SHRM CP Practice Test
What is the crucial starting point for an organization that is implementing a shared value program? Answers Reporting and analyzing Measuring the shared value Understanding stakeholder's needs and motivations Understanding how operations impact those outside the organization
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Which is the best example of a benchmarked job? Answers A position serving as the basis of the salary structure A position requiring unusual knowledge, skills, and experience A unique and important position shown on the career paths of many employees A position found on the organizational charts of a variety of organizations
.A position found on the organizational charts of a variety of organizations
Which action best supports compensation plans to ensure equal pay? Answers Conduct a job evaluation to provide objective justification. Designate a point factor system for pay grades and ranges. Review annual performance appraisals that are directly tied to performance. Describe explanation of benefits and opportunities for bonuses.
.Conduct a job evaluation to provide objective justification.
What is one of the most common criticisms of the 360-degree feedback system? Answers It is difficult to use for all positions in an organization. It is difficult to use the instruments to create a developmental plan. The feedback comes from a number of individuals so it is difficult to validate. Raters are not likely to be honest if they feel their comments may be used to punish the person being rated.
.Raters are not likely to be honest if they feel their comments may be used to punish the person being rated.
Which phase of the HRIS system development life cycle involves identifying new needs and defining the system's scope? Answers Short-range operational planning Functional analysis Business process reengineering Long-term maintenance
.Short-range operational planning
In which circumstance may a position be classified as exempt under the FLSA? Answers The employer's budget does not include funds for paying overtime wages. The employee willingly works overtime but does not ask to be paid for it. The employee's job requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on significant tasks. The employee is paid as an independent contractor.
.The employee's job requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on significant tasks.
A department executive notifies the VP of HR that an involuntary termination needs to occur the following day, when the VP of HR is scheduled to leave on a planned vacation. The VP of HR immediately meets with the only other HR staff member, an HR analyst who was promoted two months ago from an office administrator position, to summarize the situation and offer guidance on how to handle the termination. The next day during the termination meeting, the department executive informs the employee about the termination, says that HR will explain the rest of the process, then quickly leaves the room. The company's management believes terminating employees is HR's responsibility, and management team members reluctantly participate. However, company policy states it is a dual responsibility of HR and management. The HR analyst can only remember some key points from the meeting with the VP of HR to explain the reason for the termination, prompting the employee to comment about its unfairness. The HR analyst ignores these comments and escorts the employee to collect personal belongings before departing the building. The employee spends a significant amount of time removing electronic files, collecting belongings, and explaining the situation to coworkers. The HR analyst quietly waits for the employee to finish, not knowing how to expedite the uncomfortable situation. Eventually, the employee leaves without incident. Upon the VP of HR's return, the HR analyst explains the situation and associated challenges. The VP of HR praises the analyst, but provides no additional feedback. Which would have been the best response from the HR analyst to the employee regarding the unfairness of the termination? Answers Ask additional questions to understand why the employee felt the termination was unfair. Acknowledge the employee's comments, then reiterate the rationale for the decision expressed in the earlier conversation. Redirect the conversation to focus on possible next steps for the employee. Suggest that the employee can provide additional comments in a letter to the VP of HR.
Acknowledge the employee's comments, then reiterate the rationale for the decision expressed in the earlier conversation.
