Study Notes: People Management

Organisational structure - span of control

The span of control is the number of subordinates for whom a manager is directly responsible.  The two diagrams below illustrate two different spans of control:

A span of control of 7 would be considered to be quite wide. Contrast this with a span of 3 below, which would be considered “narrow”

Is there an ideal span of control?  The answer is generally no – a suitable span of control will depend upon a number of factors:

• The experience and personality of the manager
• The nature of the business. If being a line manager requires a great deal of close supervision, then a narrower span might be appropriate
• The skills and attitudes of the employees. Highly skilled, professional employees might flourish in a business adopting wide spans of control
• The tradition and culture of the organisation. A business with a tradition of democratic management and empowered workers may operate wider spans of control

Should spans of control be wide or narrow?  Here is a summary of the relative advantages and disadvantages of each:

HRM Strategy

HRM introduction  HRM objectives  HRM influences  Hard & Soft HRM  

Organisational Structure

Org charts  Delayering  Span of control  Centralisation & decentralisation  Matrix structures  

Motivation at work

What is motivation?   Theory - Maslow  Theory - Herzberg  Theory - Taylor  Theory - McGregor  

Financial motivation  Pay Package  Time rate  Piece rate  Commission  Performance pay  

Share options  Job rotation  Job enlargement  Delegation & empowerment  

Recruitment & Training

Recruitment intro  Internal / external  Job descriptions  Interviews  Job analysis  

Job advertising  Person specification  Training - intro  Induction training  On-the-job training  Off-the-job training  

Workforce planning

Workforce planning  Flexible working  Benefits & issues  Labour supply  Workforce roles & workload  

Annual hours  Job sharing  Temporary staff  Teleworking   Flexible hours  

Communication

Overview  Barriers  Benefits  Employee Representation