Chapter review I got wrong

What is the salary threshold for a worker to be classified as exempt?

$23,660

If a leave under FMLA can be reasonably anticipated, how much notice must be employee give the employer?

30 days

Workforce analysis

A systematic approach to anticipate human capital needs and data HR professionals can use to ensure that appropriate knowledge, skills, or abilities will be available when needed to accomplish organizational goals and objectives

Which budgeting method is based on an HR leader comparing how much it cost to complete an initiative versus its strategic significance?

Activity based Activity based budgeting recognizes the intorelationships among various activities required to create value in an organization. Depending on how much different enterprise activities cost to perform, funding may be allocated based on the activity strategic significance

Job bidding

Allows qualified employees to apply for opportunities

What is the best method to respond to ITs fear about outsourcing?

Analyze whether the effects of outsourcing IT align with the long-term strategic objectives of the organization This is the correct answer because it first considers the issue of whether the outcomes of outsourcing IT align with the organization strategic goals. This approaches as the leadership and navigation competency.

Which of the following statements best describes cultural determinism?

The culture made me do it Cultural determinism is a perspective that basically solves individuals of any responsibility for their actions. Global HR professionals will often hear from managers in other countries that something cannot be done because of the local culture. This may call for further discussion about the supposed obstacles

Which of the following best supports the business case for employee retention?

Turnover and talent shortages affect organizational performance Systematic management of employee retention can increase performance, productivity, employee morale, and quality of work and can reduce turnover and employee related problems.

What benefit is served by analyzing an organizations body chain?

Appreciation of relationships between contributors to value The value chain shows the interconnections between all the internal and external functions that contribute to creating value for the customer

Balance Scorecard

Can serve as a way of focusing human resource staff on activities that will support the company's goals by linking clearly defined department objectives and performance to the company's strategic business goals

What is the difference between career planning and career management?

Career planning responsibility lies with the individual; career management responsibility lies with the organization In career planning, employees assess their skills and develop a career path. Career management responsibility lies with the organization as it prepares, implement, and monitors and employees career path, with a primary focus on the needs of the organization

Sales people are polled to determine their top training needs. The majority say they want to be able to identify key decision makers and their needs. What learning activity would work best for this?

Case studies Case studies give participants a chance to analyze sales situations and determine how to best approach each of the key decision-makers and determine their needs. The case study format allows the sales person to play an active role in their learning, share their account management tips, and learn from each other

Which of the following activities would be most useful in an organizational in intervention to reshape culture?

Identifying recognized heroes The first step in cultural transformation is to understand the current culture, which can be done by observing meaningful stories, rituals, and people as well as language and patterns of communication and decision making

A manager tends to use his position in the organizations hierarchy to justify his decisions. What type of powers is manager demonstrating?

Legitimate The power that leads that leaders employee can derive from various sources. Legitimate power derives from one's position in organizational rights. Referent power derives from the leaders personality. Coercive power derives from the ability to punish undersigned undesirable behavior conversely, reward power derives from the ability to reward desirable behavior. Expert power derives from an individual's unique intelligence, insight, or experience.

What should a human resource professional do you to prepare global assignees for their international assignments?

Discuss country specific risks Even if the likelihood of an incident is very small, and assignee who is fully educated about potential risks and avoidance strategies will be more confident in about accepting an assignment and more enthusiastic about the experience that lies ahead

An organization plans to compete with highly trained employees with unique skill sets. What activity should be a primary focus of HR?

Employee retention and succession planning An organization that competes with highly trained employees with specialized skill sets is pursuing a differentiation strategy based upon the unique experience of its talent. Therefore the HR strategy should be focused on retaining current employees and with succession planning. This will ensure that there are career paths and internal opportunities as the cost, time to fill, and maintaining the competitive advantage is most important. Recruiting the right talent and maintaining an environment in which employees can thrive is important in any organization, but it does not specifically address how the HR strategy will follow the organizations competitive strategy.

HR manager Sue makes sure that her HR staff has access to leading best practices and theories. What key element of Sue's leadership is she demonstrating according to Kouzes and Posner?

Enabling her staff to act

Which of the following activities is most likely to protect sensitive corporate data?

