Human Resource Management Study Guide PDF

Human Resource Management BUS 316 Dr. Vrooman Study Guide – Chapters 1-8 Multiple Choice 1. To achieve the human resource management goal of promoting individual growth and developme...

Human Resource Management BUS 316 Dr. Vrooman Study Guide – Chapters 1-8 Multiple Choice 1. To achieve the human resource management goal of promoting individual growth and development, an organization should _____. a. promote ethnocentrism in the workplace b. ensure that its corporate strategies enhance the citizenship role played by the organization c. provide pro bono services and establish charitable foundations d. provide stress-management programs to help its employees effectively cope with anxiety Correct – d 2. Which of the following is a necessary prerequisite for success in human resource management? a. An inclination toward Theory X style of management b. An ethnocentric attitude c. A solid educational background d. A membership in the Society for Human Resource Management Correct - c 3. Which of the following recognizes that if an organization needs highly skilled, knowledgeable workers to carry out its strategy, then all staffing activities must be coordinated toward identifying and attracting such employees? a. An empirical approach to human resource management b. The scientific management approach to human resource management c. A systems-oriented view of human resource management d. The function-oriented view of human resource management Correct – c 4. Identify the act that was passed in 1935 in an effort to control and legislate collective bargaining between organizations and labor unions. a. The Wagner Act b. The Employee Free Choice Act c. The Fair Labor Standards Act d. The Taft-Hartley Act Correct - a  5. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a disability as _____. a. a problem related to obesity that limits the efficiency of people b. a cognitive impairment that does not affect any major life activities c. a record of having a mental or physical impairment that limits one or more major life activities d. a hereditary substance-abuse problem that prevents people from being sober Correct – c 6. Which of the following statements is true of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? a. Its enforcement is the responsibility of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Procedures (OFCCP). b. Its applicability is limited to state and national government agencies. c. It was passed as a way to ensure that equal opportunities would be available to everyone. d. It applies to all organizations with a minimum of 100 employees working 20 or more hours per week. Correct – c 7. Which of the following statements is true of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)? a. It oversees and enforces the regulations of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973. b. It establishes a minimum hourly wage for different types of jobs. c. It is responsible for enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. d. It is a division of the Department of Labor. Correct – c 8. Which of the following suggests that disparate impact exists if a selection criterion results in a selection rate for a protected class that is less than 80 percent of that for the majority group? a. The McDonnell-Douglas theory b. A quid pro quo approach c. The four-fifths rule d. A bona fide occupational qualification Correct – c 9. Which of the following oversees and enforces all regulations of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973? a. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission b. The Office of the Federal Register c. The National Labor Relations Board d. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Procedures Correct – d 10. Which of the following states that a condition such as race, sex, or other personal characteristic legitimately affects a person's ability to perform a job and therefore can be used as a legal requirement for selection? a. The exclusionary rule b. The four-fifths rule c. A bona fide occupational qualification d. A quid pro quo agreement Correct - c 11. According to the new approaches to determining the success of an expatriate's assignment, the assessment of an expatriate's success should be _____. a. tied to how well he or she assimilated the local culture and values b. equated with how early the expatriate returned from the foreign location c. tied to the strategic goals the assignment was meant to accomplish d. equated with how long the expatriate stayed in the foreign location  Correct – c 12. If the corporate human resource function in an organization is primarily concerned with selecting and training managers for foreign assignments, developing appropriate compensation packages for those managers, and handling adjustment issues when the manager is reassigned back home, it is evident that the organization has adopted the _____. a. polycentric staffing model b. regiocentric staffing model c. ethnocentric staffing model d. geocentric staffing model Correct – c 13. Which of the following is a reason why host-country nationals are usually hired as nonmanagerial employees in international businesses? a. They do not require training and eliminate the training costs of organizations. b. They are not eligible for the provisions of international labor standards. c. They demand lesser hardship premium than parent-country nationals. d. They are cheaper to employ than parent-country or third-country nationals. Correct – d 14. Which of the following statements is true of the corporate strategy of an organization? a. It deals with how the organization will compete in each market where it conducts business. b. It addresses how the organization will manage its operations. c. It should be closely tied to the human resource management practices within the organization. d. It should provide guidelines about how the organization will manage its human resources. Correct – c 15. Which of the following statements is true of the union in an organization? a. It cannot facilitate strategic changes in the organization. b. Unionized firms tend to have fewer rules than nonunionized firms. c. It can play an important role in formulating and implementing the human resource strategy of the organization. d. Labor unions in