2. Human Resource Management Flashcards
Describe the time rate method of paying wages.
Employees are remunerated based on the duration of time that they work.
With reference to two motivation theories, examine the motivation of cleaners at GC
Herzberg’s motivation factors, hygiene and motivation factors ie job satisfaction vs job disatisfaction
Maslow’s higher level of needs spels
Taylor says that people are motivated by economic factors.
Herzberg’s motivation factors, for example, can be widened so as to include job satisfaction through being treated fairly, especially as the cleaners perceive the gardeners to be at the same skill level as themselves.
Candidates could use Adams’ theory in relation to the rewards from GC not meeting the efforts that cleaners are putting in. Though HR are considering offering employee share ownership scheme, which, if introduced, may cause resentment among shareholders as their wealth is shared.
Maslow’s higher level of needs can be reached due to empowerment and trust. Although cleaners are often low skilled they are trusted to work in various environments.
Taylor says that people are motivated by economic factors. The cleaners may feel demotivated from being paid less than gardeners.
Explain two disadvantages of introducing a piece rate system of wages
- Discourages team work coz of competition
- increased stress = increased labour turn over
- less quanlity due to quantity being more important
- Housekeepers may stop worrying as much about the quality of the job they do, instead only worrying about the number of rooms they can clean per hour to achieve greater earnings.
- The piece rate method may also discourage teamwork in the workplace because individual housekeepers simply want to complete more of their own work.
- The increased stress that results from having to clean more rooms may result in increased staff turnover and make it more difficult to recruit housekeepers in the future.
- Staff may become demotivated because they now have to clean more rooms for less pay.
- The piece rate system could damage Wire’s relationship with its customers such as Dales as the bad press could lead Wire’s customers not to renew contracts.
Applying Maslow’s theory of needs, explain two reasons why the workers at CM are becoming demotivated.
define the maslows heirachy of needs
It is expected that the candidates describe the Maslow theory of needs in terms of the hierarchy and the progression from the lower level of needs to the higher ones.
Spels
The application may include the following:
The proposed annual individual contracts based on annual appraisal may stop the employee from even reaching the lower level of needs like safety / job security. Not being able to satisfy such a need will definitely create demotivation and stop the employee from reaching higher levels of needs.
(Candidates may apply this issue to the lowest level of needs.)
Due to the proposed changes like the introduction of job enlargement, job enrichment and empowerment, employees might not even be able to reach the higher levels of needs, more specifically esteem and possibly self-actualization as they are not used to such practices and challenging tasks as well as a general fear of the unknown, hence may be demotivated. They are manual-skilled employees who have never been appraised before.
The retirement of many of their peers may negatively affect the motivation level of the remaining employees. They may no longer be able to fulfill love or belonging needs as the social structure and group support may have disappeared.
Explain how the following can benefit HS:job enlargement
Job enlargement will increase the range of skills and tasks able to be performed
increased productivity
by the school leavers who may lack direct experience of working in a national chain and/or batch production. As recruits will hopefully become future managers, it will be important for effective future leadership in the stores to have experience in all jobs offered by HS.
Performance-related pay (PRP)
definition
ads/dis
a financial reward according to how well goals are archieved
is a system of financial reward where the amount received by a worker is linked to how well they have reached targets and met criteria.
PRP can be a motivator,
but it is also difficult to measure and quantify performance
Explain two factors that may influence the motivation of employees increasing labour turnover
Factors could include:
Time pressures
No overtime
Autocratic leadership style
Time pressures – does not allow SF employees to work at a comfortable speed, which may create stress and does not enable them to be creative, which is paradoxical as they work in the creative industries;
No overtime: no reward for extra work, in a context of low pay scales (only managers are financially rewarded with bonuses: absence of financial rewards for SF employees).
Autocratic leadership style – may not suit some employees, especially in the creative industries.
Explain one benefit and one cost to FA of using an autocratic leadership style.
QUICH DECISION MAKING
DEMOTIVATING FOR WORKERS INCREASING LABOUR TURNOVER DAYS
In the stimulus it is indicated that FA has an autocratic leadership style. This style appears to dovetail with the culture of the less economically developed country. Also, the factory is profitable and has been efficient through lower costs. It is possible that the leadership style fosters loyalty in this country because of the cultural fit.
The costs to FA include that autocratic leadership may stifle creativity and innovation, which could be available in a more democratic system. Productivity in Germany could be higher than in a less economically developed country. The fact that FA’s leadership is thinking of relocating to Germany indicates that they see problems in moving to a new higher-price segment.
Outline two features of autocratic leadership.
DECISION Making is by one indidvidual
role culture rules
Decision making is carried out by an individual or select few individuals.
Communication tends to be one way only- top down.
Organization is characterized by a role culture.
Any other suitable feature outlined
Explain the differences between leadership and management.
leadership is taking personaal interest to archive tasks
empathetic
communicate
inspires
while management make sure the task is cleared
negociate
disciple
makes day to day decisions
Su shows distinct leadership qualities. She:
* inspires
* sets missions
* takes responsibility for strategic decisions
* takes on the role of spokesperson
* delegates, advises, guides
* shows features of McGregor Theory Y.
Her managerial roles are somewhat limited but include organizing at a corporate level. Most of the management functions are delegated.
Managers, for example David and Salima, fulfil management functions including:
* making day-to-day decisions
* making tactical decisions
* organizing resources, directing, coordinating staff.
