Edexcel GCSE Business: Organisational structures and job roles (1BS0) – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers from your board or school.

These questions cover Topic 2.5 Making human resource decisions (items 2.5.1 and 2.5.2) of the Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9-1) in Business (1BS0) specification, Issue 2, July 2022. All businesses are invented. Appendix 1 sets the command words used below. A calculator is allowed on Calculate questions, workings should be shown, and candidates do not receive formulae in the exam. Study first with the study guide or the revision notes.

Course links: the Business hub, the printable checklist and the free diagnostics.

Questions

1. Define the term “flat structure”. [2]

2. Cobham Foods has the structure shown in the table. Identify the number of layers and the job title of the layer with the most staff.

Layer	Job title	Number of staff
1	Director	1
2	Senior manager	3
3	Team leader	9
4	Operational staff	36

[2]

3. Explain one benefit of a centralised structure. [3]

4. Wexley Care has 48 staff. 18 are part-time and work 20 hours a week on average. The other 30 are full-time and work 38 hours a week.

(a) Calculate the percentage of staff who are part-time. [2] (b) Calculate the mean number of hours worked each week by all 48 staff. [3]

5. Kestrel Print has 22 staff. Many of them receive around 35 emails a day, most copied to everyone. Outline one problem this may cause. [2]

6. Give two barriers to effective communication. [2]

7. Marrick Media needs a new brochure designed. A freelance designer would charge £35 an hour for 60 hours. A temporary worker would be employed for 5 weeks at 30 hours a week and be paid £15.20 an hour.

(a) Calculate the cost of each option. [3] (b) State which option is cheaper and by how much. [1]

8. Explain one way a job description differs from a person specification. [3]

9. At Pennock Logistics, Ayo sets the company’s aims and reports to the shareholders. Dana organises the daily work of eight drivers. Tom answers the telephone and handles payroll. State the job role group of each person. [3]

10. Quillon Surveyors employs 25 staff in one office with rent of £2,100 a month. The owner plans for staff to work from home three days a week and to give up 40% of the office space. Analyse one benefit and one drawback of remote working for Quillon. [6]

11. Dunmore Garden Centre needs a supervisor on a salary of £26,400. Spring, its busiest season, starts in 4 weeks. The owner is choosing between two options.

• Option A: promote Priya, who has four years’ experience in the plant section. Extra training would cost £1,150 and the post would be filled within 3 weeks. Her old job would then need to be filled.
• Option B: recruit externally. The advert costs £780 and an agency fee is 15% of the salary. The post would take 9 weeks to fill. A strong candidate would bring online selling skills that the centre does not have.

Justify which option the owner should choose. [9]

12. Aldwin Opticians has grown from one shop to four branches, each with sales of £300,000 a year. The owner still makes every decision on prices, ordering and hiring, and branch managers wait about 5 days for an answer. They say sales have been lost. The owner is considering a decentralised structure, paying each of the 4 branch managers an extra £4,500 a year for the added responsibility. Evaluate whether Aldwin should move to a decentralised structure. [9]

Answers

1. A flat structure has few layers of management [1], so each manager looks after a larger team and messages pass through fewer people [1]. [2] Examiner insight: Credit is more likely when the definition names what makes a structure flat, which is the number of layers, rather than just calling it “small” or “simple”.

2. There are 4 layers [1]. The layer with the most staff is operational staff, with 36 [1]. [2] Examiner insight: An Identify answer comes from the table, so both parts need to be read off it. Answers tend to lose credit by giving the number of staff (49) instead of the number of layers.

3. A centralised structure keeps important decisions with the owner or head office [1]. This gives consistent decisions across the business [1], because every part of the business follows the same rules and the same prices [1]. [3] Examiner insight: An Explain answer has no case, so it should state a benefit and then develop it twice. Answers tend to stay at one mark when they name the benefit with no development, such as “it is more controlled”.

4. (a) 18 / 48 × 100 [1] = 37.5% [1]. [2] (b) Part-time hours = 18 × 20 = 360 and full-time hours = 30 × 38 = 1,140 [1]. Total = 360 + 1,140 = 1,500 hours [1]. Mean = 1,500 / 48 = 31.25 hours a week [1]. [3] Examiner insight: On a Calculate question workings should be shown. A common error is averaging the two averages, (20 + 38) / 2 = 29, which ignores that there are more full-time staff.

5. Staff spend a lot of time reading emails that do not concern them [1], so less time is left for printing jobs, and orders may be delayed or important messages missed [1]. [2] Examiner insight: An Outline answer needs two linked points placed in the case. Answers tend to do better when the second point follows from the first, for example from time lost to orders delayed, than when the two points are separate.

6. Any two from: unclear wording or jargon [1]; a method unsuited to the message, such as a long instruction sent as a text [1]; language differences; faulty technology; too many layers; noise or distraction. [2] Examiner insight: Give two different barriers. Two ways of wording the same barrier, such as “jargon” and “technical words”, would be one point.

