3.6 Decision Making To Improve Human Resource Performance Flashcards
1
Q
What is human resource management?
A
Human resource management is about managing people
2
Q
What is the purpose of Human resource management?
A
The purpose of human resource management is to ensure that business achieve the maximum benefit from its employees at the minimum cost. The human resources department needs to make sure that the business has the right number of employees with the right skills, qualifications and qualities.
3
Q
What are human resource objectives?
A
Human resource objectives are the targets that the function of a business responsible for all employer related issues want to achieve in the given time period
4
Q
Examples of human resource objectives
A
– Employee engagement and involvement – talent development – training – diversity – alignment of values – number, skills and location of employees
5
Q
What is the talent development cycle?
A
– Analysis of needs/talent planning – recruitment/selection – orientation (introducing new staff to the business) – skill development – performance evaluation – succession planning ... and the cycle continues
6
Q
What is alignment of values?
A
Alignment of values is bringing the core values or beliefs of all employees together to focus on achieving a common aim, this can lead to a strong corporate culture where all employees fit into ‘the way we do things around here’ mindset
7
Q
Internal influences on HR objectives / values
A
– Time – budget – correct resources – objectives of the business – objectives of other departments
8
Q
External influences on HR objectives
A
– Workforce skills and availability – technological change – market conditions – political factors – current ethical and environmental issues – Social factors
9
Q
What is hard HRM?
A
Staff are treated as a resource that must be managed in order for the business to control costs and output
10
Q
What is soft HRM?
A
Staff are treated as an asset to the business that can contribute and help the business achieve its objectives
11
Q
Typical characteristics of soft HRM
A
– Managers motivate employees through empowerment and development and think that working is natural for employees
– Opportunities for development including training, talent development, internal promotion
– consultation
– greater autonomy and responsibility due to a flat organisational structure
12
Q
Typical characteristics of hard HRM
A
– Managers believe that employees are mainly motivated by money and think they will do as little work as possible
– Training is only done to meet production needs
– there are many control mechanisms in place, for example, judgemental appraisals, centralised decision-making and tall organisational structure
– Fixed term contracts
– minimum wage
– external recruitment
13
Q
Formula for labour productivity
A
Labour productivity =
Output per period
————————————
Number of employees
14
Q
Formula for labour cost per unit
A
Labour cost per unit =
Total labour cost
—————————————
Number of units produced
15
Q
Formula for employee costs as a % of turnover
A
Employee costs as a % of turnover =
Employee costs
————————— X 100
Sales turnover
16
Q
Formula for labour turnover
A
Labour turnover =
Number of staff leaving
————————————- X 100
Total number of staff
17
Q
What are some external causes of high labour turnover?
A
External causes of high labour turnover include changes in regional unemployment levels, and the growth of other local firms using staff with similar skills.
18
Q
What are some internal causes of high labour turnover?
A
Internal causes of high labour turnover include poor motivation of staff, low wages, and a lack of opportunities for promotion. Staff will join other firms to increase their pay and job responsibilities.
19
Q
Benefits of high staff turnover
A
– Constant stream of new ideas through new staff
– firms can recruit staff who have already been trained by competitors which saves money
– if sales fall, firm can reduce workforce through natural wastage rather than a costly redundancy
– enthusiasm of new staff influences other workers
20
Q
Disadvantages of high staff turnover
A
– Lack of loyal and experienced staff who know the business
– firm loses staff it has trained, often to direct competitors
– training costs money and productivity drops when new staff get trained
– recruitment costs are high
21
Q
Formula for absenteeism
A
Number of staff absent
for a time period
—————————————— X 100
Total number of staff days
worked per time period
22
Q
What is the link between labour retention and labour turnover?
A
The higher the labour turnover the lower the labour retention rate
23
Q
What does an organisational chart set out?