the United States are more concerned with social issues than they are in most other countries. Correct - c 16. Which type of strategy deals with how a firm will compete in each market where it conducts business? a. Corporate strategy b. Business strategy c. Growth strategy d. Functional strategy Correct – b 17. The first step in the job-analysis process of an organization involves determining _____. a. the precise information needs of the organization b. who is responsible for collecting data c. the subject matter experts within the organization d. the methods for obtaining the information that the organization requires Correct – a 18. Which of the following lists the tasks, duties, and responsibilities that a particular job entails? a. Job enrichment b. A job specification c. A job description d. Job enlargement Correct – c 19. Which of the following most closely determines an individual's employment choices? a. National unemployment rate b. Inflation c. Local unemployment rate d. Interest rates Correct – c 20. A progressive disciplinary plan is an organizational disciplinary program where _____ a. verbal warnings are directly followed by employee suspension b. employees are given incentives to engage in desired behavior c. the primary goal is to terminate employees d. the severity of punishment increases across the seriousness of the problem Correct – d  21. As an alternative to recruitment, organizations might hire what type of workforce? a. Unforeseen b. Contingent c. Promised d. Full-time Correct – b 22. In the context of a progressive disciplinary program of an organization, which of the following is a temporary layoff, usually with pay, when there is an ongoing investigation? a. Termination b. Suspension c. Disbanding d. Rightsizing Correct – b 23. In the context of layoffs, which of the following refers to the quality of the interpersonal treatment people receive when a decision is implemented? a. Interactional justice b. Distributive justice c. Procedural justice d. Restorative justice Correct – a 24. In the context of the employment-at-will doctrine, an employee who is discharged can sue for wrongful termination if _____. a. the termination comes as part of a progressive disciplinary program b. the employee has a civil right to his or her job c. the employee is terminated for having an ethnocentric attitude d. the termination is because of union activity Correct – d 25. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires that employers give at least how many days’ notice before a mass layoff? a. 120 days b. 40 days c. 60 days d. 30 days Correct – c 26. Which of the following can be used by an organization when it is possible to plan systematically for a gradual decrease in the workforce? a. Employee leasing b. Involuntary terminations c. Early retirements d. Contingent workers Correct - a 27. In the context of basic selection criteria, the amount of time an individual may have spent working in either a general capacity or a particular field of study is called _____. a. competency b. education c. knowledge d. experience  Correct – d 28. In the context of designing a training and development program for an organization, which of the following is the next step after conducting a needs analysis? a. Measuring the organizational commitment of employees b. Determining the capabilities of the existing workforce c. Assessing the company's philosophy regarding employee training d. Deciding between in-house versus outsourced training Correct – d 29. In the context of employee training and development, which of the following is the most common method of implementing a work-based program? a. On-the-job training b. Computer-assisted instruction c. Vestibule training d. Classroom instruction Correct – a 30. In the context of making hiring decisions, the best way an organization can avoid legal issues is by _____. a. making sure that a selection decision is based on organizational fit b. selecting a candidate with an authorized recommendation letter c. not asking for a person's age, gender, or marital status in the employment application d. not making a selection decision based on a candidate's personality and values Correct – c 31. Which of the following is a disadvantage of external recruiting? a. It causes a ripple effect in an organization. b. It can stifle new ideas and perspectives. c. It can decrease the motivation of existing employees. d. It fosters stagnation in an organization. Correct – c 32. Which of the following is a disadvantage of internal recruiting? a. It decreases motivation among current employees. b. It is time-consuming as new employees need to be familiarized with the policies of the company. c. It can result in stagnation and stifle creativity. d. It is expensive to implement because of the advertising that must be undertaken. Correct – c 33. Which of the following statements is true of an unstructured interview? a. The interviewer already knows what he needs to for each candidate. b. The interviewer works from a list of standard questions that are presented to every candidate. c. The questions asked are specific to the applicant's education and work experience. d. It measures traits, or tendencies to act, that are relatively unchanging in a person Correct – b 34. Which of the following statements is true of training? a. It is solely aimed at helping top-level managers improve their efficiency. b. It usually involves teaching technical employees how to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. c. It focuses on improving problem-solving and decision-making skills rather than on operational skills. d. It is considered a finance management function in most organizations.  Correct – b 35. A factor that accounts for the increased workforce diversity in organizations is _____. a. changing demographics in the labor force b. the increased need for job embeddedness c. the privatization movement d. legal actions that have forced organizations to adopt ethnocentric practices Correct – a 36. Which of the following statements is true of affirmative action? a. Courts have made it clear that affirmative action may not be the best way to accomplish the goal of greater diversity. b. It is similar to diversity management in all aspects. c. It promotes ethnocentrism among employees. d. The sole component of an affirmative action program is job embeddedness. Correct – a True/False 37. The passage of the Taft–Hartley Act made it clear that organizations had to find ways to hire, reward, and manage people effectively within the limits of the law.  