Chapter Five – The Human Resource Management Function – The Employment Cycle

Question 1

Maintenance phase

Answer 1

The maintenance phase of the employment cycle is concerned with ensuring the motivation and enthusiasm of employees is held, and that employees are content with their jobs.

Induction: acquainting new employees with the organisation and the jobs they will perform
Training and development: teaching employees new skills, helping employees to learn tasks associated with their jobs and to improve their skills
Recognition and reward: monetary benefits (rewarding employees’ efforts through financial compensation) and non-monetary benefits (rewards such as better conditions, fringe benefits)
Performance management: methods to improve both organisational and individual employee performance

Question 2

Termination phase

Answer 2

The termination phase of the employment cycle is concerned with the departure of employees from the organisation.

Termination management: voluntary termination (dealing with employees leaving of their own accord — retirement, resignation) and involuntary termination (dealing with employees being asked to leave — retrenchment, dismissal)
Entitlement and transition issues: payment of any outstanding benefits, such as sick or annual leave, and providing support and counselling for dismissed employees

Question 3

Job analysis

Answer 3

Job analysis: is 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.

Question 4

Job description

Answer 4

A job description: is a summary of what the worker will be doing — the role they will have in the organisation in terms of duties and responsibilities.

Question 5

Job specification

Answer 5

A job specification: will indicate the sort of person an organisation is seeking in terms of personal qualities, skills, education and work experience.

Question 6

Job design

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Recruitment

Answer 7

attracting qualified job applicants from which to select the most appropriate person for a specific job.

Question 8

Internal recruitment

Answer 8

Internal recruitment (from within the organisation) involves considering present employees as applicants for available positions.

Question 9

External recruitment

Answer 9

suitable applicant for a position may be found from outside the organisation (external recruitment). A business will use external recruitment methods when it wants to bring in people with new or different ideas and attitudes.

Question 10

Employee selection

Answer 10

the candidate who best matches the organisation’s requirements.

Question 11

Discrimination

Answer 11

Discrimination: occurs when a policy or a practice disadvantages a person or a group based on a personal characteristic that is irrelevant to the performance of the work.

Question 12

Full time permanent employees

Answer 12

Full-time permanent: employees have an ongoing employment contract which includes all legally required entitlements.

Question 13

Part time permanent employees

Answer 13

Part-time permanent employment: involves working fewer ordinary weekly or monthly hours compared with full-time employees.

Question 14

Fixed term contract

Answer 14

A fixed-term contract: is where employment is offered for a specific period.

Question 15

Casual employees

Answer 15

Casual employees: are employed on an hourly basis.

Question 16

Remuneration

Answer 16

Remuneration: is monetary payment in return for the work an employee performs.

Question 17

Wage

Answer 17

A wage: is an hourly or weekly rate of pay.

Question 18

Salary

Answer 18

Employees who earn a salary: are paid a fixed amount each year, which is then divided by 26 to give a fortnightly salary, or by 12 to give a monthly salary.

Question 19

Salary sacrifice

Answer 19

Salary sacrifice: is forgoing salary in order to receive another non-cash benefit of equivalent value.

Question 20

On costs (or non wage benefits)

Answer 20

On-costs (or non-wage benefits): are additional costs involved in hiring an employee, above the cost of their wages, and include superannuation, long service leave and workers’ compensation.

Question 21

Induction

Answer 21

Induction: is a process of acquainting new employees with the organisation — its history, structures, objectives, culture, policies and practices — and the jobs they will perform.

Question 22

Training

Answer 22

Training: generally refers to the process of teaching staff how to do their job more efficiently and effectively by boosting their knowledge and skills.

Question 23

Development

Answer 23

Development: refers to activities that prepare staff to take on greater responsibility in the future.

Question 24

Learning organisation

Answer 24

A learning organisation: monitors and interprets its environment, seeking to improve its understanding of the interrelationship between its actions and its environment.

Question 25

Succession planning

Answer 25

Succession planning: focuses on preparing employees with potential to take on key management positions within the organisation in the future, should the need arise.

Question 26

Recognition and reward

Answer 26

Recognition and reward programs: aim at both acknowledging the work an employee has done and providing some sort of benefit, such as cash, merchandise, travel or gift certificates, in return for a job well done.

Question 27

Intrinsic rewards

Answer 27

Intrinsic rewards: come from the task or job itself, such as recognition or feedback or a sense of achievement.

Question 28

Extrinsic rewards

Answer 28

Extrinsic rewards: are outside the job itself. They may be monetary or non-monetary.

Question 29

Performance management

Answer 29

Performance management: focuses on improving both organisational and individual performance through relating organisational performance objectives to individual employee performance objectives.

Question 30

Performance appraisal

Answer 30

Performance appraisal: is the formal assessment of how efficiently and effectively an employee is performing their role in the organisation.

Question 31

Performance feedback

Answer 31

Performance feedback: is the information provided to an employee after a performance appraisal.

Question 32

Termination

Answer 32

Termination: is the ending of the employment of an employee.

Question 33

Retirement

Answer 33

Retirement: occurs when an employee decides to give up full-time or part-time work and no longer be part of the labour force.

Question 34

Resignation

Answer 34

Resignation: is the voluntary ending of employment by the employee ‘quitting’ their job.

Question 35

Redundancy

Answer 35

Redundancy: occurs when a person’s job no longer exists, usually due to technological changes, an organisational restructure or a merger or acquisition.

Question 36

Retrenchment

Answer 36

business dismisses an employee because there is not enough work to justify paying them.

Question 37

Dismissal

Answer 37

Dismissal: occurs when the behaviour of an employee is unacceptable and an organisation terminates their employment.

Question 38

Unfair dismissal

Answer 38

Unfair dismissal: is when an employee is dismissed because the employer has discriminated against them in some way, such as firing someone because she is pregnant.

Question 39

Human recourse planning

Answer 39

Human resource (HR) planning: is the development of strategies to meet the organisation’s future human resource needs.

Question 40

Establishment phase

Answer 40

The establishment phase of the employment cycle is concerned with attracting applicants and finding a suitable applicant for a position.

Planning: identifying staffing needs, conducting job analysis (determining the exact nature of the position to be filled) and job design (determining how the job is to be performed and the material and equipment required to do the job)
Recruitment: attracting people to apply for the position in the business, undertaking internal and external recruitment
Selection: choosing and hiring the most qualified; testing and interviewing
Employment arrangements and remuneration: deciding on the type of employment contract (arrangements) and ways of paying employees (remuneration)