A
An organisational structure chart is the simplest way to show how a business is organised. It sets out who has authority and responsibility to make decisions within a business by organising job roles into a hierarchy, spans of control, line management and chain of command.
24
Q
What is a tall organisational structure?
A
Tall organisational structures have long chains of command due to a lot of levels of hierarchy. Tall structures can affect communication because messages take a long time to get from the top to the bottom or vice versa. Decisions can take a long time and there is a lot of paperwork to deal with.
25
What is an organisational structure?
An organisational structure is the way in which the workforce within a firm is organised including job roles and communication flows
26
Describe what a flat organisational design is.
Flat organisations only have a few levels in the hierarchy. People are given more responsibility and freedom. Flat structures can lead to managers getting overwhelmed by too many people reporting to them.
27
Define span of control and in a flat structure decide whether a manager has a narrow or wide span of control
The span of control is a number of subordinates that a manger or supervisor is directly responsible for. Managers in flat structures have wide spans of control this means they have a lot of workers answering to them.
28
Define chain of command
Chain of command is the order of authority and delegation within a business
29
Define delegation
Delegation is where the responsibility for carrying out a task or role or decision making is passed onto someone else in a business
30
Give three advantages of delegation
+ Reduces management stress
+ Subordinates are empowered
+ Good method of on-the-job training
31
Give three disadvantages of delegation
– Depends on experience of subordinates
– harder in a smaller firm
– may increase workload of subordinates
32
Define delayering
Delayering is there a removable of one or more layers of hierarchy from the management structure of an organisation
33
Give three advantages of delayering
+ Better delegation, empowerment and motivation
+ Improved communication (smaller chain of command)
+ Encourages innovation
34
Give three disadvantages of delayering
– Not all organisations suit a flat organisational structure
– can cause job losses
– causes disruptions
35
Define authority
Authority is the power of a person to use and allocate the resources efficiently, to take decisions and to give orders.
36
What is a centralised structure?
Centralised structures keep authority for decisions at the top and all decisions are made by senior managers
37
Give 3 advantages of centralisation
+ Business leaders have lots of experience of making business decisions
+ Managers get an overview of the whole business, so decisions are consistent throughout the business
+ Senior managers aren’t biased towards one department so they can make the best decisions for the whole business
38
Give three disadvantages of centralisation
– Not many people are expert enough to make decisions about all aspects of the business
– excluding employees from decision-making can be demotivating
– the organisation reacts slowly to change, allowing its competitors to get ahead. This is because the senior managers who make the decisions don’t spend time on the shopfloor, so they are slow to notice consumer trends
39
What is a decentralised structure?
Decentralised structure is share out the authority to make decisions to more junior employees.
40
Give three advantages of decentralisation
+ Involvement in decision-making motivates employees
+ Employees can use expert knowledge of the sector
+ Day-to-day decisions can be made quickly without having to ask senior managers
41
Give three disadvantages of decentralisation
– Junior employees may not have enough experience to make decisions
– inconsistencies may develop between the divisions in a business
– junior employees may not be able to see the overall situation and needs of an organisation
42
Define recruitment
Recruitment is the process of actively seeking out, finding in hiring candidates for specific position a job
43
Define selection
Selection is the process of choosing the most suitable candidate for the vacant position in the organisation
44
Define internal recruitment
Internal recruitment takes place when a business looks to fill the vacancy from within the existing workforce
45
Define external recruitment
External recruitment occurs when a business invites applicants for vacant posts from any suitably qualified candidates
46
Give three advantages of internal recruitment
+ Candidates already know the business and the business now is the candidates
+ Short and cheap process
+ Motivate workers to go for a promotion
47
Give two disadvantages of internal recruitment
– Leaves a vacancy in another department
| – can cause resentment among colleagues who aren’t selected
48
Give three advantages of external recruitment
+ Brings in fresh new ideas
+ Brings an experience from other organisations
+ Large number of applicants
49
Give three disadvantages of external recruitment
– Long and expensive process
– candidates will need a longer induction process
– have only seen a candidate at recruitment - might not be representative of what they’re like at work
50
If a company decides it does indeed have to take on a new worker it must go through a logical and ordered recruitment and selection process, what is this process?
