Human Resources NEW Notes
Human Resources NEW Notes
The focus of this topic is the contribution of human resource management to business performance
2 Key influences
● acquisition
● development
● maintenance
● separation
● leadership style
● job design – general or specific tasks
● recruitment – internal or external, general or specific skills
● training and development – current or future skills
● performance management – developmental or administrative
● rewards – monetary and non-monetary, individual or group, performance pay
● global – costs, skills, supply
● workplace disputes
○ resolution – negotiation, mediation, grievance procedures, involvement of courts and
tribunals
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ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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working towards goals → ● HR manages workforce effectively
clear communication = less effectively and efficiently → ● HR maintains employees =
mistakes sales = income marketing rewards
● Less turnover = less time employees for performing
spent on training staff for well
bus op
OUTSOURCING
● Outsourcing = contracting out business functions involves use of third-party specialist businesses
(eg. recruitment firms) → aims to take adv of specialist skills provided by the comp and to achieve a
reduction in labour costs
○ Outsourcing offshore = global subcontracting → can significantly reduce some costs
○ Main reasons of outsourcing:
■ Obtain superior service, better functional quality and lower costs
■ Reduce need to employ full time staff for HR
■ Allows bus’ to concentrate on their core business areas
HR FUNCTIONS
● Allows firms to focus on business core as they grow, while experts in HR assist in planning for
growth, development and management of staff during this phase
● Can be used to review bus practices and implement strategies
USING CONTRACTORS
● Contractors = external provider
● Secondment = assignment of a member of one organisation to another organisation for a
temporary period
○ Opportunity to develop bus relationships, share and gain external knowledge and enhance
skills
● Primarily used to create cost savings, access to greater expertise, and capabilities to increase
competitiveness
● Forms of outsourcing:
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○ Employment agency = host company provides employees/manager their superannuation
and insurance
○ Dependent contractors = workers w/ no control over their working procedures
○ Independent contractors = operate their own business and set own terms of employment
■ Independent contractor = when an individual's employment by one employer is not
outgoing and an agreed fee is paid for their service → contract of service (eg. builder,
electricians
○ Outsourced suppliers = supply goods and services, control their own work procedures and
work for multiple clients
TYPES OF CONTRACTING
● Avoids need to employ additional ‘in-house’ staff ● Opens gateway to operating in overseas
and therefore avoids all the overhead expenses markets
involved ● Process outsourcing = outsourcing repetitive,
● Subcontracting work within Australia easily measured and documented work (eg.
● Attractive to SMEs who cannot undertake payroll management)
internal auditing and compliance updates ● Project outsourcing = involved use of intellectual
● Can improve quality, efficiency and productivity property and strategic bus knowledge
at a cheaper price → generate greater ○ Found in HR, research, design and
competitive advantage information tech (IT)
● Contractors base knowledge on the operation of ○ Difficult to measure and control → quality
Australian bus’ and therefore understand the cannot be anticipated → carries more
market risk
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
DOMESTIC ● Expert knowledge in based on how AUS ● Can Be more expensive → wage costs
bus’ operate are higher in AUS than other low-cost
● Easy communication → same time zone global markets
● Less likely to have problems bc in same ● Poor quality work can cause problems for
country → aware of local news bus
● Easier to contact and impose legal ● Operating in same competitive market
action if issues arise ● Instability → outsourcing company can go
out of bus therefore significantly affecting
operations
● Possibility of hidden costs → either legally
through fine print or scam
GLOBAL ● Cheaper → using developing and low ● Difficulty controlling quality and the
wage cost global economies reliability of the service → different
● Reduces costs and allows bus’ to standards of products required by law in
access labour without having to consider different countries → limited quality
issues such as minimum labour control → affect sales and profitability
requirements and WHS levels ● Cultural differences (eg. language and
● Made much easier w/ internet→ accent) may impact customer service and
websites can be used to guarantee communication
work, track time spent on actual work ● Loss of security and confidentiality of
etc… information
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● Secondment of managers/employees ● Difficult to enforce contracts due to
exposes them to innovative operations different legal systems → issues = sue
