Organisational structure and employee motivation

Question 1

What is a sole trader

Answer 1

one owner –> who can employ any number of people
Primary sector –> farmer, fisherman
Secondary sector –> small building or manufacturing businesses
MOST tertiary secto

Question 2

Tall organisational structure

Answer 2

• Have long chains of demand
• negatively impact communication and efficiency
• lots of layers meaning more opportunities for promotion

Question 2

Flat organisational structure

Answer 2

• Only have a few levels of Hierarchy
• people are given more responsibility and freedom, this can motivate more employees

Question 3

Span of control (SOC)

Answer 3

This is the number of people who report directly to the manager
- If wide SOC then managers find it hard to manage effectively
- If narrow then workers can become demotivated

Question 4

Centralisation

Answer 4

all decisions are made by senior managers at the top of the business

AD- managers get an overview of the whole business so decisions are consistent throughout the business
DIS- excluding employees from decision making can be demotivating

Question 5

Decentralised

Answer 5

Authority is shared out to more junior employees

AD- involvement in decision making motivates employees
DIS- Junior employees may not be able to see the overall situation and needs of an organisation

Question 6

Taylor scientific methods

Answer 6

• Taylor thought that people are motivated by money
• He believed that workers would do minimum amount of work if left to own devices
• favoured division of labour - breaking work down into a lot of small repetitive tasks with managers taking responsibility for the workforce

Question 7

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

Answer 7

Maslow said:’that people should start at the bottom of the hierarchy (pyramid)
top to bottom 1-5 5 being top 1 being bottom
1. basic physical needs - food water shelter and clothes
2. safety - safe work environment
3. social needs - friendship, partnership
4. self esteem - achievement
5. self actualisation - meeting potential

Question 8

Herzberg’s two factor theory

Answer 8

He interviewed accountants and engineers to find out what motivated and satisfied them at work. ( 2 groups he identified)
1. Hygiene factors - are things like company policy, supervision with fellow employees. they don’t satisfy as much and if not good then they get dissatisfied
2. Motivating factors - like interesting work, personal achievement. these motivate workers

Question 9

Mayos human relation theory

Answer 9

He investigated that whether certain factors affected workers productivity
1. One group worked in their usual working conditions and another group changed the way they worked
the second group found that as they were exposed to changes, they were more motivated than their usual conditions