People In Business Flashcards
How can businesses be structured into functions and what are the properties of this structure and advantage disadvantage
Usually used in limited companies, it is split into departments (functional areas) such as sales, marketing, hr and customer service.
Good as it allows specialists to only work on what they’re good at
Bad as there may be tensions between different departments so they don’t work well together
How can businesses be structured by product and what are the properties of this structure and advantage disadvantage
This is common for large manufacturers who make lots of products
The organisation is split into different sectors for each of its different types of products such as cars, motor bikes and lawn mowers
It’s good as managers of each sector can make decisions relèvent to each different product
Bad as there may be wasteful use of recourses between different sectors
How can businesses be structured by region and what are the properties of this structure and advantage disadvantage
This is used for multinational businesses
The organisation is split into decisions based on their region or country such as amazon Europe and amazon North America
Good as it means day to day control of multinational countries is easier and can adapt to locals
Bad as there is wasteful duplication of resources between regions
What is a hierarch in a business and what are the properties of them
A series of levels in a business where each level has responsibilities
The higher the level, the less people are in that level
At each level, a certain amount of responsibility is passed down to the people beneath
Properties of centralised organisations
Major déçisons are made by few people at the top of the hierarchy
Advantages is that senior managers tend to have lots of experience so should be able to run the business well
Downside is that decision making is slow and can take a long time to travel from lower levels to higher levels. Business reacts slowly to change
Properties of decentralised organisations
Authority over large decisions is spread out to lots of people such as regional managers and to lower employees
Good as lower people tend to know their sector better than those higher so can make quick and good decisions.
Bad as this can cause inconsistencies between different regions, they don’t all behave the same. Regional decisions may not suit the business as a whole either
Negatives of long chained hierarchies
Communication from top to bottom and visa versa is very slow as message has to travel through many layers
Messages may get distorted through the layers or may not even reach destination
There is big gap between those at top and bottom, people at bottom may feel demoralised
Some firms délayér to help fix this problem
Problems with having a larger span of control
Having control over lots of people means the manager has to communicate well with lots of people.
This means it takes a long time to pass messages along
Hard to manage lots of people effectively and efficiently
What is induction training
Training that introduces new employees to their workplace.
Introduces them to their tea and other collègues and teaches them all the company rules and health and safety plans.
They as also be given some training on how to do their job
It’s done to make the new employee feel welcome and comfortable in their new pace of work
What is on the job/ internal training
Training whee the person learns to do their job by watching other collègues and practicing it themself
It’s good as it’s cheap but bad as it’s taught by collègues who may pass bad practices on
Properties of off the job training and difference between external and internal
It can be internal or external and is training away from the workplace
Internal is when the company trains its own employees with its own training department, external is when someone else trains employees
Its more expensive than on the job training and less relèvent than the job but is often better as its done by people who are qualified to train others
What is the appraisal process
Worker and manager discuss what targets the worker should achieve this year
Over the year, training and resources are given to the worker to help them achieve their target
At the end of the yearn worker and manager discuss how well those targets were met
Pros and cons of appraisal system
People who meet their targets can be rewarded, those who do t can learn from what they didn’t do last year better
Targets may be unrealistic, demotivating the employee
Sometimes the manager lies to make the worker feel not so bad, other times the worker lies to tell the manager what they think the manager wants to hear
What is remuneration and examples
It’s a financial method of motivating staff
Examples include bonuses, pension payments and increase in salery or waves
How can training motivate employees
They may enjoy their job more if they find it easier and are good at it
It teaches them new skills which may help them get promoted and get higher pay
Helps them meet appraisal targets so more money
