Section 9 - People in Business Flashcards
1
Q
What are the stages in the recruitment process?
A
- Identify vacancy
- Draw up a job description
- Draw up a person specification
- Advertise the vacancy
- Short list applicants
- Interview applicants
- Select a candidate
2
Q
What is meant by the term ‘hierarchy’?
A
Pyramid ranking system whet every level has a higher and lower neighbour (except top and bottom). Higher levels=higher authority, influence and importance
3
Q
What is meant by the term ‘span of control’?
A
The number of subordinates a manager/supervisor can directly control. The number of people who report directly to another worker in a superior position. Varies by the type of work: complex decreases it & routine increases it.
4
Q
What is meant by the term ‘chain of command’?
A
Hierarchal authority where those at the top directly control those below them in the system. The way the command is passed down from the top of the system to those below.
5
Q
What is meant by the term ‘subordinate’?
A
Someone who is directly below someone else in a business hierarchy.
6
Q
What is meant by the term ‘delayering’?
A
Reducing the number of levels in the hierarchy of a business to reduce costs
7
Q
What is meant by the term ‘centralisation’?
A
Where is very decision is made at the headquarters and every store has to do exactly the same
8
Q
What is meant by the term ‘decentralisation’?
A
Where every store manager makes their own decisions
9
Q
What does it mean when a business has a ‘tall structure’?
A
Has lots of levels of hierarchy
10
Q
What does it mean when a business has a ‘flat structure’?
A
Has few levels of hierarchy
11
Q
What are the benefits of a business having a tall structure?
A
- Clarity and managerial control
- Close supervision of employees
- Obvious lines of responsibility
- Opportunities to move up so more motivation
12
Q
What are he disadvantages of having a tall structure?
A
- Slow communication between levels; long chain of command
- Can be harder to make decisions
- Costly
- No flexibility
- Communication is difficult
13
Q
What are the benefits of a business having a flat structure?
A
- More opportunities for employees to excel
- All info gets shared
- Flexibility to adapt to change
- Faster communication
- Low cost
- Staff feel more valued
- More equal roles
- Quicker decisions
14
Q
What are the disadvantages of a business having a flat structure?
A
- Managers have a heavier workload, large span of control
- Limited promotion opportunities
15
Q
What is the role of a leader?
A
- Act as a role model, set standards
- Determine organisation’s structure
- Allocate rewards/punishments
- Decide objectives for an organisation
- Provide expertise
- Supervise; monitor & oversee staff
- Motivate staff
- Delegate roles
- Come up with policies
16
Q
What are the qualities of a good leader?
A
- Strong/decisive
- Charismatic
- Flexible
- Focused
- Approachable
- Positive
- Knowledge/expertise in relevant field
- Self motivated
- Confident
- Determined
- Hard working
17
Q
What are the three types of business leadership?
A
- Autocratic
- Democratic
- Laissez faire
18
Q
What is meant by the term ‘autocratic/authoritarian’?
A
A leadership style which dictates without consultation of subordinates.
19
Q
What are the benefits of having an autocratic/authoritarian leadership style?
A
- Strong motivation/reward for the leader: feel in control
- Quick decisions
- Quicker chain of command
- Good for inexperienced employees to learn
20
Q
What are the drawbacks of having an autocratic/authoritarian leadership style?
A
- Lower morale
- Managers a poor motivators, less creativity for employees
- Can cause stress amongst leaders as busier
- Workers become dependent on leader
21
Q
What is meant by the term ‘democratic’?
A
A leadership style in which leaders consult subordinates before making decisions.
22
Q
What are the benefits of a democratic leadership style?
A
- Employees feel more valued, higher motivation
- Better communication, better relationships
- Better ideas as more
- Better solutions as greater range of skills and innovative analytic minds
23
Q
What are the drawbacks of a democratic leadership style?
A
- Slower communication
- Dispute when some ideas used and not others
- Reliant on workers being interested in business + motivated
24
Q
What is meant by the term ‘laissez faire’?
