3.6 Human Resources Flashcards
What are human resource objectives?
Targets that the function of a business responsible for all employee related issues which want to be achieved in a given time period
What is included in the HR objectives?
- employee engagement and involvement
- talent development
- training
- diversity
- alignment of values
- number, skills and location of employees
What are the 6 parts of talent development (ring)
- succession planning
- needs / talent planning
- recruitment / selection
- orientation / onboarding
- skill development
- performance evaluation
What are alignment of values?
What can it lead to?
- bringing the core values or beliefs of all employees together to focus on achieving a common aim
- strong corporate culture where all employees fit into ‘the way we do thing around here’
What are 2 internal influences on HR?
- objectives of organisation
- objectives of other departments
What are 4 external influences of HR?
- work force skills and availability
- number of school leavers and graduates
- skills shortages v. skills surplus
- demographics e.g. ageing population, immigrants
What are 2 technology influences on HR?
- capital intensity
- skills
What are market conditions in HR?
- growth, static or decline
- consumer habits
What are political factors in HR?
UK
- minimum wage
- age discrimination
EU
- work time directives
- paternity leave
What are social factors in HR?
Family commitments
- mother’s returning to work
- single parents
Student working to fund uni
What is Hard Human Resource Management?
- staff treated as resources and must be managed
Control of mechanisms:
- judgemental appraisals
- centralised decision making
- tell organisational structure
- fixed term contracts
- minimum wage
- external recruitment
What is Soft Human Resources Management?
- staff are treated as an asset to the business that can contribute and help achieve objectives
Opportunities for staff development:
- training
- talent development
- internal promotions
- empowerment
- consultation autonomy and responsibility
- flatter organisational structure
Calculation for labour productivity?
LP = Output
————————————
Number of workers
Calculate labour cost per unit?
LCPU=
Total labour costs
———————————————
Number of units produced
Calculate labour turnover?
%
LT =
Number of staff leaving
———————————————x100
Total number of staff
Calculate absenteeism
%
A=
Number of staff absent per time period —————————————————————————— Total number of staff days worked per time period
X100
Give three non financial incentives
Briefly, what are they?
Job enrichment - gives employees more responsibility and different complexity in tasks
+ can use abilities to fullest
Job enlargement - job is unchanged, employee can carry out additional tasks
- can sometimes be seen as a requirement to do more work for the same pay
Empowerment and team working - giving greater control over employees working lives. Organised into teams to plan work and solve their own problems
Give 6 financial incentives
- piecework (price rates), amount produced = amount paid
- performance-related pay (PRP), pay varies on performance
- profit sharing, when employees receive a direct share of profits
- share ownership, owning of shares in a company
- fringe benefits, rewards not affecting salary
- salary, fixed regular payment on a monthly basis
Who was Frederick Winslow Taylor?
- believe in ‘scientific management’
- people are motivated by money
- ideas linked to price rate, the division of labour and mass production
Who was Abraham Harold Maslow?
- belongs to the non-human relations of school of management
- hierarchy of needs
- employees are motivated by being presented with the opportunity for the next level
What’s in the hierarchy of needs?
Top: self actualisation (self fulfilment needs)
Middle: esteem needs + belongingness and love needs (psychological needs)
Last: safety needs, psychological needs-water,food,warmth,rest (basic needs)
Who was Fredrick Irving Herzberg?
- introduced the notion of job enrichment
- job satisfaction is a key factor leading to motivation
- if present do not lead to motivation but if absent lead to dissatisfaction
Who was George Elton Mayo?
- conducted Hawthorne experiments
- believe people were motivated by social needs
What was the Hawthorn experiments?
Split two groups to see the impacts of various incentives (e.g rest pauses)
What alternatives to recruiting might a company use?
- job sharing
- change staff job role
- temporary workers
- re-train existing staff
- outsourcing
What is the recruitment process?
- Vacancy
- Job descriptions
- Person specification
- Drafting and placing advertisement
- Issuing application forms / requesting CV’s
- Short-listing
- Interviews
- Selection and appointment
Name 4 places a company can advertise a job
- their website
- social media
- tv advertising
- recruitment agency
What is the Heckman and Oldham job characteristics model?
Based on the belief that the task itself is key to employee motivation
What are the 5 segments in the Heckman and Oldham characteristics model?
Briefly, what are they?
Self variety - how many skills does a job require, do they do many different things?
Task identity - is there a clear beginning, middle and end? Does the employee know what to do?
Task significance - does it impact people’s lives? Is it meaningful / make a difference?
Autonomy - how much freedom does the employee have to complete the task? Do they get to problem solve or is it black and white?
Job feedback - is the employee kept in the loop about their performance?
What is an organisational structure?
The way in which a workforce within a firm is analysed
What is an organisational chart?
A visual representation of the organisational structure
What does delegation mean?
The assignment of authority to another person
Normal manager to subordinate
Define authority
The power of the right to give orders, make decisions and enforce obedience
Define accountability
The fact or condition of being accountable
Define responsibility
The state of having a duty to deal with something or having control over someone
Define ‘shop floor’
Refers to ordinary workers in a factory or the area where they work
Define ‘levels of hierarchy’
The number/levels that consist in a business
Define ‘span of controls’
The number of subordinates a manager is responsible for
What is a no-strike agreement?
An agreement between an employer and a trade union in which the latter undertakes not to initiate or support strike action by employees of a company
What does ACAS stand for?
Advisory, conciliation and arbitration service
What is ACAS?
A crown non-departmental public body of the government
Purpose: improve organisations and working life through the promotion of facilitation of strong industrial relations practice
What is union density?
