HR Strategies Flashcards
What are the benefits of internal recruitment?
- Cheaper
- Already know the employee and their strengths / weaknesses
- Staff work hard for promotions
- Staff are familiar with the business culture already
What are the disadvantages of internal recruitment?
- Limits access to skills
- No new ideas
- Rivalry between staff competing for promotion
What are the advantages of external recruitment?
- Access to skills
- New ideas
- Avoids rivalry between staff
What are disadvantages of external recruitment?
- Expensive
- Don’t already know the employee and their strengths / weaknesses
- Existing staff may be demotivated if cannot get promoted
- New recruit doesn’t already know the business culture
Recruitment considers general and specific…
Skills
What is a general skill?
A skill that is needed in many types of jobs (e.g. communication, management)
What is a specific skill?
A skill that is only needed for a particular job (e.g. can write in a computer language, can fly a plane)
How should a business decide whether to prioritise general or specific skills in recruitment?
Target the skill that will be harder to train, and then train them up in the other one
What is the case study for recruitment?
Atlassian - use LinkedIn to headhunt for external recruitment; ‘two tracks’ for internal recruitment
What is job design?
The type and variety of tasks that employees do in their job
Job design considers general and specific…
Tasks
What are some elements of a good job?
- Variety
- Autonomy
- Challenge
- Teamwork
A specific task is
One particular duty the person does (e.g. drive the bus; clean the plates; build a wall)
A general task is
A broad task for an employee (or team of employees) to do (e.g. manage the whole restaurant; work in a team to build a whole house)
How does job design improve acquisition?
1) Designing a good job will attract better applicants
2) By knowing what the job will involve, you can select the best person for the job
How does job design improve development?
Staff can get experience in a variety of tasks
How does job design improve maintenance?
An interesting job will motivate and retain staff
What is the case study for job design?
Atlassian - work in teams with autonomy, and do Hackathon projects
What are global HR strategies?
- Hiring staff from overseas on a visa
- Shifting work overseas - either in an overseas office, or by outsourcing
What are the benefits of global HR?
- Often lower wage costs (if they stay overseas)
- Access to people with the best skills
- Access to a bigger supply of workers who can do the job (Australia has a skills shortage for many jobs)
What is the case study for global HR?
Atlassian - Global Talent Scheme visa for 25% of staff
How do you train staff?
1) Determine what you want them to learn
2) Train them formally or informally, on the job or off the job
3) Evaluate if they learnt it successfully
What are current skills?
Skills you need for your current job
What are future skills?
Skills you’ll need if you get a promotion
What is the benefit of training current skills?
Improve productivity
What is the benefit of training future skills?
Improve staff motivation (they want to get promoted)
AND
Succession planning (you have a ready replacement if their manager leaves)
What is the case study for training and development?
Atlassian - Hack House and online workshops
What are two visas you could use to sponsor a worker to Australia on?
- Temporary Skills Shortage Visa
- Global Talent Scheme visa
What is performance management?
A process of continuously monitoring and evaluating employee performance
How do you track staff performance as part of performance management?
- Key performance indicators (KPIs) (e.g. sales, customer complaints, how many tasks they complete per day etc.)
- 360 degree feedback (collect feedback from all staff who interact with that employee)
- Personal Development Plans (PDPs) (meet with the employee to reflect on their performance, provide feedback, and set goals to improve on)
What are the types of performance management?
Administrative and developmental
What is administrative performance management?
Using the information collected about staff to improve decisions about how HR is done (e.g. what training to offer, whether recruitment is being done well, who to promote etc.)
What is developmental performance management?
Using the information collected to provide feedback to the employee so that they get better at the job
What is the case study for performance management?
Netflix - believe performance management is inefficient, and just use constant feedback and the Keeper Test
What are examples of monetary rewards?
- Wage
- Bonus
- Commission
What are examples of non-monetary rewards?
- Good work environment / facilities
- Flexible hours
- Interesting work
- Good colleagues and corporate culture
- Autonomy
- Recognition
Is a company car a monetary or non-monetary reward?
It depends. Some exam writers say it is monetary (because it has monetary value), and others say it is non-monetary because it isn’t cash. Avoid using this example.
Is a promotion a monetary or non-monetary reward?
It’s not a great example of either - but it would be monetary (because you get more money)
What is commission?
An employee receives a percentage of the sales they make (e.g. a JB Hi-Fi employee gets 5% of every phone they sell)
What is performance pay, and what are examples?
Additional pay for staff who achieve certain targets, e.g. bonus, commission
What are the advantages of performance pay?
- Incentive for hard work
- Retain high-performing staff
What are the disadvantages of performance pay?
- Expensive
- Staff only focus on what they’ll get the bonus for
What is the advantage of group performance pay?
Improves teamwork
What is the advantage of individual performance pay?
Improves accountability (everyone is responsible for their own work)
What is the disadvantage of group performance pay?
Potential for some people to be rewarded without trying
What is the disadvantage of individual performance pay?
Potential for rivalry and lack of teamwork
What is the case study for rewards in HR?
Netflix - shares as part of their salary
What is a democratic leadership style?
The manager trusts and listens to the views of employees, and builds teamwork
What is an autocratic leadership style?
The manager tells staff how to do their job and does not listen to their views
What is a contingency leadership approach?
The manager chooses to use democratic or autocratic leadership depending on the circumstances
What are the advantages of democratic leadership?
- Improved morale (satisfaction)
- Improved innovation
- Improved teamwork
What are the advantages of autocratic leadership?
- More control over how things are done (so tasks are done the way the manager wants)
- More likely to meet set deadlines
- Improved discipline
When is it better to use an autcoratic approach?
If staff have low skills or effort
When is it better to use a democratic approach?
If staff have skills and can be trusted to work hard
What is the case study for leadership styles?
Netflix - a democratic approach where managers have a mantra of ‘context not control’
What are common causes of workplace disputes?
- Employment conditions (e.g. pay, job security)
- Treatment of staff (e.g. bullying, harassment)
Why is it important to quickly resolve workplace disputes?
- Prevent industrial action (e.g. strikes)
- Reduce staff turnover and absenteeism
What are the dispute resolution strategies?
- Grievance procedures
- Negotiation
- Mediation
- Conciliation
- Arbitration
What are grievance procedures?
The business’ process for how staff should raise an issue about their treatment, and how the steps for how it will be resolved
(e.g. if you are being bullied, report it to X, then it will be dealt with by…)
What is negotiation?
The business and the employee try to agree a compromise to settle the dispute
What is mediation?
A third party helps the business and the employee come to an agreement, but does not offer their advice
What is conciliation?
The Fair Work Commission (or other tribunal) provides advice and options for how to resolve the dispute, but the decision is non-binding
What is arbitration?
The Fair Work Commission (or other tribunal) make a ruling about the dispute, and the decision is binding
What is the case study for dispute resolution strategies?
Uber - not following grievance procedures to deal with sexual harassment
Why is it better to resolve disputes through negotiation or mediation rather than conciliation or arbitration?
It is cheaper to resolve the dispute quickly and with less involvement of courts
