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Business Management > 2.1 Functions and evolution of HR > Flashcards

2.1 Functions and evolution of HR Flashcards

1
Q

Human resource management (HRM)

A

The process of managing the personnel of the firm to ensure that the firm meets its objectives.

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2
Q

HR includes

A
  • terms and conditions of employment
  • recruitment and training
  • motivation
  • wage bargaining
  • pensions
  • manpower planning
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3
Q

Two main stages of human resource planning:

A
  1. Forecasting the number of employees required
  2. Forecasting the skills required
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4
Q

Human Resource Planning involves:

A
  • Recruitment
  • Induction
  • Retention
  • Dismissal
  • Redundancies
  • Training and development
  • Performance appraisals
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5
Q

Labour turnover

A

Refers to the amount of people that leave an organization, expressed as a percentage of workforce, per time period.

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6
Q

Labour turnover (formula)

A

number of employees who leave/ number of employees in the firm x 100%

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7
Q

Drawbacks of high labour turnover

A
  • costs of recruiting, selecting and training new staff
  • poor output levels and costumer service due to staff vacancies before new recruits are appointed
  • difficult to establish loyalty and regular, familiar contact with customers
  • difficult to establish team spirit and stable work groups
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8
Q

Potential benefits of high labour turnover

A
  • low-skilled and less productive staff might be leaving
  • new ideas and practices are brought into an organization by new workers
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9
Q

Internal factors influencing HR planning

A
  • changes in business organisation
  • changes in labour relations
  • changes in how the business operates
  • changes in the financial situation
  • changes in higher management
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10
Q

External factors influencing HR planning

A
  • demographic change influences the supply of labour
  • technological change has impacted on the required employment skills and the nature of the employment
  • labour mobility
  • state of the economy
  • employment laws and regulations
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11
Q

The process of recruitment

A
  1. Establish the exact nature of the job vacancy and draw up a job description.
  2. Draw up a person specification (qualities and skills).
  3. Prepare a job advertisement reflecting the requirements of the job and the personal qualities looked for.
    - internal recruitment
    - external recruitment
  4. Draw up a shortlist of applicants.
  5. Conduct interviews.
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12
Q

Types of training:

A
  • on the job
  • off the job
  • cognitive
  • behavioural
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13
Q

On the job (types of training)

A
  • Involves instruction at the place of work.
  • cheaper than sending recruits on external training
  • the content is controlled by the business
  • Induction training
  • Mentoring
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14
Q

Off the job (types of training)

A

Any course of instruction away from the place of work.

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15
Q

Cognitive (types of training)

A

Focuses on helping improve the ‘core’ abilities and self-control necessary before an employee can function successfully.

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16
Q

Behavioural (types of training)

A

Aims to provide employees with the ability to communicate effectively with others and to interact with them in a constructive way.

17
Q

Types of appraisal

A
  • formative
  • summative
  • 360-degree feedback
  • self-appraisal
18
Q

Formative appraisal

A

Based on a range of formal and informal assessment methods employed by supervisors not only to monitor an employee’s progress but also to support and provide guidance for improvement, qualitative feedback.

19
Q

Summative appraisal

A

The goal is to measure the level of an employee’s success or proficiency in meeting predetermined benchmarks.

20
Q

360-degree feedback

A

Performance-appraisal collected from ‘all around’, providing feedback from many people who come into contact with the employee e.g. colleagues, the main objective is to assess training and development needs to provide competence-related information for succession planning, not promotion or pay increases.

21
Q

Self-appraisal

A

Involves asking the employee to evaluate their own performance usually via a form, this will later be used for discussion during a performance review meeting.

22
Q

Methods for reducing HR costs:

A
  • downsizing of workforces
  • disposal of peripheral activities
  • outsourcing of support activities to concentrate on core activities
  • project-based management and team working
  • creation of a flexible workforce
23
Q

Flexible working

A
  • part-time employment
  • temporary employment
  • flexitime arrangements
  • portfolio working
  • teleworking
  • telecommuting
24
Q

Flexitime arrangements

A

Flexitime covers any variations in working hours from the standard working day, in the form of:
flexible working hours
job sharing
employments breaks
annualised hours

25
Q

Portfolio working

A

In portfolio working, employment is not dependent on a single firm. Individuals are paid for the skills, products or services that they offer. A person is a portfolio worker if she or he offers different services to a variety of clients.

26
Q

Teleworking

A

Performing all of their work either from home or another remote location.

27
Q

Telecommuting

A

Periodically or regularly performing work for their employer either from home or another remote location.

28
Q

Benefits of flexible working

A
  • Research shows that flexible workers are more productive, reliable and loyal than their office-based counterparts.
  • Teleworkers have a better work–life balance, waste less time and money on travel and have a reduced carbon footprint.
29
Q

Drawbacks of flexible working

A
  • Reduces effectiveness of communications.
  • Difficult to build teams.
  • There may be problems of coordination and consistency.
  • Less control over employees’ work practices.
30
Q

Outsourcing (contracting out)

A

When a firm moves a business function or activity to external contractors who complete the function for less than the firm’s internal cost.

31
Q

Offshoring

A

The transfer of a business function or activity overseas, regardless of whether the function stays within the firm or not.

32
Q

Reshoring

A

When outsourced functions are returned to the location from which they were originally offshored.

33
Q

Potential benefits of outsourcing or offshoring

A
  • have lower costs and deliver the business can function more effectively
  • offer greater potential capacity to support a firm’s growth
  • have greater breadth and depth of knowledge of the business function role
34
Q

Possible costs of outsourcing or offshoring

A
  • employees may feel alienated dealing with an external HR provider and may not trust them
  • difficult to pass on local expertise and cultural knowledge to an external provider
  • firms may have to accept an off-the-shelf system from the external provider that may not meet their individual needs
  • higher long-term costs

Business Management (37 decks)

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