132 Which is part of a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis? Answers Setting strategic goals and objectives Identifying relevant metrics Clarifying the mission Analyzing the organization's environment
Analyzing the organization's environment
A department executive notifies the VP of HR that an involuntary termination needs to occur the following day, when the VP of HR is scheduled to leave on a planned vacation. The VP of HR immediately meets with the only other HR staff member, an HR analyst who was promoted two months ago from an office administrator position, to summarize the situation and offer guidance on how to handle the termination. The next day during the termination meeting, the department executive informs the employee about the termination, says that HR will explain the rest of the process, then quickly leaves the room. The company's management believes terminating employees is HR's responsibility, and management team members reluctantly participate. However, company policy states it is a dual responsibility of HR and management. The HR analyst can only remember some key points from the meeting with the VP of HR to explain the reason for the termination, prompting the employee to comment about its unfairness. The HR analyst ignores these comments and escorts the employee to collect personal belongings before departing the building. The employee spends a significant amount of time removing electronic files, collecting belongings, and explaining the situation to coworkers. The HR analyst quietly waits for the employee to finish, not knowing how to expedite the uncomfortable situation. Eventually, the employee leaves without incident. Upon the VP of HR's return, the HR analyst explains the situation and associated challenges. The VP of HR praises the analyst, but provides no additional feedback. How can the HR analyst most effectively use this experience to improve the termination process in the future? Answers Follow up with the department executive to understand how interactions with the employee could have been improved. Contact other HR professionals for advice on handling involuntary terminations. Ask the VP of HR specific questions about handling these types of situations in the future. Solicit feedback from the legal department after a couple of days have passed.
Ask the VP of HR specific questions about handling these types of situations in the future.
Based on Kirkpatrick's model, simulations and 360-degree feedback are likely to be used at which level of training evaluation? Answers Reaction Learning Behavior Results
Behavior
157. What is the correct progression of evaluation levels in Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model? Answers Behavior, reaction, learning, and results Learning, reaction, results, and behavior Behavior, learning, results, and reaction Reaction, learning, behavior, and results
Behavior, reaction, learning, and results
The marketing department of a manufacturing company launches several new initiatives to increase the company's sales and profit margin. Strong promotion of these initiatives generates excitement throughout the company. Employees discuss the creativity of these efforts, and their expectations for the company to exceed forecasts. Several weeks after the launch of these new initiatives, there are reports of a 70% increase in the number of unanswered calls in the customer service call center. The call center's general manager is distressed about this report and believes the increase in unanswered calls is due to failure to include the call center in communications regarding the new initiatives. As a result, the call center was not prepared to handle the volume of calls and unable to resolve customers' issues in a timely manner. The call center's poor service decreases customer loyalty and satisfaction, and negatively impacts the company's sales and profit margins. The company's president, disappointed with the call center's minimal support for the new initiative, asks the HR manager to observe the call center's procedures and determine why calls are not handled effectively. The president expects call center employees to understand the time sensitivity of the new initiatives, work cohesively, and learn to address new types of customer issues. Additionally, employees in the headquarters office seek reassurance that the initial drop in profits, when compared to targets, is temporary and that the company will achieve its original projections. What action should the HR manager take to address the call center employees' lack of awareness of and involvement in the company's new initiatives? Answers Provide the call center employees with documentation on how to respond to customer calls that pertain to the new initiatives. Collaborate with call center managers to conduct an in-person information session explaining the importance of the call center for the new initiatives. Create new targets for the call center employees' performance based upon the new initiatives and reward those who meet the new targets. Inform the call center manager of the new initiatives and how to communicate future strategic initiatives to employees.
Collaborate with call center managers to conduct an in-person information session explaining the importance of the call center for the new initiatives.
The HR director of a midsized organization provides HR services to 15,000 employees and is an outsourced HR system provider to a cluster of smaller companies that are suppliers to his organization. The legacy HR system used by the organization operates using an outdated computer programming language. Recently, the chief information officer told the HR director that the legacy HR system is out of date and should be replaced by more modern technology. Therefore, the HR director decides to buy an HR module from an enterprise resources planning (ERP) vendor. Through discussions with the vendor, the HR director learns that the HR module is undergoing a re-engineering process that is not yet complete, and as such the organization would be the first new customer. The HR director also learns that the new system would require hardware changes to run the new software, but the vendor promises to customize it for the organization. Ultimately, the HR director is concerned about the implementation costs quoted by the ERP vendor. As a result, the HR director does not accept the ERP's implementation cost proposal and engages a different, small business IT provider with lower rates to handle the implementation. The HR director also decides to use HR employees in his office that have an aptitude for technology to provide project management support. Unfortunately, when the new HR system launches, it has multiple problems including a high error rate, lost data, inefficient screen navigation, and a poorly designed user interface. The HR director asks an HR manager to prepare a report on the implementation of the new HR system. What should be the HR manager's first step? Answers Log onto the system and review each module and screen. Conduct a survey of employees using the system and ask them about the system's strengths and weaknesses. Interview the small business IT contractors to find out how well they think the system is working. Interview the project manager at the ERP provider to gather information on how well the system was implemented.
