Managing People | Edexcel A-Level Business (9BS0)
Managing People
- 197 questions
- 5 subtopics
- Theme 1: marketing and people
- Paper 1 and Paper 3
Managing people is the fourth section of Theme 1.
It covers how a business builds a workforce that can flex with demand, how it recruits, selects and trains, how it arranges people into a structure, the main theories of what motivates them, and the leadership styles that sit on top.
Sample questions from Managing People
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Approaches to staffing
What commitment-related drawback might arise from using part-time and temporary staff?
Show the answer
Potentially lower commitment to the organisation compared to permanent full-time employees. -
Approaches to staffing
What is the key distinction between dismissal and redundancy in terms of what triggers each?
Show the answer
Dismissal relates to the individual employee's behaviour or performance, whereas redundancy relates to the job role itself no longer being required. -
Recruitment, selection and training
What selection cost relates to testing applicants' abilities?
Show the answer
Assessment materials, such as psychometric tests or practical task resources. -
Recruitment, selection and training
What credential-related benefit might employees gain from off-the-job training?
Show the answer
They may gain recognised qualifications that are valued across the industry. -
Organisational design
Define a decentralised organisation.
Show the answer
An organisation where decision-making authority is delegated to lower levels or regional units. -
Organisational design
What are the benefits and drawbacks of a tall organisational structure?
Show the answer
Tall structures offer clear promotion paths and close supervision, but can slow communication and decision-making due to many layers. -
Motivation in theory and practice
What is the third level of Maslow's hierarchy?
Show the answer
Social needs. -
Motivation in theory and practice
Define piecework as a financial incentive.
Show the answer
A payment system where employees are paid a fixed amount for each unit of output they produce.
The 5 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Approaches to staffing | Staff as an asset or as a cost, flexible workforces, multi-skilling, part-time, temporary and home working, outsourcing, dismissal against redundancy, and the individual approach against collective bargaining, with the arguments each way. | 43 |
| Recruitment, selection and training | Internal and external recruitment and the case for each, the costs of recruiting, selecting and training, induction, on-the-job and off-the-job training, and the recruitment and selection process from job analysis to references and the final choice. | 60 |
| Organisational design | Hierarchy, chain of command and span of control, centralised and decentralised organisations, tall, flat and matrix structures and their effect on efficiency and motivation, and delayering. | 18 |
| Motivation in theory and practice | Taylor, Mayo, Maslow and Herzberg, and the financial and non-financial methods a business uses to put their conclusions into practice. | 57 |
| Leadership | How leadership differs from management, and the autocratic, paternalistic, democratic and laissez-faire styles with the circumstances each suits. | 19 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
Edexcel A-Level Business Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 2,305 questions with their answers.