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).

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.

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.

Labour productivity

Herzberg hygiene factor

Match the theorist to their idea

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

Finding the right people

Recruitment attracts applicants; selection chooses among them. Steps: write a job description (the role and duties) and a person specification (the skills and qualities needed), advertise, shortlist, then select through interviews, tests and references.

• Internal recruitment — cheaper, faster, motivating, but limits fresh ideas.
• External recruitment — wider talent pool and new thinking, but slower and costlier.

Developing the workforce

Training raises skills and productivity: induction (settling new staff in), on-the-job (learning while working) and off-the-job (external courses). Appraisal reviews performance and sets goals — it may be formative (ongoing development), summative (a formal judgement), 360-degree (feedback from all around) or self-appraisal.

Investing in people can improve motivation and retention, lowering costly labour turnover.

Keeping the organisation connected

Good communication — clear, two-way and using the right channel — underpins motivation, coordination and change management. Barriers include information overload, jargon, too many hierarchy levels and poor listening. Flatter structures and digital tools can speed the flow but risk overload.

Financial and non-financial rewards

Firms motivate using a mix of rewards:

• Financial: salaries, wages, commission, performance-related pay, profit-related pay, employee share ownership, fringe benefits.
• Non-financial: job enrichment (more challenging tasks), job enlargement, job rotation, empowerment, teamworking and a sense of purpose.

The best package depends on the workforce — Taylor leans financial, Herzberg stresses enrichment and recognition.

Maslow's hierarchy

The big ideas to know

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