Unit 6- HRM & Organisational Behaviour

Question 1

What does structure reflect?

Answer 1

A structure can reflect a manager’s assumptions about how best to divide & coordinate tasks, and can determine whether it adds value to resources

Question 2

What does structure affect?

Answer 2

Structure affects performance since it clarifies expectations & enables monitoring, as well as avoids confusion & waste of poor design

Question 3

What is the ‘managers span of control’?

Answer 3

No. of people above them in structure is called ‘managers span of control’

Question 4

What are tall structures & narrow span of control?

Answer 4

If managers supervise very closely, they have a narrow span of control & are said to have ‘tall’ structures

Question 5

What are flat structures & wide span of control?

Answer 5

If managers allow staff more responsibility, they have less to do , so they can manage more staff and have a wide span of control (flat structure)

Question 6

How do managers organise work internally?

Answer 6

informal (flat, fluid design with few rules), functional (common professional or other expertise), divisional (products, customers & geography) & matrix (In functional groups, work on divisional tasks- employees are supervised by 2 different managers)

Question 7

What is mechanistic structure?

Answer 7

specialised tasks, hierarchical structure, vertical communication & loyalty & obedience valued (stable environment)

Question 8

What is organic structure?

Answer 8

contribute experience to common tasks, knowledge widely spread, horizontal communication & commitment to goals valued (more appropriate for unstable environments that are adaptable & flexible)

Question 9

What does cost leadership & differentiation require?

Answer 9

Cost leadership requires efficiency- mechanistic, Differentiation requires innovation- organic

Question 10

What is organisational design?

Answer 10

Organisational design is the process of designing an organisational’s structure to align it with the business strategy & its context (bridging the gap)

Question 11

What are elements of effective communication?

Answer 11

built on shared sense of purpose & aligned to organisational structure, receives attention & support from senior leaders, driven by genuine dialogue, and is reviewed & assessed for effectiveness

Question 12

What is HRM?

Answer 12

Human Resource Management refers to all those activities associated with the management of work and people in organisation e.g. compensation, recruitment/selection, performance management, organisational development, safety, wellness, benefit, motivation, communication policies, admin & training (Partly influenced by the Human Relations model)

Question 13

What are the key objectives of HRM?

Answer 13

mobilisation of the workforce, retention of effective performers (reduce employee turnover)

Question 14

What do HRM practices help to establish?

Answer 14

HRM practices help to establish a close relationship between business strategy, organisational structure & People. It is all about making sure an organisation has the right people, in the right place, at the right time.

Question 15

What are examples of current trends?

Answer 15

internalisation, customer relationships, labour market trends, workforce demographics & technological change

Question 16

What is the labor market?

Answer 16

labour market (aka employment market) is where organisations compete with one another in order to acquire the services of employees

Question 17

What are the labor market conditions?

Answer 17

tight market =fierce competition for talent, loose market= plentiful supply of potential employees

Question 18

What are workforce demographics?

Answer 18

Workforce demographics (trend affecting HRM): average age of working population increasing, more female employees, imminent retirement of baby boomer generation, immigration trends & changing attitudes to work, careers & employment

Question 19

What is business strategy shaped by?

Answer 19

Business strategy must also be shaped by HR strategy because it must be informed by the availability of skills & knowledge

Question 20

What is the external fit?

Answer 20

The link between HR strategy, the business strategy & the external environment

Question 21

What is hard HRM approach?

Answer 21

treats employees as resources needed to help the business operate, doesn’t consider employees needs (focused on low costs)

Question 22

What is soft HRM approach?

Answer 22

treats employees as most important assets (focused on differentiation strategy)

Question 23

What does the HR function do?

Answer 23

The HR function adds value to the organisation by helping it to deliver its strategy & achieve business objectives through effective people management

Question 24

What are the 4 roles in HR function strategy?

Answer 24

strategic partner- aligning HR with strategy, admin expert- running HR processes & protecting employees against ligation, change agent- building capacity for change & identifying new behaviours that will help organisation sustain competitiveness, and employee champion- dealing with staff needs, people focused role,

Question 25

What is the employee lifecycle?

Answer 25

The employee lifecycle refers to the operation HR activities that manage the various stages that an employee will experience during their time at an organisation (recruitment & selection, training & development, managing performance, retention & reward, and separation)

Question 26

What are the 3 main reasons to tackle inequality?

Answer 26

legal compliance (Equality Act 2010), reputation as an employer & overall cooperation reputation, and ethic/moral case

Question 27

What are business benefits of diversity?

Answer 27

broadens talent pool, better decision making, can improve customer relations & increase market shares, better product development, and improvement in firms reputation

Question 28

How have new business models & forms of employment relationships changed the traditional employment relationship?

Answer 28

New business models & forms of employment relationships (e.g. zero hour contracts, gig economy) have all weakened the traditional employment relationship (casual work)

Question 29

What is functional flexibility?

Answer 29

teaches employees to perform multiple job roles in one organisation, more teamwork & flatter hierarchy (can be costly in admin costs & could be resistance from employees due to intensity of flexibility)

Question 30

What is numerical flexibility?

Answer 30

People are employed on different forms of ‘atypical contract’ so they can be deployed where they are most needed at the times they are needed including temporary contracts, subcontractors & ‘gig’ work

Question 31

What is temporal flexibility?

Answer 31

involves a move away from set amount of hours worked- flexitime, annual hours, zero hours & compressed (fewer & longer blocks) hours

Question 32

What are criticisms of flexibility?

Answer 32

certain types of flexibility can lead to financial insecurity, could result in skills shortages in longer term, flexibility on employer’s terms, and ethical & social considerations

Question 33

What does the employee voice refer to?

Answer 33

Employee voice refers to “the ability of employees to express their views, opinions, concerns & suggestions, & for these to influence matters that affect them at work”

Question 34

What are the different types of employee voice?

Answer 34

Participation (sharing of decision-making), involvement (soliciting employee views about an issue) & consultation (tapping into employees ideas before decision is made at work)