MGT 461 Exam 1
The reliability and validity of quantitative methods of job analysis have significantly reduced the importance of human judgment in job analysis.
False
Typical data collected for job analysis would include relationships with suppliers and customers.
False
Hourly compensation costs for production workers in manufacturing are higher in ______ than in the United States.
Germany
Which of the following is NOT included in a strategy map?
HR alignment
Today, job analysis is typically performed by _____.
HR generalists and supervisors
Which of the following pay structures procedures would NOT increase perceptions of pay fairness?
Hiring consultants to develop the pay structure
A measure of how changes in one variable are related to changes in another variable is the __________.
correlation coefficient
James says, "I don't trust the way the company determines pay rates in my department." If James feels this way despite being happy with his current salary, he is most likely concerned about _____.
procedural justice
Among employers that provide health insurance, the cost to provide family coverage per year per employee is approximately _____.
$16,000
Nina is a high-performing individual who works best alone. Which of the following companies is the most appropriate for her?
A company that uses a hierarchical pay structure to pay its employees based on performance
Which of the following is the correct order of the steps in formulating a total compensation strategy?
Assess the strategy, map the strategy, implement the strategy, and reassess the strategy.
Which of the following is a policy, and NOT an objective, in the pay model?
Competitiveness
Which of the following is NOT a test of whether a pay strategy is a source of competitive advantage?
Cost-effectiveness test
Organization factors that shape internal pay structures include all BUT which of the following?
Cultures and customs
Which of the following is an example of a relational return?
Employment security
Which of the following is NOT a factor in defining equal work according to the Equal Pay Act?
Equal experience
According to the text, which of the following decisions should be made jointly?
External competitiveness and employee contribution decisions.
Which of the following is a fundamental objective, and NOT a policy, in the pay model?
Fairness
A study of IBM showed that its long-standing policy of no layoffs was the major cause of its strong profits.
False
All job incumbents can easily complete the PAQ as the reading level required for it is relatively low.
False
Customer-focused pay strategies are most likely to use market-based pay.
False
Whole Foods' shared-fate philosophy means that executive salaries are at least 19 times the average pay of full-time employees.
False
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
Focusing only on one dimension of the pay strategy is a best practice.
Which of the following statements regarding reliability of job analysis is NOT true?
Gender and race of analysts affect reliability
Which form of pay does not permanently increase labor costs?
Incentive
________ refers to comparisons among jobs or skills inside a single organization.
Internal alignment
Which of the following is NOT true?
Large raises with a promotion decreases effort and increases absenteeism.
In the formula predicting performance, the component most closely related to compensation is _____.
M
Which of the following companies is taking efforts to improve the work/life balance of its employees?
MH Corp. increases the number of paid holidays given to its senior employees.
_____ are related to greater performance when the work flow depends on individual contributors.
More hierarchical structures
In the context of pay relationships, which of the following is illegal in the United States?
Paying on the basis of one's age
Hierarchical pay structures have all BUT which of the following characteristics?
Prefer team performance over individual performance
_______ is the measure of how important total compensation is in the overall HR strategy.
Prominence
Most unions prefer which of the following?
Small pay differences among jobs and seniority-based promotions.
Which of the following is often the largest component in an executive pay package?
Stock options
Common bases for modern pay structures include all BUT which of the following?
The extent of external competitiveness and equity
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of aligned pay structures?
They are designed to increase the turnover rate.
Which theory predicts that individual performance will be maximized when the pay differentials between job levels is large?
Tournament theory
_____ refers to openness and communication about pay.
Transparency
Which of the following programs introduced by Congress includes restrictions on executive pay that are designed to discourage executives from taking "unnecessary and excessive risks"?
Troubled Asset Relief Program
A compensation strategy should reflect an organization's values.
True
The level at which analysis begins affects whether the work is similar or dissimilar.
True
The verification process of job analysis is conducted with both the supervisor and the job incumbents.
True
Wage legislation affects the wage structure at both the minimum and the maximum pay level.
