1.4 Managing People Flashcards
what is the approach to staffing?
the overall way a business treats its staff, has a direct impact upon the level of performance, motivation of employees and management styles
what is Hard HRM?
staff is a cost - staff are treated as a resource that must be managed in order for the business to cut costs
what is soft HRM?
staff is an asset - treated as an asset that can contribute and help the business achieve its objectives
what does staff treated as an asset consist of?
- staff can participate in more decisions
- higher productivity
- high motivation
- higher retention
- more job autonomy
what does staff treated as a cost consist of?
- lower motivation
- lower productivity
- redundancies are justified as cost cutting
- less decision making
What is a flexible workforce?
working arrangements where there are a variety of options offered to employees in terms of working time, location and patterns of work
What is multiskilling?
staff can be moved from one task to another
What is a part time worker?
employee who works less than full time hours which are 35 or more a week
What is a temporary worker?
employed on a contract or basis which has a time limit for example a supply teacher on maternity cover
What is a zero hour contract?
the employer is not obliged to provide any minimum working hours while the worker is not obliged to accept any work offered
What is job sharing?
an employment arrangement where two people go part time to perform a job normally fulfilled by one person working full time
What are the benefits of multiskilling?
- less staff required
- increases efficiency, quality and productivity
What are the benefits of part time/temporary?
- won’t be overworked
- cost-effective
What are the benefits of working from home?
- work life balance
- low transport costs
- downsize decreases operational costs
What are the benefits of zero hour contracts?
- only pay when needed
- meet a surge in demand
- great for extra money
What are the benefits of job sharing?
- less employee turnover
- 2 skilled workers in one job
What are the drawbacks of job sharing?
- conflict of interest
- reduced pay
- inconsistent output
What are the drawbacks of zero hour contracts?
- may not be given any work at all
- lack of security
- pressure
- hours cant be predicted
What are the drawbacks of working from home?
- demotivated
- excess costs
- teamwork is difficult
What are the drawbacks of temp/part time?
- commitment issues
- lower quality of work
- ruin business reputation
What are the drawbacks of multiskilling?
- higher initial costs
- may involve paying higher wages
What is offshoring?
move your business operations overseas
What is outsourcing?
when you hire someone for a specific task
What are the benefits of outsourcing?
- access specialised expertise
- controlled costs
- increased efficiency
What are the benefits of offshoring?
- lower labour / operational costs
- spread risk across more countries
- tax benefits
What are the drawbacks of outsourcing?
- lack of confidentiality
- lack of security
- management difficulties
What are the drawbacks of offshoring?
- cultural social barriers
- communication issues
- initial cost
What is recruitment?
steps taken by a business to identify a vacancy and attract suitable candidates
What is selection?
making the decision on choosing the right candidate for the position available
What are reasons to recruit staff?
- business expansion
- existing employees leave
- business is searching for new skills
- business is relocating
What costs occur when hiring workers?
- advertisement
- costs of agency fees for a temp
- cost of new wage
- less productivity when induction occurs
- loss of management time taken up by recruitment process
What is internal recruitment?
recruitment from within the business
What is external recruitment?
recruitment from outside the business
What are advantages of internal recruitment?
- lower advertisement costs
- motivated to work harder
- higher productivity
- lower cost per unit
- lower training cost
- less time consuming
What are disadvantages of internal recruitment?
- conflict between staff
- lack of new skills
- limits candidate availability
What are advantages of external recruitment?
- could find a highly skilled worker
- creativity varies
- more new ideas
What are disadvantages of external recruitment?
- lower motivation
- very time consuming
- higher costs
- internal candidates may feel overlooked
What are the 3 types of training?
- on the job
- off the job
- induction
What are the advantages of on the job?
- learn the systems already in place
- adapt easily to conditions
What are the advantages of off the job?
- allows you to learn about company culture before experiencing it
What are the advantages of induction training?
- company culture
- may create loyalty more quickly
What are the disadvantages of on the job?
- may make costly mistakes
What are the disadvantages of off the job?
- less effective
- no real work experience
What are the disadvantages of inductions?
- opportunity costs
- false sense of comfort
What is a tall organisational structure?
- many layers
- narrow span of control
- longer chain of command
- longer line of communication
What is a flat organisational structure?
- few layers
- wide span of control
- shorter chain of command
- shorter line of communication
What is an organisational structure?
shows how people and management are organised in business
What factors influence a business structure?
