Human Resources
_____ states that a condition like race, sex, or other personal characteristic legitimately affects a person's ability to perform the job, and therefore can be used as a legal requirement for selection.
A bona fide occupational qualification
Which of the following organizations trades in knowledge?
A consulting firm that sells its expertise in dealing with management problems
Which of the following laws allows law enforcement agencies to carry out investigations of potential terrorists without having to inform the targets of those investigations?
The PATRIOT Act
The _____ requires that all federal agencies, as well as federal contractors and subcontractors receiving more than $2,500 a year from the federal government, engage in affirmative action for disabled individuals.
Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Which of the following is a difference between salaries and wages?
Waged employees are eligible for the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, whereas salaried employees are exempt from them.
When an organization is using a turnaround strategy, its human resource managers need to be involved in:
decreasing the size of the organization's workforce.
Glenda, a line manager, is asked to perform a job analysis of the new jobs that have emerged as part of her company's expansion process. She decides to pick the most common approach to job analysis and prepares a text description of all the new jobs. She writes detailed explanations of the jobs and the effort involved in completing them. In the given scenario, Glenda is using _____.
narrative job analysis
In the context of making hiring decisions, the best way an organization can avoid legal issues is by:
not asking for a person's age, gender, or marital status in the employment application.
The knowledge workers of an organization:
often believe they have the right to work autonomously.
_____ refers to the framework of jobs, positions, groups of positions, and reporting relationships among positions that are used to construct an organization.
organization design
_____ is the degree to which an employee identifies with a firm and is willing to exert effort on behalf of the firm.
organizational committment
The basic premise of the human relations era was that:
satisfied employees work harder and are more productive.
Eduardo Institute, a school opened by former businesswomen, provides vocational training to underprivileged women. The institute also helps them find jobs, thereby making them financially independent. The management of the school focuses on dealing with social problems than on making profits. In the given scenario, Eduardo Institute is engaged in _____.
social entrepreneurship
A reason for the existence of the glass ceiling in organizations is that:
some male managers are still reluctant to promote female managers.
Which of the following is a benefit of outsourcing?
It eliminates jobs that tend to be repetitious.
Which of the following statements is true of the contingent workforce of an organization?
It includes all part-time employees who are employed by the organization to fill in for permanent employees during peak demand.
Which of the following statements is true of a business necessity?
It is a practice that is important for the safe and efficient operation of a business.
Which of the following statements best defines a stability strategy?
It is adopted by a company that plans to stay in its current businesses and intends to manage them as they are already being managed.
Which of the following is a drawback of the task-analysis inventory?
It is difficult to make comparisons across job families using a single task inventory
Which of the following statements is true of the Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ)?
It is used to classify administrative positions and estimate reasonable compensation for them.
Which of the following statements is true of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
It presents a challenge to managers who try to balance treating everyone the same with treating everyone equitably.
Which of the following statements is true of a mission statement?
It provides subtle cues about the importance that an organization places on its human resources.
Which of the following is a reason for the increased workforce diversity in organizations?
Legislation that has forced organizations to hire more broadly
Quid pro quo harassment typically involves:
asking sexual favors in exchange for something of value.
Who among the following is subject to the regulations of the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988?
Brett, who is a truck driver and transports armaments to military bases
_____ exists when individuals in similar situations are regarded differently based on the individual's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability status.
Disparate treatment discrimination
The _____ of 1974 guarantees a basic minimum benefit that employees could expect to be paid at retirement.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act
____ mirrors the Civil Rights Act in terms of outlawing discrimination, but also requires federal contractors and subcontractors, with contracts greater than $50,000, to file written affirmative action plans.
Executive Order 11246
The _____ established, for the first time, the workweek in the United States as 40 hours per week.
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
The _____ prohibits employers from collecting information about an employee's family history of disease.
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
The _____ revealed that individual and group behavior played an important role in organizations and that human behavior at work was something managers really needed to understand more fully.
Hawthorne studies
The _____ offers three core certifications: Professional in Human Resources (PHR), Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), and Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR).
Human Resource Certification Institute
Which of the following is a difference between the functional design and the divisional design of organizations?
In the functional design, senior management usually provides coordination across departments, whereas in the divisional design, coordination is usually decentralized down to the various operating companies.
_____ is a dimension of interactional justice that deals with the extent to which an individual is treated with respect and dignity when he or she is told about the decision of layoff.
Interpersonal justice
Who among the following individuals is facing the problem of the glass ceiling?
Meryl, who refuses a promotion opportunity because she is planning to start a family and does not want extra responsibilities at work
A construction company provides employees working at construction sites with hard hats. It also provides them with coveralls so that workers do not come into direct contact with any harmful materials. These measures taken by the company are in compliance with the _____.
Occupational Safety and Health Act
Which of the following statements is true of external inequity?
Problems with external equity may result in dissatisfied and unhappy workers.
Which of the following statements is true of internal equity?