1) Identify vacancy
2) Write a person specification and job description
3) Draft in place advertisement of job
4) Issue application forms/requesting CVs and letter of application
5) Shortlist the most suitable candidates
6) Interview most suitable candidates
7) Appoint and select the most suitable candidate
51
What does a job description contain?
Job descriptions relate to the position rather than the person. Typically, job descriptions might contain the following information: job title, job purpose, responsibilities, location and hours, and company details
52
What does a person or job specification include?
A person or job specification sets out the qualifications and qualities required by an employee these include: qualification requirements, experience and skills required, sensory demands and personal attributes
53
Give eight ways of advertising vacancies
```
– Radio advertisements/TV adverts
– posters
– social media
– job fairs
– billboards
– websites
– newspapers
– recruitment agencies
```
54
What is an employment agency?
Employment agencies provide employees with details of suitable applicants for post they may have a vacant. Agencies usually charge a considerable fees for recruiting candidates for businesses
55
What is the psychometric assessment? And when is it used?
Psychometric test reveal the personality of a candidate and they are used in addition to a job interview
56
Give three advantages of on-the-job training
– Easy to organise
– lower cost of training
– training is job specific
57
Give three disadvantages of on-the-job training
– Trainer and trainee are not productive during training
– bad practices are passed on
– no new ideas are brought to the business
58
Give three advantages of off-the-job training
– Trainers are specialised
– new ideas about the business
– No job distractions during training
59
Give three disadvantages of off-the-job training
– Can be expensive
– no benefit to the business while training
– training might not be specific to their day-to-day job
60
Internal factors that can influence HR plans
– Corporate, marketing and production plans. For example if production is expanding they will need to recruit more staff and offer more training
– changes in production style may lead to retraining, recruitment or redeployment of staff
61
External factors that can influence HR plans
– Employment legislation protects employees rights and restricts companies ability to dismiss or transfer workers
– new technology might change the number of staff and the skills needed – businesses might have to re-train their staff
– labour market trends like migration and the ageing population have an affect on the supply of workers
62
Define job enrichment
Job enrichment attempts to give employees greater responsibility by increasing the range and complexity of tasks they are called upon to complete and giving them the necessary authority
63
Define job enlargement
Job enlargement involves the addition of extra and similar tasks to a job
64
Define empowerment
Empowerment involves giving people greater control over their working lives
65
Define team working
A way of organising work that involves people working in separate teams to do different tasks
66
What are the four non-financial incentives for motivation?
– Job enlargement
– job enrichment
– empowerment
– team working
67
Define piecework
Staff are paid according to the number of items they produce
68
Define performance-related pay
A financial reward to employees whose work is considered to have reached a required standard and/or above average. Performance related pay is generally use where employee performance cannot be appropriately measured in terms of output produced or sales achieved
69
Define profit sharing
Profit sharing refers to any system whereby employees receive a proportion of the businesses profits
70
Define share ownership
Share ownership is a program in which a business distribute shares to its employees
71
Define fringe benefits
Fringe benefits are the additional benefits offered to an employee, above the stated salary for the performance of a specific service. Some fringe benefits such as a social security and health insurance are required by law, while others are voluntary provided by the employer.
72
Define salary
A salary is a fixed regular payment, typically paid on a monthly basis but often expressed as an annual sum, made by an employer to employee, especially professional or white-collar worker.
73
What are the six types of financial incentives to motivation?
```
– Piecework
– performance related pay
– profit sharing
– share ownership
– fringe benefits
– salary
```
74
Which motivational theorist was known to have developed the first motivational theory?
FW Taylor
75
What was the one reason that Taylor believed that people worked for?