7. (a) Freelance = 35 × 60 = £2,100 [1]. Temporary hours = 5 × 30 = 150 [1]. Temporary cost = 150 × 15.20 = £2,280 [1]. [3] (b) The freelance designer is cheaper, by 2,280 - 2,100 = £180 [1]. [1] Examiner insight: Units and the comparison matter here. Answers tend to lose a mark by stating both costs and never saying which is cheaper, or by leaving out the pound sign.

8. A job description describes the job itself, such as its title, duties and hours, whereas a person specification describes the qualities wanted in the post-holder [1]. The job description lets candidates see what they would be doing and decide whether to apply [1]. The person specification gives the business a standard to compare applications and CVs against when it shortlists [1]. [3] Examiner insight: A one-sided answer that only describes one document is likely to stay at one mark. State the difference first, then develop it twice.

9. Ayo is a director [1]. Dana is a supervisor/team leader [1]. Tom is support staff [1]. [3] Examiner insight: The answer comes from the information given, so use the specification’s own job role groups. Answers tend to lose marks by writing “manager” without saying which level.

10. Benefit: remote working lets Quillon give up part of its office space [1]. 40% of £2,100 = £840 a month [1], so £840 × 12 = £10,080 a year, which can be kept as profit or spent elsewhere [1]. Drawback: staff at home are harder to supervise and see less of their colleagues [1]. With only two office days, a question from a surveyor may wait for an answer, so jobs are delayed [1], which lowers efficiency and may leave staff who feel isolated less motivated [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Analyse answers are placed in the case. Answers tend to gain credit when they use the rent figure and the three days at home, not general statements that remote working saves money or weakens teamwork.

11. Cost: Option A costs £1,150 [1]. Option B costs 780 + 0.15 × 26,400 = 780 + 3,960 = £4,740 [1], so A is £3,590 cheaper [1]. Time: A takes 3 weeks and B takes 9 weeks, and spring starts in 4 weeks, so only A has the supervisor in place for the busy season [1]. A is also a promotion, which may motivate other staff [1]. Against A: it leaves a gap in the plant section to fill, and Priya has no online selling skills [1]. For B: the new candidate would bring online selling skills the centre lacks [1]. Recommendation: choose Option A [1]. It is cheaper and quicker, and the lack of online skills can be tackled through training or a separate appointment later, while B would leave the post empty in the busiest season [1]. [9] Examiner insight: For Justify, pick one option and support it from the case. Stronger answers use the figures and the 4-week deadline and explain why the rejected option is weaker, rather than describing both options equally.

12. Cost: 4 × £4,500 = £18,000 a year [1], which is 18,000 / 1,200,000 × 100 = 1.5% of total sales of £1,200,000 [1]. Benefit: decisions in a few hours or one day instead of 5 days would cut the sales lost while branches wait [1], and branch managers know their local customers best [1]. Managers given more responsibility may also feel trusted, which supports motivation and retention [1]. Risk: branches may set different prices or order different stock, so standards and costs vary [1], and the owner loses some control over the business [1]. Judgement: Aldwin should decentralise [1], because the cost of 1.5% of sales is small against sales lost through delay, though it depends on whether the owner sets limits on prices and spending and whether the branch managers have the skills [1]. [9] Examiner insight: Evaluate needs a reasoned verdict. Credit comes more readily from weighing the cost against the benefits using the numbers and stating what the judgement depends on, rather than listing advantages and disadvantages with no decision.

Where marks are usually lost

• Defining “flat” as “small” instead of “few layers”.
• Writing the same point twice on Give or Outline questions.
• Averaging two averages instead of using total hours divided by total staff.
• Calculating a cost but never comparing the options or stating the difference.
• Giving a calculation answer with no workings, no pound sign or no percentage sign.
• On Explain, stopping at one undeveloped point. On Analyse, ignoring the case.
• On Justify, discussing both options without picking one.
• On Evaluate, setting out each side but never reaching a verdict with a reason.
• Confusing a job description with a person specification, or freelance with temporary.

Next steps

• Re-read the revision notes and the study guide.
• Visit the Business hub and the printable checklist.
• Take the free 10-minute diagnostics to see which topics to revisit.
• Book a free trial class if you would like live help.

Frequently asked questions

What do these organisational structure questions cover? They follow Pearson Edexcel GCSE Business (1BS0) Theme 2 items 2.5.1 and 2.5.2: hierarchical and flat structures, centralised and decentralised decision making, communication, ways of working, job roles and recruitment.

How do you calculate an average when there are different groups of staff? Divide the total hours by the total number of staff. Averaging two group averages instead is a common mistake.

What does a Justify question need in Edexcel GCSE Business? Use the information provided to recommend one of the two options and say why it is better than the other. Discussing both options without picking one limits the marks.

What are common mix-ups on recruitment questions? Confusing a job description, which describes the job, with a person specification, which describes the qualities needed in the person. Treating freelance and temporary workers as the same is another frequent error.

Official syllabus

Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9-1) in Business (1BS0), Specification, Issue 2, July 2022, published by Pearson Education Limited. Theme 2: Building a business, Topic 2.5 Making human resource decisions, items 2.5.1 and 2.5.2.