3.6 - HR Managment Flashcards
What is organisational structure?
Shows how people and management are organised in business
What is Authority and Responsibility?
Indicates who is responsible for whom and who is in charge
What are Job Roles and Titles?
Specific positions and designations within the organisation
What are Formal Communication Routes?
Official pathways for information flow in the business
What are Layers of Hierarchy?
Levels of authority and supervision within the organisation
What is a Span of Control?
Number of employees a manager supervises
What is a narrow span of control?
Allows for closer supervision of employees
More layers in the hierarchy may be required - promotion opportunities
Helps more effective communication in small team
What is a wide span of control?
Gives subordinates the chance for more independence
More appropriate if labour costs are
significant - reduce number of managers
Communication has to go through layers
What is a centralised structure?
Decision-making authority rests with senior management at the centre
What are advantages of a centralised control?
Easier to implement common policies and practices for the whole business
Prevents other parts of the business from becoming too independent
Easier to coordinate and control from the centre (budgets)
Economies of scale and overhead savings easier to achieve
Quicker decision making - easier to show strong leadership
What are the disadvantages of a centralised structure?
More bureaucratic - often extra layers in the hierarchy
Local or junior managers are likely to be much closer to customer needs
Lack of authority down the hierarchy may reduce manager motivation
Customer service misses flexibility and speed of local decision-making
Lack of training and developing junior management
What is a decentralised structure?
Authority is delegated down the hierarchy away from the centre
What is a skills audit?
Assessment of organisation employees’ skills and competencies
What are recruitment methods?
Various ways to attract and hire new employees
What is a job description?
Detailed explanation of roles and responsibilities for a specific position
What is a person specification?
Qualifications, skills, and attributes a successful candidate should possess
What is training?
Process of increasing knowledge and skills of the workforce to enable them to perform their job effectively
What is induction training?
Introducing new employees to job, premises, and values of the business
What are the benefits of training?
Improved productivity, quality, flexibility, and motivation in employees
What are business issues that training can’t solve?
Challenges like poor management or ineffective equipment not addressed by training
What are reasons for neglecting training?
Fears of employee poaching, short-term cost concerns, or intangible benefits
What is off-the-job training?
Training conducted away from the workplace, like self-study or evening classes
What is on-the-job training?
Training provided while employees are at work, through demonstrations or job rotation
What are reasons to recruit staff?
- Business expansion due to increasing sales of existing products
- Developing new products
- Entering new markets
Existing employees leave:
- To work with competitors or other local employers
- Due to factors such as retirement, sick leave, maternity leave
- Business needs employees with new skills
- Business is relocating - and not all of existing workforce want to move to new location
What is internal recruitment?
Filling job vacancies with existing employees
What are the advantages of internal recruitment?
- Cheaper and quicker to recruit
- People are already familiar with business and how it operates
- Provides opportunities for promotion within a business
- Business already knows strengths and weaknesses of candidates
What are disadvantages of internal recruitment?
- Limits number of potential applicants
- No new ideas can be introduced from the outside
- May cause resentment amongst candidates not appointed
- Creates another vacancy with needs to be filled
What is external recruitment?
Hiring new employees from outside the organisation
What are the advantages of external recruitment?
Outside people bring in new ideas
Larger pool of workers from which to find the best candidate
People have a wider range of experience
What are the disadvantages of external recruitment?
- Longer process
- More expensive process due to advertisements and interviews required
- Selection process may not be effective to reveal best candidate
