Managing People
Pupil Notes
National 5 Business Management
Role of the HR Department
The HR department in a business deals with any issue relating to the
management of staff (employees). A business must look after its employees as
they are the people who play an important role in helping to meet its objectives.
Training
staff
Recruiting
Motivating
& selecting
& retaining
employees
staff
HR
ACTIVITIES
Providing
Promoting
safe
good
working
working
conditions
relationships
Ensuring
staff get
paid
correctly
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Recruitment Process
Job Analysis – Each time a job needs to be filled, the company has to analyse
what the job involves. A Job Analysis will identify:
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Tasks to be done
Technology needed
Knowledge and skills required
Inter personal skills
Level of responsibility
Job Description – This is completed once the Job Analysis has been done.
This document contains:
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Job title
Department
Position in business
Responsibilities
Main duties
Working conditions
Person Specification – This document will identify the personal skills and
qualities of the person needed to do the job. It will include things like:
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Communications skills
Level of education required
Work experience
Intelligence
Physical skills
Language/numeracy skills
IT skills
Personal qualities ie leadership skills, sociable, ability to cope with
pressure etc
These documents will be used to help draw up the advert in order to attract the
right person.
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Advertise the Job
Before people can apply for a job, they have to know it exists! Advertising
makes people aware of a job vacancy. It can be advertised either internally or
externally.
Internal methods include:
 Staff Notice Boards
 E-mail
 Intranet
External methods include:
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Newspapers (local or national)
Radio
Social networking sites
TV or Internet
Recruitment Agencies
Job Centres
The Advert should include:
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Skills required
Wage or salary
Qualifications needed
Experience
Company perks e.g. health insurance, company car etc
How to apply – in writing/CV/telephone/application form
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Selection Process
Businesses want to appoint the best people, so they must look closely at how
they select/recruit staff.
Application Form – This must ask relevant questions. It is the answers to
these which will help the company select the people for interview (draw up a
short leet).
Nowadays many companies ask candidates to apply online. This shows that the
candidate is able to use IT. It is easier than handwriting and an
acknowledgement can be returned quickly via email. For the applicant it is
usually easier to complete and quicker to send.
Reference – these are reports from previous employers, schools/colleges
about a person. A reference normally includes details about a person’s
experience, ability to carry out a job, comments on skills/qualities and their
attendance record.
CV (Curriculum Vitae) – this provides a short summary on the applicant ie
personal details, education and work experience, interest and hobbies.
Interviews – this is a meeting between an applicant and people from the
business. The applicant has to answer a number of questions about why they
want the job.
Advantages of interviews:
 The personality and appearance of the applicant is seen
 The content of the applicant’s CV or application form can be checked
 The applicant can ask questions
Disadvantages of interviews are:
 They can be time consuming to carry out
 Some people suffer badly from nerves and don’t perform well at interview
 Interviewer bias can exist
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Tests – can assess a number of things, e.g. medical, personality or specific
skills. Each test will assess a different aspect of the applicant and can confirm
the information given on the application form.
Advantages of tests:
 The content of the applicant’s CV or application form can be confirmed
 It can provide information about the personality of the applicant.
 Applicants can be compared against consistent criteria
Disadvantages of tests:
 Can be time consuming to carry out.
 Some people might not be good at tests because they are stressful
Assessment Centres – some large organisations have their own assessment
centres. These can last for several days and may include tests, team-building
and role-play exercises and interviews. Candidates are required to demonstrate
their skills effectively in a variety of different scenarios.
Contract of Employment - Within 13 weeks of starting work, a Contract of
Employment, must be issued to the successful candidate, which includes:
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Job title/description
Hours of work
Rate and method of pay
Holiday arrangements
Pension scheme
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Training
Even though a strict recruitment process may be in place to try and get the
right person for the job, training will also be very important to both new and
existing staff. The HR Department are responsible for this.
There are a variety of different types of training. The type of training chosen
by an organisation will depend on budget available.
Induction Training – given when someone starts a new job and helps a new
employee settle in. This normally provides an introduction to the business
including health and safety procedures, duties they will be carrying out and fire
evacuation policies.
On-the-job Training – This takes place in the work place and may be
delivered by an experienced member of staff, e.g. a manager, or a colleague (a
peer).
Advantages of on-the-job training:
 It is less expensive than off-the-job training
 Creates a good working relationship between the employee and employer
 Training is tailored to suit the business’ objectives and needs
Disadvantages of on-the-job training:
 The employee is still expected to carry out their normal duties
 The quality of the training might not be as high as off-the-job training
Off-the-job Training – this occurs outside the workplace at a college or
training centre. The length of time may vary.
Advantages of off-the-job training:
 Qualifications can be gained at the end of it
 Training is being provided by experienced trainers
 It often provides the opportunity to ‘network’ – talking to other people from
other organisations
 Employees relax more if they are not in their place of work being
interrupted by other colleagues
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Disadvantages of off-the-job training:
 No work is being completed while people are away undertaking training,
therefore less productivity.
 Training courses can be very expensive.
 Some off-the-job training can take a long time to complete.
Apprenticeship – occurs mostly in the workplace but may require some
external training (one day a week at college).
Retraining – training for a completely new occupation.
Upgrading – trained in new skills for an existing job, e.g. new software
Benefits of Training
Ultimately firms may take the view that although training may be costly in
terms of time and money, the benefits through increased confidence and
competence of staff far outweigh these costs.