Encrypting employee computers and network communications Sensitive data can be protected by encrypting employee laptops, desktops, and network communications to ensure secure storage and sharing of confidential information

A company has been successful in recruiting a diverse workforce but has not seen a diversification of top management ranks. Which program might be most successful in addressing this problem?

Mentorship program Many organizations may be successful in attracting a diverse workforce but less successful in creating opportunities and environment for the promotion of diverse employees. A mentorship program may facilitate this. Hiring quotas and targets may lead to less qualified candidates being promoted and may and dent and engender a backlash. Sensitivity/diversity training and sexual-harassment training may be useful but are likely to be insufficient to support the development and promotion of diverse top management ranks

In an organization with a multicultural workforce, which measure designed to minimize the need for discipline may be hindered by a high power distance culture?

Establishing a climate of communication This is correct because in a high power distance culture, there is a greater acceptance of an inequality of power and there is less open communication between management and employees. High power distance has no impact on the other positive workplace measures

An organization Is in the process of updating its compensation system and has started the task of evaluating jobs and grouping those with similar duties together. Which documents would be most useful for this purpose?

Job descriptions The job description is a written record of job duties and responsibilities and will be most valuable in grouping jobs with similar duties

Which of the following determines the relative worth of each job in an organization?

Job evaluation Job evaluation determines the relative worth of each job by establishing a hierarchy of jobs within an organization. It is intertwined with a concern for internal pay equity

A manager leaves an organization to follow a transferred spouse. Which recruiting practice would be readily accessible to current employees and help the employer pinpoint and identify qualified internal candidates for the open job?

Job posting Job posting should provide a brief description of the job, including significant job duties and minimum qualifications, education, and experience. Efficient and effective job posting allows employees to easily express interest in position announcements and reward the employer with the ability to pinpoint and Identify qualified internal candidates.

A midsized software organization is preparing to acquire two smaller software firms. The organizations that are being acquired will work both individually and collaboratively on new product lines with multiple dual roles. All three organizations are currently competitors, and they have strong opinions about their competitor's competencies. Which type of organizational effectiveness intervention should be used to manage the change to dual reporting rules post acquisition?

Organizational structure/design intervention strategy And organizational structure or design intervention identifies and implement features such as reporting relationships and collaborative processes. Teambuilding activities may be used later, but a structure and relationships must be defined first. Cultural reconciliation and alignment with strategy are also important but do not address the specific problem mentioned in the question.

As it relates to diversity and inclusion, what is the phenomenon of covering?

Promoting cultural assimilation Covering is the phenomenon of promoting cultural assimilation rather than inclusion. Maintaining good documentation is generally good practice in HR, but this is not referred to as "covering". Keeping a complaint confidential may be appropriate in some circumstances, but this is not referred to as "covering"

What company is using a corporate strategy of differentiation?

A company develops a product that is uniquely easy to use and charges a premium price Differentiation focuses on setting a product or service apart by giving it unique characteristics that consumers value and for which they will pay a premium. The other options deal with ways to create a cost advantage

SWOT analysis

A method for assessment of an organization strategic capabilities through use of the environmental scanning process by which internal and external factors affecting achievement of organizational goals are identified and considered

Strategic assessment

A plan of action for identifying and accomplishing an organizations overall and long range goals

A business operates in an industry characterized by high level of competition. The sales function is evaluated on its ability to build market share. What service could HR provide to the sales function?

Consultation on the sales force incentive compensation design HR can provide a service to its internal customers by designing a salesforce incentive system that targets the tractive of building market share. Executive compensation will not necessarily achieve this goal. The skills and knowledge analysis would need it would be needed in any workforce and competitive setting. An investment in research may not be fruitful if competitive strategies keep changing

What is the best way to handle the confusion regarding changes to the compensation model?

Create a presentation that can be used by HR managers across the organization to communicate changes in compensation and bonuses

Does satisfaction among clerical staff is high, as measured by turnover and mystic rates. Exit interviews indicate boredom as a primary reason for leaving. What strategy would be most successful in addressing this problem?

Expanding the tasks to be performed Expanding the number of different tasks we performed, or job enlargement, will help by providing more variety and challenge. For example, a secretary may be asked not just to distribute mail but Then open it and then route it to the appropriate person. Increasing the complexity of the task would be adding pointless busywork. Increasing the number of people doing the job provide diversion but would hurt productivity. Transferring would not deal with the essential problem, although job rotation might work. In job rotation, employees shift to different tasks according to a daily or weekly schedule

How should HR best influence leaders to understand the impact that job analysis has on organizational success?

