HSC Business Studies Question Thread

[Opengangs]

HEY GUYS!

For HR- i was wondeirng which strategies can be used in responce to which influence?

I have an essay question 'Assess strategies that management may use to respond to key influences on human resources' but idk which strategy can fix which influence on hr

Thank you
 

Hey there!

The first step is to identify your key influences on human resources, and there are actually quite a lot! That's where understanding your syllabus comes into play, because just knowing won't be enough. What I mean by this is that you should be able to recall your key influences (ie stakeholders, legal framework, social, technological, ethics and csr), and understand these terms under the human resource management department of the business.

So, we know what they are now; but what good is that to us if we can't dive further into the details of each of these. I'll do stakeholders, and the others, I'll leave up to you to decide (remember that no strategy you choose is wrong, so long as you can justify it with case studies or examples).

Stakeholders
Stakeholders are defined as any groups of people interested or concerned with the particular business. They include:

• employees -- the bare bones of what forms human resource management; they can be considered the fundamental aspect of this department to a business, which also affects the relationship HR has with its other three key business functions.
• employers -- much like employees, they are considered a key fundamental aspect to the HR department, as they are chosen to recruit employees. Thus, the relationship between employees and employers are the crux of the human resource department.
• society -- society or consumers are considered stakeholders because they are people investing money into the business in exchange for goods and services; they contribute to the overall wellbeing of the business.
• government -- this is a little more obscure and less obvious than the three above, but essentially, they are involved in the legal aspect of the HR department.
• unions and employer associations -- they work to represent employees and employers.

Strategy(ies)
So, if stakeholders are an influence to the HR department, how can we maintain these people so that we minimise staff turnovers and absenteeism?
Well, some strategies we can implement are the use of rewards (both monetary and non-monetary), leadership styles (preferably participative), and performance management.

The use of rewards establishes a motivation for employees. In the form of its monetary asset, employees tend to become more motivated to do the job well knowing that their reward for such level is that of its monetary value. Framing this as a core aspect to an employee's motivation, its non-monetary side is just as effective. Non-monetary is a very broad term, in that it is a form of reward that is not money related. This type of reward is usually given after a job well done, while the monetary counterpart is given for a job well done.

The way non-monetary establishes motivation is by simply its recognition monetary otherwise does not provide: this type of appraisal heightens relationships between employee and employer, ensuring that the work employees provide does not go unnoticed. Furthermore, other non-monetary benefits include: flexible scheduling, longer leave plans, etc.

Leadership styles are also an effective means at maintaining the employees at a happy standard. The style of leadership chosen by the business reflects on the nature of the business. A business run solely by the decision under the guise of the boss is considered an autocratic, while a business that consults with its members is considered a participative business. As said, these leadership styles dictate how the employees work, and can be tailored to internal changes, such as the structure of the workplace. In order to keep people satisfied, their voice should be heard so maintaining a relatively low staff turnover count should enforce businesses to consider what style of leadership they should be using. As a result, the strategic role of the leadership style to a business projects how the business' core functions run.

You can do this with any key influence, and remember that your main focus is the key influence, supported by your choice of strategies. You can double up with strategies, and it's often better than talking about one. That's the beauty of the Business Studies course; each element of the syllabus links with the other elements quite fluidly, so if you're confused about one section, just refer back to where it is in the syllabus and you should be able to get back on track.

Good luck![/list]

[_____]

HEY GUYS!

For HR- i was wondeirng which strategies can be used in responce to which influence?

I have an essay question 'Assess strategies that management may use to respond to key influences on human resources' but idk which strategy can fix which influence on hr

Thank you

If you decide to go for a paragraphed essay (mentioning an influence and strategy to deal with in each) these are some basic links you can make: Remember in this course you want to be quite direct and succinct in what you're saying.

Stakeholders and basically anything really

You could do employees/dispute resolution, employees/rewards, customers/CSR, employees/performance management, there's quite a lot of options here.

Economic trends and global

Labour costs are high in Australia, so businesses look overseas. Also, workers are dirt cheap overseas. Relate this to the supply/cost elements ("global - cost, skills, supply" is the SDP).

Ethics/CSR and recruitment

Bit of a less obvious one that could score some marks depending on your case study. Relate to equal employment opportunity.

Social and job design

Workers are being given less specific tasks and greater flexibility (working from home) as demands for personalised working hours increase - parents in the workforce for example.

Hope that helps somewhat, the HR syllabus has quite a few points (probably more than these) so there's lots to choose from. Make sure to consider your case study/studies' strengths.

[julia_warren13]

Can someone please explain what is meant by the developmental and administrative model of performance management (under HR strategies) - I don't really understand the definitions given in my textbook Thanks

[fantasticbeasts3]

Can someone please explain what is meant by the developmental and administrative model of performance management (under HR strategies) - I don't really understand the definitions given in my textbook Thanks

hello! these are what's in my notes:
Developmental: Focused on using data to develop the individual’s skills and abilities in order to improve their effectiveness in their roles. A benefit is that it helps to build the best business practice and culture.
Administrative: Provides information which can be used by management for planning in HR functions such as training, etc. A benefit is there is higher productivity and better financial performance.

i think a way to remember them is developmental is for an individual employee, and administrative is for the whole business. as for how this strategy would work for a business, the strategic role of HR is to ensure a good relationship between the employee and employer, so that a business can become more efficient. through the developmental model of performance management, this pretty much helps the employee to be better at their job, and will (hopefully) make the business just that bit more productive. the administrative model is another tool to help with productivity, and the business can use this information to improve the business as a whole.

hope this helps!

[_____]

Can someone please explain what is meant by the developmental and administrative model of performance management (under HR strategies) - I don't really understand the definitions given in my textbook Thanks

Performance management is about improving the productivity of employees.