Taylor believed that people work for one reason only: money.
76
Taylor’s goal was to figure out the most efficient way to do a job, and then to make sure every single worker did it that way. What was this approach called?
This approach is called scientific management
77
In Taylors theory, in what way should you pay an employee to maximise motivation?
Taylor believed in paying workers according to the quantity they produced – the most productive workers got a better rate. He believed that financial incentives would motivate workers and raise productivity.
78
What were the experiments called that Mayo carried out and what observations did he conclude from these?
Elton Mayo carried out his well-known Hawthorne experiments, Mayo’s management theories grew from his observations of employee productivity levels and of varying environmental conditions. Is experiments to a number of conclusions about the real source of employee motivation, laying the ground work for later approaches to teambuilding and group dynamics.
79
What does Mayo’s management theory state?
Mayo’s management theory states that employees are motivated far more by relational factors such as attention and working in teams than by monetary rewards or environmental factors such as lighting, humidity, etc
80
What did Maslow’s motivation theory consist of?
Maslow’s theory was based on a hierarchy of needs. Maslow said that people start by meeting the needs of the bottom of the pyramid. Once they have sorted out those needs, they can move on to the next level up.
81
What are the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
1) Physiological – food, water, shelter, clothes
2) Safety – safe work environment with job security
3) Social needs – friendship, teamwork
4) Self-esteem – achievement, self-respect, level of status
5) Self actualisation – intellectual needs, fulfilling potential, achieving targets
82
What is Herzberg’s two factor theory?
Hertzberg believed in a two factor theory of motivation. He argued that there were certain factors that a business could introduce that would directly motivate employees to work harder these are known as motivators. However, there are also other factors that would demotivate an employee if they are not met, these are called hygiene factors.
83
Job design is focused on the person not the job. What model is this based on?
Hackman and Oldham is model. It states job design is key to motivation.
84
What are the five key elements in Hackman and Oldham’s model of job design which lead to work a motivation, more worker involvement, higher performance, lower staff turnover and lower absenteeism?
```
– Skill variety
– task identity
– task significance
– autonomy
– feedback
```
85
What is the critical physiological state caused by skill variety, task identity and task significance?
Workers have experienced meaningfulness of work
86
What is this critical physiological state caused by autonomy?
Workers have experienced responsibility for work outcomes
87
What is the critical physiological state caused by feedback?
Employees know how well they are performing and aim to improve
88
What does autonomy mean?
Autonomy means giving work as the freedom to make their own decisions
89
What are the effects on workers caused by the Hackman and Oldham’s model?
– Motivation is improved
– workers feel involved
– quality of work is improved
– workers are more satisfied with their work and are more committed to the business
90
What is a flexible workforce?
A flexible workforce is a workforce that can perform a variety of different functions due to different types of employment within the business
91
Define outsourcing
Outsourcing is the delegation of one or more business processes to an external provider, who then owns, manages and administers the selected processes to an agreed standard
92
Define downsizing
Downsizing is the reduction of the size of a firm to make it more responsive to market conditions
93
In a shamrock organisation, what is the most important resource within an organisation?
Charles Handy believed that employees were the most important resource within an organisation, rather than the hierarchical structures which controlled them.
94
Give 4 advantages of a flexible workforce
– Increase productivity and effectiveness
– talent retention and engagement
– more employment opportunities for greater talent diversity
– resource efficient
95
Give three disadvantages of a flexible workforce
– It is hard to organise meetings and conferences
– it is harder to train employees as each role is different
– employees may be less cohesive as they may not be together much
96
What does a successful employer-employee relationship maximise and minimise?
A successful employer-employee relationship maximise is the cooperation and minimises potential for conflict between these two groups. It is built on a culture of trust between the two groups.
