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Expectations of people working for

organisations

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 People who work for organizations have
rights and responsibilities under their
employment contracts, as well as
expectations about their employment
conditions.

 These expectations vary among individuals,

but the majority of employees and employers
would have expectations similar to those in
the diagram next
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 An organisation that meets all of their
employees’ expectations is referred to as an
employer of choice.

 This means that the organisation attracts,

motivates and holds on to highly talented
workers.

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 Industrial democracy
 Employees are also demanding the right to
be more involved in the decision making
process; they want to make decisions for
themselves.

 This process of industrial democracy or

empowerment breaks down the traditional
‘boss–worker’ relationship.
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 Workplace diversity
 Workplace diversity refers to the differences
between employees in an organisation.

 Diversity includes race, gender, ethnic group,

age, disability, sexual orientation, the terms
of employment, personality, education and
many other characteristics.

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 Employees in a diverse workplace have a
wide range of skills, talents, ideas and
experience that allows the organisation to
develop better products and improve
customer service, because there is a better
understanding of the demographics of the
marketplace.

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 Conditions of employment

 Conditions of employment’ refer to what an

employer has agreed to give the employee in
return for the employee’s work.

 Basic conditions of employment include:

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 The number of hours an employee is
expected to work.
 Annual leave entitlements.
 Sick leave entitlements.
 Public holidays.
 Redundancy pay/ Gratuity.
 Maternity leave.
 Salary scale.

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 Flexible working conditions

 Flexible working conditions are patterns of

work that allow organisations to work more
efficiently or allow employees to balance
work and family responsibilities.

 Flexible working conditions may take the

form of:
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 Variable working days/weeks, with the core
hours specified as required, but with flexible
start and finish times.

 The lengthening of shifts to 10 hours.

 flexitime, which allows employees to

nominate starting and finishing times to suit
their needs
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 Maxi flex, which allows employees to build up
sufficient hours or overtime to take more
time off.

 job sharing, which allows two employees to

share the hours required for one job.

 work-from-home arrangements

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 Achieving work−life balance

 Many organisations actively seek to improve

their employees’ work−life balance.

 Work−life balance means achieving the right

combination of time devoted to work and
time devoted to personal or family life.

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 Flexible working conditions help many
employees achieve a better work−life
balance.

 Organisations must first determine whether

employees’ work−life balance is a key need
within the organisation.(Low productivity
levels and high absenteeism rates)

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 job security

 Job security refers to whether an employee

believes they are likely to lose their job either
through being made redundant or being
dismissed.

 This change in employment conditions has

implications for human resource personnel.
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 Not only can uncertainty about job security
affect the motivation of staff and, therefore,
staff productivity, it can also have a negative
impact on the health of workers due to the
many effects of stress.

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 Maslow’s motivational theory

 Motivating employees is one of the most

important management functions, because
high levels of motivation result in increasing
rates of productivity.
 Motivation is what drives a person to apply
individual effort over a sustainable period of
time.
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 In a work setting, motivation makes people
want to work, but what is it that motivates
people?

 For many years, managers have relied on the

use of either rewards or punishments to
motivate employees.

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 Example
 What is most likely to motivate a donkey to
move forward (that is, change its behaviour)?

 Either a carrot can be dangled in front of the

donkey (a reward) or the donkey can be hit
with a stick (a punishment).

 Either method may motivate the donkey.

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 In the work environment, ‘rewards’ refer to
increased pay and improved conditions,
‘punishment’ refers to fear of a reprimand,
demotion or dismissal.

 Maslow believed that all people have needs

to be satisfied, and that they will work
towards satisfying those needs.

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 He assumed these needs could be arranged
according to their importance in a series of
steps known as Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs.

 Maslow’s theory was important because it

suggested that organisations have to create
workplaces that attempt to satisfy all the
needs of an employee.
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Ethical and socially responsible management

 Before taking any action, the ethical human

resource manager will think about the
circumstances surrounding the proposed
action and its possible consequences.

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 The human resource manager will typically
be involved in shaping a company’s ethical
practices through developing a code of
conduct for the organisation.

 The code of conduct sets out the principles

governing the behaviour of the members of
an organisation.

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 For example, Woolworths Limited has a code
of conduct that contains guidelines
concerning what should happen when
employees receive gifts.

 If, for example, one employee alleges sexual

harassment by another employee, their
manager must undertake a series of actions.

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 Specific human resource dilemmas
 Many areas of human resource management
require ethical conduct. Consider the
following:

 Recruitment. Does an organisation have a

responsibility to tell a job applicant if it is
facing financial difficulty and may have to
dismiss some employees ?
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 Representation. A human resource manager
can sometimes be called on to act as an
employee’s representative in a conflict
involving the employee and another
manager.
 Electronic privacy. Does the manager have
the right to read and print email messages
between other employees, especially if the
employees believe their email messages are
private?
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 Performance evaluation. Human resource
managers must observe and judge an
employee’s performance. Judgements can be
influenced by personal feelings.

 What does a manager do when asked to

evaluate the performance of an employee
with whom he or she does not get along?

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 human resource planning
 The employment cycle involves an
organisation determining its employment
needs in line with its business strategy.

 Once staff are employed, steps need to be

taken to ensure employees are satisfied and
productive.

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 The final phase of the cycle is managing what
happens when employees leave the
organisation.

 These three phases of the employment cycle

are summarised in the following diagram and
table.

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 Human resource (HR) planning in the
establishment phase of the employment
cycle involves forecasting the number of
employees available and the number of
qualified employees demanded in the future.

 This requires that an organisation

constantly monitor and plan the following :

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 The number of employees required.
 Their qualifications, including skills, previous
experience and knowledge.
 When and where these employees will be
needed.

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 Job analysis
 Job analysis is the next step in determining an
organisation’s human resource needs.

 Job analysis is a systematic study of each

employee’s duties, tasks and work
environment.

 A job analysis examines the following:

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• actual job activities
• the equipment used on the job
• specific job behaviours required
• working conditions
• the degree of supervision necessary.

 The job analysis for a particular position

typically consists of two parts:

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 job description: a written statement
describing the employee’s duties, and tasks
and responsibilities associated with the job.

 job specification: a list of the key

qualifications needed to perform a particular
job in terms of education, skills and
experience.

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 Job design
 Whereas job analysis concentrates on the
work required for a job to be completed, job
design details the number, kind and variety
of tasks that individual employees perform in
their jobs.

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