human resources

• behaviour-based

  • assess behavioural patterns and initiative

• situational-based

  • assess judgmental ability (hypothetical scenarios)

• psychometric test

  • assess candidates personality and level of motivation

• aptitude test

  • examine skill/ability of candidate

• intelligence

  • mental ability

• trade

  • skills in a specific profession

• induction

  • introducing new employees to organization

• mentor

  • partnership involving a mentor which helps mentee gain experience/skills

• morale boosted as new staff feels welcomed

• establishes expectations and work habits from the beginning

• settling in quicker may mean contributing to the organization promptly

• key staff may have to be pulled out from their tasks

• large organizations may have lengthy induction training

• information overload

• forms an authentic bond between mentor and mentee

• mentor can monitor progress

• safe environment for mentee

• mentor and mentee pairing may not work out

• mentor may have to go through extra training

• time-consuming for mentor to plan

• experts that organization don’t have are used

• wide range of training can be provided

• no distractions from customers/colleagues

• hiring venue/specialists may be costly

• loss of output because staff is training not working

• skills may not be relevant to job

formal assessment of employee’s performance

• formative

  • planned, ongoing process where appraisal evidence is used by employees

• summative

  • written description of employee’s performance

• 360-degree feedback

  • collecting evidence of employee’s performance by colleagues, peers, etc.

• self-apprasial

  • employee appraises themselves on pre-determined criteria

termination of worker’s employment

no longer afford to employ staff or job ceases to exist

practice of transferring internal business activities to external firm

• business can focus on core activities

• specialists hired work to high quality standards

• reduce labour costs

• redundancies in firm

• need to be monitored

• quality management becomes difficult

relocating business activities aboard

reversal of offshoring outsourcing

passing on control to others

number of people who are accountable to manager

execution of tasks governed by rules of organization

decision-making is shared

decision-making is made by small number of people

• rapid decision-making

• better control over organization

• added pressure for senior staff

• demotivating for employees

• inefficient

• greater chance of mistake

• improved morale

• teamwork

human resources are organized around projects

• efficient

• motivational

• productive

• isolation

• discontinuity

• conflicting interest

believes the staff is the most important resource with focus on 3 main groups; core staff, peripheral; outsourced

1. planning

2. commanding

3. controlling

4. coordinating

5. organizing

• management

  • art of getting things done through people

  • 9-5

• leader

  • inspires others to get things done

  • 24/7

• autocratic

  • leader makes all decisions without help

• democratic

  • involve employees in decision-making

• paternalistic

  • treats employees as family acting in their best interest

• laissez-faire

  • employees make own decision

• situational

  • using right leadership style depending on situation

people are only motivated by money, involves differentiated piecework where employees are paid standard level of output and receive more money if they exceed

hierarchy of needs, the assumption that people must be satisfied in this order; physiological needs, safety, belonging, self-esteem, self-actualization

hygiene factors and motivators affect level of motivation

workers have variety in what they do

more challenging tasks to exploit workers potential

delegating decision-making to works

input to output ratio has to be seen fair in relation to others

financial motivators no longer work, instead the three innate factors are autonomy, mastery and purpose

rewards productive workers by paying workers for each item they sell

linking pay to level of firm’s profit (typically as a bonus)

reward employees who meet certain goals

giving shares in company or at a discount

workers perform different tasks at same complexity in a systematic way

three levels:

• artefacts

  • superficial aspects (ex. dress code)

• espoused values

  • desired culture

• shared basic assumptions

different culture for different business activities

way things get done within an organization

ideal culture involves high sociability and solidarity

negative to change

responsive to change

organization of working people working to improve pay/working conditions

negotiations between trade unions and representatives

• collective bargaining

• go-slows

  • work at minimum pace allowed

• work-to-rule

  • does the absolute minimum required

• overtime bans

• strike action

• collective bargianing

• threats of redundancies

• change of contract

• clousure

• lock-out

• Nature of business

• Organization structure

• Rewards

• Management styles

• Sanctions