1.5.2. Специальность "Менеджмент" Контрольная работа № 3 Вариант 1

PRE-READING EXERCISES

Ex. 1. Before you read the text look at the following words and try to guess what the text is about:

workforce, changes, personnel management, employee, reward system, job evaluation, pay rise, promotion, competence, continuous development, broadbanding, enlargement of experience, incentive.

Ex. 2. Choose a suitable word from those above and complete the sentences below:

1. _______ is a person who performs work in return for pay.

2. _______ is something that encourages one to greater activity.

3. _______ is the practice of being in charge of all the people working in an organisation.

4. _______ is an ability to do what is needed.

5. _______ is an advancement in rank or position.

Reading broad banding

The late twentieth century saw major changes in the world of work. The continuing shift from manufacturing to a service-based economy required new skills and attitudes from the workforce. Many firms flattened their organisational structure by the process of delayering, and sought a more flexible workforce. The changes also involved the transformation of personnel management into human resource management (HRM) – not just a new name, but also a new philosophical approach to the management of employees.

One aspect of HRM that is somewhat usually neglected. This is defined as 'the design, implementation and maintenance of reward systems leading to the improvement of organisational, team and individual performance'. There are major changes occurring in reward management, changes which are summed in the concept of 'new' (as distinct from 'old') pay.

Old pay is a feature of a rigid, hierarchical organisation and is characterised by rigid job evaluation; rigid grading systems; incremental progress; pay rises through promotion; the consolidation of rewards into base pay; an emphasis on individuals rather than teams; and, most important of all, a lack of integration with corporate strategy an other aspects of HRM.

The term new pay is seen as being managerially driven, being integrated with overall corporate strategy, emphasising objectives such as customer satisfaction and product quality, helping to form a partnership between the organisation and its employees, facilitating flexibility.

Under new pay, the rewards are people based rather than job based – that is, 'paying people according to their value in the market and in relation to their knowledge and skills'. As a result, features of new pay include payment linked to competence, performance, and continuous development; payment linked to value added; rewards for team performance; flexible job evaluation; a change in the balance of basic pay and 'at risk' pay in favour of the latter; and, most important of all, broadbanding of pay.

Broadbanding is the compression of a hierarchy of pay grades or salary ranges into a small number of wide bands, typically four or five. Each of the bands therefore spans the pay opportunities previously covered by several pay ranges. The focus is on lateral career movement within the bands based on a competence growth and continuous development. Individuals can move within the band, gaining increased pay for increased competence, increased skills, job development, enlargement of experience, and high performance. In other words, significant pay increases are possible within a band, thus divorcing it from promotion to a higher grade.

Broadbanding of pay produces distinct advantages for both organisation and its employees. It facilitates flexibility (such as the development of new jobs and processes) without the problems of narrowly defined jobs. It reduces the negative aspects of hierarchy. It allows for employee progression and personal growth. Employees have a greater incentive to achieve results for the organisation.

There are problems associated with broadbanding. In particular, the emphasis on informality and flexibility can result in subjectivity, favouritism and inconsistency. The other problem that arises is that the system can be expensive.