2.5- Making Human Resouce Decisions Flashcards
What are hierarchical organisations?
- Have lots of layers of management
- Managers have a lot of employees to look after
- In h managers have a small span of control( only man age 3 or 4 employees)
- Employee likely to be paid more if they are higher up in hierarchy
- Decisions have to be made through the layers(must seek permission from manager)
What are the benefits of hierarchical structures?
- Provide lots of opportunities for employees to seek promotion+ chance to earn more money
Disadvantages of hierarchical structure
- Need to seek permission through layers
- Communication is harder + slower
What is a flat structure?
- Has few levels of management
- Managers have a wide span of control( they look after a large no. Of employees)
Advantages of a flat structure
- Communication is quicker + more efficient
Disadvantages of flat structure
- Managers have more employees to look after
- Managers workload becomes large
- Makes it difficult to make sure all employees are supported
- Limiting: does not offer employees many opportunities for promotion
What is a centralised structure?
- Decisions are made at the ‘centre’ of the organisation
- Decisions must be approve by managers before implementing
Benefits of a centralised structure
- Business activities are very focused
- Vison of organisation is clear
- Performance of employees is tracked and managed
- High levels of control
- Accountability of all members of staff in the business is clear
What is a decentralised structure?
- Decisions are made locally
- Decisions are made at a lower level
Benefits of a decentralise structure
- Senior management can focus on the bigger picture
- Local managers can be more creative in their thinking + respond to local needs of customers+ don’t have to seek permission
- Fewer mistakes made+ business operates better
- Local managers + employees feel more empowered and responsible
- Low cost
Disadvantages of a decentralised business
- Managers and employees must be highly trained
- Managers must be able to make good decisions
- Need to clearly communicate what is going well
- Id they don’t they can be confusion + cost a lot of money
How does communication take place in a business?
- Having conversations in offices
- Discussing things in meetings
- Talking to colleagues on phone
- Use digital methods of conference
Why does communication become a problem when a business grows?
- Business communicates too little
- Business communicates too much
- Other info or activities act as barriers and get in the way of communication
What is the impact of insufficient communication in a business?
- Leads to managers + employees being unaware of what is happening
- Can lead to mistakes+ inefficiency
- Fatal consequences + financial difficulties
What is the impact of excessive communication in a business?
- Managers + employees unlikely to do their jobs efficiently coz of time needed to read through all of it
- E.g E-mail overload
- Too many forms to fill out
What kind of barriers affect communication?
- Illegible handwriting, poor font + presentation
- Structure not clear, cultural differences, jargon(slang)
- Language not understood
- Speaking too fast
How does hours affect the way an employee work?
- Full time employee works approx 35h a week
- it’s illegal to treat part time employees less favourable than full time employees
- Flexible working hours= helps business cover temporary gaps in staff due to sickness
- Zero hour contract=employees don’t know how long they will have to work for
What are the 3 main in contracts?
- Permanent=employee will be employed by a business on an ongoing basis
- Temporary= employee will be employed for a fixed amount of time
- Freelance contract= business asks a freelancer to work for them, usually on a particular project. Freelancer is self-employed
How does technology impact the ways of working?
- Social media platforms change the way people communicate
- Improved efficiency of employees
- Makes it possible to make decisions quickly
- Business can employ people working in different countries
- Meetings can take place online
How does technology benefit employers?
- Lower costs due to less travel requirements and reduced workspace requirements
- Lower sickness rate as staff less likely to take time off
- Happier staff coz they can work more flexibly, they are less likely to leave the business
How does technology benefit employees?
- Reduced time spent travelling to work
- More flexible times to start and end of workdays
- Less chance of being prevented from getting on with work with conversations or meetings
What are the 2 main stages of recruitment?
- The business needs to be clear about the different roles that it needs to fill and the responsibility of those roles
- The business needs to develop the documents and processes that are used in job application and the selection process
What are the 4 most common roles seen in a business?
- Director
- Senior manager
- Supervisor
- Operational and support staff
Who are the directors?
- The people at the top of a businesses organisational structure
- Highest paid employees
- Have a lot of responsibility
- Responsible for making sure business runs correctly
- Responsib,e for ensuring business accounts are made available to gov departments
Who are senior managers?
- Managers at the highest level of management
- Forma team called Senior management team
- No. of senior managers depends on size of organisation
- Usually responsible for setting the businesses strategy (aims+objectives)
Who are the supervisors and team leaders?
- The managers in charge of the business’s staff
- Ensure employees work efficiently + are completing work on a day to day basis
- Their responsibility affects the level of their wage
Who are the operational and support staff?
- Employees who are employed within the business to carry out operations of that business
- Support staff= employees who carry out duties that are not directly associated with operations, but are necessary to make business operations possible
