BM U 2 AOS 3 notes Flashcards
Overview of the employment cycle
-The responsibility of staffing is the Human Resource Department.
-Human resource management is the effective management of the relationship between an employer and their employees and involves all aspects of the employment cycle.
Overview of the employment cycle
- establishment phase
- maintenance stage
- termination phase
- establishment phase:
-staff planning in line with business strategy
-job analysis and job design
-recruitment
-selection
-employment arrangements and remuneration - maintenance stage:
- induction
-training and development
-performance management - termination phase:
-termination management - voluntary and involuntary
- entitlement and transition issues
Staff performance and achieving business objectives
-People are a business’s most valuable asset so it is important to take care to hire the best people.
-Also when an employee turns out to be an excellent worker retaining that employee is crucial.
-Developing good working relationships with staff and motivating them to do their best must be a high priority for the business owner.
Staff performance and achieving business objectives
-Typically business objectives include:
-Making a profit
-Expanding a business
-Increasing market share
It’s important to have the right staff, retain them in order to help achieve these objectives.
Staff performance and achieving business objectives P2
-The activities of employees generate most of a business’s revenue, and ultimately its profit.
-Despite being a major expense to the business, having highly skilled and qualified employees can improve a business’s productivity.
-HR managers will work closely with other managers to recruit and select employees in other areas of business.
-The performance of staff can contribute to achieving the organisations objectives so therefore it is vital employees are motivated and inspired to be productive and efficient.
Identifying staffing needs
-HR planning in the establishment phase of the employment cycle involves forecasting the number of employees available and the number of qualified employees demanded in the future.
-Employees are an expense to the business and therefore having too many is not efficient and effective in trying to meet the organisations objectives.
-It is a fine balance.
-A business needs to plan for many events that may occur.
-For example a supermarket needs to plan for the introduction of self serve checkouts as they will no longer need as many staff.
-They will also need to plan for seasonal occurrences such as Christmas where more staff will be required.
Identifying staffing needs
P2
-When forecasting the demand for employees, HR planning needs to take into account both internal and external factors.
-Internal factors may include budget constraints, changes in production or purchase of new equipment.
-External factors may include the state of the economy, government regulation and the degree of competition in the market.
Identifying staffing needs
A business should combine all of this information when planning for its staffing needs to help determine:
-The number of employees required
-The qualifications of employees and their knowledge, skills, previous experience and ideas
-When and where employees will be needed
the effect of technological development on staffing needs
-The past decades have seen a technological revolution through the development of information and communication technology.
-E-business is now a common way of buying and selling. Just as all of these developments can affect the way business operate, they will also strongly influence staffing needs and workforce planning.
the effect of technological development on staffing needs
When introducing new technologies, some of the following workplace issues can arise:
- Existing employees may need to be trained to use new technologies
- New technology may lead to a reduction in staffing requirements. Those staff being made redundant should be treated sensitively.
- Rates of pay may need to be adjusted
- employees can become more mobile with the use of computers and smartphones.
Job analysis & job design
job analysis
- the study of an employee’s job in order to determine the duties performed, the time involved with each of those duties, the responsibilities involved and the equipment required
A job analysis examines:
-actual job activities
-the equipment used on the job
-specific job behaviours required
-working conditions
-the degree of supervision necessary.
Job analysis & job design
Job analysis can be performed in a number of ways. The most commonly used methods include:
METHODS:
Observation –
-This involves observing workers carrying out their tasks.
-It can be useful in determining different types of activities carried out to achieve a result, as well as the sequence in which those tasks are carried out.
-It can also help identify the skills needed to perform the relevant tasks.
-It can be a time-consuming method of job analysis, so often two other forms of observation are used.
Interview –
-employees may be interviewed by a supervisor or human resources manager to help develop a job analysis.
-Often, a standard set of interview questions is used to maintain consistency across a group of employees.
