O Level Business Studies: People in Business (Cambridge 7115)

Every business decision studied under Topic 1 – what to produce, how to organise it, who owns it – eventually comes down to people getting the work done. Topic 2 People in business is where 7115 turns to the human resources side of running a business: how a workforce is motivated, structured, staffed and kept informed. It is examined across Paper 1 (Short Answer and Data Response) and Paper 2 (Case Study), both worth 50% of the final grade, since Business Studies at 7115 is not tiered and content is drawn from the entire syllabus.

Where this fits in 7115

Note for candidates comparing notes with friends on Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies (0450): Cambridge explicitly builds this O Level on shared content with the IGCSE syllabus, so the underlying human resources theory is the same course either way – what differs is the qualification code, the paper structure candidates sit, and the specific past papers available for practice.

2.1 Motivating employees

A business cannot rely on unmotivated staff to deliver good service or high productivity, so this sub-topic starts with why motivation matters before turning to how it is achieved.

The benefits of a well-motivated workforce named in the syllabus are specific: higher labour productivity, reduced absenteeism and lower labour turnover. To explain why motivation produces these effects, you need two named theoretical frameworks:

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – the idea that human needs are arranged in levels, and a business must address lower-level needs (pay, security) before higher-level needs (belonging, esteem, self-actualisation) will motivate an employee.
• Taylor and Herzberg – two named motivational theorists whose contrasting views (Taylor’s focus on pay as the primary motivator versus Herzberg’s distinction between “hygiene factors” that prevent dissatisfaction and genuine motivators) are both examinable.

Methods of motivation split into two categories: financial rewards (wage, salary, bonus, commission, profit sharing) and non-financial methods (job enrichment, job rotation, teamworking, training, opportunities for promotion). Exam questions frequently ask you to recommend and justify a specific method for a given business scenario – a decision that should draw on which category of need Maslow’s hierarchy suggests is currently unmet for that workforce.

2.2 Organisation and management

This sub-topic covers how a business is structured and led once its people are in place.

• Organisational charts: you must be able to draw, interpret and understand simple hierarchical structures, using the vocabulary of levels of hierarchy, span of control and chain of command (including the distinction between a “tall” structure, with many levels and narrow spans of control, and a “short” structure, with fewer levels and wider spans).
• Roles and responsibilities: directors, managers, supervisors and other employees, and how these roles relate to one another.
• The role of management: the functions of management – planning, organising, coordinating, commanding and controlling – plus the importance of delegation and the trade-off between trust and control.
• Leadership styles: the features of autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire leadership, with the expectation that you can recommend and justify an appropriate style for given circumstances (an autocratic style may suit a business needing fast decisions in a crisis; a democratic style may suit a business drawing on staff expertise for complex decisions).
• Trade unions: what a trade union is and the effects on a business of its employees being union members.

2.3 Recruitment, selection and training of employees

This sub-topic follows the employee lifecycle from hiring through to, where necessary, downsizing.

Recruitment and selection covers the methods used to recruit and select staff, the difference between internal recruitment (filling a vacancy from within the existing workforce) and external recruitment (hiring from outside), the main stages of the process, and the benefits and limitations of employing part-time versus full-time staff.

Training covers why training matters to both the business and the employee, and the benefits and limitations of three named types: induction training (for new starters), on-the-job training (learning while working) and off-the-job training (learning away from the normal work environment, e.g. a course).

Reducing workforce size requires you to distinguish dismissal (an employee is removed for a specific, employee-related reason) from redundancy (a role is removed, typically because it is no longer needed, for reasons unrelated to the individual’s performance), and to understand situations where downsizing might be necessary, such as automation or falling demand.

Legal controls close this sub-topic: employment contracts, unfair dismissal, discrimination, health and safety, and the legal minimum wage, and how each affects both employers and employees.

2.4 Internal and external communication

The final sub-topic asks why effective communication matters to a business and what can go wrong. You need to know the benefits and limitations of different communication methods, including those based on information technology, and be able to recommend and justify which method suits a given circumstance. You also need to demonstrate awareness of communication barriers – how they arise, the problems caused by ineffective communication, and how such barriers can be reduced or removed.

How to approach it

Because Topic 2 is assessed through scenario-based questions on both papers, the highest-value preparation is practising “recommend and justify” answers rather than memorising definitions in isolation – for every named method (a motivation method, a leadership style, a recruitment approach, a communication channel), be ready to explain which specific business circumstance makes it the better choice, and which makes an alternative better instead. Keep the theorists (Maslow, Taylor, Herzberg) tied to concrete workplace examples rather than abstract descriptions, since application (AO2) and analysis (AO3) carry more combined weighting across both papers than pure knowledge (AO1) alone.

Official syllabus

Cambridge International, Cambridge O Level Business Studies (7115) syllabus for examination in 2026 (Version 2, published December 2025): official syllabus PDF, Subject content, section 2 “People in business”. Verified 2026-09-02.