2.5 - Making Human Resource Decisions Flashcards
What do organisational structures do?
Organisational structures organise people
What is it important that a firm has?
+It’s important that a firm has a clear organisational structure.
+This makes it easy for everybody in the business to know who is responsible for what, and helps the company to make sure that it has people in every job role to deal with each of its activities.
What do most firms have in their organisational structure?
+Most firms have layers in their organisational structure - there are four basic roles of staff, with different responsibilities, that make up the layers:
- Directors
- Senior Managers
- Supervisors or Team Leaders
- Operational and Support Staff
What happens to the number of people generally as you go down the organisational structure?
+The number of people on each layer generally increases as you go down the organisational structure.
Who are directors?
+Directors are responsible for the business’s strategy [its overall direction].
+The directors decide on strategy and targets at regular board meetings.
Who are senior managers?
+Senior managers organise the carrying out of the directors’ strategy.
+A large firm may have middle and junior managers ranked below the senior managers.
Who are supervisors or team leaders?
+Supervisors or team leaders are ranked below managers.
+They usually look after specific projects or small teams of operational or support staff.
Who are operational or support staff?
+Operational or support staff are workers who aren’t responsible for other staff.
+They’re often given specific tasks to perform by managers, supervisors or team leaders.
Where are the directors on the layers of the organisational structure and where are the operational or support staff?
+The directors are on the top layer of an organisational structure, and operational and support staff are on the lowest layer.
What is the chain of command?
+The chain connecting directors to operational and support staff is called the chain of command.
+At each level, a certain amount of responsibility is delegated [passed on] to people in the level below.
What is the span of control?
+The span of control is the number of workers who report to one manager.
What can an organisational structure be?
+An organisational structure can be hierarchical or flat.
What does a hierarchical organisational structure have more than a flat one?
+A hierarchical organisational structure has more layers than a flat organisational structure.
How many layers does a flat organisational structure have?
+In a flat structure there are very few [if any] layers between directors and operational support staff.
What will a firm’s organisational structure affect?
+Whether a firm’s structure is hierarchical or flat will affect communication and management in the firm.
What happens in hierarchical structures?
- There is a long chain of command with more layers of management.
- This can make communication between the top and bottom of the structure difficult and slow because more people need to pass on the message.
- Each manager only has a narrow span of control - this can make a firm more effective as managers can monitor the employees they are responsible for more closely.
What happens in flat structures?
- There is a short chain of command - this means that passages can be passed on quickly.
- However, each manager also has a wide span of control - this means that each manager has to manage a lot of employees at once [it can be difficult to manage a lot of employees effectively].
What do firms need to decide on at each layer of their organisational structures?
+Firms need to decide how much power to give people at each layer of their organisational structures.
What can organisations be?
Organisations can be centralised or decentralised.
What will depend on whether the bosses want a centralised or decentralised structure?
+How much power and authority is delegated at each layer in an organisational structure will depend on whether the bosses want a centralised or decentralised structure.
What happens in centralised organisations?
+All major decisions are made by one person or a few senior managers at the top of the structure/
What are the advantages of centralised organisations?
+Advantages are that these senior managers tend to have plenty of experience, and can get an overview of the whole business.
+Policies will be uniform throughout the business.
What are the disadvantages of centralised organisations?
+On the downside, if all business decisions need to be made by one or two people, it can slow down decision-making and communication of decisions can take a long time to filter through to employees.
+This means that the organisation reacts slowly to change.
What can senior managers become in centralised organisations?
+Senior managers at the top of the organisational structure can become very powerful.
+But depending too heavily on a few people at the top can cause problems if those people lack specialist knowlege or if they ‘lose their touch’ and start making poor decisions.
What happens in decentralised organisations?
+The authority to make most decisions is shared out - for example, power might be delegated to regional managers or to more junior employees in individual branches of a business.
What are the advantages of decentralised organisations?
- Advantages are that employees can use expert knowledge of their sector to make decisions - they don’t always need to communicate these decisions with managers above them for approval, so changes can be made more quickly.
- This is really important in competitive environments, where a firm needs to respond to changes or opportunities in the market more quickly than its competitors.
What happens to senior managers in decentralised organisations?
+Another advantage is that senior managers at the top of the organisational structure are not responsible for making as many decisions.
+This means there’s less need for a central office where decisons are made [a headquarters], which can decrease a firm’s fixed costs.
What are the disadvantages of decentralised organisations?
+The disadvantages are that inconsistencies may develop between departments or regions.
+Also, the decision-makers might not be able to see the overall needs of the business.
Give example of decentralised businesses.
+Supermarket chains [eg. Tesco, Asda] have a decentralised structure.