A
A leadership style where all the rights and power to makes decisions is fully given to the workers.
25
What are the benefits of a laissez faire leadership style?
- More valued as trusted more; higher motivation
- Less stress for authority
- More enjoyment from more responsibility; higher quality of work
26
What are the drawbacks of a laissez faire leadership style?
- Need to have experienced workers
- Uncertainty about things such as their role
- Authority do not take responsibility; easy to pass blame
- Can cause lack of communication as never being helped or interacting with others
27
What are the advantages of a centralised organisation?
- Senior managers have lots of experience
- Consistency amongst business; brand image
- Make decisions for overall needs of the business
28
What are the disadvantages of a centralised organisation?
- Slow decisions; made on a larger scale so more important
- Takes a long time to enforce change
- Those at the top may not know what is best for certain areas
- Small group of people means more chance of poor decisions
- Lower morale as everyone has to follow headquarters model and no freedom
29
What are the advantages of a decentralised organisation?
- Can make decisions appropriate for your sector
- Quicker decision
- Quicker to enforce changes
- More responsibility=more enjoyment=higher quality of work
30
What are the disadvantages of a decentralised organisation?
- Inconsistencies across the business
- May not be making best decisions for whole business
- Reliant on others making decisions
- May lack expert knowledge for certain situations
31
What are the formal channels of communication?
- Vertical communication
| - Horizontal communication
32
What is meant by the term 'channels of communication'?
-The paths taken by messages, such as horizontal communication, vertical communication or grapevine communication
33
What is meant by the term 'vertical communication'?
Communication up and down the hierarchy, with those on different levels to you
34
What is meant by the term 'horizontal communication'?
Communication between workers on the same hierarchal level
35
What is meant by the term 'delegation'?
Passing down of authority for work to another worker further down in the hierarchy of the organisation
36
What is meant by 'formal channels of communication'?
Channels which are recognised and approved by the business and by employee representatives such as the trade unions.
37
What is meant by 'informal communication' or 'communication through the grapevine'?
Communication through channels which are not formally recognised by the business
38
What is meant by the term 'department'?
A group of workers which is made responsible for a particular aspect of the work of a business, such as production, sales and finance
39
What is meant by the term 'formal groups'?
Groups created by an organisation to complete specific tasks
40
What is meant by the term 'function'?
Tasks or jobs. Orgainsation by function means that a business is organised according to tasks that have to be completed, such as production or finance
41
What is meant by the term 'informal groups'?
Groups of people who join together outside of the formal structure of an organisation
42
What is meant by the term 'internal recruitment'?
When a business looks to its own existing employees to fill a post
43
What is meant by the term 'external recruitment'?
When a business seeks to get someone from outside the organisation to fill a post
44
What methods are there of external recruitment?
- Jobcentres
- Private employment agencies
- Advertising: newspapers, specialist magazines, television advertising
- Word of mouth
45
What are the benefits of internal recruitment?
- Already know the organisation so know how it works
- Settle into job quicker
- Make better decisions as know applicants better; more info on them
- More organisation loyalty
- More motivation to work as feel there's potential
- Less costly and quicker
46
What are the drawbacks of internal recruitment?
- No new ideas/creativity etc
- No significant change to success of business
- Lower morale if rejected
- Limited talent pool, fewer applicants
- Lower morale if others change roles
47
What are the benefits of external recruitment?
- New ideas/perspective
- Can turnaround business success
- Increased talent pool, more applicants
- Can hire more experienced so less training
- Bring insight from other (similar) businesses
48
What are the drawbacks of external recruitment?
- Harder to assess applicant as less info readily available
- Longer search, more costly
- Lowers employee morale and loyalty to organisation
- No motivation with current employees as no promotions for current workers
- Takes time for the new employee to familiarise with business
49
What are the three types of employee training?
On-the-job training
Off-the-job training
Induction training
50
What is meant by the term 'induction training'?
First training received when you start a job. Learn about: the job, people, values of the business, times (e.g. lunch), toilet, map, emergency procedure
51
What is meant by the term 'on-the-job training'?
