reinvested into the business.
What are the non-financial rewards?
- Job rotation.
- Job enlargement.
- Job enrichment.
- Quality circles.
- Team working.
- Delegation.
- Training.
- Opportunities for promotion.
What is job rotation?
Increasing Variety in the workplace by allowing employees to switch from one task to another.
- This makes the work more interesting and helps to prevent boredom. Employees become multi-skilled, which helps create a more flexible Workforce.
What is job enlargement?
Increasing or widening tasks to increase variety for employees.
- Their jobs become more interesting and reduces all around boredom.
What is job enrichment?
Organising work so that employees are encouraged to use their full abilities.
- They often become more involved in decisions affecting their job - they feel more valued by the employer and increases their job satisfaction, efficiency and motivation.
What is job satisfaction?
How happy and content a person is with their job.
What are quality circles?
Are groups of employees who meet regularly to discuss work-related problems.
An advantage is that the results of quality circles are presented to managers and good ideas and solutions are introduced into the workplace
What is team working?
Organising production so that groups of employees complete the whole unit of work.
What is delegation?
Passing responsibility to perform tasks to employees lower down in the organisation.
What effects which method of motivation the business chooses?
- If the business can afford it as each method above will increase costs in some way.
- The type of employees = The piece-rate system is only suitable for production employees.
- A method might not work for all employees. Some many want more money and free time and some might want the opposite.
What is an organisational structure?
The formal, internal framework of a business that shows how it is managed and organised.
What are functional departments?
The main activities of business:
- Finance.
- Marketing.
- Operations.
- Human resources.
- Research and development.
What are the main features on a simple hierarchical structure?
- Levels of hierarchy.
- Chain of command.
- Span of control.
What is a heirarchy?
The number of levels in an organisational structure.
Production employees are the lowest level and the best positions are at the top.
A water span of control is possible as you go down the structure as the tasks get simpler.
What happens if you move down the organisational structure?
There are more and more people at each level.
What is the chain of command?
The route through which authority is passed down through an organization.
Each person in the chain of command responsible to the person or people immediately above them and for the person or people directly below them.
What is a subordinate?
The number of subordinates reporting to each supervisor/manager.
What is the span of control
An employee who is below another employee in the organisations hierarchy.
What factors affect the span of control?
- The difficulty of tasks, the more complex the task subordinates do, the more likely than a narrow span of control will be used.
- The experience and skill of employees, the span of control will often be wider when subordinates are more skilled and more experienced.
- The size of the business, larger businesses are often able to afford to employ more managers and smaller businesses.
- Levels of hierarchy, managers in tall organisational structures will usually have an hour response of control of the managers and flat organisational structures.
- Management style, depending on the management style of the business some have greater control over the workforce than others.
What are the advantages of a wide span of control?
- Less expensive as fewer managers/supervisors are needed.
- Less supervision improves employee motivation.
- Faster communication and decision making.
What are the disadvantages of a wide span of control?
- Fewer managers/supervisors reduces promotion opportunities.
- Best control over subordinates’ work.
- Effective communication may be difficult.
What are the advantages of a narrow span of control?
- Effective communication is easier.
- Better control over the employees and their work.
- More managers/supervisors increases promotion opportunities.
What are the disadvantages of a wide span of control?
- Communication and decision making are often slower.
- More expensive because more managers are needed.
- More supervision May reduce employee motivation.
What are tall organisations?
They have many levels of hierarchy and each level in this is a layer of management.
What are flat organisations?
They have few levels of hierarchy, which means that the chain of command is very short.
What is delayering?
Reducing the size of the hierarchy by removing one or more levels - most often middle management.
What are the advantages of delayering?
- Reduced costs.
- Reduces the chain of command so communication and decision-making should be quicker and more effective.
- Wider span of control increases the opportunity for delegation. This helps develop employees’ skills and could motivate employees who are given more trust by managers.
- Senior managers are in closer touch with what is happening in the business.
What are the disadvantages of delayering?
- Increased workload for managers who remain could mean that tasks are not completed on time or that the quality of decision-making is not as good.
- Business may have to make redundancy payments to managers who lose their jobs. This is a one-off increase in costs.
- Employees who remain might fear redundancy and this reduces their job security.
- Wider span of control after delayering might reduce the effective management of subordinates.
What is a centralised organisation?
One where all the important decision-making power is held at head office, or the center.
What is a decentralised organisation?
One where the decision-making powers are passed down the organisation to lower levels.
What are the advantages of a centralised organisation?
- Decision-making is often quicker.
- Decision are taken for the benefit of the whole business.
- Greater use of specialist staff improves decision-making.
What are the disadvantages of a centralised organisation?
- Slower communication.
- Unable to respond quickly to changes in local markets.
- May reduce employee motivation.
What are the advantages of a decentralised organisation?
- Decisions are made based on local needs.
- Can be used to train junior managers.
- Delegation helps to improve employee motivation.
What are the disadvantages of a decentralised organisation?
- Decisions taken might not be in the interests of the whole business.
- Poor decisions might be made because managers lack skills and experience.
What is the annual general meeting?
A meeting for shareholders that limited companies must hold once every year.
What are directors?
Appointed or elected members of the board of directors of a company who have the responsibility for determining and implementing the company’s policy. Some directors might also have a management role, for example a marketing director.
