Welcome to this deck on making human resource decisions. Human resources, or H R, is all about managing people within a business to help the organisation achieve its goals. We'll explore how businesses structure themselves, how they find and train the right people, and what they do to keep their staff motivated and productive. Understanding these decisions is crucial for understanding how a business can succeed.

Let's start with how a business is organised. An organisational structure is the way a business arranges its staff to carry out its activities. It shows who is responsible for what, and who reports to whom. Think of it like a family tree for the company. There are two main types we'll look at: hierarchical and flat.

A hierarchical structure is the traditional pyramid shape. It has many layers of management, with the most senior people at the top and the least senior at the bottom. Instructions flow downwards along something called the chain of command. Each manager has a certain number of people reporting directly to them, which is known as their span of control.