Intro to Business (Week 9)

Affirmative action

" refers to both mandatory and voluntary programs intended to affirm the civil rights of designated action emerge in 1967 and require government contractors to set "goals and timetables" for integrating and diversifying their work for force"

Employee compensation is the cost of acquiring human resources and may take the following forms:

- Annualized salary, wage or incentive payment structures and a range of benefits

Which of the following is an effective approach to professional development?

- Begin a formal program of study to achieve a certificate or degree

As the new Director of Diversity and Inclusion at your company, part of your job is to educate others in your company about the importance of diversity for your business. What argument might you present to support your case that diversity is good for business?

- Diverse teams lead to more innovative and effective ideas and implementations because diverse perspectives force people to go outside their normal paradigms of operation and consider other perspectives.

Which is true about at-will employment?

- Employers can fire employees at any time and without any reason

Employment anti-discrimination laws were enacted because people were treated unfairly based on characteristics unrelated to ability. What is the entity that enforces a number of federal anti-discrimination employment laws?

- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Federal anti-discrimination like installation requires employers to:

- Evaluate candidate and employees on factors related to performance and not protected categories such as color, disability or sex.

Our operating environment—the world—is dynamic and emerging trends represent both a challenge and opportunity for HR managers. Which of the following is an accurate assessment of the situation?

- Ht management is charged with managing the human resource-impacts of globalization, offshoring and outsourcing.

HR contributes to business success by:

- Implementing policies, practices and procedures that comply with the law and increase employee productivity.

Which law requires employers to maintain workplace conditions and adopt practices reasonably necessary to protect workers on the job?

- Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA)

Ahmed is a doctor who works both at a hospital and in private practice. He recently heard about a new technology that would allow him to improve medical record-keeping and prescription tracking for his patients. Ahmed is keen to evaluate this technology. What should Ahmed do to learn more?

- Participate in a professional development opportunity—he did hear about a conference coming up about technologies in the medical field.

Given HR's fundamental human capital management responsibility, retaining talent or minimizing employee turnover is a critical objective. Which of the following is an effective way to achieve that objective?

- Provide a stimulating workplace environment that promotes personal and professional growth

________ is the process of identifying suitable candidates and encouraging them to apply for job openings in the organization.

- Recruiting

Job turnover is a continual challenge for human resources since it costs money and time to bring new employees into an organization. According to employee job turnover research, which of the following was discovered to be a main reason people leave a company?

- The external marketplace had better job opportunities

National Labor Relations Act of 1935 legitimized and regulated labor unions. How is this act applied?

- The law forces collective bargaining in labor-management relations

Termination is, in brief, the end of the employer-employee relationships and may be voluntary or involuntary. Which of the following statements accurately reflects the distinction between the two types of termination?

- Voluntary termination is considered a "no fault" termination; an employee who is involuntary terminated is generally considered to be at fault

Labor and safety legislation assumes that:

- Workers have the right to a safe workplace

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers must provide reasonable accommodation to an employee or applicant with a disability, unless this accommodation would cause significant difficulty or expense for the employer. Under this act, which of the following would be true?

- an employer must provide a chair in shorter working hours, as medically requested, for an employee recovering from cancer

The process of performance appraisal normally includes at least one of the following, which would be:

- assessing the employee's performance, including rating their strengths and weaknesses in achieving specific goals.

Employees are more likely to continue working for and working hard at companies that:

- create a positive work environment and recognize employee contributions.

HR involves maximizing:

- employee productivity

Some strategies for reducing employee turnover include all EXCEPT:

- enforcing a mandatory company exercise program.

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 requires employers to verify the identity and employment authorization of all new hires, whether they are citizens or noncitizens. Employers must:

- ensure each employee in the US completes Form I-9.

In managing the recruitment process, an HR manager should identify a pool of qualified applicants by:

- evaluating and selecting both internal and external candidates based on job specifications which are the result of an analysis of the job/position.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires organizations to:

- give twelve weeks of unpaid leave in the event of an adoption or birth.

