Personality

Definition
As defined by Toplis et al (1991), the term personality is all-embracing in terms of the
individual’s behaviour and the way it is organized and coordinated when he or she
interacts with the environment. Personality can be described in terms of traits or
types.

The so-called big five personality traits as defined by Deary and Matthews (1993) are:
● Neuroticism – anxiety, depression, hostility, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, vulnerability;
● Extraversion – warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement seeking, positive                emotions; Very emotional> difficult to work with b/w upset for no reason;
● Openness – feelings, actions, ideas, values;
● Agreeableness – trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty, tender mindedness;
● Conscientiousness – competence, order, dutifulness, achievement-striving, self discipline,                     deliberation.

Recruitment & Selection

Question for recruitment. 

Who do we want?

How to attract them?

How to identify them?
How do we know we got it right?

The flexible firm model

The concept of the ‘flexible firm’ was originated by Atkinson (1984) who claimed that there is a growing trend for firms to seek various forms of structural and operational flexibility. The three kinds of flexibility areas follow:

1. Functional flexibility is sought so that employees can be redeployed quickly and smoothly between activities and tasks. Functional flexibility may require multiskilling – craft workers who possess and can apply a number of skills covering, for example, both mechanical and electrical engineering, or manufacturing and maintenance activities.
2. Numerical flexibility is sought so that the number of employees can be quickly and easily increased or decreased in line with even short-term changes in the level of demand for labour.
   This refers to a firm’s ability to adjust the level of labour inputs to meet fluctuations in outputs. There is increased use of part-timers, temporary, short-term contract staff, job sharers and agency workers. There is a contrast between ‘core’ permanent workforce and ‘peripheral’ non-permanent. The general idea is that an increasing mixture of non-standard employment forms will be more efficient and cheaper.
3. Financial flexibility provides for pay levels to reflect the state of supply and demand in the external labour market and also means the use of flexible pay systems that facilitate either functional or numerical flexibility.
   This refers to achievement of flexibility through the pay and reward structure.

UK/US vs Japan

USA/UK	Japan
Mass production	Port-fordist*
Mass consumption
Bulk/Economies of scale	Economies of scope
Quick decision making(Only top decide)	Slow decision making(lower level considered)
Error occur due to lack of information	Minimizes error and brings consistency at all levels
Assembly line	T-working
Division of labour
Specialisation
* Post-Fordism is the name given by some scholars to what they describe as the dominant system of economic production, consumption and associated socio-economic phenomena, in most industrialized countries since the late 20th century

Lean production is a systematic method to eliminate waste when producing goods.

e.g. Just-in-time, kanban,  Kaisen, TQM, QC, ISO

Difference between Soft HRM and Hard HRM.

Soft HRM:

• People are assets
• Developing/investing in human capital
• High employee loyalty
• Well rewarded and satisfying work
• Positive employment relationship
• Planalism 
• collaborative 

Hard HRM:

• People are a cost to be minimise
• Instrumental use of labour 
• Unitarisation (All have same interest)
• Exploitative work practice (compliance, low pay, low job security)
• Calculative (exactly what I want from you)

General knowledge.

1. Committed People → Amount of innovative products → Competitive advantage 
                 ↑→→→→→→→→ Directly related →→→→→→→→→↑

2. What is people management?
It's all those management utilities administer, recruitment, selection, work for, design, motive and control workers.

Useful/Important keywords

1. Diktat:
A diktat is a statute, harsh penalty or settlement imposed upon a defeated party by the victor, or a dogmatic decree. The term has acquired a pejorative sense, to describe a set of rules dictated by a foreign power or an unpopular local power.

2. Commitment:
Want to.
Have emotional attachment to do something.
The state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.
An engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action.

3. Hard Human Resource Management:
Organisation view labour as cost.
Emphasizes the quantitative, calculative and business-strategic aspects of managing human resources in as 'rational' a way as for any other economic factor.

4. Soft Human Resource Management:
Workers are seen as assets.
The soft version traces its roots to the human relations school, it emphasizes communication, motivation and leadership.