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GCSE: People in Business

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What happens during the recruitment process?

  1. 1 Once a business is aware it has a vacancy, the first stage is to prepare a job description which lists all the tasks, duties and responsibilities of the jobholder.
  2. 2 The next stage is to prepare a person specification which details the knowledge, skills, attitude, qualifications and experience of the successful applicant. They will be categorised as essential qualities which an applicant must have and desirable qualities which are preferable.
  3. 3 Now the business will advertise for applicants. This can be in a local or national paper, web site, newsagent’s window or anywhere the business thinks it will attract the most suitable applicants.
  4. 4 People will apply using an application form or with a CV. A shortlist of suitable applicants will be drawn up by comparing them against the person specification. They are then usually invited for selection, which may consist of interviews and test.
  5. 5 A common mistake for students is to think that the process begins with the advert. A company will only advertise for staff once they are sure about the job and the kind of person they want for it. Otherwise, they will be unsure what they are looking for with the advert.

Business organisation

  1. 1 A small business can have all employees reporting directly to the manager as it is small enough for the manager to know what is going on.
  2. 2 As a business gets bigger it will need to have more structure and more than one level of boss, so a manager may have staff reporting to them who have more staff reporting to them. This is known as a hierarchical structure.
  3. 3 A hierarchy must have managers with different responsibilities. These will often relate to the many different functions of the business e.g. marketing, sales, finance, production, purchasing etc.
  4. 4 A hierarchy allows a big business to be organised so that everyone knows their job and responsibilities are clear. It also provides a clear means for communication to flow through the business.
  5. 5 The trend is to have fewer managers so that managers have more staff reporting to them. Removing levels of managers is known as downsizing. Benefits of downsizing include more responsibility for more junior staff which should motivate them and less cost for the business as it employs fewer managers.

Key employment laws in the UK

  1. 1 Discrimination laws – It is illegal to discriminate against certain groups of people when recruiting and in day to day management of them. Specifically an employer cannot discriminate against employees on the grounds of gender, race, age and disability. It is of course acceptable to discriminate on the grounds of ability. Picking the most able person for a job is what the recruitment process is about.
  2. 2 Employment protection – An employee must be given a contract of employment. They are protected against unfair dismissal as it sets out the possible grounds for dismissal. An employer who disregards this after the first two years of employment can be sued for unfair dismissal.
  3. 3 Health and safety – An employer must provide a safe working environment and can be held responsible if it does not.
  4. 4 Minimum wage laws – The minimum that an employer can pay. It varies according to the age of the employee.
  5. 5 The working time directive – Employers cannot expect an employee to work for more than 48 hours in a week without their permission.

  • Marked by Teachers essays 9
  • Peer Reviewed essays 7
  1. Marked by a teacher

    How important are staff/management relations?

    5 star(s)

    Good staff/management relations lead to high morale amongst a workforce. A happy workforce is a more productive one. The employer will also find it easier to retain its employees. Poor relations can lead to an unhappy workforce and dissatisfied management which is likely to result in reduced productivity and the overall failure of the business. The interests of a company and the interests of it's workforce are often in conflict with each other. A number of practices must be in place in order to simultaneously satisfy the needs of both the business and of it's people.

    • Word count: 612
  2. Marked by a teacher

    McDonald's. What are the Management functions at McDonald's?

    5 star(s)

    It's clearly not a career for the faint-hearted - it's hard work and takes real commitment. But if you like plenty of responsibility, you'll find that McDonald's is your kind of company. In return for the commitment you bring, McDonald's will put you through a thorough training programme, renowned throughout the world as the best in the business... To join McDonald's as a Trainee Business Manager you'll need to be over 21 years of age with excellent people skills and plenty of drive and ambition. What are the Management functions at McDonald's include: Forecasting Forecasting is the process of predicting what will happen in the future i.e.

    • Word count: 6907
  3. Marked by a teacher

    Sainsbury's organizational structure.

    5 star(s)

    Organization Structure of Sainsbury's The organizational structure of Sainsbury's is hierarchical because there is series of levels of people and the level above controls each level. Each level is the responsibility of the level above. For example senior managers are responsible for the line managers and line managers are responsible for sales assistants. The diagram below shows the downward flow of communication in Sainsbury's. I think Sainsbury's structure is between hierarchical and tall structure. Tall structure has many layers but not as many layers as matrix structure and as less as flat structure and this means the information is not a s fast in flat structure and not as slow as in matrix structure.

    • Word count: 5488
  4. Marked by a teacher

    McGregor -Theory X and Theory Y

    5 star(s)

    There was a recognition by the Human Relations School that employees would have needs over and above those of financial needs. And if these needs were at least partially satisfied workers would become able to contribute to the more efficient operation of the business organisation. McGregor then put forward the idea that in the main, it was managers that created the two types of worker, and if this were so, managers had the ability to, over time, change the psychology of their employees.

