Unit 2.1: Introduction to HRM

Question 1

Ageing population

Answer 1

A higher average age of the population.

Question 2

Demography

Answer 2

The statistical study of population trends, such as birth rates, death rates, age distribution, and net migration rates.

Question 3

Dismissal

Answer 3

The employer’s decision to terminate a worker’s employment contract, usually due to the worker’s incompetence and/or a breach of their employment contract.

Question 4

External factors

Answer 4

The issues or factors that are beyond the control of the organization, e.g., national minimum wage legislation.

Question 5

Flexitime

Answer 5

A system that enables workers to have a degree of autonomy to determine when they work, so long as they complete their work by set deadlines.

Question 6

Geographical mobility

Answer 6

The ability and willingness of employees to relocate to another location or country for work reasons.

Question 7

Gig economy

Answer 7

Labour markets in which people are on short-term, impromptu, temporary contracts. This includes freelance worker and independent contractors.

Question 8

Homeworking

Answer 8

Also referred to as work from home (WFH), this is an aspect of flexitime that involves people using their homes to conduct their jobs.

Question 9

Human resource management

Answer 9

HRM is a broad term used to describe the overall management of an organization’s workforce, e.g. attracting, selecting, training, assessing, rewarding and retaining workers.

Question 10

Human resource planning

Answer 10

Also known as workforce planning, this is the management process of anticipating the organization’s current and future human resource needs.

Question 11

Internal factors

Answer 11

The issues or features that are within the control of the organization, e.g., staff remuneration and approaches to training.

Question 12

Labour mobility

Answer 12

Measures the extent to which workers have the ability and willingness to move between geographical locations and/or occupations for their employment.

Question 13

Migrant workers

Answer 13

People who move to other countries in search of better job opportunities.

Question 14

Net migration

Answer 14

This measures the difference between the number of people from abroad who enter a country (immigration) and the
number of people who leave (emigration), usually for employment purposes.

Question 15

Occupational mobility

Answer 15

The ability and willingness of employees to do another job or pursue a different career.

Question 16

Portfolio workers

Answer 16

People who carry out several different jobs, often for different contractors, at the same time and usually on a temporary basis.

Question 17

Redundancy

Answer 17

Occurs when an organization no longer has a job for the employee or when the employer can no longer afford to hire the employee, i.e., the job ceases to exist.

Question 18

Teleworking

Answer 18

Flexible working practice that involves employees being away from the office as they rely on the use of telecommunications technologies, e.g. Internet and mobile technologies.

Question 19

Training

Answer 19

This is the provision of work-related education, either on-the-job or off-the-job, such as instructing and teaching (or mentoring) employees how to perform certain tasks in their job.

Question 20

Workforce

Answer 20

The total number of employees in a business organization at any particular point in time.

Question 21

Workforce planning

Answer 21

Also known as human resource planning, this refers to the ongoing process through which the current and future human resource needs of a business are identified and anticipated.