Human resources/people in business (2.2 - 2.4)

Question 1

improving productivity and motivation:

Answer 1

• Salaries (communal income)
• Wages (daily/weekly pay)
• Piecework (units produced)
• Profit sharing (% of profits)
• Commission (sales made)
• Training
• Management styles
• Fringe benefits (external benefits that come alongside employment)
• Job design (autonomy, increase engagement)

Question 2

Management styles:

Answer 2

Autocratic:
- single figure makes decisions alone and spreads information to employees, benefits new workers, unskilled workers and demotivated workers
- suited for businesses struggling in crisis due to increased rate of decision making by experienced figures.

Democratic:
- decisions rely on expertise of workers, choices are influenced by the majority
- improves creativity amongst workers due to involvement in business decisions, suited for skilled workers with expertise in field of interest.

Question 3

Frederick Taylor - scientific management (summary + pros and cons)

Answer 3

• Assumption that all workers are lazy, relationship deviated of trust
• “A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”
• Piecework pay, pay dependent on productivity

Pros:
- Increases productivity
- Quick and easy
- Decreases inaccuracies

Cons:
- Not suitable for team
- Stress/Depressing (Bad for mental health)
- Reduce employee’s creativity and motivation towards work

Question 4

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (summary + pros and cons):

Answer 4

• Persons activity/satisfaction is determined by basic human needs: physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, self actualisation.

Pros:
- Simple to understand
- Deepen understanding
- A person status in the pyramid could vary over periods of time

Cons:
- Each country and cultures have different standards of employment
- People can be motivated by intrinsic rewards
- Achievements cannot be measured empirically

Question 5

Herzberg two factor theory (factors of motivation and factors of satisfaction) (summary + pros and cons):

Answer 5

• Argues that there are separate sets of mutually exclusive factors in the workplace that either cause job satisfaction or dissatisfaction
• Influenced by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Pros:

• Direct focus on employee motivation
• Companies can solve problems faced by employees
• Monetary factors are a secondary focus

Cons:

• External factors are not considered
• Employee job satisfaction and efficiency are not directly related
• Does not consider differences in social and cultural backgrounds

Question 6

Mayo - human relations and school of thought (summary + pros and cons)

Answer 6

• Relational elements e.g attention inspire employees more than financial rewards
• Motivation via creation of coworker relations and enjoyment

Pros:

• Helps workers communicate
• A comfortable and relaxing atmosphere
• Humane treatments
• Greater engagement

Cons:

• Too much focus on non business related concepts i.e personal relationships
• Informal
• Productivity may be lower
• Lose respect for those in supervisory positions
• May increase conflict

Question 7

Hierarchal structure:

Answer 7

• Subordinates
• Many layers of management
• Long chain of command
• Narrow span of control

Pros:

• Motivation via promotion
• Clear accountability

Cons:

• Slower communications
• Higher cost

Question 8

Flat structure:

Answer 8

Fewer layers of management
Wide span of control
Short chain of command

Pros:

faster communication
Engagement
Save money on salaries

Cons:

Little or no progression
Reduced motivation
Power struggles

Question 9

Matrix structure:

Answer 9

• Traditional departments
• Project teams across functional areas
• Temporary or permanent

Pros:

• Utilises skills within the organisation
• Effective communication
• Increased morale

Cons:

• Split across two managers/departments
• Takes time for employees to gel as a team.

Question 10

Tall organisational structure:

Answer 10

Pros:

• Motivation is increased due to more opportunities

Cons:

• Communication is slower
• Less collaboration

Question 11

Flat organisational structure:

Answer 11

Pros:

• Communication is faster
• More collaboration
• Increase in money due to decreased chance of promotion

Cons:

• Motivation decreased
• More stress in higher levels of power

Question 12

Autocratic (summary + pros and cons)

Answer 12

• One person makes all decisions
• No consideration toward the views of employees
• Typically decreases employee morale

Pros:

• More effective over a short period of time
• Effective when a quick decision needs to be made

Cons:

• Typically decreases employee morale
• Lack of group input.
• Less feedback from subordinates

Question 13

Democratic (summary + pros and cons)

Answer 13

• Members of team have increased participation in organisational affairs
• Manager still makes the decision

Pros:

• leads to deeper relationships
• Employees often feel valued
• Increased production and performance levels

Cons:

• Longer decision making

Question 14

Laissez faire:

Answer 14

• Employees have freedom and autonomy
• Requires high levels of trust and cooperation between employees and managers
• More effective with highly skilled and experienced workforce

Pros:

• Employees practise leadership and independence
• Departments decide faster
• Employees use their expertise
  It boosts employee morale

Cons:

• Confusion/lack of role clarity
  Isolation

Question 15

Paternalistic:

Answer 15

• Manager acts as the head of the family
• Manager treats employees as if a member of their own family
• Manager expects high levels of loyalty and trust from their employees
• Manager listens to the employees but has the final say

Pros:

• High loyalty because employees feel acknowledged and their needs are taken care of
• Good behaviour and work are rewarded
• Reduced absenteeism and quitting
• Decisions are made with the employees’ best interests in mind

Cons:
- Bias: Employees believe this management style is unfair and subjective
- Bad decisions from above cause significant staff dissatisfaction.