Some differences which might help you to understand the concept:

Administrative focuses on the needs of the business, developmental focuses on the needs of the employee (even considering their work/life balance and personal circumstances/thoughts about their work).

Administrative is focused on statistics (meaning an employee's output) while developmental will generally use personal consultations between individual employees and management.

Administrative is more archaic (Ford still uses it - production approach) while developmental is more of a contemporary method - you could link it to social influences as it takes into account their life beyond the firm.

As administrative focuses on output it's generally used in manufacturing, while developmental is used in tertiary (service) industries using a democratic leadership style to improve employee morale - crucial in improving customer service.

[Juliesokha]

Hello,

To write a sufficient amount of an extended response, how many (strategies/influences/processes etc.) should I include? (IF THE QUESTION IS A BROAD ONE like access the effectiveness of Marketing strategies? or something like that?) Thanks!

[fantasticbeasts3]

Hello,

To write a sufficient amount of an extended response, how many (strategies/influences/processes etc.) should I include? (IF THE QUESTION IS A BROAD ONE like access the effectiveness of Marketing strategies? or something like that?) Thanks!

if the question is really broad, try your best to include as many as you can :-) so if you do 4 body paragraphs for your essay, maybe include 2 strategies each. that way, the marker knows you've tried to cover as many strategies as possible, and you know your content.

[Mathew587]

Hello,

To write a sufficient amount of an extended response, how many (strategies/influences/processes etc.) should I include? (IF THE QUESTION IS A BROAD ONE like access the effectiveness of Marketing strategies? or something like that?) Thanks!

can you send the whole q? is that the whole q or is that part of like a report q?

[_____]

Hello,

To write a sufficient amount of an extended response, how many (strategies/influences/processes etc.) should I include? (IF THE QUESTION IS A BROAD ONE like access the effectiveness of Marketing strategies? or something like that?) Thanks!

My way depends on how long my paragraphs are. Generally they're pretty short so I do 4-5, but I spend an hour on it (because I can do the MC/SAs in an hour). If you're a fast writer and are spending more like 40-45 minutes on it, do 3 big paragraphs or 4 smaller ones.

EDIT: meaning I do 4/5 marketing strategies - 1 in each paragraph.

can you send the whole q? is that the whole q or is that part of like a report q?

My trial had something similar, it was basically the following:

Assess the strategies of a business in marketing goods and/or services.

[Opengangs]

Hello,

To write a sufficient amount of an extended response, how many (strategies/influences/processes etc.) should I include? (IF THE QUESTION IS A BROAD ONE like access the effectiveness of Marketing strategies? or something like that?) Thanks!

Bottom line is -- keep your points relevant to the case study material you prepared. Your case studies are essentially the filling to your burger; without these case studies to enhance your points, your extended response doesn't flow as well. You should also be aware of how much you can write under pressure timed, so keep your points succinct and only include information that is relevant to the question.

You can get away with a broader statement, since you can hit the ball in many different aspects, but that also allows you to begin sifting through everything you know, which can lead to a lot of fluff if you're not careful. As such, you should always have a plan for any question asked. When doing practice questions from trial or the HSC, have the marking guidelines close by and also look through some exemplar responses from different years to see how you can improve with being succinct.

[isaacdelatorre]

Hello,

To write a sufficient amount of an extended response, how many (strategies/influences/processes etc.) should I include? (IF THE QUESTION IS A BROAD ONE like access the effectiveness of Marketing strategies? or something like that?) Thanks!

Hi Julie

Unfortunately there is no set rule to how many of these dot points should you include.
My rule of thumb is mainly just to cover enough content that you show you know a breadth of knowledge about the syllabus (i.e. dont just talk about one dot point) but you also need to cover the dot points in enough depth that shows you have a really good understanding of that dot point and it's implications/causes etc.

Usually I tried to keep my essay to 3 paragraphs which was usually 3 dot points --> e.g. for an essay on marketing strategies I would have 3 strategies. Each paragraph would go into what the strategy was, an example of each, an assessment of its usefulness etc.

Hope this helps Would love to have a read of your practice ones

[HSCNewcastle2017]

Is one case study sufficient for the extended response or would it be worth knowing 2?

[fantasticbeasts3]

Is one case study sufficient for the extended response or would it be worth knowing 2?

do you only have this one case study embedded throughout your notes/essays? it's fine to only have 1, but having a few (say, like 2 or 3) shows broader knowledge on your part, and gives your response more variety! i personally reference case studies twice a paragraph, but from paragraph to paragraph i like to change case studies :-)

[HSCNewcastle2017]

do you only have this one case study embedded throughout your notes/essays? it's fine to only have 1, but having a few (say, like 2 or 3) shows broader knowledge on your part, and gives your response more variety! i personally reference case studies twice a paragraph, but from paragraph to paragraph i like to change case studies :-)

Yes, we were given the case study of McDonalds by our teacher to read through. I sort of remember the main points for all points except for Finance - there's too many figures. I normally just reference the case study in the extended response wherever I can, but it's probably essential to do so to illustrate each sub-dot point on the syllabus.

[fantasticbeasts3]

Yes, we were given the case study of McDonalds by our teacher to read through. I sort of remember the main points for all points except for Finance - there's too many figures. I normally just reference the case study in the extended response wherever I can, but it's probably essential to do so to illustrate each sub-dot point on the syllabus.

awesome! the maccas case study is pretty good aye? don't worry if you can't remember the figures for finance... just make them up - the markers can't exactly whip out google every time they see a figure, right? 😜 yea that sounds good; every time you're writing about a syllabus point, try and integrate a case study :-) best of luck for your hsc!