Conduct a survey of employees using the system and ask them about the system's strengths and weaknesses.
An entry-level HR professional, responsible for recruiting and staffing positions for the organization's largest departments, develops a targeted recruiting program for its unique and specialized positions. The program generally produces well-qualified candidates in which three-person panels conduct structured interviews and make hiring recommendations to leadership. Recent panel members inform the HR professional that they heard the selecting supervisor ignored the panel's recommendation and selected an applicant whom the panel had determined to be unqualified. Later, the HR professional reviews the case file to verify the panelists' suspicion and discovers it is accurate. Because the organization's written interview and selection guidelines require supervisors to select from among the top three candidates recommended by the panel, the selecting supervisor is in direct violation of the policy. Furthermore, the HR professional discovers that the applicant is married to the selecting supervisor's niece, a fact of which the long-serving supervisor failed to notify HR. This omission is in violation of the organization's nepotism policy. The organization has a strong commitment to ethics and to a progressive discipline process. The HR professional believes the situation needs to be investigated. What is the HR professional's next step given the supervisor's hiring decision directly conflicts with the organization's written selection policy? Answers Report the outcome of the investigation to the interview panel. Coordinate with legal counsel to determine the best course of action. Notify all selecting officials of the rule infraction, advising that such actions are unacceptable. Elevate the matter to the next level of HR for intervention.
Elevate the matter to the next level of HR for intervention
A midsized, non-unionized company with 600 employees is having financial problems. The company determines that a reorganization is needed, which will include a reduction in force (RIF). Although growth was projected, a downturn in the economy occurred following the hiring of new employees and sales subsequently plummeted. The HR director and senior executive team meet to determine the plan of action. The senior executives decide that each department needs to lay off 10% of their employees. The team believes that this is the fairest way to determine who should be laid off. The department managers are told on Monday that by Friday they must achieve a 10% RIF within their individual departments. After the managers make the decisions and inform HR about who would lose their jobs, the HR staff is going to put the separation letters and severance packages together. However, the HR director expresses some concerns about the process and has a vacation scheduled the following week. The HR director asks the staff to prepare a basic separation letter for the identified employees with a paragraph stating they would receive their full severance packet information within two weeks. This schedule allows the HR director to work on the information packets after returning from vacation. Before deciding to lay off 10% of the staff in each department, what type of information is most useful for the HR director to provide to help management evaluate the best approach for the layoff? Answers Employee salaries from highest to lowest Employee performance appraisal ratings from lowest to highest Employee tenure from lowest to highest Employee annual professional development training hours from lowest to highest
Employee salaries from highest to lowest
A midsized, non-unionized company with 600 employees is having financial problems. The company determines that a reorganization is needed, which will include a reduction in force (RIF). Although growth was projected, a downturn in the economy occurred following the hiring of new employees and sales subsequently plummeted. The HR director and senior executive team meet to determine the plan of action. The senior executives decide that each department needs to lay off 10% of their employees. The team believes that this is the fairest way to determine who should be laid off. The department managers are told on Monday that by Friday they must achieve a 10% RIF within their individual departments. After the managers make the decisions and inform HR about who would lose their jobs, the HR staff is going to put the separation letters and severance packages together. However, the HR director expresses some concerns about the process and has a vacation scheduled the following week. The HR director asks the staff to prepare a basic separation letter for the identified employees with a paragraph stating they would receive their full severance packet information within two weeks. This schedule allows the HR director to work on the information packets after returning from vacation. What is the best action for the HR director to take to ensure that the employees who remain are not fearful of losing their jobs or feel overwhelmed with the work load? Answers Engage employees in open face-to-face conversations about their concerns and invite them to help in creating the future of the organization. Send out a reassuring email listing the positive plans for the organization as a way to look forward. Encourage employees to focus on their jobs and continue to deliver excellent work for the company. Provide employees with an assistance program as a resource to help them with implications of the layoff.
