IB Diploma Programme Business Management SL, Unit 2 Human resource management (first assessment 2024). This topic covers the SL content of syllabus sections 2.1–2.7: the introduction to HRM and HR planning, organisational structure, leadership and management, motivation and demotivation, and communication — organisational culture (2.5) and industrial/employee relations (2.7) are HL only and are left out. The worked examples follow the shared repair business, now grown to 80 employees across four workshops, so every number cross-checks with Unit 1.

Must-know for Unit 2:

Human resource management 人力资源管理 (2.1) plans, recruits, trains, appraises and rewards the workforce so that the business has the right people in the right roles. HR PLANNING responds to INTERNAL factors (the firm's objectives, finance, structure) and EXTERNAL factors: demographic change (an ageing workforce), changing labour mobility and immigration, flexi-time and remote working, and the GIG economy of short contracts. Workers RESIST change for five classic reasons — self-interest, low tolerance of uncertainty, misinformation, misunderstanding and a different assessment of the situation — and Kotter and Schlesinger's responses run from education and communication, participation and facilitation, through negotiation, to manipulation and coercion as last resorts.

Structure (2.2) is described by its vocabulary. The span of control 管理幅度 is the number of subordinates one manager directs; the CHAIN OF COMMAND is the line of authority from top to bottom; LEVELS OF HIERARCHY count the layers; delegation 授权 passes authority (not responsibility) downward; BUREAUCRACY is rule-bound administration; CENTRALISATION keeps decisions at the top while DECENTRALISATION pushes them down; DE-LAYERING removes levels. A TALL structure has many levels and narrow spans — clear promotion paths but slow communication; a FLAT structure has few levels and wide spans — faster and cheaper but heavier loads on each manager. Charts may be drawn by FUNCTION (HR, finance, marketing, operations), by PRODUCT or by REGION; a MATRIX structure crosses functions with projects, giving each person two managers. Project-based structures and Handy's SHAMROCK (core staff, contractors, flexible workers) are the modern shapes.

Worked example. With 80 staff, one owner-manager and four workshop managers each supervising 19 mechanics gives three levels and a span of 19 at the bottom — too wide for coaching, so the owner adds a senior mechanic in each workshop: four levels, span of control 9–10, and the chain of command for a customer complaint lengthens by one link.

Management (2.3) plans, organises, directs and controls; LEADERSHIP sets direction and inspires. The leadership style 领导风格 chosen should fit the task and the people: AUTOCRATIC (leader decides, fast but demotivating), PATERNALISTIC (decides in the workers' interest), DEMOCRATIC (consults and shares decisions — better ideas, slower), LAISSEZ-FAIRE (hands off, for experts) and SITUATIONAL (switches style by circumstance).

Motivation 激励 (2.4) theories: TAYLOR — scientific management, pay by output; MASLOW — a hierarchy from physiological needs through safety, belonging and esteem to self-actualisation; HERZBERG — HYGIENE factors (pay, conditions, policy) prevent dissatisfaction while MOTIVATORS (achievement, recognition, responsibility, growth) create satisfaction; McCLELLAND — acquired needs for achievement, affiliation and power; DECI AND RYAN — self-determination through autonomy, competence and relatedness. Labour turnover 员工流动率 measures the outcome: leavers divided by average staff, times 100 — 12 leavers from 80 is 15% a year, costing recruitment, training and lost knowledge. HR practices: an appraisal 绩效评估 may be formative (developmental), summative (judging), 360-degree (all round) or self-appraisal; recruitment is INTERNAL (cheap, known, but no new ideas) or EXTERNAL; training is INDUCTION, ON-THE-JOB or OFF-THE-JOB. FINANCIAL rewards: salary, time and piece wages, commission, performance-related and profit-related pay, employee share ownership, fringe payments; NON-FINANCIAL: job enrichment, rotation and enlargement, empowerment, purpose and teamwork.

Communication 沟通 (2.6) is FORMAL (meetings, reports, emails through the chain of command) or INFORMAL (the grapevine); barriers include language and jargon, information overload, poor channel choice, physical distance and lack of trust. Every structure and style above is only as good as the communication that carries it.

Worked example. The 15% turnover is concentrated among mechanics on piece rates who feel their effort is unrewarded when parts arrive late. Herzberg reads late parts and pay disputes as hygiene failures to fix first - and the effort-to-reward link the piece rate was meant to create is broken. The owner moves to a base salary plus a team bonus and a formative appraisal; turnover falling to 8% (6 of 80) would save the cost of six replacements.

• HRM's role; the five external HR-planning factors; the five reasons for resistance and the Kotter–Schlesinger ladder (2.1).
• Span of control, chain of command, levels, delegation, bureaucracy, (de)centralisation, de-layering; tall vs flat; function/product/region; matrix, project-based, shamrock (2.2).
• Management vs leadership; the five styles with when each fits (2.3).
• Taylor, Maslow, Herzberg, McClelland, Deci and Ryan; labour turnover 12/80 = 15%; appraisal types; recruitment and training; financial and non-financial rewards (2.4).
• Formal and informal communication; the barriers (2.6).

Boundary notes: Paper 1 asks for motivation theories applied to the case, not recited; Paper 2 may ask for the labour-turnover calculation and an organisational chart; the research project often takes an HR issue through the conceptual lens of change or ethics. All worked numbers are original on the shared repair business.