HRM Legal Environment & Motivation Theories

The Legal Environment of HRM

• All South Africans have the right to fair labour practices.
• All workers have the right to form, join and participate in trade unions and strike.
• Employers have right to form, join and participate in employer organizations.
• Unions and employers’ organizations can organize themselves as they see fit.
• Unions, employer organizations and employers have the right to engage in collective bargaining.

Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory

• Motivation-hygiene theory separates satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
• Motivation factors increase motivation but their absence does not necessarily lead to dissatisfaction.
• Motivation factors act as satisfiers when present.
• Hygiene factors reduce dissatisfaction when present but do not necessarily lead to high levels of motivation.
• Hygiene factors act as dissatisfiers when absent.

Eight Major Marketing Functions

• Exchange Functions: Buying and selling merchandise.
  • Buying: obtaining raw materials, keeping appropriate inventory, choosing suppliers.
  • Selling: transfers ownership of a product from seller to customer.
• Physical Distribution Functions: Involve transporting goods from producers to customers.
  • Transporting: choosing cost-effective and timely transportation methods.
  • Storing goods: maximizes sales by storing goods until they are most likely to sell.
• Facilitating Functions: Assist other functions in their operations
  • Financing: supports all stages of marketing.
  • Standardizing and grading: establishes and maintains quality standards for a product.
  • Risk taking: assume the risk of ownership and handling of the product.
  • Market information: collecting and disseminating information about the product.

Inventory Management

• Inventory management: Optimizing inventory to minimize costs, including holding costs and potential stockout costs.
• Holding costs: expenses incurred when storing products.
  • Include money invested in inventory, storage space, insurance, and taxes.
• Stockout costs: lost sales due to a lack of inventory.

Order Processing

• Order processing: managing customer purchase orders, including receiving and fulfilling orders.

Warehousing

• Warehousing: receiving, storing, and preparing goods for shipment.
  • Includes receiving goods, identifying and sorting goods, storing goods, and managing the recall, picking, and assembly of goods.

Materials Handling

• Materials handling: physically handling goods within warehouses and during transportation.
  • Unit loading: combining various smaller cartons, barrels, or boxes into standardized units for efficient movement by forklifts, conveyors, or trucks.

Transportation

• Transportation: shipping products to customers.
• Carrier: a company offering transportation services.
  • Common carrier: offers services to all shippers (e.g.: railroads, airlines).
  • Contract carrier: services a limited number of businesses as per legal restrictions.
  • Private carrier: owned and operated by the shipper.

Types of Advertising by Purpose

• Primary-demand advertising: aims to increase product demand across all brands within a specific industry (e.g., The South African Sugar Association).
• Selective-demand (or brand) advertising: promotes a specific brand (most common type of advertising).
• Institutional advertising: enhances a business's image or reputation (e.g., Telkom sponsoring the South African Olympic team).

Major Steps in Developing an Advertising Campaign

• Identify and analyze target audience.
• Define advertising objectives.
• Create the advertising platform: key features and selling points for the campaign.
• Determine the advertising appropriation: total budget for advertising within a specific timeframe.
• Develop the media plan: advertising timetable and media selection.
• Create the advertising message: crafting the message.
• Execute the campaign: implementing the plan.
• Evaluate advertising effectiveness: assessing campaign performance.

Photos, Videos, and Podcasts

• Media sharing sites: platforms for uploading photos, videos, and podcasts.
• Photo sharing: allows companies to use photos to create compelling stories about their products or services.
• Videos: effective for storytelling.
• Podcasts: digital audio or video files accessible online for download.

Measuring and Adapting a Social Media Plan

• Quantitative social media measurement: uses numerical data (website visitors, fans/followers, new customers).
• Key performance indicators (KPIs): measures that track progress towards organizational goals.
• Qualitative social media measurement: assesses opinions and beliefs about a brand, often using sentiment analysis.
• Sentiment analysis: analyzes the mood and emotions expressed surrounding social media activities.

Defining E-Business

• E-business: using the internet for all business activities and services.
• Not to be confused with e-commerce: buying and selling activities conducted online using the internet.
• Mobile marketing: engaging with customers and selling through mobile devices.

Combining e-Business Resources

• E-businesses use human, material, informational, and financial resources, often in specialized ways.
• Human Resources: Website designers, Programmers, Web masters
• Material Resources: Computers, Software, High-speed internet connection lines.
• Informational Resources: Customer tracking systems, Order fulfillment and tracking systems, Online content-monitoring systems.
• Financial Resources: Investors in e-businesses, Electronic payments from customers.

A Business's Information Requirements

• Businesses are organized into five areas:
  • Finance
  • Operations
  • Marketing
  • Human Resources
  • Administration

The Need for Financial Management

• Financial management: managing funds efficiently and effectively.
• Financial management ensures:
  • Funds are available when needed.
  • Funds are obtained at the lowest cost.
  • Funds are used efficiently.
  • Financing priorities align with goals.
  • Spending is controlled and planned.
  • Customers pay bills on time.
  • Bills are paid promptly.
  • Funds are available for tax payments.
  • Excess cash is invested.
• Private placement: selling stocks and corporate securities directly to investors, like insurance companies, pension funds, or mutual funds.

Corporate Bonds

• Corporate bond: a company's promise to repay a specific amount of money plus interest.
• Interest rates vary depending on the company's financial health.
• Factors affecting interest rates:
  • The company's ability to pay interest.
  • The company's ability to repay the bond at maturity.
• Registered bond: a bond registered in the owner's name by the company.
• Maturity date: the date when borrowed money is repaid.

Types of Bonds

• Debenture bond: backed only by the issuing company's reputation.
• Mortgage bond: secured by various assets of the issuing company.
• Convertible bond: can be exchanged for shares of the company´s common stock at the owner´s discretion.