Engage employees in open face-to-face conversations about their concerns and invite them to help in creating the future of the organization.
A company wants to use integrative bargaining strategies during upcoming labor contract negotiations. What should the company's HR manager aim to do when planning for these negotiations? Answers Start negotiations with an extensive list of requests because some will be removed during bargaining. Enforce limits on the available budget for new wages and benefits. Verify the union understands what the company is trying to achieve during negotiations. Ensure the labor negotiations remain noncompetitive in nature.
Ensure the labor negotiations remain noncompetitive in nature. Integrative bargaining (also called "interest-based bargaining," "win-win bargaining") is a negotiation strategy in which parties collaborate to find a "win-win" solution to their dispute. This strategy focuses on developing mutually beneficial agreements based on the interests of the disputants. Interests include the needs, desires, concerns, and fears important to each side. They are the underlying reasons why people become involved in a conflict.
A small hospitality company was recently acquired by a larger hospitality company headquartered in a different country. Several HR employees from the smaller company were transferred to the larger company's headquarters. The transferred HR employees are not used to their new country's culture and language, and are struggling to adjust to their new surroundings. The HR manager has been asked to assist the transferred HR employees in becoming acclimated to their new culture. What should the HR manager do to provide cultural information to the new HR employees most effectively? Answers Ask current HR employees to mentor the new HR employees. Provide a list of useful resources for the new HR employees to learn about the culture. Provide feedback to the new HR employees regarding any cultural mistakes they make. Hire a consulting company that specializes in cultural sensitivity and language transition.
Hire a consulting company that specializes in cultural sensitivity and language transition.
An entry-level HR professional, responsible for recruiting and staffing positions for the organization's largest departments, develops a targeted recruiting program for its unique and specialized positions. The program generally produces well-qualified candidates in which three-person panels conduct structured interviews and make hiring recommendations to leadership. Recent panel members inform the HR professional that they heard the selecting supervisor ignored the panel's recommendation and selected an applicant whom the panel had determined to be unqualified. Later, the HR professional reviews the case file to verify the panelists' suspicion and discovers it is accurate. Because the organization's written interview and selection guidelines require supervisors to select from among the top three candidates recommended by the panel, the selecting supervisor is in direct violation of the policy. Furthermore, the HR professional discovers that the applicant is married to the selecting supervisor's niece, a fact of which the long-serving supervisor failed to notify HR. This omission is in violation of the organization's nepotism policy. The organization has a strong commitment to ethics and to a progressive discipline process. The HR professional believes the situation needs to be investigated. What is the most appropriate disciplinary action the HR professional should recommend to address the nepotism policy violation? Answers Propose the supervisor's removal from the selection committee for disregarding the company's nepotism policy. Recommend the supervisor be transferred to a non-supervisory position. Suggest informal developmental coaching for the supervisor. Implement corrective action in several steps, beginning with a written warning.
Implement corrective action in several steps, beginning with a written warning.
