1.4

• Staff as an asset:

  • Employers should value employees and look after their welfare
  • Benefits may include holidays, staff discounts, bonuses, flexibility, and well-being initiatives
• Staff as a cost:

  • Employers will try to minimize this cost where possible
  • This may result in no overtime pay and lack of care for employees
• Flexible workforce strategies:

  • Multiskilling:
  • Teaching employees multiple skills to respond to issues quicker
  • Improves company performance and allows jobs to be covered by others for continuance
• Part-time + temporary staff

  • Part-time staff can be employed during peak hours - permanent contract
  • Temp workers are employed for a limited time period- could be seasonal
  • Not very loyal, might not feel valued
• Flexible hours + home working

  • Work hours to suit worker - business open for longer - zero hours contract
  • Some workers prefer to work from home - reduces travelling time
• Outsourcing

  • Other people or businesses to carry out tasks that are more specific
  • Specialist workers, better at the job - quicker
• Zero-hour contracts

  • A contact that does not guarantee any particular number of hours work
  • Used to fill gaps with low staffing or busy times of year
  • Flexible hours
• Recruitment

  1. Vacancy arises
  2. Job analysis
  3. Job description
  4. Person specification (qualifications)
  5. Job advert
  6. Cv's/application forms
  7. Shortlist
  8. Interviews
  9. Choose best candidate
  10. Letter of appointment
• Internal recruitment

  • Workers appointed from inside the business
  • Already familiar with staff
  • Costs less
  • Staff may be bored of organisation
  • Could be biased

   
• External recruitment

  • Workers appointed from outside the business
  • More applicants
  • New ideas from external people
  • Lower salary could be set
  • Keep business competitive
  • More expensive to advertise
  • More time consuming
• Person specification

  • Details qualifications/experience/skills/attitudes
  • Used to screen applicants
  • State weather requirement is essential
• Job description

  • States job title
  • Outlines tasks and responsibilities
  • Job description may be the same as the job description to a previous employee who has left
  • May have to be created if a new job is made
  • Show what is expected of an employee
• On the job training

  • Takes place while doing the job
  • Output being produces
  • Training is relevant
  • Cheaper
  • Easy to organise
  • Output may be lost if mistakes are made
  • Stressful for current workers
  • Trainers frustrated if unpaid
  • Danger to others
  • Could cut corners
• Off the job training

  • Takes place away from work area
  • Output not affected by mistakes
  • Workers cannot be distracted
  • Training could take place outside of work hours
  • No one is put at risk
  • No output is made
  • Expensive
  • Some aspects cannot be learned off the job
  • Some training may not be relevant
  • Takes time to organise
• Induction training

  • Given when an employee first starts the job
  • Quick
  • Legal
  • Difficult to coordinate
  • No output is produced
• Centralisation - Keeping major responsibilities at the centre of the organisation
• • Centralised positives
  • More consistent standards/products
  • Move workers around to different areas
  • More experienced decision makers
  • Better communication
• • Centralised negatives
  • Not specific to area
  • Bad experience at one establishment may deter from all establishments
• Decentralised - Giving decision making power to the organisation
• • Decentralised positives
  • Takes advantage of local market
  • Motivated workers
  • Reduces stress of senior managers
• • Decentralised negatives
  • Power in balance
  • Lack of strong leadership in crisise
  • Less control
• Authoritarian / autocratic

  • "do as you are told"
  • direction comes from the top, a singular figure who leads a company or team
  • Qualities :
  • Decisiveness
  • self-confidence
  • Useful :
  • In urgent situations
  • In making effective decisions
  • Doesn’t work:
  • Employees may feel micromanaged
  • Employees may become dependent on manager 
  • Employees may be unable to make decisions on their own
• Paternalistic

  •  dominant authority figure who acts as a patriarch or matriarch
  • concerned about their workers’ best interests.
  • expect trust and loyalty
  • Qualities :
  • Compassion
  • Organisational skills
  •  Influence
  • Decisiveness
  • Useful:
  • Good Behaviour And Work Are Always Rewarded.
  • Reduced Absenteeism And Quitting.
  • Decisions Are Made With The Employees’ Best Interests In Mind.
  • Doesn't work :
  • Managers, Like Parents, Will Occasionally Have To Reprimand Employees In Unconventional Ways.
  • Employees Become Increasingly Reliant On The Employer To Complete Tasks In A Timely And Suitable Manner.
• Democratic

  • Participative Leadership
  • gathering input from subordinates
  • everyone has a chance to contribute to the decision-making process
  • Qualities :
  •  great communicators
  •  subordinates often find them easily approachable
  • allow others to feel engaged
  • excel at sparking creativity among subordinates
  • Useful:
  • Everyone feels solutions are suitable
  • More creative inputs
  • Doesn’t work:
  • employees may feel left out because their ideas or solutions were not chosen
  • solutions can be problematic if the group is not skilled or trained
• Democratic

  • Participative Leadership
  • gathering input from subordinates
  • everyone has a chance to contribute to the decision-making process
  • Qualities :
  •  great communicators
  •  subordinates often find them easily approachable
  • allow others to feel engaged
  • excel at sparking creativity among subordinates
  • Useful:
  • Everyone feels solutions are suitable
  • More creative inputs
  • Doesn’t work:
  • employees may feel left out because their ideas or solutions were not chosen
  • solutions can be problematic if the group is not skilled or trained
• Chain of command

  How communication and authority flows through the organisation
• Span of control

  Number of people that report to their line manager
• Tall structure

  • 5 or 6 layers
  • Narrow span of control
  • 1 manager with few assistants
  • Close supervision
  • Staff motivated
  • Skilled workers
  • Higer management costs
  • Poor communication as goes through many layers
  • Slower approval for decision making
  • Staff may feel micromanaged
• Flat structure

  • 2 or 3 layers
  • Wide span of control
  • Many staff
  • Independence between ranks
  • Good communication
  • Lower management costs
  • Less closely controlled
  • More responsibility
  • Staff could feel overburdened
  • Lack of discipline
  • May lose control of workforce
• Herzberg's hygiene factors

  • 1959
  • Hygiene factors must be in place to have motivation factors
  • The more hygiene factors the more motivated workers will be

  Negatives 

  • Outdated
  • Idealistic
  • Doesn’t consider external factors

  Positives

  • Teaches responsibility, advancement, growth, recognition
  • Looks after workers
• Taylors scientific management

  • 1912
  • Belief that workers are motivated by money
  • Employees are paid by piece

  Negatives

  • Assumes money is the only motivating factor
  • Monotonous for workers
  • Autocratic
  • Only works on autocratic results

  Positives

  • Increased efficiency
  • Higher productivity and profits
  • Reduces waste of resources
• Mayo's human relations management

  • 1924
  • Workers are motivated if they have positive social interactions
  • Experiment tested working conditions
  • Concluded they were irrelevant

  Negatives

  • More responsibility
  • Other needs are neglected
  • Lack of focus on work
  • Difficult to reprimand employees
  • outdated

  Positives

  • Genuine study
  • Scientifically measured
  • Control variables
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs

  • 1954
  • Employees needs are on five levels
  • One level has to be in place to move up the pyramid

  Negatives

  • Not all employees have the same needs
  • Outdated

  Positives

  • Ensure all needs are met
• Financial incentives include piecework, commission, bonus, profit charing, performance related pay