- size of business
- type of business
- management and leadership style
- competitive environment
What is a chain of command?
flow of information going through the organisation
What is the span of control?
the number of employees for whom the manager is responsible for
What factors influence a span of control?
- personality and skill
- size and complexity of business
- whether centralised or decentralised
- extent of use of clear objectives
What is a centralised organisation?
decision making mainly at head office
What is a decentralised organisation?
decision making is shared between workers
What is a matrix structure?
individuals work across teams and projects as well as within their own department
What are the advantages of a matrix structure?
- helps breakdown traditional barriers
- likely to result in greater motivation
- good way of sharing resources across departments
What are the disadvantages of a matrix structure?
- members of projects may have divided loyalties
- difficult to coordinate
- no clear line of accessibility
What is motivation?
a way to influence employees to have the will to work
What is piecework?
employees are paid per finished item or unit
What are the advantages of piecework?
- experienced and efficient workers can earn more
- incentive to complete work
- employee may work more hours to get work done
What are the advantages of commission?
- skilled sales people can make very good money
- employee isn’t paying downtime when they aren’t selling
- motivates to sell more
What are the advantages of bonuses?
- increasing productivity as they are only given when targets are met
What are the advantages of profit sharing?
- encourages teamwork whereas other forms make staff competitive
- employees keep costs low to keep high profits
- employees become more loyal
What are the advantages of performance related pay?
- directly links performance with how much they are paid
What are the advantages of delegation?
- gives managers self confidence, empowers managers to make decisions and allocate tasks to appropriate employees
What are the advantages of consultation?
- makes employee feel heard, valued and cared for
What are the advantages of empowerment?
- staff recognised for their ability trusted and given control over decisions
- less frustrated with the business
What are the advantages of team working?
- shared responsibility
- ideas through brainstorming
- more likely to take risks
What are the advantages of flexible working?
- less stress
- equal opportunities
- attracts talented people
- fits around childcare
What are the advantages of job rotation?
- multiskilled employee can carry out more than one task
- cost effective way to motivate
What are the advantages of job enrichment?
- motivation through challenge
What are the advantages of job enlargement?
- less boring
- less repetitive
- more efficient
- maximum utility out of employees
What are the disadvantages of piecework?
- workers ay cut corners
- quality may suffer
- slower workers may fall under minimum wage
What are the disadvantages of commission?
- not a steady income
- risky in a recession
- salespeople on commission only may earn no money at all
What are the disadvantages of bonuses?
- heavy financial costs
What are the disadvantages of profit sharing?
- less profit left to reinvest into company
What are the disadvantages of performance related pay?
- causes jealousy and unrest in the workplace
What are the disadvantages of delegation?
- managers may not have correct skills to allocate tasks
- may not choose suitable employee
What are the disadvantages of consultation?
- time consuming
- opportunity cost
What are the disadvantages of empowerment?
- seen as cost cutting
- cost of training
- making managers work more for same pay
What are the disadvantages of team working?
- tensions can occur
- teams suffer from too many meetings
What are the disadvantages of flexible working?
- hard to find shifts that suit everyone
What are the disadvantages of job rotation?
- uncertainty over job changes may be demotivating
- loss of output
What are the disadvantages of job enrichment?
- may be seen as more work
What are the disadvantages of job enlargement?
- more of the same
- more to do
What is Taylorism?
- Division on labour
- paid in terms of output
- allowing for specialisation to happen
What is the mayo theory?
- teamwork
- making workers feel valued
What is the herzberg theory?
- Hygiene factors (bare minimum factors)
- motivating factors to increase output
What is the Maslow theory?
- hierarchy of needs
- Esteen needs
- social needs
- safety
- physiological
What are leaders?
- focus on people
- divise a vision
- divise strategies
- drive change
- look into future
What are managers?
- focus on small tasks
- execute the vision
- implement strategies
- implement change
- focus on present
What is an autocratic leadership style?
Where the leader makes all the decisions without consultation
What is a paternalistic leadership style?
Has some interest of others and is a softer way of autocratic
What is a democratic leadership style?
Allows subordinates to be part of decision making
What is the laissez faire leadership style?
Employees are encouraged to have freedom in their decision making with certain limits
What does effectiveness depend on when talking about leadership style?
- knowledge skills
- experience
- motivation
- self discipline
