Syllabus: OCR - GCSE Business
Module: 3. People
Lesson: 3.1 The Role of Human Resources

Introduction

This section of the OCR GCSE Business syllabus introduces learners to the function of human resources (HR) within a business. It builds foundational understanding of how employees are recruited, retained, and managed, helping students grasp the real-world significance of people in driving business success.

For teachers, this topic offers a practical way to link classroom learning to everyday workplace experiences, encouraging students to think critically about roles, responsibilities, and the decisions businesses must make around staffing. The topic also provides valuable context for exploring enterprise skills and employability themes.

Key Concepts

According to the OCR GCSE Business specification, students must understand the following:

• The Purpose of Human Resources:
  Why HR exists — including planning the workforce, recruitment, training, and employee relations.

• Organisational Structures:
  How different structures (e.g. hierarchical, flat) affect communication, delegation, and business performance.

• Recruitment and Selection:
  Internal vs external recruitment, job descriptions, person specifications, application forms, CVs, interviews, and assessments.

• Motivation and Retention:
  Financial and non-financial motivators (e.g. pay, job enrichment, recognition) and their impact on employee engagement and productivity.

• Training:
  Induction, on-the-job and off-the-job training methods — when and why they are used.

• Employment Law:
  Basics of equality legislation, health and safety, and employee rights.

These concepts form the core knowledge required to assess how people impact the productivity, culture, and competitive edge of a business.

Real-World Relevance

The HR function is highly visible in the real world. For example:

• Greggs recently shifted to flexible contracts and increased staff pay to improve retention across retail sites, responding to labour market pressures.

• Amazon UK has faced criticism over working conditions, prompting discussion around employee welfare and legal obligations.

• McDonald’s showcases structured training programmes as a key component of its business model — helping standardise customer experience across thousands of locations.

Discussing these examples can help students anchor abstract concepts in real decisions and challenges faced by UK employers.

How It’s Assessed

In the OCR GCSE Business exam, this topic typically appears in Component 1: Business Activity, Marketing and People. Question styles may include:

• Multiple-choice questions (testing basic recall)

• Short-answer and explain questions (e.g. “Explain one benefit of on-the-job training”)

• Case study-based analysis (e.g. analysing a business’s recruitment decision)

• Extended writing (evaluate the pros and cons of different organisational structures)

Command words such as explain, analyse, and evaluate are frequently used. Students should practise constructing logical chains of reasoning and offering supported judgements based on business scenarios.

Enterprise Skills Integration

This topic is ideal for developing key enterprise skills through applied activities:

• Decision-making: e.g. choosing between internal or external recruitment.

• Problem-solving: e.g. how to motivate staff without increasing costs.

• Team collaboration: group work to create a recruitment strategy or staff training plan.

• Communication: evaluating how organisational structure impacts communication flow.

• Critical thinking: weighing up financial and non-financial motivators.

Enterprise Skills simulations and Skills Hub tools from Enterprise Skills Ltd align directly with this topic, offering students immersive tasks that replicate real HR decision-making in business contexts.

Careers Links

This section supports Gatsby Benchmark 4 (Linking curriculum learning to careers) and Benchmark 5 (Encounters with employers and employees). Careers linked to HR content include:

• Human Resources Officer

• Recruitment Consultant

• Training and Development Coordinator

• Employment Law Specialist

• Line Manager

Use this topic to spark discussions around different roles in business, or invite a guest speaker in HR to offer insight into real roles and responsibilities. Enterprise Skills’ simulations also provide career-contextual experiences aligned to Benchmarks 5 & 6.

Teaching Notes

Time-saving Tips:

• Use a fictional business to frame all activities (e.g. students act as the HR team).

• Pair HR lessons with Skills Hub tasks that simulate recruitment and organisational planning.

Common Pitfalls:

• Students often confuse recruitment with training — use flow diagrams to separate these stages.

• Organisational structures can feel abstract — use workplace examples (e.g. NHS vs a tech start-up) to make them relatable.

Extension Ideas:

• Run a class debate on the most effective way to motivate staff without increasing pay.

• Ask students to design an HR policy for a business case study.

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