-Typically, employees can be asked about their regular duties and responsibilities, as well as skills required, physical demands and safety requirements.
Questionnaires –
-Similar to the interview method, employees can be asked to provide written answers to questions about their duties, responsibilities and skills.
Critical incident report –
-In this method, staff responses to particular incidents are judged to be effective or ineffective based on the actions taken.
-The method involves examining the events leading up to the incident, the actions taken by the staff member that were either effective or ineffective, the consequences of those actions and the degree of control the employee had over those consequences.
Job analysis & job design
job description
a written statement describing the employee’s duties, and tasks and responsibilities associated with the job
Job analysis & job design
job specification
a list of the key qualifications needed to perform a particular job in terms of education, skills, knowledge and level of experience
Job analysis & job design
job design
details the number, kind and variety of tasks that individual employees perform in their jobs. Jobs may be designed so they include a variety of tasks to keep employees interested and motivated.
The benefits and costs (or limitations) of job analysis and job design
BENEFITS:
- Job analysis ensures that staff will have the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to perform a job at the level required.
- Job analysis allows a business to create better recruitment and selection strategies, as well as effective training programs, remuneration schemes and performance management processes.
-Job design can lead to motivated and productive employees.
-The development of job descriptions and job specifications ensures that clear expectations are established for employees at the outset of their employment — they know what is expected of them.
LIMITATIONS:
- Undertaking job analysis and job design can be time consuming.
- It can be difficult to capture every aspect of a job in a single job description/specification.
- As a business grows or changes, and as technology changes, the jobs within the business may change — job descriptions and specifications can therefore become outdated as they are written at particular points in time. Job analysis needs to be completed regularly.
Recruitment methods
-recruitment
-Recruitment involves attracting the right people to apply for a job vacancy.
-Traditionally this was done by placing an ad in the employment section of a newspaper, it is still widely used.
-In recent years online recruiting is very popular.
-Businesses will place ads online through agencies such as seek.com.au, mycareer.com.au or jobsjobsjobs.com.au.
Recruitment methods
-internal and external recruitment
-Internal recruitment occurs when a business decides to attract someone already employed within the business to a vacancy.
-External recruitment will be used to find suitable applicants from outside the business, either because staff planning has identified a need for a new position, an existing employee has resigned or retired or the person doing the job has been promoted. Some large organisations will hire an agency to handle their recruitment and will charge a fee.
Recruitment methods
-job advertisement
-A successful job advertisement will provide information about the benefits of the position, opportunities for advancement and training as well as positive information about the business.
-Employers are competing against one another to attract the best staff so it is important to promote the business as a good place to work.
Recruitment methods
-internal recruitment: advantages and disadvantages
ADVANTAGES:
-Employees are already known to the employer, which reduces risk.
-Applicants are already familiar with the business and its objectives, culture and processes.
-If the position is a managerial or supervisory position, it creates a career path within the business to reward valued employees.
-Costs of advertising the position are reduced, and no external agencies need to be paid.
DISADVANTAGES:
-There may be no-one suitable from within the business.
-If there is more than one internal applicant, it can lead to conflict or rivalry between those employees.
-Applicants may be set in their ways and not open to new ideas.
-The successful applicant from within may have to be replaced, so an external recruitment process may be necessary anyway.
Recruitment methods
-Eternal recruitment: advantages and disadvantages
ADVANTAGES:
-There is a wider range of applicants to choose from.
-Outside applicants may bring new ideas and fresh approaches to tasks.
-Different qualifications or experience from those already within the business can be specified in the advertising process.
-This method allows for rapid growth of the business because it allows for an increase in actual staff numbers.
DISADVANTAGES:
-The applicants are all unknown, so the choice may be more difficult.
-There are costs associated with advertising the position.
-The field of applicants may be larger, so the process of selection may become more time consuming.
-Qualified employees from within the business may resent outsiders coming in, particularly if it is a managerial or supervisory position.
