What human resource management does

HRM manages the most valuable resource — people — through the employment cycle:

• Workforce (human resource) planning — forecasting how many staff, with what skills, are needed.
• Recruitment and selection — job description, person specification, internal vs external recruitment.
• Training — induction, on-the-job and off-the-job.
• Appraisal — formative, summative, 360-degree and self-appraisal.
• Dismissal (ending a contract for cause) vs redundancy (the job itself no longer exists).

HL: firms also flex the workforce through outsourcing, offshoring and reshoring, and manage the effects of migration and remote/flexible working.

Dismissal vs redundancy

Hierarchy, span and chain of command

Structure shows how roles and authority are arranged:

• Levels of hierarchy and chain of command — the line of authority top to bottom.
• Span of control — how many subordinates one manager oversees (wide = flat, narrow = tall).
• Delegation — passing authority (not responsibility) down.
• Centralised (decisions at the top) vs decentralised (authority pushed down).
• Delayering — removing levels to cut costs and speed decisions.

HL structures: matrix (staff report to both function and project), project-based, and Handy's flexible shamrock organisation.

Labour turnover

Financial, non-financial or hygiene?

Tap a factor, then the group it belongs to. (Herzberg calls basic conditions 'hygiene' factors.)

Styles of leadership

Management is planning, organising and controlling to hit objectives; leadership is inspiring people to follow a direction. Common styles:

• Autocratic — leader decides, expects obedience.
• Paternalistic — leader decides but consults and cares for staff.
• Democratic — decisions shared through consultation.
• Laissez-faire — staff given freedom to decide.
• Situational — style flexes to the task and team.

Leadership style

Taylor, Maslow and Herzberg

Motivation is the drive to act. Key theories:

• F. W. Taylor (scientific management) — workers are motivated mainly by money; use time-and-motion study and piece-rate pay.
• Maslow — a hierarchy of five needs (physiological, safety, social, esteem, self-actualisation); lower needs must be met first.
• Herzberg (two-factor) — motivators (achievement, recognition, responsibility) drive satisfaction; hygiene factors (pay, conditions, policy) only prevent dissatisfaction.

HL — Adams' equity theory: people compare their input/reward ratio with others; perceived unfairness demotivates.

Labour productivity

Herzberg hygiene factor

Match the theorist to their idea

Tap a theorist on the left, then their key idea on the right.

Handy's cultures (HL only)

Organisational (corporate) culture is the shared values, norms and 'way we do things here'. Charles Handy identified four types:

• Power culture — control radiates from one central figure; fast decisions, few rules.
• Role culture — bureaucratic; clear rules, job titles and hierarchy.
• Task culture — teams formed around projects; expertise beats status.
• Person culture — the organisation exists to serve its individual experts.

Culture clash: mergers and acquisitions often fail when two strong, incompatible cultures collide — a key change-management challenge.

Identifying culture (HL)

Handy's culture types (HL)

Tap a description, then the culture it best fits.

Unions, action and resolution (HL only)

Industrial (employee) relations concern the relationship between employers and employees, often via trade unions and collective bargaining.

• Employee methods: strikes, work-to-rule, go-slows, overtime bans.
• Employer methods: changing contracts, threats of redundancy, closure, or a lock-out.
• Resolution: conciliation, arbitration (a neutral third party decides), employee participation and no-strike agreements.

Good relations reduce disputes, absenteeism and turnover, protecting productivity.

Industrial action (HL)

Absenteeism rate (HL)

The big ideas to know

You have covered Unit 2. including the HL-only material. Press Finish to see your score.