Learning in the business, follow other, watch others. When you know enough they let you go on your own.
52
What are the benefits of on-the-job training?
- Cheaper (free)
- Learning from someone who is experienced
- Get used to working in the environment quicker
53
What are the drawbacks of off-the-job training?
- Time consuming
- Dependent on ability/quality of teacher, may learn bad habits
- Not very efficient
- Can effect the customers
54
What is meant by the term 'off-the-job training'?
Training away from the business, e.g. uni, training courses (health and safety, coaching, subject based
55
What are the benefits of on-the-job training?
- Learn from experts and can learn a lot
- Raise worker's morale, feel valued
- Teach others new skills when return to work
56
What are the drawbacks of off-the-job training?
- High costs
- Often unproductive
- Have to cover for employees when absent
57
What is meant by the term 'staff appraisal'?
Assessing how effectively an employee is working
- Done by line managers
- Formal and informal
- Interviews are used (discuss performance)
- Some form of self evaluation is common (questionnaire). Aim to set some targets based on your weaknesses
58
What does the process of staff appraisal involve?
- Discussing strengths
- Discussing weaknesses
- Set targets to improve
59
What are the methods of staff appraisal?
- Superiors; senior managers assesses performance based on knowledge of recent work
- Self appraisal; individuals assessing their own work + progress, checked + agreed with superior
- Peer appraisal; carried out by colleagues at same level in organisation
60
What are the benefits of staff appraisal?
- Increases confidence, motivating
- Increases skills of workers, know how to improve
- Identify training needs, see people's weaknesses
- Identify issues of the business
- Improves work efficiency
- Basis for pay increases or not depending on performance, whether they meet targets
61
What is meant by the term 'motivation'?
The will to work due to the enjoyment of the work itself
62
What are the financial methods of motivation?
- Pay rise
- Bonus
- Commission
- Shares
- Piece rate
63
What are the non-financial methods of motivation?
- Promotion
- Fringe benefits
- Training
- Social days
- Praise
- Job rotation
- Job enlargement, more to do
- Job enrichment, make job more challenging/enjoying
64
What is meant by the term 'praise'?
Verbally telling someone how good they are doing, to encourage them to keep working to the same standard.
65
What are the benefits of using praise for motivation?
- Feel valued and motivated, enjoy work more
- Free for the business
- Confidence with employees
- Deal with stress more from confidence
66
What are the drawbacks of using praise for motivation?
- Not as motivational/meaningful
- Often ineffective
- Less valued if others get better motivation
67
What is meant by the term 'job enlargement'?
Workers being given a greater variety of tasks to perform (not necessarily more challenging)
68
What are the benefits of job enlargement?
- More job satisfaction so work harder
- Free for business
- More employee independence so easier to manage
- Business gets more work done for the same price
69
What are the drawbacks of job enlargement?
- Get same pay for more work, unhappy
- More chance of stress
- May not be motivation, feel need to work harder and not being rewarded for current hard work
- Current tasks may be done at a lower quality as there is more to do
70
What is meant by the term 'job rotation'?
Moving employees to other jobs within the business in order to increase the range and enjoyment of the work being done
71
What are the benefits of job rotation?
- Employee gets more skills
- More skills means easier to cover if temporary absences
- Increases value of the worker
- More satisfaction of work as feel more confident
72
What are the drawbacks of job rotation?
- Additional costs in training required
- Initially slower work as they familiarise in new role
- Employees may not be as strong in the different position
- May look for higher pay elsewhere as more valuable and have more skills
73
What is meant by the term 'pay rise'?
Increasing the salary of an individual as motivation for hard work
74
What are the benefits of giving a pay rise?
- Increases motivation
- Feel valued as wanted to stay
- Strong incentive to work at the same level or harder
75
What are the drawbacks of giving a pay rise?
- High costs
- Can demoralise other employees
- Cause resentment among other employees
76
What is meant by the term 'bonus'?
