Mr Fish Flashcards
what is human resources (HR)?
the people of a business or organisation regarded as a significant asset in terms of skills and abilities
what is a HR department?
the department of a business or organisation that deals with the hiring, administration and training of staff
what are some examples of HR objectives?
Labour productivity, employee engagement and involvement, talent development, training, diversity, alignment of values.
what is a hard HR strategy?
treats employees as a resource to be monitored and used efficiently in order to achieve strategic objectives.
what is a soft HR strategy?
treats employees as valuable assets, a major source of competitive advantage which is vital in its importance to achieving strategic objectives
what is labour turnover?
the proportion of employees leaving a business over a period of time - usually a year
what is the formula for labour turnover?
number of employees leaving over a period / average number employed over a given period x 100
what are retention rates?
the proportion of employees with a specific length of service (normally one or more years) as a proportion of the total workforce
what is job design?
the process of deciding on the context of the job in terms of its duties and responsibilities.
what are organisational charts?
they are diagrams that show the internal structure of the business. they make it easy to identify the specific roles and responsibilities of staff
what are levels of hierarchy?
the layers of authority in a business
what is span of control ?
how many employees you directly look after
what is chain or command?
how many layers there are under you.
what is delegation?
the passing down of authority (or tasks) to more junior employees.
what are the features of a tall chain of command and span of control?
there are many managerial levels (hierarchies) and a narrow span of control
what are the features of a flat chain of command and span of control?
there are few managerial levels and a wide span of control
what are the advantages of delegation?
lower level staff will feel trusted increasing their motivation, there will be a wider range of opinions and ideas, tasks will be completed more efficiently, allows manager to focus on more strategic and important tasks
what are the disadvantages of delegation?
could demotivate staff if workload increases too much, could decrease quality of task completion, managers lose control.
what is a matrix type of organisational structure?
combines the traditional departments seen in functional structures with project teams
what is centralisation?
businesses with a centralised structure keep key decisions being made at the top by those with the highest levels of authority.
