Improving Organisational Designs And Human Resource Flow

Question 1

Job design characteristics

Answer 1

• Skill variety.
• Task identity.
• Task significance.
• Autonomy.
• Feedback.
  These can lead to:
• High internal work motivation.
• High quality work performance.
• High satisfaction with the work.
• Low absenteeism and turnover.

Question 2

Influences on job design

Answer 2

• The business’s overall or corporate objectives.
• Employee performance.
• Health and safety and other legal requirements.
• Meeting customer requirements as fully as possible.
• The existing and potential skills of the workforce.
• The resources available.
• Expected future developments.

Question 3

What does organisational structures set out

Answer 3

• The routes by which communication passes through the business.
• Who has authority (and power) and responsibility within the organisation.
• The roles and titles of individuals within the organisation.
• The people to who individual employees are accountable and those for who they are responsible.

Question 4

Key factors in organisational designs

Answer 4

• Levels of hierarchy- Refers to the number of layers of authority within an organisation.
• Span of control- The number of people who report directly to a manager.
• Delegation- The passing down of authority through the organisation.
• Authority- Carries a matching responsibility for actions and decisions taken or for a failure to act.
• Centralisation- Where the majority of the decisions are taken by senior managers at the top of the business.
• Decentralisation- Gives greater authority to employees lower down the organisational structure.

Question 5

Advantages of delegation

Answer 5

• Can speed up and improve the quality of decision making.
• Can reduce the workloads of managers, so they can focus on key tasks.
• Improves skills of employees to help them prepare for higher up roles.

Question 6

Disadvantages of delegation

Answer 6

• The costs of training.
• It may be inappropriate in some businesses where managers aren’t willing to pass control (autocratic).
• Not a suitable tragedy to adopt to manage a crisis.

Question 7

Benefits of decentralised businesses to stakeholders

Answer 7

• Provides employees with the opportunity to fulfil needs needs like achievement and recognition.
• Reduces the workload on managers, allowing then to focus on important long term issues.
• Having more decisions made locally which can encourage the business to meet their needs more fully.

Question 8

Internal influences on delegation, centralisation and decentralisation

Answer 8

• Leadership and management styles.
• The business’s overall or corporate objectives.
• The skills of the workforce.

Question 9

External influences on delegation, centralisation and decentralisation

Answer 9

• The technological environment.
• The competitive environment.
• The economic environment.

Question 10

What are the three elements of human resource flow that needs to be managed

Answer 10

• Human inflow- This encompasses recruitment decisions about where and how to recruit employees.
• Internal human flow- This covers the flow of employees through the organisation and includes transfers, promotions and training.
• Human outflow- This stage of the flow relates to the release of employees.

Question 11

Elements of the human resource flow

Answer 11

• Human resource planning.
• Recruitment and selection.
• Training.
• Dismissal and redundancy.
• Redeployment.