An entry-level HR professional, responsible for recruiting and staffing positions for the organization's largest departments, develops a targeted recruiting program for its unique and specialized positions. The program generally produces well-qualified candidates in which three-person panels conduct structured interviews and make hiring recommendations to leadership. Recent panel members inform the HR professional that they heard the selecting supervisor ignored the panel's recommendation and selected an applicant whom the panel had determined to be unqualified. Later, the HR professional reviews the case file to verify the panelists' suspicion and discovers it is accurate. Because the organization's written interview and selection guidelines require supervisors to select from among the top three candidates recommended by the panel, the selecting supervisor is in direct violation of the policy. Furthermore, the HR professional discovers that the applicant is married to the selecting supervisor's niece, a fact of which the long-serving supervisor failed to notify HR. This omission is in violation of the organization's nepotism policy. The organization has a strong commitment to ethics and to a progressive discipline process. The HR professional believes the situation needs to be investigated. What should the organization do to avoid future violations in the recruiting process? Answers Reward employees for consistently following hiring policies. Include a review by senior management and HR for all hiring actions. Train hiring managers on how hiring policies impact organizational success. Provide job applicants with answers to FAQs about the organization's recruitment and staffing policies.
Include a review by senior management and HR for all hiring actions.
A department executive notifies the VP of HR that an involuntary termination needs to occur the following day, when the VP of HR is scheduled to leave on a planned vacation. The VP of HR immediately meets with the only other HR staff member, an HR analyst who was promoted two months ago from an office administrator position, to summarize the situation and offer guidance on how to handle the termination. The next day during the termination meeting, the department executive informs the employee about the termination, says that HR will explain the rest of the process, then quickly leaves the room. The company's management believes terminating employees is HR's responsibility, and management team members reluctantly participate. However, company policy states it is a dual responsibility of HR and management. The HR analyst can only remember some key points from the meeting with the VP of HR to explain the reason for the termination, prompting the employee to comment about its unfairness. The HR analyst ignores these comments and escorts the employee to collect personal belongings before departing the building. The employee spends a significant amount of time removing electronic files, collecting belongings, and explaining the situation to coworkers. The HR analyst quietly waits for the employee to finish, not knowing how to expedite the uncomfortable situation. Eventually, the employee leaves without incident. Upon the VP of HR's return, the HR analyst explains the situation and associated challenges. The VP of HR praises the analyst, but provides no additional feedback. In retrospect, what was the best action for the VP of HR to have taken to more effectively manage the termination given the HR analyst's lack of experience? Answers Participate remotely by telephone to ensure the termination conversation was properly handled. Meet with the HR analyst and the executive together to review the termination process and prepare for the meeting with the employee. Postpone the termination until after vacation so an experienced HR member would have been present. Request that the executive present the termination documents, arrange for the return of the personal belongings, and escort the employee from the building.
Meet with the HR analyst and the executive together to review the termination process and prepare for the meeting with the employee.
A midsized, non-unionized company with 600 employees is having financial problems. The company determines that a reorganization is needed, which will include a reduction in force (RIF). Although growth was projected, a downturn in the economy occurred following the hiring of new employees and sales subsequently plummeted. The HR director and senior executive team meet to determine the plan of action. The senior executives decide that each department needs to lay off 10% of their employees. The team believes that this is the fairest way to determine who should be laid off. The department managers are told on Monday that by Friday they must achieve a 10% RIF within their individual departments. After the managers make the decisions and inform HR about who would lose their jobs, the HR staff is going to put the separation letters and severance packages together. However, the HR director expresses some concerns about the process and has a vacation scheduled the following week. The HR director asks the staff to prepare a basic separation letter for the identified employees with a paragraph stating they would receive their full severance packet information within two weeks. This schedule allows the HR director to work on the information packets after returning from vacation. What is the best alternative that the HR director should suggest to the executives for consideration besides a 10% RIF within each individual department? Answers Provide each manager the flexibility to determine the best strategy to meet the goal of reducing costs by a certain percentage or dollar amount. Reduce the necessary costs across the company by requiring more cuts in operational support areas and fewer cuts in areas directly related to serving the customer. Consider asking the employees for their suggestions to achieve the desired cost reductions. Offer an early retirement program to meet the goal of reducing costs by a certain percentage or dollar amount.
