2.5 Making Human Resource Decisions

• Business is organised in terms of communication and decision-making. Identifies specific job roles in organisational hierarchy + indicates who reports into whom and who is responsible for which particular staff members.
• Organisational structure therefore identifies relationship between different employees, departments and locations.
• As a business grows, will need a formal organisational structure to ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible.
• Organisational structure will make it clear of the direct reporting lines found within the business & identify specific job roles to ensure that there is no duplication of workload. Ensure all staff have clear responsibilities and therefore can operate as productively as possible.
• Organisational charts show management hierarchy in a business works from top to bottom. Roles are identified and lines of management and responsibility are clearly shown.
• Hierarchical organisational structure: many layers, long chains of command, narrow spans on control.
• Flat organisational structure: few layers, short chains of command and wide spans of control
• Span of control is the number of employees for whom a manager is directly responsible. Two diagrams below illustrate two different spans of control. A span control of 7 would be considered wide, while span of control of 3 would be seen as narrow.
• recruitment and selection is the process of identifying the need for a job, defining the requirements of the position and the job holder, advertising the position and choosing the most appropriate person to fill the vacant post.
• reasons for recruitment -- entrepreneur needs to employ staff to assist, business is expanding and needs more staff, employee is promoted, staff dismissed, temporary positions available (maternity leave, etc.), employees decided to leave organisation (retiring, child care, etc.)
• recruitment and selection process -- job analysis -> job description -> person specification -.> job advertisement -> applications -> lists/interviews/assessment -> selection & references -> offer/rejection letters -> contract of employment
• job analysis -- when vacancy arises, organisation will need to decide whether the job is required. If business decides job is required, they will then draw up the person specification and job description
• job description -- job title, purpose of job, duties, line manager/responsibilities, location, hours of work
• person specification -- type of person the organisation is looking for, important document helping the business decide which applicant is the most suitable to fill vacancy.
• person specification and the job description are often closely referred to by potential applicants of the job. ensuring both documents are accurate and sufficiently detailed is important to ensure that only suitable applicants apply for this vacant post.
• job advertisements -- type of job itself, whether business will hope to fill position internally or externally, how far applicants will consider applying for post, the budget available
• internal recruitment -- business fills job vacancy with existing employee; typically used for promotions, horizontal positions shifts can also be filled by existing staff; advertised by methods such as internal notice boards, emails/newsletters, organisations intranet
• external recruitment -- process by which business recruits from outside the business; can take pace in variety of ways, use of job centres, job advertisement in newspaper/social media, recruitment agencies, websites
• job advertisement -- title of job, information about business, location pf job, pay, working hours, some brief information about the job, how to apply and who to apply to, closing date for applications
• applying for job -- business will request a CV with covering letter, May ask applicants to fill in applicafion applicationform
• CV -- personal details, education, qualifications, work experiences, interests, references, layout/formatting your choice
• pro of application forms -- business can ask specific questions that match the job vacancy, forms are standardised (easier for business) application forms can be off-putting for candidates to complete - cuts down the number of applicants - people who do apply are serious about getting job
• as a business grows from the start-up phase the organisational structure becomes more formalised, the business will split the workload up between different people to ensure there is no duplication of work.
• each staff member will then have a clearly defined job role with different responsibilities attached that they must fulfil within the organisation
• managing director or CEO is the highest ranking person in an organisation and has ultimate authority within the business, in a plc the CEO/MD will be voted into position by the shareholders at the AGM
• below the CEO/MD in the hierarchy, there will be several directors. in a large company a director will be in charge of a department of functional area. collectively the directors will form the board of directors who manage the company at strategic level.
• senior managers will directly report into the directors and may have a team of middle and junior managers. senior managers will be responsible for a significant part of the business operation and will be in charge of the performance.
• in a large business, teams of workers will often have one person who is more senior than them who will report into a manager. a team leader will have some responsibilities in making sure that the team operates effectively
• support staff -- role is to provide assistance to any area of the organisation. generally have specialist knowledge or skills. e.g. IT support, cleaning, catering, caretaking staff
• training -- process of increasing the knowledge and skills of the workplace to enable them to perform their jobs effectively
• different ways of training/developing: formal training, informal training, ongoing training, self-learning, performance reviews and target setting.
• formal training -- occurs when employees are taken away from their usual place of work to be trained. Often takes place outside the workplace like at a college.
• formal training: pro: wider range of skills to be obtained, can learn outside from specialists, can be more confident in their work, no interruptions will occur, improves worker motivation
• formal training: cons: external training can be expensive/additional costs, lost working time/potential output from employee, employees have new skills and may leave for better jobs
• informal training -- in workplace; based on observation, being "shown how to do a particular job" by colleague who already does the same job. It can also be provided through computer programs
• informal training: pro: cost effective, often productive, training along side colleagues; cons: bad habits might be passed on, learning environment might not be best for training, potential disruption
• self-learning: takes place independently, training opportunities online, suits certain types of training (health, safety, etc.), online tests available, cheaper for businesses,
• ongoing training: training provided throughout their career, based on the needs of individual/business, choice of training may be management or employee driven part of appraisal or performance view
• performance reviews: involves meeting employees line of management and discuss performance, targets are set for future training, may be remedial or a refresher, better performance may lead to developed training, employee will be able to take senior roles withing business in the future
• factors affecting choice of training: type of job, firms budget, time available, business resources deliver in-house, employee needs and objectives of the business