The number of members in a union as a percent of all workers, unionised or not
What are industrial relations?
The relationship between management and workers in industry
Ensures continuity of production, continuous employment for all. Resources fully utilised = maximum possible production
What does it mean when an employer recognises a trade union?
Trade union negotiated with the employer regarding issues
What are the benefits of having a trade union for the employer?
Employer: simple and effective negotiation processes to solve problems early on
E.g. reduction in turnover, labour related problems and increase employee satisfaction
What is an industrial dispute?
A dispute between employers and employees
Give an example of an industrial dispute
CONTEXT
Heathrow airport 2020
Workers planned a strike before Christmas for 4 days. This was over a ‘fire and re-hire’ plans that cut wages for staff.
About 4000 staff had been told to sign new contracts cutting some people’s pay by 20% after COVID reduced air traffic levels
Define industrial action
Action taken by employees as a protest especially striking or to work to rule
Define ‘strike’
Employees refuse to work as a form of protest
Define overtime ban
A mass refusal to work overtime
Define Work-to-rule
Follows official working rules and hours exactly in order to reduce output of efficiency
Define ‘go-slow’
Employees perform their duties but seek to reduce productivity or efficiency in their performance of these duties
What can industrial action do to a company?
- loss of profits
- the moral decreases
- customers not wanting to use a company because they believe the staff aren’t treated fairly
Give an example of industrial action
CONTEXT
Sports direct
0 hour contracts caused people to constantly have their job threatened
De-humanising, e.g. not allowed to go to the toilet
Define chain of command
A companies hierarchy of reporting relationships from the bottom to the top of the organisation
What is delayering?
The action or process of reducing the number of levels in the hierarchy of an organisation
Give 4 advantages of delayering
- offers opportunities for better delegation, empowerment and motivation
- can improve communication within the business
- can remove departmental rivalry if heads are removed and the workforce is in teams
- encourage innovation
- brings managers in closer contact with the business
Give 4 disadvantages of delayering
- does not suit all organisations
- can have a negative impact on motivation due to job losses
- period of distribution may occur as new responsibilities are given
- managers remaining will have wider span of control, if too wide can damage communication
- possible skill shortages
Define flexible workforce
Employees who are optimised for when they are needed
What is full time employment?
When a person works a minimum number of hours defined by their employer
What is part time employment?
Fewer hours than full time
Don’t work rotational (usually)
Usually less than 30 hours a week
What is temporary employment?
When the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on how long a company needs the employee for
What is fixed term employment?
Contractural relationship between an employee and employer that lasts for a specific period. Depends on how long employee is needed
What is seasonal employment?
An employee who works 120 days a year or less depending on the employer
SHAMROCK ORGANISATION
Charles Hardy
What was power culture?
Autocratic
- control radiates from centre
- concentrates power among a few
- few rules and little bureaucracy
- swift decisions are possible
SHAMROCK ORGANISATION
Charles Hardy
What was role culture?
Autocratic or paternalistic
- people have clear authorities with a defined structure
- hierarchical bureaucracy
- power derived from a persons position
- little scope for expert power
SHAMROCK ORGANISATION
Charles Hardy
What is task culture?
Paternalistic or democratic
- teams are formed to solve particular problems
- power comes from expertise as long as it is required
- no single power source
- matrix organisation
- team may develop their own objectives (risk)
SHAMROCK ORGANISATION
Charles Hardy
What is person culture?
Democratic
- people believe they are superior to the business
- business full of people with similar training, background and expertise
- common in firms (e.g. lawyers, accountants)
- power lies in each group of people
What is outsourcing?
To obtain (goods or a service) by contract from an outside supplier
What is downsizing?
To make a company or organisation smaller by eliminating staff positions
Give 4 advantages of having a flexible work force
- more employment opportunities for greater talent diversity
- increased productivity and effectiveness
- resource efficiency
- talent retention and engagement
Give 4 disadvantages of having a flexible workforce
- can mean working from home (hard to find a work / life balance)
- procrastination
- communication difficulties
- can cause employee isolation
- reduced benefits
- possible lack of career progression
What is a trade union?
Organisations of workers that seek through collective bargaining with employers
What do trade unions do?
- protect and improve the real incomes of members
- provide / improve job security
- protect workers against unfair dismissal and other relations to employment legislation
- lobby for better working conditions
- offer more work-related services including support for people claiming compensation for injuries on the job
What are the three main types of trade union?
Briefly what are they?
Craft - workers with a particular craft / skill. Formed to improve wage levels and working conditions
Industrial - members are workers / employers. Looks at negotiation agreements on pay and conditions
General - group who join to maintain and improve conditions of employment. Provide assistance and services to members for better pay and conditions
What is a single union agreement?
Give employer and employee advantages
- agreement between employer and union, union will represent all workers at a workplace
Employer: easy to negotiate, easy to approach, problems resolve faster
Employee: not too many people to approach, strength in numbers increase
How can trade unions help benefit a business. Give 4
- enhance business performance
- improve international competitiveness
- lower labour turnover
- increase motivation
What is a works council?
Company can have one if they have over 50 employees
Needs representation
-a group made up of managers and representative employees who meet regularly to discuss issues relating to the business:
Specifically discussing
- pay and working conditions
- working plans
- proposed or planned changes to business activities
Give 4 advantages to a works council
- medium for effective two way communication
- reduced ‘them and us’ feeling
- employees are informed
- employers understand the employees pov
- improved motivation
- less risk of industrial disputes
Give 4 disadvantages to having a works council
- opportunity cost of time
- can cause conflict due to different agendas
- slows down decision making
- employers may not be able to respond to employees wishes