Explain to leaders how job analysis identifies the linkage between tasks and company goals by documenting accurate and relevant description of jobs and KSAs All jobs must be interrelated to accomplish the organizations mission and goals, and job analysis is the first step in the process. Accurate job descriptions have many uses, and their value is maximized only through job analysis performed in a collaborative manner. Comparing job descriptions to to the survey benchmark descriptions may be useful, but this does not support accomplishing the organizations objectives. Job analysis needs interaction between HR and supervisors at the start of the process, but it is not the job description that serves as the basis for employee discussions. Job analysis does not directly impact organizational development initiatives.

What is the dominant characteristic of a learning organization?

Failures viewed as opportunities to make change The learning organization is a systems level concept in which an organization is characterized by its ability to adapt to changes in its environment and respond quickly to lessons of experience by altering organizational behavior

HR generalist, who may be located within divisions or other locales, implement policies, adapt them as needed, and interact with employees. Which type of HR structure is this?

Functional In a functional HR organization, headquarters HR is staffed with specialists who craft policies. This type of organization is often found in the least diversified, but not necessarily small, organizations. A dedicated HR structure allows organizations with different strategies in multiple units to apply each our expertise to each unit specific strategic needs. Centralized HR is characterized by having all HR personnel located within the HR department and from their delivering services to all parts of the organization. Headquarters or corporate makes all HR policy and strategy decisions and coordinates all HR Tivitt he's and programs. In decentralized HR, each part of the organization controls its own HR issues. Strategy and policy may still be made at headquarters, with HR staff within function, business unit, or location carrying out the required activities

Based on the upstream/downstream metaphor for resolving the standardization/localization dilemma, which of the following activities is more more likely to be driven at the global, rather than local, level?

Goal setting Goal setting will likely be completed by the organization. This will help to ensure consistency among the locations and sites within the global enterprise

Senior management has determined that a reduction in force RIF is the only way that it can address financial difficulties. Which action would best minimize the impact of the downsizing on the organization and employee morale?

Grant additional benefits to employees who volunteered to be separated Both the organization and the employees can benefit during an RIF when the employer offers additional benefits often to certain types of employees who volunteer to be terminated. For the organization, a voluntary RIF creates opportunities for restructuring and assist in meeting its fiscal responsibilities. For employees, a voluntary RIF may facilitate an employee's transition to retirement in an early "at will" separation can provide access to government financial assistance for the pursuit of other career opportunities.

A multinational organization allows its labor relationship to be managed entirely by the local subsidiary. This relationship is referred to as...

Hands off A hands off approach is a locally responsive strategy. The industrial relationship is entirely locally managed

A non-governmental organization has recently reviewed a five-year community health program. The HR team has been tasked with analyzing trends and making recommendations about future expansion. What activity will require the use of cultural intelligence?

How family and community leader ship dynamics influence access to health services and education One competency of affective goal organizations is cultural intelligence. Cultural intelligence is the capacity to recognize, interpret, and behaviorally adapt to cultural context. When making an effort to develop and enhance cultural intelligence, organizations may tend to focus on the cognitive aspect when it is advisable to use a comprehensive approach that place is equal focus on cognitive, motivational, and behavioral components

How can an organization that is experiencing high turnover minimize the learning curve for new employees?

Immediately provide appropriate access to the organization's information library And organizations knowledge management system can expose new employees to information that supports their understanding of past practices and actions, which can make them current on various work projects, actions, and status. When you employees have immediate access to the knowledge management system and gain this type of knowledge, they can begin contributing immediately. The other answer choices are all valuable but will not have an immediate impact on the learning curve

A retail chains business model requires the handling of cash and credit/debit cards by a large number of cashiers who do not typically stay for long with the employer. What action reflects the appropriate party for this risk?

Implement immediate technical controls Especially because of the potential for loss and misuse of customer information in the resulting impact on the company's brand and probably it's finances, this risk it has a high priority. It should be dealt with immediately and thoroughly perhaps through new technology that separates the cashier from access to digital information or processes that quickly detect and investigate discrepancies in cash accounts

An organization conducts a pay survey and finds that some of its employees key employees are underpaid. They want to raise the pay for these employees but are concerned about adding to their salary burden. Which of the following is the best option?