Problems with internal equity can result in conflict, feelings of mistrust, and low morale.
Which of the following exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine protects whistle-blower
Public-policy exception
The _____ is the human resource management field's largest professional HR organization.
Society for human resource management
Which of the following is a reason for the existence of the glass ceiling in organizations?
Some women choose to suspend or slow their career progression to have children.
Which of the following is a step in the task-analysis inventory method of job analysis?
Subject matter experts generate a list of tasks, and job incumbents evaluate each task on several dimensions.
_____ 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.
The four-fifths rule
Which of the following supplanted scientific management as the dominant approach to management during the 1930s?
The human relations era
Which of the following statements is true of the task-analysis inventory?
The information generated by this method is often detailed and useful for setting training needs.
Which of the following departments of an organization was usually thought of as a staff function?
The legal department
The management of Jadex, a mobile phone manufacturer, decides to manufacture tablet computers. However, before beginning the production, the management wants to analyze the jobs that will have to be performed and the tasks involved in each of these jobs. It wants to use a simple and relatively inexpensive technique for this. Furthermore, it does not want to spend too much on training an analyst to analyze the jobs. Which of the following job-analysis techniques will best suit Jadex's requirements?
The narrative job-analysis technique
Grenstall Inc., a software development firm, has adopted a new job evaluation system in which managers are asked to objectively quantify the value of eight to ten compensable factors of each job in the organization. These compensable factors are based on their importance to that particular job and may include skill, physical effort, mental effort, and so forth. In this system, jobs are compared against a standard of key ratings. Which of the following job evaluation systems is Grenstall Inc. most likely using in the given scenario?
The point system
Wags is a chain of veterinary clinics. As a growing organization, the management of Wags recognizes the need to coordinate various human resource management (HRM) activities. It feels that all staffing activities should be directed at identifying and attracting skilled workers and that appraisals, compensation, and performance management should reflect an employee's nature. Which of the following approaches to HRM explains the management's recognition of the need to coordinate HRM activities?
The systems approach
Which of the following statements is true of traditional line managers?
They are directly responsible for creating goods and services.
Which of the following statements is true of market wage rates?
They change according to the demand for and supply of labor.
Which of the following is true of psychomotor ability tests?
They measure the manual dexterity of individuals.
_____ prohibits discrimination on the basis of an individual's race, color, religious beliefs, sex, or national origin.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
The management of Finny, a small-scale food delivery company, uses a highly integrated, automated system that allows the management to maintain a database of all the details of its employees. This system helps the company to keep a record of the date of hire, educational background, and job history of the employees. It also helps to keep track of every employee's job performance. The given scenario illustrates the use of _____.
a human resource information system
Rochelle, the head of the content team at Artsy Inc., was asked by her manager to nominate candidates from her team who could be considered for a promotion to the position of an editor. Rochelle carefully considered all potential candidates and submitted the names of the two most promising employees to the manager. The manager later chose one of the two employees. In this scenario, Rochelle's manager used _____ for recruiting.
a supervisory recommendation
Labor relations is the process of dealing with employees who are represented by _____.
a union
To manage a diverse organization effectively, managers should first:
acknowledge the differences among people.
Exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine are inapplicable when:
an employee is an objectively documented poor performer.
Janice, a third-year undergraduate student, joins a publication house as a temporary employee for a period of two months to gain work experience. At the end of this period, based on her work, she is offered a permanent position in the organization. Considering that Janice is still a student, she is offered a contract that would be effective on graduation. Janice confirms to the publication house that she will take up the job as soon as she graduates. The given scenario is an example of _____.
an internship
A factor that accounts for the increased workforce diversity in organizations is:
changing demographics in the labor force.
_____ refers to treating social outcomes and financial outcomes as complementary, rather than competing outcomes.
conscious capitalism
An organization's _____ refers to the set of values that helps its members understand what the organization stands for, how it accomplishes what it wants to accomplish, and what it considers important.
culture
Which of the following can be used by an organization to plan systematically for a gradual decrease in the workforce?
early retirements
In a selection context, _____ refers to the formal classroom training an individual has received in public or private school and in a college, university, or technical school.
education
Reliance on _____ is a common method for external recruiting
employment agencies
Diversity training is specifically designed to:
enable members of an organization to function better in a diverse workplace.