and strategies undertaken overseas company in their country
● High labour turnover, particularly in call
centres
● Well-qualified employees often replaced
by less qualified staff → quality of
services declines
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INFLUENCES
KEY INFLUENCES: STAKEHOLDERS, LEGAL, ECONOMIC, TECHNOLOGICAL, SOCIAL
AND ETHICS AND CSR
STAKEHOLDERS
Stakeholders = any individual/group that has a common interest in/is affected by actions of a business
● Conflicts can arise due to differences and competing interests between stakeholders
EMPLOYERS ● Individual or organization that pays others to work for its business
EMPLOYEES ● An individual who provides his or her skills to a business in return for a regular
source of income
EMPLOYER ● Organisations that aim to promote the interests of employers within the
ASSOCIATIONS business environment
○ Lobby and consult with governments that benefits the interest of
employes
○ Advise members on equal employment opportunity, dismissal, wage
negotiation and legislative changes
UNIONS ● Organisations that aim to protect and promote the interests of employees within
the workplace
○ Assist with disputes
○ Act as a bargaining agent in wage negotiations
○ Advise members on workplace rights, WH&S, wage levels
SOCIETY ● Businesses responding in a manner that is consistent with the view of society →
treating employees well
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MINIMUM ● Requests for flexible working arrangements
EMPLOYMENT ● Annual leave, long service leave and other leave entitlements
STANDARDS ● Notice of termination and redundancy pay
AWARDS ● Legal document that outlines the minimum wages and working conditions for all
employees working in a particular industry
● Works as a safety net - award variations cannot provide worse pay and conditions than
the original award
ECONOMIC
● Economic influences such as the economic cycle and globalisation, affect the role of HRM
● Use finance function to forecast and predict economic fluctuations
ECONOMIC ● Consumer spending and investment causing upswings and downswings in economy
CYCLE ● During ‘boom’ need more employees → higher demand for good and services,
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therefore demand for labour
● Labour shortages during periods of economic growth = employers compete for
employees by offering higher wages and benefits → unions have stronger bargaining
power to demand as their services are needed desperately (consequence in higher
labour costs eg. wages)
● Downturn in economic cycle = decrease in demand for goods and services therefore
business forces to decrease size of their workforce and limit staff numbers to provide
higher wages for staying staff (strategic)
● Employment levels are connected to level of business activity → high employment =
less sales
STRUCTURAL ● Structural change = change in nature and pattern of production of goods and services
CHANGE within economy
● As each sector grows, recruitment and selection become important industrial issues
● Ageing population → flexible staffing arrangements, retention and mentoring increases
importance
● Effective training and staff empowerment = critical to business success in customer
services
TECHNOLOGICAL
● Technology = most important source of change to they way a business produces/provides goods
and/or services, communicates within business and to customers, competes in the market
● Impacts of technology on HR include:
○ Ongoing training for staff
○ Creation of new jobs or skills
○ Make some jobs redundant → retrenchments
■ Redundancy → places fear of little job security for other employees → psychological
effect → Lack of motivation → decreases employee productivity and competitiveness
○ Job designs undergo change
○ Efficiency gains → improvements in productivity, communication and competitiveness
● Increased workplace flexibility but has also resulted challenges in attracting skilled labour
● Businesses reengineering and restructuring as offshore networks and are making use of video
technology
● New communication technology = increased need for ongoing training programs and new protocols
to ensure work-life is maintained in a society where people are expected to always be on call
More efficient production techniques Transfer from labour to capital resource use = job loss
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Employees can learn from new workplace technologies Employee resistant to change
Improved ways for employees to deliver products Reduced satisfaction of staff as positions are less
valued
SOCIAL
● Social influences affecting workforce today reflect changes to work patterns and living standards
● Managers will need to be aware of the changing and variety of individual needs of employees,
requiring family-friends, flexibility in hours of work, leave arrangements and cultural sensitivity
LIVING STANDARDS
● Education, variations in skill and opportunities
● Standard of living = generally measured by standards such as real income per person, poverty
rates, access to and quality of health care, income growth inequality, and educational standards