97
Give 3 benefits to the employer from having good employer-employee relations
– The business will develop a great reputation among prospective employees, so it will attract the very best candidates during recruitment
– if relations are good then productivity and efficiency are increased as new ideas and ways of working are picked up quickly by the employees, this allows the business to be more competitive
– good communication will mean that the objectives of the employees are more aligned with the objectives of the business
98
Give three benefits to the employee from having good employer-employee relations
– Employees will feel involved in the business which will give them a sense of job security
– the views of the employee are considered during decisions so they will feel valued and motivated and this will increase their job satisfaction
– employees are able to communicate their personal objectives to the employer, which will help the employee develop skills and further their career
99
Describe what a works council is
Works councils are committees made up of employer and employee representatives that are usually elected. They meet regularly to discuss general work issues and share ideas and information in a relatively relaxed atmosphere to improve relations.
100
In the works council how many employees does one representative represent?
There is one representative per 50 employees
101
What is a trade union?
A trade union is an organisation with members who are usually workers or employees that pay to join in order to gain greater power and security at work. Trade unions act on behalf of groups of employees in the workforce when negotiating rates of pay and working conditions etc with the employer.
102
What is collective-bargaining?
By joining with others and belonging to a union, an employee strengthens their bargaining power in a way that wouldn’t be possible if they tried to bargain as an individual. If the union is formally recognised by an employer, it can negotiate with the employer over terms and conditions. This is known as collective bargaining.
103
What does it mean if an employer recognises a trade union?
Recognition is fundamental to the legal position of a trade union; management must recognise the unions right to bargain on behalf its members.
104
What is industrial action?
Industrial action is taken by employers or employees to settle workplace dispute about working conditions.
105
What are the four main types of industrial action?
– Strike
– overtime ban
– work-to-rule
– go slow
106
Give four advantages of employee representation
– It’s often more effective to approach an organisation as a group. Groups have a bigger influence and can be more forceful
– collective bargaining can help achieve long-term aims because employers may sign contracts which lock them into agreements
– it can be helpful for management to have a small representative group of workers to negotiate with rather than consulting every individual
– senior management can get a direct insight into the concerns of the workforce
107
Give five disadvantages of employee representation
– Employee representation can lead to industrial action. This can take the form of deliberately decrease productivity or strike action
– Strike action can get out of hand or turn violent
– industrial action leads to lost profits
– the majority votes within a trade union may overrule the demands of the individual. The individual is then denied the opportunity to represent themselves as they might want to
– industrial action can undermine the trust between employer and employee. A breakdown in communication will damage the relationship
108
What is an industrial dispute?
An industrial dispute is a dispute between employers and employees or more likely the organisations representing one or both groups
109
What is a single union agreement?
A single union agreement is an agreement between an employer and a union such that the union will represent all the workers at a particular workplace.
110
What is a no-strike agreement?
A no-strike agreement is an agreement between an employer and the trade union in which the latter undertakes not to initiate or support strike action by employees of the company
111
What does ACAS stand for?
Advisory, conciliation and arbitration service
112
Define conciliation
Conciliation is a voluntary proceeding, where the parties involved are free to agree and attempt to resolve the dispute by conciliation.
113
Define arbitration
Arbitration is when a third-party makes a decision on a case after hearing both sides of the dispute
114
Define mediation
Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution in which the involved parties bring their dispute to a neutral third party, who helps them agree on a settlement; mediation is generally non-binding, unless the parties agree to a resulting settlement
115
What is union density?
The union density or union membership rate conveys the number of trade union members who are employees as a percentage of the total number of employees in a given industry or country
116
What is the TUC and what is their aim to do?
TUC stands for Trade Union Congress. The TUC aim to be the voice of Britain at work, they exist to improve working life and promote for everyone
117
What are employers’ associations and how do they work with trade unions?
An employers’ association is a collective organisation of manufacturers, retailers what are their employers. They seek to coordinate the behaviour of their member companies in matters of mutual interest, such as a during negotiations with trade unions. Employers’ associations are the owners’ and managers’ version of trade unions.