Explain two differences between a manager and a leader.
a manager makes sure tasks are archived
discipline, making day to day decisions, neociating
a leader has personal interest in the archiving of tasks and sets goals giving a firm direction.
communicates
empathetic
inspires
goal setting and direction
sets vision of the company
A leader of an organization will probably be the overall strategic and goal setter. Based on experience, a leader will determine the vision for a business and if required, changes which will need to be made if the vision is in danger of not being realized. The leader therefore establishes direction, aligning employees, motivating, mentoring, inspiring as well as producing change. A leader inspires employees.
The main role of a manager is achieving specific organisational goals. A manager will attempt to put the vision of the business into daily practice looking more at shortterm goals and day to day tactics. Managers will inevitably be involved with planning and budgeting and monitoring financial and individual performance more closely. Managers may micro-manage works including organizing resources and staffing to ensure that individual job performance is being maintained consistent with the goals of the organization. A manager also creates predictability and order.
From the stimulus it appears that Chi normally sets the vision of the business. He set up CM; he had the right business idea and has contributed considerably to the growth and success of CM. It also appears that Chi inspires and motivates many employees to follow a shared vision and indeed they are very loyal. His span of control is seemingly quite large. Implicit in the case is that his paternalistic leadership style is in contrast to Mei’s more ‘autocratic’ approach and results focused approach.
A leader normally emerges while managers are appointed. Mei as the manager has the official skills to manage while Chi has natural leadership ability.
Mei was appointed by Chi and seems intent on modernizing the organisation and therefore has the power to make some changes, but has not yet earned the trust of employees. Chi who was the founder of CM naturally emerged as a leader and inspired and motivated employees.
Leaders build trust using their charisma. At the moment, Chi is the one who is trusted and admired and followed and has control over the strategic direction while Mei is responsible for implementing changes although change is inevitable.
Managers follow rules and expectations. Mei is a manager who uses her theoretical knowledge to manage and set new objectives. With her use of new business theory and desire to restructure the organization, Mei is probably looking to bring the organization up to date to boost efficiency. There is evidence that Mei is micro-managing employees through her desire to introduce job enlargement and enrichment schemes – real sources of tension leading to potential conflict. It is very likely that Mei is monitoring individual performance very closely in contrast to Chi’s paternal approach.
As a manager, Mei is listened to due to her official title not her personality. While Chi is listened to due to his charisma, personal qualities and paternalistic attitude towards employees.
Mei also plans to implement an official performance appraisal system and thinks systematically but it alienates the employees.
Recommend an appropriate leadership style
Autocratic management would not be appropriate except in situations where immediate decisions are required
1. quick decision makong
2. increased labour turnover days
Democratic leadership might be appropriate, both in terms of the team he manages and his own personal qualities
- increased motivation decreasing labour turn over
- slow desion making
Laissez faire might mean issues do not get resolved such as disagreements, sense of direction.
The best style of leadership is likely to be to adjust to circumstances and people i.e. situational leadership.
There are three aspects to this choice; the nature of the tasks, the nature of his colleagues, his own personal qualities
Outline two features of an autocratic leadership style.
- Decision making in an organization is restricted to a very small group of select individuals.
- Limited consultation and discussion in an organization given by autocratic leadership.
- Communication tends to be downward and one-way only
- top-down approach
Key functions of management are:
*making sure tasks are archived
* make day to day decisions
* setting objectives and planning
* organizing resources to meet objectives, including staff recruitment
* directing and motivating staff
* coordinating activities
State two features of a hierarchical organizational structure.
Pyramidal with many layers (workers>supervisors>managers>senior managers>executives> CEO) or long chain of command or tall structure.
Usually a narrow span of control.
Decisions flow from top down and information passes from the bottom up.
Authority/decision-making is centralized.
Delegated authority, if any, is narrowly defined.
Decision-making typically takes time or is not a quick process
Decentralization:
Some decision making is delegated to lower level managers – in this case to subsidiary businesses.
Advantages of decentralisation
faster desion making ie Lower-level managers have the authority to make decisions in their areas of expertise without waiting for approval from higher levels, enabling faster adaptation to customer needs and market trends.
MOTIVATING
Improved Communication and Coordination:
REDUCING LABOUR TURNOVER
Decision-making delegated to the mines (operations, wages, contracts) and hotels (prices and menus)
Not all decisions will be decentralized (in this case strategic decisions remain with the Board)
Better focus on core activities
Better understanding of local issues (hotels are in Europe which might face completely different problems from mines in Africa)
Disdvantages of decentralisation
LOSS OF CONTROL
Difficulty in Standardization: Decentralization makes it challenging to standardize processes, procedures, and performance metrics across the organization. Each decentralized unit may develop its own practices and metrics, making it difficult to compare performance and achieve consistency in operations.
Decision-making is not necessarily strategic as hotel managers and managers at mines are not part of higher level decision-making process at board level
More difficult to ensure consistent practices and policies across different locations. Hotel customers may prefer consistency
More difficult to achieve financial control if individual managers have more budgetary autonomy.
As contexts and needs are different, some conflicts may arise or may lead to inter-divisional rivalry if divisions compare each other, when making decisions on budgets, wages, employment, contracts, etc. (i.e. wages in Canada vs. in Africa)
A cost centre
is a section of a business to which both costs and revenues can be allocated.
Currently cost centres are based on functional areas such as Marketing, HRM. Proposal is to base them on product (washing machines, vacuum cleaners, toasters etc,) and, where appropriate, project (eg click and fix).
Explain one advantage and one disadvantage for DA of changing from function-based cost centres to the cost centres proposed by Pierre
Advantages of change/COST-CENTERS include:
Easier to monitor and control production of products
Easier to see which products to drop, or modify
Easier to set targets – difficult for large functional areas
This is because functions are not directly related to products.
Disadvantages of change/COST-CENTERS include:
Costs of implementing change
Disruption
Lack of continuity
Possible unwanted competition between products or projects