● Australia has high living standards compared to the rest of the world → still visible gap for
indigenous/rural Australia
● High standard of living is seen in OH&S, regular wage increases, performance bonuses, benefits,
leave and superannuation benefits→ Australia demands a job that is safe, meaningful and
productive, where they are respected and earn enough money to support themselves and their
families → part of Australian culture
● High living standards create increased levels of demand for consumer goods, which stimulates
economy via spending
● Business seek to undercut conditions through excessive outsourcing and casualisation of workforce
will be challenged union who are keen to maintain high Australian living standards
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● Results make Australia attractive for working and immigration, meaning businesses have access to
both local and international well-skilled workforce
ETHICS Ethics = moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity
Ethical business practices = those practices that are socially responsible, morally right and
fair
● Involves meeting legal obligations and taking it further by obeying social values and
expectations → not legally punishable, however, is punished through damaged
business reputation (decrease in goodwill)
● Variation in social laws between countries make it hard to know what is ethical →
business may choose to follow ethical standards from International Labour Organisation
(ILO)
● Code of conduct = statement of acceptable or unacceptable behaviours in a business
● Code of ethics = statement of a firm's values and principles
● Ethical HRM practices include:
○ Providing employees with a pleasant working environment and good (safe)
working conditions
○ Making staff feel secure, confident, equally values and rewarded for their efforts
○ Making business practices transparent
● Ethical issues in HRM include:
○ Discrimination → age, sex, maritial status, gender, disability etc…
○ Issues relating to fairness of employment contract and power balances
● Benefit of ethical practices:
○ Staff retention and absenteeism rates improve → staff feel more valued and
motivated
○ Business costs decrease → eg. recruitment and training
○ Significant marketing and business opportunities → positive publicity and media
attracted to ethical business
CORPORATE ● CSR aims to achieve Triple Bottom Line = profit, social justice, environmental
SOCIAL protection
RESPONSIBILITY ● By treating staff well and acting responsibly, employers are able to sustain valuable,
productive employees and avoid damage to their company reputation
● Consumers may reward CSR businesses by purchasing their products while non-CSR
businesses may be boycotted
● Non-CSR businesses → exploit employees, accept bribes, pollute environment
● Business can demonstrate commitment to CSR by investing in community projects,
supporting research initiatives introducing WH&S measures, implement
anti-discrimination programs, adopt environmentally friendly practices, apply code of
ethics to company operations
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PROCESSES OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
ACQUISITION
● Acquisition = process of obtaining/hiring/recruiting employees
○ Three stages of acquisition includes identifying staff needs, recruitment and selection
● Stage of the human resource cycle that ingles identifying staffing needs, recruitment and selection
● In order to examine whether it has the appropriate staff to meet business needs, needs to:
○ Identify skills and number of employees required in future
○ Analyse its existing workplace
Recruitment
● Recruitment = process of locating and attracting the right quantity and quality of applicants at the
right cost
● Employee selection = gathering info about each applicant and using it to choose most appropriate
applicant
● Effective recruitment and employee selection involves:
○ Evaluating and hiring qualified job applicants who are motivated and have values/goals
aligned with business
○ Filling job vacancies by recruiting applicants internally (promoting or changing role of existing
staff) or externally (outside the business)option to outsource through recruitment agency or
choose to advertise externally and conduct interviews, testing and grouping observations
○ Informing society about the need for employees through job search websites, in-store
advertisements, online publications, word of mouth etc
○ Using forms, interviews, assessment centres or tests to gather information about each
applicant
● Accumulate a pool of potential candidates for the job. From this pool, business makes selection
● Business can fill a vacancy by recruiting applicant internally or externally
○ Existing staff can receive a promotion, resulting in other staff to improve their performance
○ Business can advertise externally for applicants through methods such as:
■ Outsourcing to private employment agencies
■ Interviews
■ Trainee positions may be offered to complete cadetship courses
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Selection
● Screening process in staff acquisition
● Information gathered about applicants is reviewed and the most appropriate applicant is chosen.
