Human resource management
Human resource management examines how a business plans, structures and manages its people. Questions typically ask you to calculate workforce metrics, choose between recruitment or training options, and apply motivation theory to a case. HL answers need evaluation - theory must explain behaviour in the scenario, not be described.
Core rules
- Structure: tall structures have narrow spans of control and long chains of command; delayering flattens them, widening spans and cutting cost but increasing manager workload.
- Workforce metrics: labour turnover = leavers ÷ average number employed × 100; absenteeism rate = days lost ÷ (average employees × working days) × 100.
- Recruitment: job analysis produces a job description (duties, conditions) and a person specification (skills, qualifications). Internal recruitment is cheaper and motivating; external recruitment brings fresh ideas.
- Training: induction, on-the-job (relevant, low cost, but passes on bad habits) and off-the-job (broader, expensive, lost output).
- Motivation: Taylor (pay as the driver), Maslow (hierarchy of needs), Herzberg (hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction; motivators create satisfaction), Adams (equity - perceived fairness of input/output ratios), Vroom (expectancy - effort leads to performance leads to a valued reward), McClelland (achievement, affiliation, power).
- Appraisal and relations: appraisal feeds development and pay decisions; redundancy is role-based, dismissal is individual and disciplinary; trade unions bargain collectively (HL).
Worked example: labour turnover
A retailer loses 24 staff in a year with an average of 160 employees: 24 ÷ 160 × 100 = 15%. The sector average is 9%, so turnover is high. Each leaver costs recruitment, induction and lost productivity, so the manager should diagnose the cause - exit interviews, pay benchmarking, or hygiene factors such as shift patterns - before choosing a remedy. Raising pay alone may fail if the real issue is a lack of responsibility or recognition.
Traps
- Calling salary a motivator: under Herzberg it is a hygiene factor.
- Confusing job description with person specification.
- Using "dismissal" for a role that no longer exists (that is redundancy).
- Forgetting that delayering widens the span of control.