True
Based on the opinions of 10,000 U.S. workers, Hudson found that when given their choice of unconventional benefits, most employees would select _____.
a more flexible work schedule
The verification step of the government's job analysis method is always conducted with _____.
all the interviewees together
A compensation system focusing on system control and work specifications is most closely associated with a(n) ______ strategy.
cost-cutter
A difference between incentives and merit increases is that incentives _______.
do not increase the base wage, whereas merit increases the base wage
According to the government's procedures of the job analysis process, the first interview should be conducted with the _____.
first-level supervisor
The degree to which pay influences individual and aggregate motivation among employees at any point in time is referred to as a(n) ________.
incentive effect
Flexible-generic job descriptions would most likely be used with a(n) _____ strategy.
innovator
Organizations in a turbulent and unpredictable environment requiring flexibility in jobs and work processes are likely to be more successful with a(n) _______ internal pay structure.
loosely coupled
Issues of transparency, technology, and choice are most closely associated with the _____ aspect of mapping a total compensation strategy.
management
The role non-HR managers play in making pay decisions is called ______.
ownership
A specific statement of what a worker does on a job is known as a(n) ____.
task
The job analysis method that uses information input, mental processes, work output, job context, other job characteristics, relationships with other persons, and general dimensions is _____.
the PAQ
The problem that is most likely to be faced by organizations using an egalitarian pay structure is ________.
the difficulty in external recruitment
Content refers to the ____.
work performed in a job and how it gets done
Pay structure refers to the array of pay rates for different work or skills between competing companies.
False
Pay structures are immune to changes in external factors such as skill shortages.
False
Procedural fairness suggests that the way a pay decision is made is of less importance to employees than the results of the decision.
False
Recent research shows that different jobs, such as computer programmer and first-line supervisor, have significantly different rates of importance and job requirements across countries.
False
Reducing the number of job titles in a pay structure tends to raise morale and reduce turnover.
False
Research on the effects of pay level shows that how employees are paid has no effect on the performance of the employees.
False
Since unions represent such a small fraction of the labor force their influence on pay decisions is relatively minor.
False
Mike, a job analyst, is in the process of conducting a job analysis. He is given an initial tour of the work site by George, a first-level supervisor, and by Haley, a new recruit. According to the conventional job analysis procedures developed by the U.S. federal government, which of the following steps should Mike perform next?
Mike should conduct an interview with George to get an overview of the job.
Both skills and competencies can be used as the basis for developing an internal structure.
True
Causality is one of the most difficult questions to answer and continues to be an important and sometimes perplexing problem for researchers.
True
Commissions are an example of incentives.
True
Internal alignment refers to comparisons among job or skill levels inside a single organization.
True
Labor unions support small pay differentials.
True
Most U.S. firms use merit pay increases.
True
Most organizations do not engage in any regular updating of job analysis information.
True
Objectives guide the design of pay systems and provide the standards for evaluating their effectiveness.
True
Pay systems should fit well with other HR systems.
True
Pension and health benefits are a very large component of total compensation for many large companies such as American Airlines and GM.
True
Providing unlimited compensation choices to employees would meet the disapproval from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
True
Strategy refers to the fundamental direction that an organization chooses.
True
The decisions to implement pay for performance, flat rate pay, and profit sharing are examples of _____ policy decisions.
employee contributions
Research investigating high-performance workplaces found that performance-based pay _______ when combined with other high-performance practices.
improves attitudes and behaviors
Variable pay may also be called _____.
incentives
Robert, the CEO of GameTrack Corp., wants to restructure the pay plan without increasing the labor costs in the long run. He is most likely to achieve this, while retaining his top employees, by ________.
increasing incentive pay and decreasing base pay
Base wage is the overtime pay given to employees who are exempt from regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
False
Base wage reflects both the value of the work and individual employee skills and experience.
False
CEOs of organizations with egalitarian pay structures usually have higher salaries than that of CEOs in organizations with hierarchical pay structures.
False
Which of the following is NOT one of the factors that define an internal pay structure?
The number of times the pay structure has been changed
Compensation systems focusing on competitors' labor costs typically follow a cost-cutter strategy.
True
If the objective is to increase customer satisfaction, then incentive programs and merit pay might be used to pay for performance.
True
In a virtuous circle, a pay-for-performance strategy results in the improvement of performance.
True
Most job structures are best described as _____.
both person- and job-based structures.
All of the following EXCEPT ______ are bases for judging job analysis.
cost
Joshua believes that treating employees equally will improve their job satisfaction, which in turn will increase their work productivity and performance. In accordance to his beliefs, he wants to reduce the number of job levels and the pay differentials between the levels. In this case, he is most likely to use a(n) _____.
egalitarian pay structure
The alignment test ______.
helps ensure passing the differentiation test.
External factors are dominant influences on jobs filled via ______.
hiring graduates
The Americans With Disabilities Act's essential-elements requirement for hiring and promotion decisions seems to require less detail than what is required for pay decisions.
False
The content of a job refers to the worth of the job and its relative contribution to the organization's objectives.
False
The degree to which pay influences individual and aggregate motivation among employees is called the sorting effect.
False
A layered pay structure is more hierarchical than a delayered pay structure and less egalitarian in terms of number of levels.