● Individuals are assessed on their ability to interact with each other
● Process may involves
○ Interviews
○ Application forms
○ Written tests eg. maths or english
INTERNAL RECRUITMENT
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
● Wide applicant pool → new ideas and diversity ● Increased induction costs (compared to internal
● Dilutes internal politics and prevents rivalry recruitment)
● New ideas, perspectives and skills enter ● New employees may not fit in business culture or
business understand operations → therefore lowering
● Employ staff with specialist skills → save training productivity
$$ ● Risk of unknown staff
● Existing workers may feel unappreciated
DEVELOPMENT
Development = process of improving the skills, abilities and knowledge of staff to maintain a competitive
advantage and better perform their future role in the business
● Effective development programs ensure that experienced and talented staff are retained. They
enhance employees motivation and commitment to the business through promotion opportunities
over a longer term = increased performance
● Major role of HRM = establish effective T&D programs, train managers to implement them
effectively, and then evaluate training programs to determine whether performance has improved
due to the programs
● Can be expensive → production time lost and training course fees/costs
● Employee benefits → promotion, job satisfaction, challenge, adaptability and independence
● Employer benefits → higher productivity, employee loyalty (less staff turnover) ability for business to
change
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● Five stages to development include induction, ongoing training, organisational development,
mentoring and coaching, and performance appraisal
● Research shows that employees who feel competent in performing their jobs and are recognised for
their achievements are more motivated and satisfied at work. They achieve higher levels of
performance
INDUCTION ● Induction program = introducing new or existing employees to a new workplace and
role to help them transition, adapt and become familiar with the new environment
○ Encourages employees to have positive attitude and job confidence →
effective induction can boosts productivity and increase efficiency
○ Establishing good working relationships with supervisors and co-workers
○ Familiarise themselves with initial job skills and business culture
○ Explain company policy and procedures
● Effective induction program is carefully planned to introduce a new employee to the
job, their co-workers, business and work culture
● Well-prepared induction program”
○ Gives employees a positive attitude to the job and business
○ Builds a new employees confidence in the job
○ Stresses the major safety policies and procedures and explains their
application
○ Helps establish a good working relationships with co-workers and supervisors
MENTORING AND ● Mentoring and coaching = mutually agreed role where experienced staff transfer
COACHING knowledge and skills through succession planning and building a personal relationship
○ Used to motivate and develop staff with leadership potential
○ Mentoring = individual life development, preparation for future roles (advice)
○ Coaching = improving improving skills, performance and helping individuals
manage specific work roles more effectively (structured with a timeframe)
● Mentoring and coaching are increasingly used to motivate and develop staff with
leadership potential
● Mentoring is a mutually agreed role, which suits experienced staff keen to transfer
knowledge and skills through succession planning. It is more focused on building a
person relationship that encoompasses the life of both parties
● Often those being mentored select their mentors and are free to accept or reject the
advice offered
MENTORING COACHING
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PERFORMANCE ● Performance appraisal = formal assessment of employee’s strengths, weaknesses
APPRAISAL and opportunities for development
○ Provides a basis for feedback, future training needs, pay rises, promotions and
monitoring employee selection
○ Comparisons to past performance help set a criteria/standard or goal
○ If most employee continually perform below expectation, business’ recruitment
and selection process may need to be changes, or extra training and
development may be required → effective performance appraisal is therefore
crucial
Involves 4 main objectives
● To provide feedback from management to employees regarding work performance
● To act as a measurement against which promotion and pay rises can be determined
● To help business monitor its employee section
● To help identify employees training and development needs
MAINTENANCE
Maintenance = process of retaining staff and managing their wellbeing in the working environment →
involves looking after staff wellbeing, safety and health, and complying with industrial agreements and legal
responsibilities
● Effective maintenance allows for increased productivity, improved morale (confidence, enthusiasm,
