6 - HRM (human resource management) Flashcards
what is organisational culture?
the collections of values, beliefs and behaviour which are unique to an organisation
who influences the culture of an organisation?
the individuals within the organisation
what are the physical indicators of culture? (1st level of culture)
dress code, office layout, technology,
what are the second and third levels of culture?
values and behaviour of employees
Why set objectives?
- give the business a clear target
- plans can be created to achieve these
- motivating
- enables the business to measure progress
what is HRM
The management of people
what happens without HRM objectives? e.g.. NHS
- staff have to work overtime, creates tiredness so less efficiency
- creates bad reputation
- not enough staff to care for customer needs
- increased costs
- effects customer safety
workforce planning
deciding how many and what type of workforce is required
why is it important to get the right number and type of workers?
- reduce costs: wasted workers have to be paid
- achieve specific skill utilisation
- meet customer needs
- so tasks are completed correctly
- avoid high levels of staff turnover
HR needs of a business
(what make effect a businesses need to and need not to recruit)
8 factors involved
- increase or decrease in sales
- cost minimisation strategy
- changing needs of a business
- improved technology
- unforeseen circumstances
- state of the economy
- changes in legislation
- when staff leave
ability of a business to meet its human resource needs (externally)
- availability of workers
- skills of workers
- nature of work required
- demand for workers from other businesses
- location of the business
- costs of living in the area
- governing legislation
Outsourcing? and benefits?
the use of external labour to undertake a specific job or contract
reduces costs as you don’t have to employ staff and pay them, or have recruitment costs.. you just pay another company.
what is meant by organisational structure?
the way in which a business is organised.. the ways in which roles and responsibilities are assigned
what is span of control?
the number of employees for whom a manger is responsible
one benefit of having a wide span of control?
more independence to make decisions which will lead to increased motivation
Define ‘empowerment’
giving employees responsibility for the tasks that they perform
what is meant by chain of command?
concerned with the way in which responsibility for employees is organised - often serving as a guide to the lines of communication
wide span of control =
responsible for many employees
narrow span of control =
responsible for relatively few employees
one problem of a wide span of control?
effective communication can break down
what is meant by levels of hierarchy?
the number of levels or layers in a businesses organisation
what is meant by delayering?
reducing the number of levels in the hierarchy of an organisation
benefits of delayering?
- reduce costs
- give employees more responsibility (increased motivation)
- make decision making process and communication quicker as there are less layers for information to go through
what negative impact does delayering have?
- span of control will increase/widen
- demotivation due to a fear of job security
- redundancies will result leading to initial increased costs
what is meant by organisation by system?
the business is split into specialist areas which operate together to make the business function effective e.g. split into marketing, HR, finance
one drawback of using organisation by system?
can be difficult to determine if a product is doing well and as a result of which system as there are several effecting performance
what is meant by organisation by product?
businesses organised around products: these are known as profit centres
benefits of organising a business by product?
- easy to see which are performing well
- managers of each product can concentrate specifically on their own product
- managers can see the direct result of their decisions, motivating
drawbacks of organisation by product?
- some resources may be wasted e.g. departments
- different products will compete for different resources which can create winners or loses, leading to conflict
what is an organistic structure also known as?
a flat/horizontal structure
3 characteristics of a flat structure?
- wide span of control
- quicker communication
- democratic leadership
what is a mechanistic structure also known as?
a tall/vertical structure
3 characteristics of a tall structure?
- narrow span of control
- slower communication
- autocratic/bureaucratic leadership
what is meant by a centralised structure?
the decision making process is undertaken by the leader at the top of the hierarchy and associated with autocratic leaders
what is meant by a decentralised structure?
the decision making process is delegated and taken place away from the head office and associated with a more democratic leader
disadvantage of centralised structure?
- lack of involvement form employees which can be demotivating
- opportunities/new ideas can be missed
benefit of a decentralised structure?
- more responsibility to employees which is often motivating
what is a matrix organisational structure?
employees with similar skills are put together to complete tasks, but with more than one manager supervising
benefits of a matrix structure?
- ideas and resources can be shared
- breaks down department barriers
disadvantages of a matrix structure?
- if employees don’t cooperate then the functions won’t work (success relies on cooperation)
- working for various managers can be confusing, communication may suffer and break down the structure
why is effective communication in business important?
- reduces the number of mistakes
- clear and effective communications gives employees a sense of belonging
- enhances decision making
one-way communication
simplest form of communication, which comes in the form of an order in which the receiver has no right to reply
ads of one way communication?
- easy to use
- cheap
disads of one way communication?
- less reliable as there is no feedback
- may cause frustration for the receiver
two way communication
involves both a sender and a receiver of information
ads of two way communication?
- reliable as feedback is given
- receiver feels more involved
disks of two way communication?
- takes more time, more expensive
- puts the sender of info under more pressure
formal vs informal communication
formal often has associated rules and procedures linked with it i.e. type of language used, procedure for answering the phone etc whereas informal communication has little or no rules for how the communication takes place
what does communication media refer to?
how the message is delivered/received
how is communication media chosen?
depends on what type of message is being communicated (informal/formal)
what is the channel of communication?
the route of the message
examples of communication media?
telephone, email, text, fax, tv, radio, face to face video etc
advantage of technological communication?
speeds up the process
disadvantage of technological communication?
can be issues with the clarity of a message and therefore reliability could be impacted
and ICT can crash, which also causes problems
what are some of the barriers to effective communication?
- technical: the ability of the receiver to view the message
- semantic: the receivers ability to understand whats been sent
- effectiveness: whether the information given has been acted upon in a suitable manner
others include;
- skill of the sender as well as skill of the receiver
- inappropriate medium used
- cultural differences
what are ‘group norms’?
set rules which may be written or unwritten, spoken or even just implied
implicit norms?
where there is an assumption that there is a set way to behave, operate or interact with people
explicit norms?
where there is a written set of rules on matters such as how to speak to clients, answer the phone etc or the manner in which to talk to a superior
what are explicit norms sometimes referred to as?
corporate approaches