+Big decisons on things such as branding and marketing campaigns are made by directors at the top of the organisational structure.
+But each store usually has its own manager who makes important decisions about the running of their store, eg. decisions about recruiting and training staff, and controlling stock levels.
What do businesses need to choose?
+Businesses need to choose the most appropriate structure.
What does the type of organisational structure a business has depend on?
+The type of organisational structure a business has depends on many things, eg. the business’s size.
What structure is a small business likely to have?
+A small business is likely to have a flat structure - it’s often just run by the owner without the need for any additional managers.
What happens as a business grows and employs more staff?
+As a business grows and employs more staff, managers might be needed to help organise and control things, so the organisational structure becomes hierarchical.
What happens to the number of managers the bigger the business?
+The bigger the busines, the greater the number of managers needed [and the greater the costs].
+A big business might be easier to operate if it splits into different parts [eg. different regions].
What structure do businesses often start with?
+Businesses often start with a centralised structure, but decentralise as they get too big to make all the decisions at the top or if it’s better for different areas of the business to be managed separately.
What do firms have to overcome?
Firms have to overcome barriers to communicate effectively
What kind of communication is really important in a business?
+Effective communications in a business is really important - it means that different areas of the business work well together, and that everyone in the business knows what they should be doing and why.
+It can improve staff motivation as staff will know what’s going on in the firm and are likely to feel more confident that they’re doing their job properly.
What should businesses do in order to communicate effectively?
+In order to communicate effectivey, messages need to reach the people that need to receive them without unnecessary delay and without being misinterpreted.
+Firms need to overcome barriers to communication in order to communicate effectively.
What are the barriers to communication?
- Noise
- Personalities
- Distance
- Jargon
How is noise a barrier to communication?
+Noise - it’s difficult to hold a conversation in a noisy environment, such as a busy factory.
How are personalities a barrier to communication?
+Some employees may feel uncomfortable communicating with other people in the firm because, eg. they don’t get on personally or feel they are unapproachable.
How is distance a barrier to communication?
+Distance - many businesses operate across different sites, sometimes many miles apart, so it can be difficult to speak to people face-to-face.
How is jargon a barrier to communication?
+Technical language used in one department may not be understood by people in other departments.
What is one of the most effective ways to communicate?
+Face-to-face is one of the most effective ways to communicate - body language can help express the message and it’s easy to confirm the message has been properly received and understood.
What kinds of communication can cause problems?
+To little or too much communication can cause problems.
What do businesses need to balance?
+Businesses need to get the balance right between having insufficient [not enough] and excessive [too much] communication.
What are the effects of insufficient communication?
+Insufficient communication can lead to inefficiency - people may be slow to recieve important messages about what they should be doing, meaning time and money is wasted on them doing things incorrectly.
+It may also mean that information isn’t passed on between different departments or teams - this may mean that some tasks end up getting done more than once, or are not done in ways that are best for the business as a whole.
How can insufficient communication demotivate staff?
+Insufficient communication can demotivate staff.
+They may feel frustrated if a lack of communication is stopping them from doing their job properly.
+Also, they may not feel valued if they’re not told about things that are going on in the firm.
What are the effects of excessive communication?
+Excessive comminication can lead to inefficiency - it takes time to pass on and receive messages; if people are frequently involved in communication about things that don’t directly affect them it can waste valuable time.
+People may also start to take less notice of messages, and miss out ones that are important to them.
What may excessive communication lead to?
+Excessive communication may mean many people are trying to pass on the same message - employees may get conflicting information from different sources and there may be confusion over which information is correct.
+This can lead to time being wasted while the workers find out the correct information, or mistakes being made while workers follow the wrong information.
+Both of these things reduce efficiency and productivity, which can reduce output.
How may staff feel due to excessive communication?
+Staff may feel demotivated by excessive communication
+They may feel overwhelmed with all the information they are receiving and annoyed if it’s affecting their ability to do their job well.
What do all employees have?
+All employees have a contract of employment - a legal agreement between themselves and their employer.
+The contract includes details about the way the employee works, eg. how many hours they are required to do.
What can employment be?
Employment can be full-time or part-time
What does working full time and part-time usually mean?
+Working full-time usually means around 35-40 hours a week.
+Part-time staff work ‘less than a full working week’ usually between 10 and 30 hours per week.
What type of job do some people prefer to have?
+Some people prefer to have a full-time job, or need to work full-time for financial reasons.
+Other people work part-time so they can spend more time with family or on other interests.
What are the advantages of full-time staff?
+Full-time staff are good if there’s enough work for them to do, since they are likely to have only one job and so the business will have more control over the hours they work.