discipline) among workers (battering work performance) and reduced level of absenteeism
● Having unmotivated staff decreases the accuracy and efficiency of work → results in defective and
low-quality products, increased absenteeism, and increase resignation → causes disruption and
rising labour costs
● Common strategies to motivate and encourage loyalty are to:
○ Lead rather than control
○ Engage in two-way communication
○ Delegate responsibilities
○ Include employees in decision making
○ Have conflict resolution processes
○ View employee as an individual
● Four essential elements of maintenance includes communication and workplace culture, employee
participation benefits, and legal compliance & corporate social responsibility
COMMUNICATION AND Communication and workplace culture = critical for effective workplace relationships and
WORKPLACE minimising conflict → poor communication = conflict and higher turnover rates
CULTURE ● Methods include = regular team meetings between managers/supervisors and
employees, staff bulletins, newsletters and staff surveys
● Strategies that focus on building trust and direct communication between people
are critical to prevent conflict → also prompts positive workplace culture through
recognition of staff achievements → communication with employees should be
positive and constructive
EMPLOYEE Employee participation = providing opportunities for employee participation will develop
PARTICIPATION their commitment to improving quality and efficiency and employe employees
● Eg. suggestion boxes, join consultative committees
● Trained to make decisions on the sport → solve problems.retain customers (via
quick and efficient service)
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BENEFITS Benefits = offering employee incentives to work to the best of their abilities
● Business must carefully consider the value of these benefits in terms of staff
retention, morale, absenteeism, productivity and positive workplace culture as
they can be costly
● Some benefits are compulsory by law, these include
○ Four weeks leave with full pla after working one year in the same job
○ Fringe benefits → eg. company car
○ Flexible and family-friendly work arrangements → recognises importance
of work-life balance → career break schemes, job sharing, work from
home, family leave etc
○ Paid training opportunities
○ Travel allowance
○ Health insurance
● Divided intro monetary reward (salary) and non-monetary reward (flexible hours)
LEGAL COMPLIANCE Legal compliance and CSR = HR managers must minimise business exposure to risk by
AND CORPORATE implementing a range of proactive and preventative strategies in health and safety,
SOCIAL anti-discrimination and conflcit resolution
RESPONSIBILITY ● Problems arising over misconduct in employment relationships (particularly
sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination) can be costly and damaging to
the business
● Bullying is common in the workplace → can be decreased by ensuring
management is committed to resolve bullying and implementing appropriate
strategies to counteract it
SEPARATION
Separation = process of ending an employment relationship and terminating the employment contract
● HR must conduct the separation process fairly with appropriate transparency to reduce disruption to
business and personal conflict that can damage morale, productivity and business reputation
VOLUNTARY SEPARATION
Voluntary = employee decides to leave the business
● Resignation = must provide notice (4 weeks) of resignation → can be due to lack of motivation,
desire to work elsewhere, illness, leaves job for career change or better pay rates
● Voluntary redundancy = nominate own job as no longer needed → can be due to merger,
rationalisation financial difficulty, restructuring or technology → often those close to recruitment
● Retirement = older workers are generally more efficient and skilled, thus HR try to retain them
INVOLUNTARY SEPARATION
Involuntary = employer forces the employee to leave the business
● Procedures must be fair and correct, incompliance with awards, agreements and unfair dismissal
Laws (also to avoid claims of dicsriminationa and adverse effects in the morale and productivity of
remaining staff) → business should consult staff prior to termination and provide written statement
confirming termination, date and evidence
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industry tribunal)
● Redundancy = employees job no longer needed (genuine), no appropriate
work available elsewhere within organisation → money given according to
how much time the employee was in the business
UNFAIR DISMISSAL ● Unfair dismissal = employee dismissed and believe action is harsh,
unreasonable or unjust
● Employee must appeal to Fair Work Australia → claim can be resolved
through conferences or formal hearing
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STRATEGIES IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
LEADERSHIP STYLE
● Refers to the way managers communicate with employees to inspire and motivate to achieve goals.
