3.6.3 Making human resource decisions: improving organisational design and managing the human resource flow

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Influences on organisational design: hierarchy

Number of diff supervisory + management levels b/ween bottom + top of hierarchy. Makes organisational structure tall or flat. 

Lots of levels of hierarchy - slow + unreliable communication.

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Influences on organisational design: span

Number of people directly under supervision of manager. If wide span of control, directly responsible for lots of staff, may cause communication problems, or workers may feel not being given enough guidance, not enough focus on them -> demotivation. Narrow span of control, responsible for few members of staff.

Ideal span of control depends on nature of tasks + skills + attitude of workforce + manager.

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Influences on organisational design: authority

Chain of command. Shows reporting system from top of hierarchy to bottom; route info travels throughout organisation. Lots of levels of hierarchy - chain of command longer, could create gap b/ween workers at bottom + managers at top. If info has to travel through several people, chance it could become distorted.

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Influences on org design: centralisation

Extent to which decision-making power + authority delegated w/in organisation. Centralised - power + control remains w/ top management levels. Decentralised - delegates power + control to workers lower down organisation. Many use combination, depending on nature of decision. Eg, schools - decisions concerning which resources to use decentralised. Future changes in subejcts, centralised.

Influences primarily internal: represent alternatives look rosier if opp approach disappointing. Risk that company in difficulties will go from one approach to next. Eg Waterstones - set up originally decentralised, locally-oriented chain. When bought by WH Smith, became centralised. Now back to more localised, decentralised approach.

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Influences on organisation design: delegation

Passing authority down hierarchy, giving greater responsibility to junior managers/staff. Seen as democratic process, however, som bosses pass down tasks don't want to do - diff to delegation.

Influences:
 - attitude of management to workforce - if mistrust, delegation not genuine
 - staff should still be highly trained - needs to be knowledge + confidence they'll be able to get job done

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Influences on job design

Herzberg's work developed by Hackman + Oldham - 'job characteristics model':
 1) Core job characteristics: skill variety, task variety, task significance, autonomy + feedback. All measured against scale from low coverage to very high.
 2) Psychological states: focuses on people rather than job. Asks what are core factors affecing psych state? H + O suggest: meaningfulness of job, responsibility for work outcomes, knowledge of results of work. Greater level, more positive + relaxed pysch state will be.
 3) Outcomes: H + O build concequences into theory. Core job characterstics + psych states impact on workplace outcomes - can + should be measured. Consist of: empoyee motivation, employee performance, employee job satisfaction + practical measurements eg absenteeism + labour turnover.

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Value of changing job + organisational design

After publication of Herzberg's theory, AT&T experimented w/ job redesign - focus on job enrichment. Important result of improved job design, stress levels reduced. Stress associated w/ lack of control of environment, improved job control important target. Lower stress levels, absenteeism + labour turnover figures improved.

Changing organisational desigh more diff - affects everyone. Bosses desire perfect organisational structure, but doesn't exist. Every large business - severe problems w/ communication, co-ordination + motivation. Occasional change to organisational design may temp improve things, but no magical solution to problems of size.

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Managing HR flow: HR plan

About thinking ahead so staff have right balance of right skills in each year into future. Key components of HR planning:
 - audit what have atm; how many staff, what their skills are etc - ideally inc aspirations
 - analyse corporate plan to turn plans into people
 - take into acc changed on way from here to there eg how many will retire etc
 - calculate gaps need to be filled b/ween now + 2 years' time - can be done through sum:
   - staff needed in 2 years - staff now + staff leaving b/ween now + then = extra staff required

Having completed process, put into practice; inc recruitment, training + development, + planned redundancies.

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Managing HR flow: recruitment

Plan provides structure w/in effective recruitment can take place - character + personalities of new staff treated as equal importance as skills + aptitude. Recruitment process may be triggered by events eg retirement or finding employment elsewhere. Worth analysing vacant job role - do all of responsibilities associated w/ vacant job still need to be carried out? Remaining duties could be reorganised amongst existing staff. Additional workers may need to be recruited to support firm's expansion strategies, or new skills may be required to help develop new product/new markets.

Once established requirements, next step consider nature of work + workers required to draw up job description + job specification - important influence on recruitment + selection - can help assess suitability of applications.

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Managing HR flow: training

Training process of instructing on how to carry out tasks directly related to job. Development helps realise full potential. Concerns growth in personal skills, not specifically related to existing job. Before training, new recruits put through induction programme - provides insight into working methods + clear understanding of firm's aims, objs + key strategies. 

4 key objs of training + development:
 - help employee reach level of performance expected from experienced worker - initial prep upon first taking up post known in 'induction training' - contains info dealing w/ nature of job, health + safety etc. Attempt may be made to intro individual to key employees + give impression of culture of organisation. Should aim to drive employee along personal learning curve as quickly as poss
 - provide wide pool of skills available
 - develop knowledgeable + committed workforce
 - deliver HQ products/services

On the job training - not required to leave workplace eg mentoring. Off the job training, leave workplace eg seminars.

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Managing HR flow: redeployment

Changes in market demand/tech can make certain tasks/responsibilities redundant. Eg 2007, 40% cut in MFL courses - specialist language teachers made redundanct, but some may have general skills that allow them to be redeployed; switch job to another post w/in company.

Benefits:
 - saves cost of redundancy payments
 - helps internal morale as staff see organisation trying best to avoid redundancy
 - avoids recruiting from outside, when existing employees already understand culture + procedures w/in business - avoid induction learning curve

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Managing HR flow: redundancy

Only occur when reduced need for staff eg b/c sales declining or tech changing labour requirements. HR managers have to cope w/ selecting who to be made redundant, and then informing them.

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