True False Correct - False 38. The view of human resource management (HRM) as part of the legal enforcement arm of an organization is largely applicable only in the United States. True False Correct - True 39. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board are the two primary regulatory agencies for enforcing employment legislation. True False Correct - False 40. Every aspect of the human resources management (HRM) process in a geocentric company must be undertaken from a domestic perspective. True False Correct - False 41. More than half the world’s workforce outside the United States belongs to labor unions. True False Correct – True 42. The top management team of a company includes the chief operating officer (COO) of the company. True False Correct – True  43. In the past, data analytics was at times referred to as "data mining." True False Correct – True 44. Individuals can differentiate themselves by making human capital investments, just as a firm can differentiate itself by paying higher wages. True False Correct –True 45. Ethics and law always coincide precisely. True False Correct – False 46. The average age of U.S. workers is gradually decreasing. True False Correct - False 47. Research shows that unstructured interviews are much better predictors of subsequent job performance than structured interviews. True False Correct - False Short Answer 48. Why was the Wagner Act passed? How did it result in the creation of the Taft-Hartley Act and the Landrum-Griffin Act? Answer - The National Labor Relations Act, or Wagner Act, was passed in 1935 in an effort to control and legislate collective bargaining between organizations and labor unions. Before 1935, the legal system in the United States was generally considered hostile to labor unions. The Wagner Act was passed in an effort to provide some sense of balance in the power relationship between organizations and unions. The Wagner Act describes the process through which labor unions can be formed and the requirements faced by organizations in dealing with those labor unions. The Wagner Act served to triple union membership in the United States and granted labor unions significant power in their relationships with organizations. Following a series of crippling strikes, however, the U.S. government concluded that the Wagner Act had actually shifted too much power to labor unions. As a result, businesses had been placed at a significant disadvantage. To correct this imbalance, Congress subsequently passed the Labor Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act) in 1947 and the Landrum-Griffin Act in 1959. Both of these acts regulate union actions and their internal affairs in a way that puts them on an equal footing with management and organizations. 49. Briefly discuss internal recruiting and the advantages and disadvantages associated with it. Internal recruiting is the process of looking inside the organization for existing qualified employees who might be promoted to higher-level positions. This situation may not seem particularly useful for increasing the size of the workforce, but internal recruiting can play a role even in growth strategies. If an organization can fill higher-level openings with current employees who are ready to move up, it will have to fill lower-level positions from the outside later. These lower-level positions would presumably be easier and less costly to fill. Internal recruiting has several advantages. Perhaps the most important of these advantages is employees can see that there is really an opportunity for advancement when a firm relies on internal recruiting. This is likely to serve as a major source of motivation for those employees to perform their jobs as best they can. Employees recruited internally also bring the advantage of familiarity with the company—its heritage, culture, policies and procedures, strategies, and ways of doing business, making transitions to new positions easier. There are also disadvantages when internal recruiting is the only type a firm uses. This can result in stagnation and stifle creativity. It is unlikely that new ideas will be proposed for how to deal with challenges if everyone in the firm has only been familiar with one way of doing things. Also, internal recruiting creates a ripple effect in the organization. Every time a person is promoted, a new opening must be filled, and a relatively few promotions can sometimes result in a large- scale set of transfers and movements from position to position within the organization. 50. Briefly explain the factors that have led to increased workforce diversity. Organizations today are becoming increasingly diverse along many different dimensions. Several different factors have accounted for these trends and changes. Changing demographics in the labor force is one such factor. As more women and minorities have entered the labor force over the past few decades, for example, the available pool of talent from which organizations hire employees has changed in both size and composition. A related factor that has contributed to diversity has been the increased awareness by organizations that they can improve the overall quality of their workforce by hiring and promoting the most talented people available regardless of gender, race, or any other characteristics. Another reason for the increase in diversity has been legislation and legal actions that have forced organizations to hire more broadly. Over the past several decades, various laws have outlawed discrimination against women, African Americans, and other minorities. A final contributing factor to increased diversity in organizations has been the globalization movement. Organizations that have opened offices and related facilities in other countries have had to learn to deal with different customs, social norms, and mores. Strategic alliances and foreign ownership have also contributed because managers today are more likely to have job assignments in other countries or to work with foreign managers within their own countries.