Managers may use a range of leadership styles depending upon the circumstance, situation or
group of employees they are managing at the time
● Adopted by management and will depend on the managers personality and the nature/type of
business in order to effectively coordinate and motivate workers to fulfill set objectives
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● Adv = leader identifies correct instruction and communicates them to
workers, may be necessary for some industries in which risky tasks
are commonly carried out
● Dis = workers lack input so many be unmotivated, no real potential to
develop decision-making skills, creativity or experience as policies are
already in place
LAISSEZ-FAIRE (DELEGATIVE) ● Ideas, decision making and control given mostly to employees
○ little/no input from management
● Adv = leader outlines goals and basic parameters of what is allowed
and what is expected and then work groups make decisions,
recognises employees as highly capable, motivating for committed
workers by empowering them with responsibility and a change to
improve skills
● Dis = may lead to poor outcomes if workers are untrustworthy or
unreliable or untalented, poor decisions may be made due to lack of
guidance from management or conflicts of interest, time consuming
decision making process, inefficiency in time of crisis
SPECIFIC TASKS ● Giving workers the same kind of work, but recognise their skills, talent and importance
by granting them more responsibility and authority (job enrichment)
● Increased motivation, specialisation and efficiency → however can be routine and
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boring
● Efficiency process that often uses low-skilled, cheap labour
● Best represented through Scientific management approach (Fredrick Taylor)
INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL
Internal recruitment = hiring staff within the business ⇒ promoting or changing the role of existing staff
● Advertised using staff notices, staff meetings, emails, business newsletters etc.
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Specific skills = specialist training, usually leading to a qualification
● Acquired through school, TAFE, university or other educational provider
● Businesses are recruiting overseas, outsourcing or poaching staff to overcome skill gaps/shortages
in Australia
Development = improving the future skills, abilities and knowledge of employees to maintain a competitive
advantage so they can better perform their future role in the business to meet its changing needs
● Encourages employees to take advantage of opportunities to develop experience that will benefit
business
● Development encourages employees to use their full potential → leads to business growth
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
● Business gets immediate benefits ● May be boring if workers already have those skills
● Workers keep up with new developments ● May not be worth the disruption
● Increased current productivity ● Workers may not see the value for their career
● Workers more likely to pay attention (relates to (doesn’t prepare them for the future)
current job, not hypothetical future citations)
Future skills (development) = future skills for business growth → skills that can be used later in the
workers career
FUTURE
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
● Allowed for easier international promotion ● Risky (business might not get any benefit at all)
● Employees feel motivated by being trained for ● Worker may leave and take skills to competing
possible promotion business
● Workers can cover absences ● Workers may feel disconnected (“what does this
have to do with me?”)