 Staff are more competent after training and are able to do their jobs
better.
 This increases productivity for the business.
 Staff become more flexible and adaptable to change.
Costs of Training
 The costs of training, particularly at external training centres, can be very
expensive.
 Sending staff on training courses results in work not being completed while
they are away.
 Once staff are trained and have better skills, they may apply for other jobs
and leave the organisation!
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Retaining and Motivating Staff
Employees are an important resource for every business and without them the
business would not be able to operate, meet objectives and satisfy customer
needs.
Motivation means having a certain willingness/desire to work – it comes from
the enjoyment of the work and/or the desire to achieve certain goals. It can
also come from the successful completion of a task or project.
Improving motivation should lead to:
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increased productivity
improved quality of products
better and improved customer service
lower staff turnover
good reputation for the business
Organisations need to be aware of the fact that non-monetary factors motivate
employees and that all jobs must take this into account. A failure to do this
may result in absenteeism and poor quality of work.
Non-financial Incentives
 Staff training – increases employee skills & competency
 Team working – allowing people to work with others and take part in teambuilding tasks
 Praise – praising people for a job done well
 Extra responsibilities – this will encourage employees to work harder and
provides excellent promotion opportunities.
 Quality circles - encourages involvement in decision making
 Offering flexible working practices (see below)
Part-time
Temporary
Homeworking
Teleworking
Flexi-time
Jobshare
People work less than full-time hours (35 hours per week)
People are employed for short period of time, e.g. maternity leave
People work from home using technology to keep in touch with business
People work away from office using technology to communicate
Start & finish times may vary but employees must be in for ‘core’ time
2 people split a full-time job, including responsibilities & salary
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Financial Incentives
Salary
Time rate
Overtime
Piece rate
Bonus
Commission
Paying a fixed amount of money per year in 12 equal
instalments (once every month). No incentive to work
harder or produce more.
Paying per hour worked. The more hours worked, the more
pay is received. When the employee has not worked many
hours, they will not receive as much money.
Working over the minimum number of hours required per
week, usually paid at time and a half or double-time. This
is optional and allows the employee to earn extra money if
they want to.
An amount of money for each item produced in addition to
a low time rate or salary. The more items produced, the
more money will be earned, therefore encourages people to
work hard and produce more. Sometimes at the expense
of quality!
Receiving an additional payment on top of a salary or time
rate. Might be paid for very good work or for meeting a
target and encourages people to work hard.
A percentage of money paid based on the value of sales a
person makes. The more sales made, the more commission
is paid. Encourages employees to sell more.
To summarise, to improve motivation, managers could:
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Introduce bonus systems
Improve working conditions
Introduce staff training
Encourage teamwork
Offer company perks
Give staff more responsibility for planning and carrying out their work.
Maintain effective communication with employees
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Benefits of a well-motivated Staff
Each time an employee leaves, a new person has to be taken on.
This means time and money has to be spent on the advertising and recruitment
and then, once the employee has been selected, training.
All of this is costly to an organisation.
Businesses take the view that if they have a motivated staff:
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Lower staff turnover (this can save money on recruitment and training)
Staff morale will be high (fewer disputes with unions)
Lower absenteeism
Productivity will increase
Good reputation
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Industrial Action
Creating and maintaining good relationships with employees is an important task
that all businesses and managers have to do. Without it, motivation could be
lower and quality of work poorer.
Industrial action can be taken by employees when they are unhappy with their
employment terms and conditions or working relationships with their employer.
Strike
Work to rule
Sit in
Employees refuse to enter the workplace. They might have a
picket line or demonstration outside the business to raise
awareness of the issues they are facing.
Employees only carry out the tasks and duties in their job
description and no other tasks are performed.
Employees refuse to work and ‘sit in’ the workplace.
Go slow
Employees work slower than normal in order to reduce
productivity.
Overtime ban No hours above the minimum required (as per the employee’s
contract) are worked.
Employees refuse to carry out a new task or to use a new
Boycott
piece of machinery etc.
Demonstration A gathering of people raising awareness of a particular issue.
Problems with Industrial Action
 Lost production, lost sales and
impact on business
 Damage to business reputation –
customers may go elsewhere
 Employer/employee relations
become strained
Benefits of Industrial Action
 Workers can voice grievances
 Put procedure in place to avoid
future conflict
 Management can include
consultation and worker
participation in the future
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Legislation
Legislation
National Minimum
Wage Act
The Equality Act
Health and
Safety at Work
Act
Freedom of
Information Act
What it involves:
Sets out the lowest amount of pay a person can receive
per hour.
https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
Brings together a range of different aspects of equality
under one legislation. States that people must be
treated fairly regardless of race, gender, sexual
orientation, age & religion.
Sets out responsibilities of employees & employers have
concerning health and safety in the workplace.
Gives individuals right of access to information stored
about them in local authorities.
The Data Protection Act is concerned with the way a business collects,
stores, processes and distributes information. It is based on 8 principles:
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Data must be obtained fairly and lawfully
Data must be used for the registered purpose only
Data must not be used or given to any other person without permission
Data must be adequate, relevant and not excessive
Data must be kept accurate and up-to-date
Data must not be kept for longer than necessary
Data must be kept secure
Data must be available to the person who it relates to
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