    • Word count: 1087
  5. Marked by a teacher

    Stakeholders At Tesco

    4 star(s)

    Although they are helping Tesco by a significant amount they may take this as a chance of security for their futures and also a chance of meeting new people. Workers at Tesco maintain a big job at hands, as they have to show customers the respect and the idea of customers coming by again. Managers: You may feel that managers have a different type of job to workers as they do different things to workers but in actual fact they too work to live by on.

    • Word count: 746
  6. Marked by a teacher

    M1: Explain how oral communication can be used in business situation

    4 star(s)

    For this communication the person must have strong listening skills and speaking skills. The advantage of this communication is that it is an easy method of confirming something, giving out information or get information for the other person. The disadvantage is that there is no record or written minutes. For example, if an employee has done something which is wrong then the manager will have face to face communication to warn them about it. This is because the face to face communication allows for certain information to be exchanged and the employee can also get feedback on what the problem is and how they can solve it.

    • Word count: 986
  7. Marked by a teacher

    Tesco's organisational structure

    4 star(s)

    TESCO, which has 296,000 employees around the world, said it would create a further 20,000 jobs this year. > To provide good services to the wider community Corporate Community Investment - 2001 The TESCO corporate social responsibility (CSR) objective is to earn and keep the trust of its customers by acting responsibly and positively in the communities it serves. With a philosophy of "Every little helps" TESCO has put a programme of community activity in place, which aims to be as relevant to all customers as possible.

    • Word count: 8862
  8. Peer reviewed

    location of tesco

    4 star(s)

    However building stores in town centres also means high interest rates so Tesco must be wary of this. I will discuss the location of my local Tesco store in Slough. Tesco found a big area of land available in the town centre of Slough and through Market Research and Investigation they were able to conclude that Slough is a viable location with a stable economy and a high spending power. Also the Town centre brought many benefits for Tesco as firstly it would give them a brilliant return on investment as it would help to establish the company being amongst other well known stores.

    • Word count: 873
  9. Peer reviewed

    Tesco is the most successful supermarket chain in UK because of its well-known good services and product quality. To maintain this loyalty, they go greater lengths to improve and sustain quality.

    4 star(s)

    Staff are highly trained to maintain quality and also keep personal hygiene so that they don't contaminate the products with germs. The products also have expiry dates which also monitored so that the expired ones are quickly removed. Most fresh products are not sold after 24 hours but instead removed and replaced with new ones. The place is regularly cleaned to maintain hygiene. The quality control & assurance management is concerned with detecting and cutting out the products that fall below set standards.

    • Word count: 1112
9 essays

Conclusion analysis

Good conclusions usually refer back to the question or title and address it directly - for example by using key words from the title.
How well do you think these conclusions address the title or question? Answering these questions should help you find out.

  1. Do they use key words from the title or question?
  2. Do they answer the question directly?
  3. Can you work out the question or title just by reading the conclusion?

  • Discuss the factors that influence staff motivation in the workplace. Which do you consider to be the most important?

    "In my opinion, I think the elements of the Maslow's Hierarchy and effective management is exceedingly important for the staff motivation. Because each company operates must under the Maslow's Hierarchy and effective management whatever large or small organisation. If the firm has not good operation such as good leader and well system, they can not operate in this generation. As the great competitor all in the world in difference commercial circumstance. Each firm must increase their reputation from good management. Generally, there are many factors that influence staff motivation apart from the above three main factors. For instance, increasing salary, insurance, holiday and better working environment are also influence staff motivation in the workplace. To conclude, the main factors that contribute to staff motivation in the workplace have Company culture, Financial reward system and Effective management of people. Undoubtedly, the above main factors also have their advantage and disadvantage. If the firm can proper operate the firm form above system, they must become the distinguished firm whatever small or big organization."

  • "Fayol's management functions and Mintzberg's management roles are two sides of the one coin." Discuss

    "In conclusion, both Fayol and Mintzberg have made theories in order to summarise the responsibilities of a manager. Both have created their works based on personal experience and observations, but have drawn different conclusions. This has resulted due to their different experiences and points of view. Both theories are accepted and widely used in management today and the fact that they can be used in conjunction with one another suggests that whilst they concentrate on different features of management they are still two sides of the one coin."

  • Assess three government policy measures to increase labour mobility

    "In conclusion, I believe that the New Deal has been the most successful method of improving occupational mobility because it has helped people develop skills which can be used in industries where workers are needed. However a weakness of this is that not all the skills taught are relevant and there are still some areas where there is a skills deficiency. On the other hand the best method of tackling geographical immobility is the building of houses and giving benefits to doctors, nurses etc because it gives them an incentive to move to areas where their skills are needed."

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