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learning new skills on the job, mentoring, new responsibilities, stretching of
targets and formal courses
○ Best achieved through year-round periodic feedback and shared discussion
(both empathetic and goal focused)
BENEFITS
● Can plan to overcome gaps/weaknesses in performance
● Shows effectiveness of current selection processes and staff match to culture and
skills
● Helps identify, motivate and retain talented staff for leadership succession
● Communicates expectations, helps build trust, promotes LT organisational
development
ADMINISTRATIVE ● Administrative PM = assessed business progress in meeting its strategic goals to
PM identify areas for improvement → quantitative measures such as output and sales
● Giving workers the same kind of work, but recognise their skills, talent and importance
by granting them more responsibility and authority (job enrichment)
● Increased motivation, specialisation and efficiency → however can be routine and
boring
● Efficiency process that often uses low-skilled, cheap labour
● Best represented through Scientific management approach (Fredrick Taylor)
BENEFITS
● Higher productivity → better financial performance
● Helps assess rewards and benefits linked to performance and identifies strengths and
weaknesses → can be used to implement appropriate strategies to fix/improve them
● Builds self-efficacy (effectiveness, success, productiveness, benefit) as efforts of
employees are recognised → important in motivation and retention
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INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP
Individual reward = received based on individual performance
● Individual rewards are motivating → however can create conflict/rivalry and issues arise as it is hard
to distinguish individual contribution, especially with teamwork
Group reward = team of employees sharing rewards for the performance of tasks
● Group rewards develop good workplace relationships by minimising conflict/rivalry and encouraging
cooperation → however are less motivating as they can result in ‘free-riders’ who contribute little to
the overall performance and receive the reward regardless (eg. profit sharing, payment by result,
bonus)
● Difficult to distinguish the performance of individuals within teams
PERFORMANCE PAY
Performance pay = employees are rewarded (in addition to normal base pay) individually or as a group
based on performance, rather than the number of work hours
● Performance pay system involves reaching targets and demonstrating improved performance to
receive pay increase
● Adv = financial rewards are often key motivators (especially for inefficiency staff), good employees
are attracted to business → performance pay regarded as a measure of successful work attributes
● Dis = some employees may only seek non-financial rewards, performance may be difficult to
measure for some jobs
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APPROACHES TO OVERSEAS STAFFING
● Ethnocentric = hiring management that is the same nationality as the parent company → enales
company policies to be transferred and implemented more effectively
● Polycentric = recruitment of personnel from the host country → have better knowledge of local
culture
● Geocentric = hiring the best person for the job, regardless of their nationality
COSTS ● Labour costs vary between countries, depending on their workforce size, skill level
and demand for workers within particular industries or the nation as a whole
● Hiring overseas = less regulations regarding cheap labour and environmental
responsibility
SKILLS ● Must hire employees overseas where standard of learning and education are same or
better
● India has become a preferred source of global labour because of good literacy levels
in English (can speak multiple languages too) and in technical skills → able to reach
larger markets
SUPPLY ● Supply of labour depends on the current world population and demographic (eg. age,
gender)
● Labour force supply is declining in advanced areas of he world and increasing in
areas such as Africa and Asia, as they are developing necessary skills and offering
them at a cheaper rate
RESOLUTION
● Resolution of disputes should be swift for the benefit of all parties
● Preferred method of resolving disputes has moved to an approach focuses at the
employer-employee evel
● Four methods that can be used to resolve disputes include negotiation, mediation, grievance
procedures and involvement of courts and tribunals
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● Very costly method → seen as a last resort
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EFFECTIVENESS IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
INDICATORS
Indicators = performance measures that are used to evaluate organisational/individual effectiveness
ABSENTEEISM ● Employees being unable to attend work due to illness, daily responsibility
● This is costly - employees work isn't done - lower productivity, cost in replacing
absent worker
● Covert form of industrial action - seen in 2007 as large number of business drivers
called in sick on same day
● Managers must assess if level of absenteeism is valid and the cause eg. stress,
poor health, job dissatisfaction
LEVELS OF ● Monitoring the frequency and severity of industrial disputes will give indications of
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DISPUTATION the effectiveness of grievance procedures and dispute resolution processes
● More disputes = less effective management is in managing employment relations
functions
● Employers need to examine why disputes ar occurring
● Can be caused by legal issues regarding benefits and pay, as well as conflicting
interests of stakeholders
● Determined by the duration of a work ban, the rate at which employees work, and
the amount of sabotage/damage an employee does towards business
WORKER ● Where employees are happy and fulfilling their desires and needs at work
SATISFACTION ● Satisfied employees = work efficiently and value the organisation they work for
● Can be assessed through surveys, suggestion boxes, discussion etc.
● Satisfied employees are more productive, innovative, loyal and have low
absenteeism
● Worker satisfaction arises from recognition, challenging work, safe working
environment, appropriate rewards and employee participation
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