Paper 2

• What is an internal organisational structure?

  • How everyone that is involved in a business is organised
• Why is it useful to have a internal organisational structure?

  • Easy to know who is responsible for what
  • Helps the company to make sure that it has people in every role
• Four basic roles of staff

  • Directors
  • Senior managers
  • Supervisors
  • Operational and support staff
• Hierarchical (Tall) Structures

  • lots of layers
  • long chain of command
  • more layers of management
  • this makes communication with the top and bottom difficult and slow
  • more people need to pass on the message
  • each manager only has a narrow span of control
  • This can make the firm more effective as managers can monitor employees more closely.
• Flat structures

  • very few layers
  • short chain of command , messages can be passed on easy
  • each manager has a wide span of control.
  • They have to manage a lot of people at once
  • can be difficult to manage a lot of employees effectively
• What is a centralised structure?

  • all decisions are made by senior managers at the top of the business
• advantages of a centralised structure

  • senior managers to have a lot of experience
  • policies will be the same throughout the business
• disadvantages of a centralised structure

  • but depending on a few people at the top can cause problems
  • they lack specialist knowledge or if they start making poor decisions
  • it can slow down decision making
  • communication of decisions can take a long time to filter through employees
• what is a decentralised structure?

  • the authority to make most decisions is shared out
• advantages of a decentralised structure?

  • employees can use expert knowledge of their sector to make decisions
  • changes can be made more quickly
  • less need for a central office where decisions are made
  • decrease a firms fixed costs
• disadvantages of a decentralised structure?

  • inconsistencies may develop between departments or regions
  • decision makers may not see the overall needs of a business
• What type of structure would a small business have?

  • flat structure
  • centralised structure
• What type of structure would a larger business have?

  • Hierarchal (Tall), managers might be needed to help organise and control things
  • the bigger the business the greater the number of managers needed
  • easier to operate if it splits into different parts
  • decentralised structure is too big to make all decisions at the top
• Why is effective communication important?

  • different areas of the business work well together
  • everyone in the business knows what they should be doing and why
  • improves staff motivation, as staff will know what's going on and are likely to feel more confident that they are doing their job properly
• Barriers to communication

  • Noise (difficult to hold conversation in a noisy environment )
  • Personalities (some employees may feel uncomfortable communicating with other people in the firm)
  • Distance (difficult to speak face to face )
  • Jargon (technical language used in one department may not be understood by people in other departments)
• Drawbacks to insufficient communication

  • inefficiency
  • people may be slow to receive important messages about what they should be doing (time and money is wasted on them doing things incorrectly)
  • info isn't passed on between different departments
  • demotivate staff
  • may not feel valued in a business
• Drawbacks to excessive communication

  • takes time to pass on and receive messages , can waste time
  • people may take less notice of messages and miss out on important ones
  • many people are trying to pass on the same messages,
  • employees may get conflicting information
  • demotivated and overwhelmed
• Contract of employment

  a legal agreement between employer and employee listing the rights and responsibilities of workers
• What is working full time?

  working 35-40 hours a week
• What is working part time?

  working 10-30 hours a week
• Advantages of working full time

  • if there is enough work for them to do, the business will have more control over the hours they work
• Advantages of working part time

  • make more financial sense if a business is busy at a certain time
  • they can fill in when other staff members are absent
• what does working flexibly mean?

  • when working hours and patterns are adapted to suit the employee ( this can be motivating for staff as it makes it easier to fit other commitments around their working life
• What is a zero hour contract?

  • A Contract which allows employers to hire staff without any guaranteed hours
  • (don't waste money paying staff when they're not needed)
• what is a permanent contract?

  • a contract of employment that has no end date.
  • The person stays at the firm unless :
  • they choose to leave
  • they're dismissed for misconduct
  • their job is made redundant
• what is a temporary contract?

  • contract that is for a fixed period of time
• What is a freelance contract?

  • a self employed person is recruited by a company
• what is recruitment?

  • finding the best person to do a job
• what is job analysis?

  • the process of getting detailed information about jobs
• what is job description?

  a written description of the basic tasks, duties, and responsibilities required of an employee holding a particular job
• what is person specification?

  • A profile of the type of person needed for a job
  • their skills and qualities.
• what is internal recruitment?

  • Appointing an existing employee of the business to fill a vacancy
• Advantages of internal recruitment

  • much cheaper
  • the spot can be filled quicker
  • the candidate will already know a lot about the business
• Disadvantages of internal recruitment

  • no new ideas
  • the employees move will create a new vacancy to be filled
• what is external recruitment?

  • Appointing workers from outside the business
• Advantages of external recruitment

  • New skills and ideas brought to company to improve
  • it will be seen by more people so the firm will find someone really suited to the job
• Disadvantages of external recruitment


  • expensive
  • may not know the business well
  • time consuming
• What‘s a CV?

  • A summary of a person's personal details, skills, qualifications and interests.
• What is informal training?

  • learning 'on-the-job'
  • no strict plan
  • cost effective because the employees work and learn at the same time
  • bad working practises may be passed on by other employees
• What is formal training?

  • often involves a set plan with learning objectives and a schedule
  • involves learning at a training department or away from the workplace
  • more expensive but it is higher quality