Human Resources

What Human Resources covers

Human Resources is examined in all three written papers — the specification is assessed in full on every one of them, and they differ by the context questions are set in rather than by content. It covers human resource objectives, chain of command, span of control and delegation, tall, flat, matrix and divisional structures, organisational culture and what shapes it, formal and informal communication and group norms, verbal, non-verbal and electronic communication, the communication model and barriers to communication, workforce planning, flexible working practices, recruitment and the choice between internal and external hiring, selection methods: interviews, tests and references, training methods and training needs analysis, appraisal: 360°, peer and self-assessment, measuring workforce performance: turnover, absenteeism and productivity, redundancy and fair dismissal, unfair dismissal, grievance procedures and employment tribunals, the functions of management, leadership theories and styles, Maslow, Herzberg and the theories of motivation, monetary and non-monetary motivation in practice, employee relations and employment legislation, trade unions and employee participation, external influences on human resources and the human resources strategy.

The 24 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Human resource objectivesRecall questions on human resource objectives and examples of them, why they must be measurable, how they derive from corporate objectives and support expansion, labour cost and talent development objectives, the problems of vague objectives, conflicting objectives, judging a retention target, and cutting labour turnover.Open →
• Chain of command, span of control and delegationRecall questions on organisational structure, line and staff relationships, the chain of command, span of control, authority and responsibility, delegation and its motivating effect and risks, centralisation and decentralisation, and delayering and its consequences for the managers who remain.Open →
• Tall, flat, matrix and divisional structuresRecall questions on tall and flat structures and their advantages and drawbacks, hierarchical structures, organising by function, product and system, divisional and matrix structures, choosing a structure for a retailer expanding abroad, and why structure matters to customers.Open →
• Organisational culture and what shapes itRecall questions on organisational culture and how it differs from rules, how founders, reward systems, national culture, size and industry shape it, the threat from rapid growth, power, role, task and person cultures, the benefits and dangers of a strong culture, and changing culture after a takeover.Open →
• Formal and informal communication and group normsRecall questions on formal and informal communication and the grapevine, their advantages and risks during restructuring, using informal channels, group norms and their effect on productivity, group and individual objectives, group loyalty between departments, encouraging co-operation, and how new employees adopt norms.Open →
• Verbal, non-verbal and electronic communicationRecall questions on verbal and non-verbal communication, communication media, written, face-to-face and telephone communication, social media and mass communication, electronic communication across sites, information overload, the factors behind choosing a method, remote workforces, announcing redundancies, and communicating with suppliers.Open →
• The communication model and barriers to communicationRecall questions on the six elements of the communication model, including the source, receiver and feedback, barriers to communication such as jargon, long chains of command and the wrong medium, the model's uses and limitations, the costs of poor communication, and ways to improve it.Open →
• Workforce planningRecall questions on workforce planning, the demand for and supply of labour, the information a plan needs, sales forecasts and age profiles, planning in low unemployment, the benefits of accurate plans, avoiding redundancies, benefits to employees, why plans go wrong and need review, natural wastage, and a bakery's expansion.Open →
• Flexible working practicesRecall questions on flexible working, including part-time working, flexi-time, compressed hours, annualised hours, term-time working, time off in lieu, job sharing, zero hours contracts and home working, their benefits and drawbacks for employers and workers, and choosing a practice for a hotel.Open →
• Recruitment and the choice between internal and external hiringRecall questions on recruitment and why businesses recruit, job descriptions and person specifications, essential and desirable requirements, job advertisements and age discrimination, internal and external recruitment and their advantages and disadvantages, recruitment agencies, the cost of poor recruitment, and employer reputation.Open →
• Selection methods: interviews, tests and referencesRecall questions on selection, application forms, curricula vitae and letters of application, aptitude and psychometric tests, work trials, interviews and interviewer bias, making interviews reliable, references and their weakness, assessment centres, and choosing selection methods for graduate developers.Open →
• Training methods and training needs analysisRecall questions on training and induction, on-the-job and off-the-job training and their advantages and disadvantages, academic and vocational training, apprenticeships, training needs analysis and its sources, how training reduces labour turnover, the risk of poaching, and training for new automated machinery.Open →
• Appraisal: 360°, peer and self-assessmentRecall questions on appraisal and its purposes, managerial assessment and its weakness, peer assessment, self-assessment, 360° assessment and its advantages and disadvantages, target setting, how appraisal supports training plans, linking appraisal to pay, and making appraisal more than a paper exercise.Open →
• Measuring workforce performance: turnover, absenteeism and productivityRecall questions on calculating labour turnover, labour retention, absenteeism, labour productivity and lateness rates, the costs of high turnover and absence and their causes, statutory holiday entitlement, performance related pay, reading workforce measures together, and measuring an individual's contribution.Open →
• Redundancy and fair dismissalRecall questions on redundancy and how it differs from misconduct, voluntary and compulsory redundancy, fair and unlawful selection criteria, dismissal and the reasons that make it fair, capability, gross misconduct, fair dismissal procedures, and the effects of redundancy on remaining staff and the local community.Open →
• Unfair dismissal, grievance procedures and employment tribunalsRecall questions on unfair dismissal and the reasons that make it automatic, whistleblowing, constructive and wrongful dismissal, the qualifying period of service, grievances and formal grievance procedures, employment tribunals, their purposes and remedies, settling claims, and how tribunals shape dismissal practice.Open →
• The functions of managementRecall questions on management and Fayol's five functions of planning, organising, commanding, co-ordinating and controlling, management against leadership, the constraints of budgets, law, culture and trade unions, measures of management success, and why profit alone is a poor measure.Open →
• Leadership theories and stylesRecall questions on leadership, Carlyle's great man theory and Galton's trait theory, Theory X and Theory Y managers, Blake and Mouton's managerial grid, Tannenbaum and Schmidt's continuum, Adair's three circles, autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire and paternalistic styles, and choosing a style.Open →
• Maslow, Herzberg and the theories of motivationRecall questions on motivation at work, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's hygiene factors and motivators, job enrichment and enlargement, McClelland's three needs, Vroom's expectancy theory, Locke's goal-setting theory, management by objectives, and Peters' excellence theory.Open →
• Monetary and non-monetary motivation in practiceRecall questions on monetary and non-monetary motivation, piece rate and its drawback, commission, calculating a performance bonus, performance related pay, profit sharing and employee share ownership, fringe benefits, recognition, empowerment, job rotation, and motivating call centre staff.Open →
• Employee relations and employment legislationRecall questions on employee relations and their benefits and costs, contracts of employment and written statements, the national minimum wage, health and safety duties, equality law and direct and indirect discrimination, data protection, the benefits and costs of employment legislation, and flexible contracts.Open →
• Trade unions and employee participationRecall questions on trade unions and their functions, collective bargaining, the advantages and disadvantages of union recognition, single-union agreements, falling union membership, employee participation, industrial democracy, participative decision making, works councils, and the benefits and risks of consultation.Open →
• External influences on human resourcesRecall questions on how an ageing population, work-life balance, employment law and ethical choices such as zero hours contracts affect human resources, together with environmental concerns, recession, low unemployment, immigration and apprenticeship policy, automation, online recruitment, operating in several countries, and offshoring.Open →
• The human resources strategyRecall questions on human resources strategy and how it differs from an objective, hard and soft human resource management and when each suits a business, aligning with corporate strategy, the core and peripheral workforce, effects on shareholders, why strategies fail, and a manufacturer moving into custom-built products.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Human Resources further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Authority vs Responsibility