Human resource professionals help Walt Disney World make sure it has enough qualified "cast members" to provide visitors with a "magical" experience. This is an example of:

- how human resource management contributes to business success.

HR management has both hard and soft options for employee termination and the option chosen depends on the situation. If an organization seeks to downsize their staff but also avoid negative PR and a general decrease in motivation and productivity, an HR manager would:

- implement an incentive plan for early retirement or voluntary resignation

Human resource-related litigation:

- is generally attributed to manager mistakes

In order to be effective in retaining talent, HR managers need to understand what prompts employees to change jobs. Which of the following accurately reflects the situation?

- new challenge and opportunities and work-life balance are more important than salary and benefits

Involuntary termination is:

- osing your job—the employer fires the employee.

It's your first day on the job and the Human Resource manager is walking you through the new employee paperwork and explaining company benefits and incentives. She mentions that one of the upsides of strong performance is a $3,000 annual training bonus that can be used to take business courses at the local community college or attend relevant conferences or seminars. This bonus will enable you to engage in:

- professional development

When an organization's employees participate in formal vocational education or technical training leading to a qualification or credential that is required to obtain or retain employment this is known as:

- professional development

The National Labor Relations Act was created to:

- protect employees from retaliation should they join a union

A major focus of the staffing activities is:

- protecting the company from lawsuits by satisfying legal requirements.

An architectural firm fired an architect after she was injured in a fall and filed a workers' compensation claim. This is an example of a ________ and is illegal.

- retaliatory discharge

You just received an official job offer. Hurray! The offer states that the company will pay you $60,000 a year. As an exempt employee you understand that you will not be paid overtime even if you work more than 40 hours a week. This is an example of:

- salary

Sabrina works as a shoe salesperson. She is paid a regular hourly rate of $9 per hour plus a shared commission of any sales that transpire while she is working her shift. This is an example of:

- salary plus commission

The core functions of human resource management are:

- staffing - training and professional development - compensation - safety and health - employee and labor relations

The function of equal employment opportunity commission is to:

- stop and remedy unlawful employment discrimination

HR today includes strategic initiatives like:

- talent management

Employees that are terminated may or may not be rehired by the same employer. This is generally dependent on:

- the relationship the employee had with the employer, the amount of notice given by the employee prior to departure, and the needs of the employer.

Gloria was just promoted to a new job in the assembly department at a small manufacturing company. Gloria's manager wants her to gain the relevant knowledge, skills, and competencies she will need in order to become a productive member of the assembly team. Gloria's manager will need to arrange or provide:

- training for Gloria

A year ago, the engineering team at a company got a new boss to oversee them. Things were fine at first, but a few months, there was a disagreement between some of the team and the boss. The boss publicly undermined the team's work on a project to management and continued to micromanage them. The atmosphere continued to be tense and strained a year later. Some of the team interviewed with other companies, two team members received offers and handed in their resignations. This is an example of what human resources would call

- turnover because of a poor relationship with a manager.

In order to be strategic when participating in the recruiting process, HR professionals must:

- understand the labor market

Performance appraisal is a process of assessing an individual employee's job performance relative to pre-established criteria and organizational objectives. Which of the following is an effective approach to professional development:

- using a 2+2 (complement plus constructive feedback) method

During the screening portion of the hiring process:

-managers strive to identify the best applicants at the lowest cost.

EEOC stands for:

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Employment anti-discrimination laws were enacted because people were treated unfairly based on characteristics unrelated to ability. What is the entity that enforces a number of federal anti-discrimination employment laws?

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

What is the EEOC and what does it do?

It is an agency established by the civil's right act of 1964 and the agencies mission is to stop and remedy unlawful employment discrimination

SMART

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-related

Training

Teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies

training needs assessment

a systematic and objective analysis of both the employee and organizational knowledge, skills, and abilities to identify gaps or areas of need.

performance appraisal

a systematic and periodic process that assesses an individual employee's job performance and productivity, in relation to certain pre-established criteria and organizational objectives.

Human resource management (HRM or HR)

the management of human resources

Turnover

the rate at which employees leave an organization