Question 16

Transformational:

Answer 16

• Manager puts employees need before their own
• Manager does not work within the status quo
• Strives for positive change in the organisation’s culture

Pros:

• United in a Common Cause
• Reduces Turnover Costs
• Promotes Morale Through Better Communication
• Gives Employees a Lot of Freedom
• Employees feel valued as if they are apart of something special

Cons:

• Can Be Risky and Disruptive
• Lack of focus

Question 17

Transactional:

Answer 17

• Wouldn’t typically strive for a change in business culture
• Tends to work within the status quo
• Uses rewards and punishments to motivate employees
• Results focused approach

Pros:

• Create fast results that are predictive

Cons:

• Undue responsibility

Question 18

Charismatic:

Answer 18

Charismatic:

• Centred on leaders ability to charm and persuade people
• Requires the ability to motivate individuals to pursue the organisations motivation or aims

Pros

• Inspired connection with team members or employees.
• The focused commitment to a company or organisation’s project or mission.
• Strong motivating factors that produce results.

Cons

• Charismatic leaders might display narcissism and shift the focus from their people to themselves.
• Leaders might become self-serving.
  It is often viewed as shallow or disingenuous.

Question 19

Recruitment

Answer 19

• Occurs when a vacancy appears, a restructure within which job roles are altered, growth of a business
• job analysis, to formally decide key characteristics of the role e.g work hours, skills required, delegation of tasks etc.
• a business should progress to prepare recruitment documentation known as a job description or person specification.
• The job description outlines the role given to the employee
• A person specification outlines the skills, experience, and qualifications of applicants.
• Advertising the job vacancy can be done either internally or externally

Internal recruitment:

• a current employee either promoted or redeployed into a role (benefits include lower costs, decreased time scales etc. in regards to cons internal recruitment would include limited pool of applicants, no fresh ideas and the creation of another vacancy),

External recruitment:

• wider pool of applicants, fresh ideas, increased experience and skills. However external recruitments would cost more, take longer and increase the chance of recruiting someone not fit for the role.

Question 20

Selection:

Answer 20

• shortlist applicants
• shortlisted applicants are then invited to an interview which could be conducted both online or in person.
• Interviews provide the opportunity for businesses to ask the applicant a series of questions (interviews can be time consuming and often lead to superior members of staff being absent from their roles) (do not always identify the best applicants due to personality factors.)
• Assessments explore the applicants personality, attitude, ability and skill. Testing can be time consuming and pressure may affect applicants performance.
• The final stage would result in the business selecting an applicant and offering them a role, this would often include the businesses requesting references.

Question 21

Differences between Recruitment and selection:

Answer 21

Recruitment:
- entails searching for employees whether internally or externally
- Allows candidates to apply for a vacancy
- economical/cost friendly

Selection:
- Reaping from an existing pool of candidates
- Authoritative figures select candidates, rejecting others
- Comparatively more expensive

Question 22

Interviews:

Answer 22

Pros:
selecting ideal candidate for position
conducting detailed evaluations
getting to know the candidates yourself
improved customer bonds

Cons:
navigating personal bias
judging individual too quickly
generating stereotypes
a necessity to verify candidate facts

Question 23

Assessments:

Answer 23

Pros:

remove some bias/subjectivity
clarify the role to participants
assessments provide data
more time conscious

Cons:

vary in quality
assessments are not always specific to jobs
pressure may affect individual performance
may put off picky candidates

Question 24

On the job training:

Answer 24

• Practical method
  to train new/existing employees on equipment uses/methods of use and overall work processes
• Upskill or reskill employees
• Mentoring (senior employee given the responsibility to supervise and support another employee)(longer term process).
• Coaching (short term solution to meet the skill requirement and training needs of a business).
• Demonstrations (simple, quick and easy training method for developing new skills)(carried out by anyone in the organisation).
• Job shadowing (simplest method of on the job training, an employee follows another employee while they do their job.
• Job rotations (employees change roles within a business, aim of developing a team of ‘all rounders’.

Benefits and drawbacks:

• Hands on practical training methods delivered by experienced employees
• Flexible, can be delivered as and when required
• Bespoke to the employees role and businesses needs
• Workplace distractions can affect efficiency
• Experienced employees may not have time to dispose of
• Training may not be delivered to the expected standard

Question 25

Off the job training:

Answer 25

• Employee receives training away from their usual workspace and job role
  (training software to support the employees’ learning)
• Off site training (formal setting – away from the distractions of the workplace environment)
• Outside trainers (deliver training either onsite or offsite, come from a range of external organisations)
• Sandwich courses (employees require high levels of skill, and competency to carry out their role effectively, usually consists of studying for a qualification via university/local college before returning to work).

Benefits and drawbacks:

Employees are away from work environment distractions
Trainers are subject experts with the ability to teach
Environment is less pressured and is designed for learning

Training usually isn’t bespoken to the business
Employees are unproductive whilst in training
More expensive (typically)

Question 26

Internal VS external recruitment:

Answer 26

Recruitment:

• Identifying the need for an employee and attracting that employee
• The right person for the right role at the right time
• Right skills and capabilities to meet the needs of the organisation
• Job description, person specification, application forms, interviews and group tasks

Internal recruitment:

Pros:

• Cuts costs and saves money
• Quicker process
• Applicants record known
• Improve motivation

Cons:

• Leaves a gap
• Limited pool of applicants
• Lack of new ideas
• Resentment

External recruitment:

• Process of fulling in vacancies from candidates outside of the business
• Job sites, recruitment agencies, company websites, newspapers, trade magazines

Pros:

• Fresh ideas
• Larger pool of candidates
• Better qualified candidates

Cons:

• Riskier
• Expensive
• Longer process

Question 27

effective communication:

Answer 27

needs to be received, understood and acted upon in the way intended. If a business does not accomplish this, they are not successful (regarding communication).

Question 28

The process of effective communication:

Answer 28

• The transmitter/sender
• The medium of communication (verbal/non verbal, written)
• The receiver
• The feedback