  Authority: the right to make decisions and give instructions, which a manager can pass down to a subordinate. Responsibility: being answerable for whether work is carried out properly, which stays with the manager whatever tasks are handed over.

• Recruitment vs Selection

  Recruitment: the process of attracting a field of suitable candidates to apply for a vacancy in a business. Selection: the process of choosing the most suitable candidate from those who have already applied.

• Job description vs Person specification

  Job description: a document setting out the title, purpose, duties and reporting lines of a post, covering the work to be done rather than the individual who will do it. Person specification: a document listing the qualifications, skills, experience and individual qualities a candidate must bring, usually split into essential and desirable requirements.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is meant by a human resource objective?

   Model answer

   It is a goal set for a business' workforce that the human resource function works to achieve within a stated period, such as raising labour productivity or cutting labour turnover.

2. 2

   Name three human resource objectives a large employer might set.

   Model answer

   It might set targets for labour productivity, for employee engagement and for the diversity of its workforce.

3. 3

   Why should a human resource objective be measurable and given a deadline?

   Model answer

   Without a figure and a date nobody can tell whether the objective has been met, so managers cannot be held to account and the objective cannot guide decisions.

4. 4

   How do a business' human resource objectives relate to its corporate objectives?

   Model answer

   Human resource objectives are functional objectives derived from the corporate objectives, so that decisions about staffing, pay and training all pull towards the same overall goal.

5. 5

   Why does a business planning rapid expansion need human resource objectives as well as sales objectives?

   Model answer

   Growth in sales cannot be delivered without the right number of trained staff in place, so the business must set objectives for recruitment, training and retention to support it.

6. 6

   What is a labour cost objective, and why might a business set one?

   Model answer

   It is a target for labour costs, often expressed as a percentage of turnover, and a business sets one to keep wage costs under control when it competes on price.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Human Resources revision questions

What does Human Resources cover in OCR A-Level Business (H431)?

24 subtopics: human resource objectives, chain of command, span of control and delegation, tall, flat, matrix and divisional structures, organisational culture and what shapes it, formal and informal communication and group norms, verbal, non-verbal and electronic communication, the communication model and barriers to communication, workforce planning, flexible working practices, recruitment and the choice between internal and external hiring, selection methods: interviews, tests and references, training methods and training needs analysis, appraisal: 360°, peer and self-assessment, measuring workforce performance: turnover, absenteeism and productivity, redundancy and fair dismissal, unfair dismissal, grievance procedures and employment tribunals, the functions of management, leadership theories and styles, maslow, herzberg and the theories of motivation, monetary and non-monetary motivation in practice, employee relations and employment legislation, trade unions and employee participation, external influences on human resources and the human resources strategy. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Human Resources organised?

By the OCR H431 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.