1.4 Managing people

Question 1

Taylor - scientific management (motivational theories)

Answer 1

Believed in paying employees according to standard of their work.
Believed employees would do minimum work when unsupervised
Implications - wages was main motivator, managers order employees, workers should obey

Question 2

Mayo - human relations theory (motivational theories)

Answer 2

Experiments showed that changes created an increase in productivity e.g. changed break times
Implications - attention from management improved productivity.
Productivity increased when working in teams as long as they still had managements attention.
Theory suggests management need to improve communication and value workers opinions.
e.g. informal staff social clubs for regular feedback

Question 3

Maslow hierarchy (motivational theories)

Answer 3

Maslow says people cant unlock the next layer of the hierarchy without achieving the one before. The order is
Basic physical needs - food, water
safety- safe work environment with job security
social needs - friendship, teamwork
self-esteem - achievements
self actualization - meeting potential
Different workers may place in different order e.g. valuing friendship overachievement

Question 4

Herzberg - two factor theory (motivational theories)

Answer 4

He identified two groups of factors which influence motivation
Hygiene factors - they do not motivate but if not good they can demotivate e.g. working conditions, pay, work policy and relations with co-workers
Motivating factors - can motivate workers e.g. interesting work, personal achievement, recognition etc

Question 5

Piecework (financial motivation)

Answer 5

Often used for assembly lines.
Workers are paid per unit they produce they do not get a fixed salary.
Used when quantity produced can be measured easy it can motivate workers to produce more products. However quality can suffer so quality control will be needed.

Question 6

Piecework (advantage and disadvantage)

Answer 6

Advantage:
- experienced workers get paid more
- incentive to complete work
- may work more hours to get work done

Disadvantage:
- quality may be bad
- workers may cut corners

Question 7

Commission (financial motivation)

Answer 7

Money paid to workers for tasks (making sales) which is a bonus on top of their salary.
Used in sales jobs e.g. estate agents
Often a percentage of the value of what they sold.

Question 8

Commission (advantaged and disadvantages)

Answer 8

Advantages:
- skilled workers can make a lot
- employer not paying for when they not making sales e.g. downtime
- motivates employees to sell more

Disadvantages:
- If being paid by commission only then workers may not earn anything
- not a steady income
- workers are selling rather than meeting needs.

Question 9

Bonus (financial motivation)

Answer 9

Lump sum on top of salary or wage which can come from a set target of sales, performance or holidays e.g. Christmas
Bonus could be fixed or a percentage of salary.

Question 10

Bonus (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 10

Advantage:
- can be used as an incentive to work harder
- can be used as an appreciation of hard work

Disadvantage:
- cash bonus can be costly for business
- bonuses are taxed

Question 11

Profit share (financial motivators)

Answer 11

Workers may be paid an annual dividend based on profit levels made by firm
Workers keep costs down to keep profits high
Workers become more loyal

Question 12

Profit share (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 12

Advantages:
- encourages teamwork to reach a common goal which is success of business
- motivation is high
- focus will be on profitability
- increases commitment
-closes gap between employer/employee

Disadvantages:
- salaries will go up equally so does not necessarily motivate
- Focus will be on profit share rather than quality of customer service

Question 13

Performance related pay (financial motivators)

Answer 13

Workers are paid based on their performance or performance of the business.
The amount is determined by the individual and the business meeting targets this is often done in annual appraisals.
Can lead to demoralisation f business is doing well and only certain employees are paid extra.
e.g. if individual performance is
excellent = 10% bonus good = 5% bonus

Question 14

Performance related pay (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 14

Advantages:
- direct link between performance and amount paid
- easy for business to rank staff when looking for promotions

Disadvantages:
- critics say it can cause jealousy
- those that don’t meet targets may blame manager and be demotivated
-bonus may be too low to be an incentive

Question 15

Delegation (non-financial motivators)

Answer 15

Allocating tasks to employees. The manager/supervisor needs to have authority to delegate. Manager can make a list of of tasks to delegate. This gives more responsibility for decision making.

Question 16

Delegation (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 16

Advantages:
- gives managers confidence as they have to give the task to the right person
- ensures the teams potential is maximised
- builds trust between manager and employee

Disadvantages:
- managers may delegate work they don’t want to do or when they are overloaded
- managers may not always choose a suitable employee

Question 17

Consultation (non-financial motivators)

Answer 17

Gives employees chance to be part of decision making.
e.g. Managers include employees on discussions on how to improve productivity.

Question 18

Consultation (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 18

Advantages:
- effective consultation can help avoid minor issues
- can help them feel valued
May have suggestions that managers may not have thought

Disadvantages:
- employees may not know how successful business is run
- employees may have grudges amongst company or themselves

Question 19

Empowerment (non-financial motivators)

Answer 19

Gives people control over their work and a greater role in decision making.
Gives authority to delegate tasks to others
This means person most suitable to make decisions gets the responsibility and can be held accountable

Question 20

Empowerment (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 20

Advantages:
- staff are more productive as they are recognised so they are less frustrated
- empowered staff are better at problem solving as they are closer to issues and problems
- greater loyalty as there is greater involvement
- quality circles can suggest improvements

Disadvantages:
- some may see this as more work but same pay
- lack of experience can increase mistakes
- can be regarded as cost cutting, a way of delayering, making management redundancies, makes managers insecure and their is an added cost of training

Question 21

Teamworking (non-financial motivators)

Answer 21

Putting workers in teams and let them organise their own tasks
This can lead to job empowerment and job enrichment as workers get greater role in varied tasks
Involves collaboration and discussion

Question 22

Teamworking (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 22

Advantages:
- pooled talents
-individuals can specialise
- well managed teams produce better results

Disadvantages:
- tensions can occur
sometimes an individual approach is better

Question 23

Flexible working (non-financial motivators)

Answer 23

Offers variety of working patterns so workers can have good work/life balance

Question 24

Flexible working (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 24

Advantages:
- greater cost effectiveness/efficiency
- chance to have extended operating hours
- job satisfaction
- better motivation
- reduced sick leave

Disadvantages:
- can be difficult to set shifts to suit everyone
- workers may take advantage of flex system

Question 25

Job enrichment (non-financial motivators)

Answer 25

Gives workers tasks of higher responsibility for organising work and solving problems
Job may be redesigned so it is harder and less repetitive
e.g. planning tasks, ordering materials etc

Question 26

Job enrichment (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 26

Advantages:
- more interesting more motivating
-improved productivity
-lower absenteeism rates
-employee loyalty
-prepares employee for future improvements

Disadvantages:
- may find job harder
- training may be required

Question 27

Job rotation (non-financial motivators)

Answer 27

workers occasionally move from one task to another
staff can be trained in a variety of skills so they can be better utilised when shirt of staff
most common in production lines

Question 28

Job rotation (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 28

Advantages:
- muti-skilled employees
- less monotonous reducing labour turnover rates
- cost effective and can motivate employees

Disadvantages:
- convincing employees may be time consuming as they may be unwilling
- takes time to learn new skills.

Question 29

Job enlargement (non-financial motivators)

Answer 29

Involves giving more tasks of the same responsibility
Prevents employees from getting bored and expands scope of their job at the same level
can improve motivation because there are more interesting and varied tasks

Question 30

Job enlargement (advantages and disadvantages)

Answer 30

Advantages:
- less repetitive and maximum use out of employee
- improved productivity
- improved employee retention and absenteeism

Disadvantages:
- may be seen as more of the same if worker regards it as day to day tasks
- needs to be linked to clear career progression to make sense to employee