6.3 Improving Org Design And Managing HR Flow

Question 1

What is the HR Flow?

Answer 1

The HR lifecycle of employees from the point of recruitment to leaving the business.

Question 2

What influences the structure of a business?

Answer 2

Size of the business.
Type of business.
Management and leadership styles.
Competitive environment.

Question 3

What does the organisational structure show?

Answer 3

How people and management are organised in a business.

Question 4

Define span of control.

Answer 4

The number of employees a manager is responsible for.

Question 5

What are the advantages of a narrow span of control?

Answer 5

Allows closer supervision of employees.

Question 6

What is a disadvantage of a narrow span of control?

Answer 6

More layers in the hierarchy may be required - higher costs as pay for managers.

Question 7

What are the advantages of a wide span of control?

Answer 7

Gives subordinates a chance for independence.
Less managers required - reduced labour costs.

Question 8

Describe a tall/centralised structure.

Answer 8

Many layers with narrow spans of control.

Question 9

Describe a flat/decentralised account.

Answer 9

Wide spans of control.
Encourage delegation.
More responsibility given to middle managers.

Question 10

What are the advantages of a tall structure?

Answer 10

More opportunities for promotion - can be motivating.
Faster decision making.

Question 11

What are the disadvantages of a tall structure?

Answer 11

Communication takes longer.
More layers - more staff - higher costs.

Question 12

What are the advantages of a flat structure?

Answer 12

Staff given greater responsibility - motivating.
Improved communication.
Fewer layers - less staff - lower costs.

Question 13

What are some disadvantages of a flat structure?

Answer 13

Fewer opportunities for promotion.
Less direct control - less consistency across locations.

Question 14

What are functional organisational structures?

Answer 14

Employees are organised based on roles and functions e.g. marketing, finance etc.

Question 15

What are the advantages of functional organisational structures?

Answer 15

Specialisation - increased efficiency.
Effective with centralised structure.

Question 16

What are the potential issues with functional organisational management?

Answer 16

There may be conflict/little communication between departments.
Less flexible - slower to adapt to change, competitive disadvantage in a dynamic market.

Question 17

What is a product based organisational structure?

Answer 17

Business organises teams around different products.
Each team has own marketing, operations and finance department but HR usually centralised.

Question 18

What is a strength of product based organisation?

Answer 18

Useful when products are diverse or have unique characteristics - therefore requiring special management, focus expertise in each area, increases chances of product being successful.

Question 19

What is a weakness of product based organisation?

Answer 19

May lead to duplicate functions/respurces - higher costs.

Question 20

What is regional organisation?

Answer 20

Organisation is divided into different geographic regions e.g. continents.

Question 21

What is an advantage of regional organisation?

Answer 21

Local adaptation - able to tailor strategies to what will be most successful in specific regions - meet customer demands and improve customer satisfaction.
May possible flaws can be reduced by centralised HR and finance departments.

Question 22

What are the disadvantages of regional organisation?

Answer 22

May lack communication between regions.
Inconsistency of products.

Question 23

What is a matrix structure?

Answer 23

When employees report to both a functional manager and a project manager.