Incentive pay By definition, incentive pay is paying for performance beyond normal expectations. Employees receive the incentive pay only if specific goals are met. As long as the incentive pay and base pay are not commingled, employees should perceive it as a reward and not as an entitlement. The employer will benefit with a greater return on investment for performance beyond normal expectations.

Which best demonstrates the organizational impact of a union avoidance strategy?

Increased flexibility in management decisions This is the correct answer because the lack of the union will allow for more flexibility in management decisions

What is a benefit corporation, or B Corp?

International certification of corporate sustainability achievement The nonprofit be lab uses detailed measures of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency to assess an organizations maturity on the corporate sustainability curve. An organization that has transformed itself as a result of a commitment to see has our principles receive certification as a benefit corporation (B Corp)

A benefits manager is looking for a creative program to assist employees with retirement planning. If cost is a strong factor in the decision, which is the best choice the benefits manager should consider?

Invite employees to the benefits office to discuss retirement options Discussing options is a cost efficient way to help employees plan for retirement. Providing only required benefits is not very creative. The employer bears that investment risk with defined benefit plans. If cost is a concern, this may be a risky choice. How retirement payments are handled Mary's and it's complicated. Before making decisions on changing retirement plans or creating new ones, experts with strong country specific expertise must be consulted to discuss long-term liability for changes. Paying out retirement benefits in one lump sum may not be the best option to help employees with retirement planning

How is sustainability viewed in the first stage of the corporate social responsibility CSR maturity curve?

It is an issue of compliance and the cost of doing business Sustainability is viewed as a matter of compliance and a necessary business cost in the first step on the CSR maturity curve. Next the organization sees it as a matter of self interest. The final stage sees sustainability becoming part of the organizations culture

job posting

Notifies employees of available positions

Which step might an organization take to retain a multi generational workforce?

Offer employees a broad range of customized benefits Organizations with multiple generations in their workforce should offer a broad range of employee benefits that serve a diverse group of employees across generations and family structures. Mission statements and training are important but specific programs will build the infrastructure needed to support a diverse workforce. Targets for promotion may not be in compliance with local laws and could have negative unanticipated consequences

What policy encourages employees to speak to management first regarding suggestions, concerns, or complaints?

Open door policy

Which of the following is a common action taken in the United States to lower budgets that would most likely violate compensation laws in other countries?

Reduce base salary levels Decreasing an employee salary is illegal in most countries, particularly in Latin America and Europe. It is legal in the United States

Which is the best and most objective way for HR to support its position of blending both cultures and convince leadership to move forward with the recommendation?

Research evidence-based practices that support the recommendation from HR This is the best response because evidence-based research will allow HR to provide objective data to leadership.

Which approach best enables the HR manager to evaluate the Effectiveness of the new compensation system to increase sales?

Review existing research and literature on best practices to see if similar changes and other organizations have been effective This is the best answer because it uses research conducted in another organization. Although the findings may or may not generalize to this company, the approach is very inexpensive and easy and takes advantage of rigorous research conducted by academics and experienced HR professionals

And organization or it's chief executive officer adopts a risk position based on which factors?

Risk appetite and risk tolerance The organization is influenced by its attitude about risk; it's view of risk as an opportunity or something to avoid. The rest position depends on the amount of uncertainty the organization is willing to pursue or to except to reach its goals. Employees risk awareness and resiliency is important in responding to risk situations, but they do not establish do you organizations risk position. The government and the community guide the organization in what is expected in the way of risk, but the organizations tell me decide to implement some risky actions. Are the shareholders expectations are important to an organization, the CEO as the decision maker sets the culture for the organization and how it views and tolerates risk

Which of the following is a compensable factor?

Skills Compensable factors reflect how work is done and are supported by documentation such as job descriptions. The compensable factors flow from the work itself and not the employee holding the job. Therefore, seniority is not a compensable factor in determining the relative worth of a job.

A risk scorecard provides a weighted number for each of vent or threat in the probability of that threat occurring. Which other factors are needed to complete a threat ranking index?

