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A level business > Human Resources > Flashcards

Human Resources Flashcards

1
Q

examples of HR objectives

A
  • recruitment objectives = decide the skill level needed for employees, full or part time employment contracts, decide where to deploy employees on which department, need diversity of employees
  • helping employees reach their full potential= training, right equipment and resources to help do job properly, career progression, matching the workforce skill levels
  • support employee= good communication with employees, giving responsibility to employees who feel valued, improving employee relations with the business to reduce absenteeism,
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2
Q

Internal influences on HR objectives

A
  • business culture
  • finances
  • other department needs
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3
Q

external influences on HR objectives

A
  • state of the economy
  • UK employment laws
  • ethical and environmental issues (bad opinions around zero hour contracts)
  • improvement in tech may lead to HR need to recruit specific people
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4
Q

Hard HR management

A
  • employees seen as a resource
  • employees hired on short term basis
  • managers believe employees are mainly motivated by money and think they will do as little work as possible
  • appraisals are judgemental
  • training is only done to meet production needs
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5
Q

Soft HR management

A
  • employees are the most important resource
  • employees are managed on a long term basis
  • management motivate employees through empowerment and deveopemt.
    -Appraisals are developmental
  • trainman is done to meet development needs
    increase staff morale, easier to retain staff, benefit from skills and experience of staff, encourages commitment and good performance
    HOWEVER where employees aren’t interested in development or self empowerment this isn’t useful
    also involves higher costs, time consuming
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6
Q

Labour productivity formula

A

output per period/ number of employees

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7
Q

labour costs per unit formula

A

labour costs/ output

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8
Q

employee costs as a percentage of turnover

A

employee costs/ sales turnover x100

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9
Q

HR impact on labour productivity

A
  • diverse workforce making sure everyone feel engaged and motivated can lead to high productivity
  • making sure the right people are in the right roles, reduce levels of absenteeism - increasing productivity
  • rewards with bonuses and increased salaries can keep motivation high and workers know theyre valued
  • ## staff retraining can increase productivity, incentives or redundancies and replacements can lead to higher productivity levels
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10
Q

How to reduce labour costs per unit

A
  • increasing productivity (increase motivation through delegation/responsibility, making employees feel valued, investing in them through training programmes, offering monetary incentives etc)
  • employee costs can be decrease through reducing wages and benefits= however could lead to demotivated staff
  • MUST consider the ethics of the business = may be more important to ensure employees are respected
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11
Q

Labour turnover formula

A

(number of staff leaving/ average number of staff employed) x 100

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12
Q

Benefits of high staff turnover

A
  • new ideas and innovation
  • firms can recruit staff who have already been trained by competitors
  • firms can reduce workforce through natural wastage rather than redundancies
  • enthusiasm of new staff influences other workers
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13
Q

Drawbacks of high staff turnover

A
  • lack of loyal experienced staff who know the business
  • firm loses staff it has trained
  • training costs and productivity drops
  • high recruitment costs
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14
Q

Labour retention formula

A

(number of staff employed at end period - number of leavers/ number of staff employed at end period ) x 100
CHANGE OVER ORIGINAL X100

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15
Q

Tall organisational structure

A
  • long chain of command
  • can lead to poor communication
  • decisions may take longer to make
  • more opportunities for promotion
  • staff gain better support from line managers
  • smaller span of control = however too small may lead to demotivated staff as they feel like theyre being micromanaged
  • piece related pay
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16
Q

Flat organisation structure

A
  • wide span of control = overwhelming, lack of control/supervision
  • better communication
  • less opportunities for promotion/ highly competitive
  • lack of teamwork encouragement - adding an extra layers to hierarchy,
  • ## motivate through job enlargement and enrichment
17
Q

Delayering evaluation

A
  • lowers costs= cutting management can save money on salaries
  • give junior employee enhanced roles with more responsibility and can improve communication
  • however short term costs incurred as remaining staff would need training in their new roles
18
Q

Centralised authority structures

A

Advantages:
- leaders have a lot of experience = accuracy of decisions
- managers get an overview of the businesss and so decisions are consistent
- lack of bias
- quick decision making
Disadvantages:
- excludes employees = demotivating
- reacts slowly to change allowing competitors to get ahead.

19
Q

Decentralised authority structure evaluation

A

Advantages :
- motivates employees to be involved in decision making
- employees can use expert knowledge
- quick day to day decision making
Disadvantages:
- may not have enough experience
- inconsistencies may develop between divisions
- junior employees cannot get a grasp on the whole situation

20
Q

HR planning

A

The process of understanding the employees needed within the business:

  • consider past statistics to see employee number trends
  • decrease or increase in demand for products can mean an increase or decreased need for employees
  • need to consider long-term or short term staff needed
  • introduction of new tech can alter the staffing levels needed
  • analysis of current employees = who’s gonna leave retire in the near future
  • need to check the supply of new workers
  • high unemployment makes recruitment easier
  • businesses located near schools and colleges find it easier to employee staff
  • local infrastructure is also important to encourage people to move to the area to work
21
Q

evaluation of internal recruitment

A

adv:
- employees already know the business as well as the business already knowing the employee
- short and cheap process
- motivates employees to go for promotions
Disadv:
- leave vacancy in other departments
- can cause resentment among colleagues who aren’t accepted