True
Teachers will feel pay structures are fair even when they are relatively low in the internal structure if they work in a high-paying school district.
True
The content and value of work are the most common bases for determining internal structures.
True
Jacob works at PrimeClean Corp., a carwash company. He is asked to follow a set of instructions in a predetermined order to wash a car. All the details including the amount of washing liquid to use for each type of car are clearly specified. In this case, Jacob's company is most likely to use a _____.
closely tailored pay structure
According to the Hudson survey, _______ is the single thing that would make 41 percent of the U.S. workers happier.
more money
In mapping a total compensation strategy, the question of how important compensation is in the overall HR strategy is part of______.
objectives
Conventional methods of collection job information are _______.
open to bias and favoritism
When organization performance declines _______.
performance-based pay plans do not pay off.
Pay for temporary workers is based upon ________.
the internal structure of their home employer
Apart from being reliable, a job analysis is also considered valid if _____.
the results converge among various sources of data and methods.
Incentives do not permanently increase labor costs because________.
they are one-time payments
The most common way to collect job information is ______.
to ask incumbents to fill out a questionnaire
Marginal productivity theory argues that employers pay ______.
use value
Egalitarian pay structures send the message that the organization values differences in work content, individual skills, and contributions to the organization.
False
Even if the federal compensation laws change, it is unnecessary to change pay systems to ensure continued compliance.
False
Exchange value is always higher than use value.
False
Greater pay dispersion is related to lower turnover among executives.
False
In a high-performance system, pay strategy always plays a lead role.
False
In the context of work-related internal structure, job-based and person-based structures use similar methods but have different purposes.
False
Management and HR research has conclusively shown that goal setting and job enrichment produce the largest and most reliable increases in job performance.
False
Most organizations rely upon the market to determine how to pay their employees as compensation strategy is uncertain and complex.
False
A major challenge facing most employers is the rising cost of health care benefits.
True
A major challenge in the design of future pay systems is how to better satisfy individual needs and preferences.
True
A potential problem in egalitarian pay structures is that high-performing employees may feel underpaid and quit.
True
A study found that only a very small amount of change in CEO pay is related to changes in company performance.
True
According to the marginal productivity theory, employers pay use value to their employees.
True
All organizations that pay their employees have a compensation strategy even though it may not be stated or written.
True
An increasingly common method of conducting job analysis is quantitative job analysis, which is conducted on a website.
True
An organization defines its strategy through the tradeoffs it makes in choosing what to do and what not to do.
True
Both external and organization factors shape internal pay structures.
True
Internal alignment is sometimes called internal equity.
True
Pay differences among levels in an organization are called differentials.
True
Pay structure refers to the array of pay rates for different work or skills within a single organization.
True
One of the reasons why 8 in 10 of the uninsured in the United States are from working families is that ________.
many small employers are much less likely than large employers to offer health insurance to their employees.
You are an HR manager, and your boss has told you to find the best way to raise job performance. After some research, you find that _____ have the greatest instrumental value.
monetary incentives
Managers seek internal alignment within their organization by______.
paying on the basis of similarities among jobs
Trying to measure an ROI for any compensation strategy implies that______.
people are "human capital", similar to other factors of production
The government's job analysis procedures recommend interviewing ______.
the typical employee
If several incumbents, supervisors, and peers respond in similar ways to job analysis questionnaires, it suggests that the results are most likely to be ______.
valid
Recent surveys show that, on average, an outstanding performer receives a _____ merit increase, an average performer a ______ merit increase, and a poor performer a 0.4% merit increase.
4.4%; 2.8%
Which of the following is an ordering of jobs based on their content or relative value?
Job structure
Which of the following is given as an increment to the base pay in recognition of past work behavior?
Merit pay
Which of the following is NOT a question to ask for determining if research has value?
Was the research conducted by PhD researchers?
The best way to establish _________ is to account for competing explanations, either statistically or through control groups.
causation
When job analysis shows that managers and employees disagree on parts of a job, the best answer is to ______.
collect more data
In firefighting and rescue squads and global software design teams, a(n) ______ structure is most closely associated with higher performance.
egalitarian
Incentives and merit guidelines are techniques of the _____ policy of the pay model.
employee contributions
Compensation policy choices that affect the pay level relative to other companies are most closely associated with the _______ aspect of the pay model.
external competitiveness
A set of identical positions makes a _____.
job
The process of collecting information that identifies the similarities and differences among jobs is known as ______.
job analysis
Engineering, sales, and maintenance are examples of ______.
job families
A group of tasks performed by one person makes up a(n) ____.
position