An organization can promote diversity by:
ensuring that diversity exists in its key committees and executive teams
In the context of basic selection criteria, _____ is the amount of time an individual has spent working in either a general capacity or a particular field of study.
experience
Brandton Corp., a private company with a rigid, hierarchical organizational structure, is looking to fill the position of a senior supervisor. Francesca is among the top five applicants being considered for the post. Francesca does not have the expertise necessary for the position, but she comes across as a person who abides by rules and thrives under supervision and directions. This matches the organization's requirements. As a result, Francesca is hired. In the context of basic selection criteria, Brandton Corp. most likely hired Francesca on the basis of _____.
fit
The _____ is used when an organization tries to target a specific segment of the marketplace for its products or services.
focus strategy
Mirage Inc., a management consulting firm, plans to increase its profits by expanding its services to target new customers. It wants to hire more employees to maintain the quality of its services and hence launches an intense recruitment drive. It also collaborates with colleges to tap potential employees. In the given scenario, Mirage Inc. is implementing a _____.
growth strategy
In the context of external recruiting, an individual working for an executive search firm is also known as a _____.
headhunter
A company that implements a growth strategy is likely to:
hire employs readily without additional work
In the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), the section on information inputs:
includes where and how a worker gets data needed to perform his or her job.
A company that implements a stability strategy is most likely to:
increase the value of the existing employees through additional training.
An advantage of retaining highly performing employees is that:
it helps in avoiding expenses involved in replacing them.
Job-analysis methods used for establishing compensation rates are often referred to as _____.
job evaluation
Klebo and Philly is a growing pharmaceutical company. As part of its expansion process, the company has to hire many new employees. It hires job analysts to list the knowledge, skills, and abilities that all future employees must have to perform the jobs that will emerge as a result of the expansion plan. In the given scenario, the job analysts hired by Klebo and Philly will most likely be creating a _____.
job specification
A _____ lists the tasks, duties, and responsibilities that a particular job entails.
jon description
Employees who add value to a firm simply because of what they know are called _____
knowledge workers
TechUp Inc., a computer manufacturing firm, hires an external specialist agency to perform background checks on its new employees. By doing this, TechUp Inc. ensures quality service and saves both time and labor costs. In the given scenario, TechUp Inc. is using _____.
outsourcing
_____ refers to hours worked above the normal 40-hour workweek, for which there is usually a pay premium.
overtime
_____ refers to the relatively stable set of psychological attributes or traits that distinguish one person from another.
personality
When every group represented in a company strives to understand every other group better, the company is said to be characterized by _____.
pluralism
In the organizational development (OD) technique of _____, an OD advisor observes managers in the organization to develop an understanding of their communication patterns, decision-making and leadership processes, and methods of cooperation and conflict resolution.
process consultation
_____ is an economic measure of efficiency that summarizes and reflects the value of the outputs created by an individual, organization, industry, or economic system relative to the value of the inputs used to create them.
productivity
Fulfilling the psychological contract between employers and employees aligns with the human resource management goal of _____.
promoting individual growth and development
In the context of progressive discipline, _____ refers to following unacceptable behavior with some type of negative consequences.
punishment
The third step in the factor-comparison method for job evaluation is:
ranking the benchmark jobs in an organization on each compensable job factor.
In the context of the adaptation model, the _____ is a strategic alternative that is seen as a strategic failure and is not held up as a model that any firm should emulate.
reactor
Judd, an HR manager at an information technology firm, is asked by his supervisor to develop a pool of qualified applicants for the position of a senior content analyst. His employer will then conduct tests and interviews to select the best candidate. In this scenario, Judd is involved in the process of _____.
recruiting
Adelint Inc., a retail store chain, had been incurring high costs and hence downsized its workforce to increase its profits. However, the company's business grew over the next six months, and it had to recruit many new employees. The company hence ended up incurring the usual high infrastructure costs as well as the cost for recruiting the new employees. Instead of downsizing its workforce, Adelint Inc. could have _____
reduced its fixed assets
Seventh Heaven, a mattress manufacturer and distributor, is a large profitable organization. It has decided to stay in its current business. The firm has a normal rate of attrition, and it takes steps to retain its existing employees. The company provides the employees with training programs and additional benefits, such as flexible work timings, to make sure they are satisfied with their jobs. In the given scenario, Seventh Heaven is using a _____.
stability strategy
_____ is a person's adaptive response to a stimulus that places excessive psychological or physical demands on that person.
stress
_____ is most appropriate in relatively stable conditions with a moderate degree of uncertainty and risk.
the analyzer strategy
The first step in the job-analysis process of an organization involves determining:
the precise information needs of the organization.
Glebson Security, a security services agency in North Carolina, adds another process to its traditional interview round to make its selection procedure more stringent. In this new process, shortlisted candidates are individually sent into a room in which a trained clinician shows them an ambiguous inkblot as a stimulus and asks them what they see in it. This process helps the firm measure the personality traits of prospective employees. In this scenario, Glebson Security has decided to use _____.
the projective technique
Charles, a manager in a multinational company, leads a team of ten people from various countries. Although he does not like certain behaviors exhibited by his team members, he accepts them as fundamental cultural differences between him and them. Therefore, Charles is dealing with the diversity of his team by using _____.
tolerance
A _____ occurs when an organization finds that its current operations are not effective, and major changes are usually needed to rectify the problem.
turnaround strategy
_____ is an attempt to determine the extent to which a selection system provides real benefit to the organization.
utility analysis