A sum of money added to employee's wages as a reward for good performance
77
What are the benefits of giving bonuses?
- Increases motivation
- Feel valued as wanted to stay
- Strong incentive to work at the same level or harder
78
What are the drawbacks of giving bonuses?
- High costs
- Can demoralise other employees
- Cause resentment among other employees
79
What is meant by the term 'commission'?
A payment made to employees based on the value of the sales achieved
80
What are the benefits of commission?
- Employees sell more
- Consistently try to work hard
- Encourages employees to work more efficiently
81
What are the drawbacks of commission?
- Often lower quality of work, rush or take shortcuts
- Unpredictable expenses to the business
- May become over-aggressive to sell etc, reflect badly on company
82
How are shares used as a motivator to employees?
Employees are given a share in the business in which they can make money
83
What are the benefits of offering employees shares?
- Motivation to work hard for the business
- Feel as though they are getting something out of their hard work
- Satisfaction as they helped the business
- No financial risk to the business
- Good for staff retention
84
What are the drawbacks of offering employees shares?
- Loss of control/profits from business to owner
- Employee can lose money is share price decreases
- Morale affected as do not feel their hard work is paying off if price decreases
85
What is meant by the term 'piece rate'?
Payment by results. Wage determination system in which the employee is paid for each unit of production at a fixed rate.
86
What are the benefits of piece rate as motivation for employees?
- Employees work harder to get more done
- More efficient work
- Cheap for the business as sell more/need less staff
- Paid what they deserve for the amount of work done, discourages laziness
87
What are the drawback of piece rate as motivation for employees?
- Shortcuts and therefore lower quality of work
- Comparison and jealousy as employees work at different speeds
- More produced than needed, costs to the business
- Can not control costs to the business, may not be able to pay enough
- Unfair if employees work harder but are slower/produce higher quality items
88
What is meant by the term 'job enrichment'?
Involves workers being given a wider range or more complex and challenging tasks surrounding a complete unit of work
89
What are the benefits of job enrichment?
- New skills learnt by employee, more valuable to business
- Employee enjoys work more so works harder
- Helps learn employees' strengths/weaknesses
- Motivates employees as have more responsibility
90
What are the drawbacks of job enrichment?
- May need training in new fields, cost to business
- May have no interest in the new tasks
- Increase workload, meaning more stress
- Unhappy if felt cannot handle extra work so don't get job enrichment
91
What is meant by the term 'fringe benefits'?
Compensation in addition to direct wages or salaries, such as a company car, house allowance, medical insurance, paid holidays, pension schemes
92
What are the benefits of fringe benefits?
- Good for staff retention
- Helps for wellbeing of employees which in turn helps business
- Helps to get proper care to minimise time off work
93
What are the drawbacks of fringe benefits?
- Can be time consuming to sort ever-changing contracts
- Can be very expensive
- Employees have to stay until end of contract (e.g. medical), difficult to fire/unhappiness of employees
94
What is meant by the term 'promotion'?
The advancement of an employee's position within the organisation
95
What are the benefits of promoting staff?
- Shows potential to move up in the business, potentially motivating others
- Strong motivator
- Aids with staff retention
- Better than externally recruiting, shows potential
96
What are the drawbacks of promoting staff?
- Demoralises other staff
- Can be costly as usually expect more pay
- Difficult for staff to deal with stress
- More responsibilities could lead to lower quality of work
97
What is a social day?
Allowing staff to do a fun activity with their colleagues, such as a trip or a meal out
98
What are the benefits of social days?
- Friendship between employees, enjoy work, more retention
- Shows valued and trying to give back
- Helps employee appreciate business and want to stay
99
What are the drawbacks of social days?
- Often not a strong motivator
- Not successful in building bonds etc, can cause disputes
- Day off work, expense to the business
100
What is meant by the term '(staff) retention'?
A business trying to keep current staff
101
What are the two main ways a business retains staff?
- Leadership style
| - Keeping staff motivated (financial or non financial)
