6.1/6.2/6.3/6.4/6.5 HR Flashcards
What is HR about?
How labour is managed
What are some HR objectives?
- Employee productivity
- Employee engagement
- Training
- Talent development
- Diversity
- Alignment of values
External influences to HR?
PESTC Political Economic Social Technological Competitive
What data can be used for employee performance?
- Labour productivity
- Unit labour cost
- Employees cost as a percentage of revenue
- Labour turnover and retention
How to calculate labour productivity?
total output/units of labour
How to calculate labour turnover?
number of staff leaving per year/average no. staff x 100
What factors cause poor staff retention?
- Low wages
- Inadequate training
- Low morale/recruitment
- Ineffective recruitment
- Redundancy
- Retirement
Calculate labour retention?
no employees employed for a year or more/average no. staff x 100
What are the stages of HR planning?
- Overall objectives
- How HR can be managed
- Size/type of workforce
- Availability
- Recruitment process needed
What is job design?
The process of establishing employees’ roles and responsibilities and the systems and procedures that they should use or follow
What is job enlargement?
Increases the no. of similar duties
What is job rotation?
Employees switch duties regularly
What is job enrichment?
When employees jobs are redesigned to provide them with more complex tasks
What is empowerment?
Employees decide how they organise and carry out their work
What is in hackman and oldhams method?
- Skill variety
- Task significance
- Task identity
- Autonomy
- Feedback
Recent development in job design?
- Flexible working times
- Flexible contract options
- Flexible locations
What influences job design?
- Businesses overall objectives
- Employee performance
- Health and safety (legal requirements)
- Meeting customer requirements
- Existing or potential skills of workforce
- The resources available
- Expected future developments
What are the types of employee engagement?
Intellectual engagement
Affective engagement
Social engagement
What is intellectual engagement?
Thinking hard about the job and how to do it better
What is affective engagement?
Feeling positively about doing a good job
What is social engagement?
Actively taking opportunities to discuss work related improvement with others at work
What is motivation?
Motivation describes the factors that stimulate, maintain and channel behaviour towards a goal.
What are the 2 types of motivation?
- Motivation by enjoying the job
- Motivation for a goal or target to achieve
What is Taylor’s theory?
- External factor
- Achieved through money
- Employees closely watched
- Paid piece rate
1. Study work process
2. Observe best workers
3. Train remaining workers to standard
4. Implement pay rates
What was Elton Mayo’s theory?
- Sociological theory
- Motivated by meeting social needs
- More attention to communication etc.
What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
- Self-actualisation
- Esteem
- Social
- Security
- Physiological
What are some hygiene factors?
- Salary
- Working conditions
- Supervision of employees
- Company policies
What is Hertzberg’s theory?
- 2 types that influence motivation
Motivations: encourage workers to work harder
Hygiene: become unmotivated if not there
How to improve engagement?
- Know how engaged staff are at the time
- Recruit right managers for this and train them
- Recognise value of communication
- Involve senior members
- Implement actions for employees to value organisation
Financial methods of motivation?
- Salary and wages
- Piece rate
- Performance Related Pay (bonuses)
- Profit sharing
- Share ownership
- Commission
Disadvantages of Performance Related Pay?
- Unfair (may not get on with managers)
- Not sufficient funds in scheme (small rewards)
Non-financial motivation?
- Job design
- Appraisal systems
- Team working
What influences the choice of motivational methods?
- Costs
- Attitude of management team
- Training given to management team
- Skill levels of workforce
- Importance of public’s perception of business
- Effectiveness of communication in the business
How can employees be represented in negotiations with employers?
- Trade unions
- Work councils
- Staff association
What is a trade union?
+ their aims
Organisation of workers established to protect and improve economic position and working position of its members
- Maximise pay
- Safe and secure working conditions
- Job security
- Influencing decisions in the workplace
How do trade unions achieve their objectives?
- Protection over discrimination, unfair dismissal and health and safety
- Negotiate pay and conditions through collective bargaining
- Provide services like legal, training and financial advice
How can employers benefit from trade unions?
- Act as a communication link between management and employees
- Less disputes
What is a works council?
A forum within a business where workers and management meet to discuss issues such as working conditions, pay and training. Employee representatives are elected
What is ICE?
Information and Consultation of Employees
Since 2008 they must consult if they are planning: 20 or more redundancies, sell their business or buy a new one, certain changes in persion
What is the process of communication?
Sender initiates communication Message, info that is sent Medium, how the message is passed on Receiver, who the message is targeted at Feedback, was the message understood
What type of communication does a business use?
Email
Social Media
Intranets
Video Conferencing
What could cause difficulties in communication?
- Mergers and takeovers
- Scale of business
- Locations
- Delayering
- Communication mechanisms
2 types of disputes?
Avoiding industrial disputes
Resolving industrial disputes
What are avoiding industrial disputes?
- No strike and single union agreements
- Advisory, conciliation and arbitration (ACAS)
Resolving industrial disputes?
- Arbitration (non-binding, binding or pendulum)
- Conciliation (a procedure to resolve disputes where a neutral third party encourages the continuation of negotiation
- Employment tribunals (informal courts where disputes over unfair dismissal or discrimination can be settled)
Costs and benefits of good employee/employer relationships for employers?
- Loss of revenue from strike action
- Lose future sales if seen as unreliable
- Damage to relationships with employees
- Seen as risky investment
- Damage to reputation
- Help to develop strong employer brand
- Promoting employee engagement
- Improving business’ corporate image
Costs and benefits of good employee/employer relationships for employees?
- Lose pay
- Weaken employers finance impacting on job security, training affecting development
- Employer may become more capital intensive
- Improvements in pay and conditions
- Job security
- Greater participation in decision making