Speed of onset, existing mitigation, and severity of impact A risk score card starts by I tend to find the event or threat. After factoring in the event/threat probability, speed of onset, existing medication, and severity of the impact, the user will see a final number that displays a weighted threat ranking index. Risk level, impact, and the probability of event occurrence are components of a risk matrix that visually demonstrates risk levels. Risk category, classification, and reporting requirements may be documented in a risk register but used in scoring. Known unknowns and unknown unknowns are categories of risk from the perspective of the amount and kinds of knowledge available when evaluating the risk

An HR manager is planning to outsource the creation of the employee newsletter, which has long been created by several HR staff with input from departments. What possible negative outcome should the manager consider?

Staff motivation and attitude The staff may not necessarily be eager to give up the project. They may be personally invested in it in their job satisfaction harmed by losing the project. The project may also be a valuable way for HR staff to interact with other departments. If the newsletter is outsource, control over the project cost and scheduling can be managed. The communication of a strategic message is not itself a strategic activity, so the outsourcing does not transfer a core strategic activity outside of the organization

A company is experiencing high turnover of female engineers. Which initiative should the company support in its effort to improve retention rates?

Support an affinity group Employee affinity groups provide important social and professional support for employees that can increase commitment to the organization and subsequently reduce turnover. A culture survey may reveal inside but will not capture the sentiments of those employees who have already left the firm. Increased recruiting a female engineers does not Address the problem of retention. Increased compensation could somewhat slow turnover but is unlikely to have a sustaining impact and could raise other problems related to equity and fairness in compensation.

An employee Elects a $500 annual deferment in his section 125 flexible benefits plan. His employer pays an FSA claim for $500 in March. In April, the employee terminate his employment after deferring only $290 to his plan. What happens in this situation?

The employee is entitled to the full reimbursement for $500 FSA healthcare claims below the annual elected deferral must be paid by the employer when they are incurred even though the employees FSA payroll deductions have not created a sufficient balance to cover the expense

It cosmetics company opens a division in a geographical area where it has never competed before. It ops for a strategy of localization. What is the likely effect on HR?

The local HR office will develop a code of conduct, policies, and procedures and submit them for headquarters review Localization of neighbors and organization to better meet specific legal and cultural requirements. Policies and procedures will be developed locally and reviewed by headquarters to ensure that they are consistent with organizational strategy and values. Local HR personnel will not have to be trained in headquarters practices. International assignments may be more difficult because of differences in practices. A local strategy does not imply greater laxity in performance

Why are written job descriptions a good strategic tool?

They provide reference for job seekers as well as incumbents, managers, and supervisors.

What is one of the disadvantages of implementing multiple smaller systems sometimes known as "best of bread" to support multiple HR functions?

This solution could pose difficulties in integrating data across applications The solution could post difficulty is an in integrating data across multiple platforms due to the different systems. Multiple systems will have multiple customizations. Also, it actually does offer the best solution in each functional area and it does not reduce the complexity of vendor management, because multiple systems will most likely have multiple vendors to manage

An organization establishes an ESOP by:

Using stock as collateral to borrow capital from a financial institution In an ESOP, companies provide their employees with stock ownership, often at no upfront cost to the employees. ESOP shares, however, are part of the employees remuneration for work performed. Shares are allocated to employees and may be held in an ESOP trust until the employee retires or leaves the company. The ESOP can borrow money to buy shares, with the company making tax-deductible contributions to the plan to enable it to repay the loan

Since 1978 the uniform guidelines on employee selection procedures have required that many employers do what?

Validate each step of their employment selection process

When would it be better to use a hard approach with a potential vendor during negotiations?

When the strategic importance of the relationship in the time available to negotiate are both low Hard negotiations are committed to winning even at the cost of the relationship. Does a hard approach would be a good choice for a situation in which the strategic importance in the time available are low

What type of strike occurs without the approval of union leadership?

Wildcat strikes Wildcat strikes our work stoppages that neither sanctioned nor stimulated by the union, although the union officials may be aware of them. These strikes may also take form of excessive absences, especially when there are no strike clauses in contracts. Jurisdictional strikes are the result of disagreements between unions; they occur when one unions members walk out to force an employer to assign work to them instead of to another union. Sympathy strikes occur when one union expresses it's support for another union strike even though it has no dispute with the employer. Economic strikes are strikes that occur when collective-bargaining fails to reach an agreement