22
Q

Evaluation of external recruitment

A

ADV:
- brings in fresh new ideas
- brings in experience from other organisations
- larger number of applicants
DISADV:
- long and expensive process
- candidates will need longer induction process
- CV and interview may not be accurate representation of the employee

23
Q

Evaluation of on the job training

A
  • easy to organise
  • lower costs of training
  • training is job specific
    Disadv:
  • trainer and trainee are not productive during training
  • bad practices can be passed on
  • no new ideas brought into the business
24
Q

Off - the - job training evaluation

A
  • trainers are specialists
  • new ideas can be brought into the organisation
  • no job distractions
    DISADV:
  • expensive
  • no benefit to the business while training
  • may not be specific to the day-to-day running of the job
25
Q

How HR flow is managed during difficult times

A
  • redeployment = keeping morale up within the business and motivation high whilst also filling other vacancies with staff they know and trust
  • Redundancies = decrease morale and job security
26
Q

Maslow hierarchy of needs

A
  1. self actualisation= meet needs by giving employees opportunities to develop new skills and take responsibility
  2. self esteem = giving employees recognition and offer of promotions
  3. social needs= team working and social outings
  4. safety = health and safety policies
  5. basic physical needs = paying workers enough to live
27
Q

Taylor - scientific management

A

The idea that employees are only motivated through money payments.
Division of labour - small repetitive tasks with managers taking responsibility
Performance related pay - commission
increase productivity due to the increase pay rate for high performance
- potential reduction in quality
- supervisors needing to monitor efficiency and for quality control purposes

28
Q

Hackman and Oldham job design

A
  • skill variety
  • task identity
  • task significance
  • autonomy
  • feedback
29
Q

Financial motivation improvements

A
  • Piece rate (Easily measured quantity output, quality and morale may suffer and need for quality control)
  • salary schemes
  • commission
  • performance related pay
  • fringe benefits (discounts)
30
Q

Non- financial motivators (flexible working)

A
  • flexible working hours (Flexi-time, compressed hours, annual hours, job-sharing, home working)
  • improves motivation and productivity
  • helps employees with children
  • suits families, disabled workers and those living in remote areas
31
Q

Non financial motivators

A
  • job enlargement = giving employees more work at the same level
  • job enrichment = challenging work and training they need to do it, giving responsibility
  • empowerment = giving employees control over their work (quality circles)
  • teamworking= job enrichment and empowerment increase business culture
  • Pleasant working environments
32
Q

Ways of improving employer - employee relations

A
  • strong communication = necessary for giving clear plans, instructions and motivation
  • more democratic leadership = allowing everyone in the business to allow their voices to be heard
  • changing organisational structure = delayering helps employees get involved in decision making
  • delegation and decentralisation. Empowers employees can help reduce negative attitudes, give employees a sense of purpose, reduce remoteness.
33
Q

Benefits of improving employer-employee relations (employer)

A
  • better business reputation = greater access to highly skilled employees
  • improved productivity and efficiency = allowing them to be more competitive
  • diverse opinions = informed decisions
  • good communication means the employees will feel more aligned with the business
34
Q

Benefits of improving employee - employer relations (employee)

A
  • feeling more involved can give a sense of job security
  • if workers are more productive and efficient then the business will have more money and so be able to increase pay and offer bonuses
  • employees feel values and motivated as their ideas are considered in decision making (job satisfaction)
  • ability to communicate personal objectives = develop their skills
35
Q

Work councils

A

Made up of employer and employees

  • meet regularly to discuss general work issues
  • relaxed atmosphere
  • quality circles as an example
36
Q

Trade unions and their functions

A
  • Take action in the workplace = negotiate on behalf of employers for fair pay rates/ bonuses, fair working hours , paid holiday, safe working conditions, job security and protect against discriminations, mistreatment and unfair dismissal
  • Take action at a national level = pressure on governments to bring legislation that aligns with trade unions ideas, minimum wage 1998 was introduced by trade unions, pension protection fund (protecting employee pensions for companies that go bust)
  • Trade unions take action in party politics= many unions donate to labour because they think it represents their interests.
37
Q

Trade unions influences on businesses

A
  • change working practices
  • stand up for employees rights if businesses want to make employees redundant
  • if current staff are overworked they can negotiate with the business to take on more staff
  • its in the unions benefit to support businesses in achieving objectives as when the business is profitable they can better support employees
38
Q

Evaluation of employee representation (trade unions/work councils)

A

ADV:
- more effective for employees as groups have bigger influence and can be more forceful
- collective bargaining can help achieve long term aims= employers may sign contracts that lock them into agreements
- senior management fet direct insight into the concerns of the workers
DISADV:
- can lead to industrial action = decreased productivity or strike action
- strikes can get out of hand and turn violent = damage reputation
- industrial actions leads to loss of profits
- individuals can be denied decisions if overruled by majority
- industrial action can undermine the trust between employer and employee. Break down of communication will damage relationship

A level business (21 decks)

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