Business UNIT 6 - Human Resources Flashcards
Human Resources
what is human resource management?
the actual management if employees and department areas included
key formulas for unit 6
-Labour Productivity = output per period / number of employees per period Unit
-Labour Costs = total labour costs / total units of output
-Employee Costs as a % of Revenue = employee costs / sales turnover x 100
-Absenteeism = staff absent / total number of staff
-Labour Turnover = number of employees leaving during period / average number employed during period
-Labour Retention = number of employees for one year or more / overall workforce number x 100
What are the categories involved in hrm objectives and planning?
- Employee engagement and involvement
.Maximise reported levels of engagement
.Extent of satisfactorily completed appraisals - Talent development
.Investment (level) in employees training
.Staff retention rates
.Percentage of job vacancies filled by internal candidates - Training
.Spend in total and per employee on training
.Measures of training effectiveness - Diversity
.Diversity in senior management positions (gender, experience, ethnicity etc)
.Diversity in external recruitment (gender, ethnicity etc) - Alignment of values
.Recruitment & induction training; extent focused on core values
.Employee awareness of core values - Number, skills and location of employees
.Labour turnover
.Staff retention
.Recruitment targets
.Training budgets
.Extent of skills gaps in the workforce
What is job design?
the process of deciding on the content of the job in terms of its duties and responsibilities, on the methods to be used in carrying out the job, in terms of techniques, systems, and procedures, and in the relationships that should exist between the job holder and his superiors, subordinates and colleague
What is Hackman and Oldhams model?
Hackman and Oldham’s Job Characteristic Model = a model based in the belief that the task itself is the key to employee motivation
Skill Variety:
- How many different skills and talents does the job require of a person?
- Are they asked to do a lot of different things, or is it a monotonous, repetitive job?-
It seems reasonable to conclude that a job that involves a variety of activists and perhaps stretches an employees to develop their skills, is more likely to be motivating than menial and monotonous work each day
Task Identity:
- Is there a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end to a given task?
- Does a worker know what they are supposed to be doing, and when they have successfully completed the task?
- There is no better felling at work than having completed a task successfully – a clearly-defined task is merely likely to create opportunities for employees to enjoy the positive feelings of achievement
Task Significance:
- Does the job have a substantial impact?
- Will it matter to people, either within the organisation or to the society?
- Is the job/given task meaningful?- It can be very demotivating at work if you feel your work has little or no meaning/ significance
Autonomy:
- How much freedom does an individual have to accomplish their tasks?
- Does this freedom include the ability to schedule work as well as figuring out how to get the tasks done?
Job Feedback:
- Is an employee kept in the loop about their performance?
- Are they being told when they are going well and when they’re not?
What is delegation?
the process of passing authority down the hierarchy from a manager to a subordinate
What is centralisation / decentralisation?
Centralisation / Decentralisation = the degree to which authority is delegated within the organisation. A centralised structure has a greater degree of central control, while and decentralised structure involves a greater degree of delegated authority to the subordinate
What is a tall structure hierarchy?
has more layers of management
What is a flat structure hierarchy?
has less layers of management
What are influences on delegation, centralisation and decentralisation?
-History and nature of hte organisation
-Size of the organisation
-Availability of competent managers
-Time frame of decisions
-The importance of a decision
-Environmental influence
What are the organisation structure types?
- Functional – the traditional organisational structure where firms are divided into departments such as HR, marketing etc
- Geographical – organised based on location
- Product line based – organised according to the different products made by the firm
- Customer/market based – the organisation is split by who it sells its products to
- Matrix: hierarchical and functional approaches are combined and it usually used for specific projects within a firm
What are the benfits of motivation to a business?
Benefits of motivation to a business:
- Improved productivity
- Reduced costs
- Improved reputation for the organisation
- Improved likelihood of meeting objectives
- Improved work ethic
- Competitive advantage
What does taylor’s motivation theory argue?
Taylor = workers are mainly motivated by pay
Key features of Taylor’s motivational theory:
- Workers do not naturally enjoy work and so need close supervision and control
- Therefore managers should break down production into a series of small tasks
- Workers should then be given appropriate training and tools so they can work as efficiently as possible on one set task
- Workers are then paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period of time- piece-rate pay
- As a result workers are encouraged to work hard and maximise their productivity
- It links closely with an autocratic management styles as the managers take all the decisions and give the orders to people below them
What does Mayo’s motivation theory argue?
Mayo = workers are not just concerned with money but could be better motivated by having their social needs met whilst at work
Key features of Mayo’s motivational theory:
- Better communication between managers and workers
- Greater manager involvement in employees working lives
- Working in groups or teams
- It closely fits in with a paternalistic style of management
- Workers motivated by having social needs met
- Managers should have greater involvement in employee’s working life
What does Hertzburg’s motivation theory argue?
Herzberg = hygiene factors and motivators are part of the two factor theory
Key features of Herzberg’s motivational theory:
- Motivators are more concerned with the actual job itself (e.g. how interesting the work is and how much opportunity it gives for extra responsibility, recognition and promotion)
- Hygiene factors are factors which ‘surround the job’ rather than the job itself – for example a worker will onlyturn up to work if a business has provided a reasonable level of pay and safe working conditions but these factors will not make him work harder at his job once he is there