Offer an early retirement program to meet the goal of reducing costs by a certain percentage or dollar amount.
A small hospitality company was recently acquired by a larger hospitality company headquartered in a different country. Several HR employees from the smaller company were transferred to the larger company's headquarters. The transferred HR employees are not used to their new country's culture and language, and are struggling to adjust to their new surroundings. The HR manager has been asked to assist the transferred HR employees in becoming acclimated to their new culture. One of the new HR employees has been assigned to present the employee benefit options to all employees in the country, but he is nervous that he is not familiar enough with the benefit system in the new country. What should the HR manager do to help the employee prepare? Answers Practice with the new employee, asking various questions about the benefits and having the new employee answer them. Advise the new employee to spend more time reading about the benefit system. Pair the employee with another employee with experience in presenting the employee benefits options. Send the employee video examples of presenting benefits.
Pair the employee with another employee with experience in presenting the employee benefits options.
A department executive notifies the VP of HR that an involuntary termination needs to occur the following day, when the VP of HR is scheduled to leave on a planned vacation. The VP of HR immediately meets with the only other HR staff member, an HR analyst who was promoted two months ago from an office administrator position, to summarize the situation and offer guidance on how to handle the termination. The next day during the termination meeting, the department executive informs the employee about the termination, says that HR will explain the rest of the process, then quickly leaves the room. The company's management believes terminating employees is HR's responsibility, and management team members reluctantly participate. However, company policy states it is a dual responsibility of HR and management. The HR analyst can only remember some key points from the meeting with the VP of HR to explain the reason for the termination, prompting the employee to comment about its unfairness. The HR analyst ignores these comments and escorts the employee to collect personal belongings before departing the building. The employee spends a significant amount of time removing electronic files, collecting belongings, and explaining the situation to coworkers. The HR analyst quietly waits for the employee to finish, not knowing how to expedite the uncomfortable situation. Eventually, the employee leaves without incident. Upon the VP of HR's return, the HR analyst explains the situation and associated challenges. The VP of HR praises the analyst, but provides no additional feedback. The HR analyst is asked to suggest improvements to the current termination process. Which is the best recommendation to make as a first step to quickly and effectively improve the process? Answers Provide the option for HR to conduct all terminations without having a member of the employee's management team present. Designate a trained HR staff member to oversee all future terminations to ensure all aspects of the actions are managed appropriately. Distribute a memo to all management staff outlining their responsibilities in the termination process. Provide a mandatory briefing on the entire termination process, including the specific roles and responsibilities of HR and the management staff.
Provide a mandatory briefing on the entire termination process, including the specific roles and responsibilities of HR and the management staff.
A mid-sized, non-profit healthcare organization is experiencing difficulty hiring and retaining staff as a result of expansion and hiring efforts of a competing hospital within the same city. The competitor has greater name recognition and community presence than the non-profit. The pay and benefits offered by the two organizations are comparable, but the competitor offers daytime-hour-only shifts. The non-profit healthcare organization cannot match the daytime-only work schedule because it operates 24 hours each weekday. Instead, the non-profit offers a small amount of premium pay and shift differentials, which are less appealing to some candidates. After two months of losing several qualified candidates to the competition, which results in increased workloads for current staff, the non-profit's senior leadership decides that changes need to be made if they are going to compete for talent with the other hospital. They request an immediate review of their organization's hiring process and compensation policies. The HR manager wants to invite current staff to a focus group to discuss ideas to make the non-profit organization more appealing than the competition. Which action should the manager take to encourage staff participation in the focus groups? Answers Offer financial incentives for participation in the focus group. Solicit volunteers through email for participation in the focus group. Provide several opportunities for shift workers to participate during working hours. Ask supervisors to identify top-performing staff members to participate.
Provide several opportunities for shift workers to participate during working hours.
144. Which example best describes how supervisors use politics in performance appraisal? Answers Evaluating an employee's performance without taking into account a noticeable decline in the employee's loyalty Giving a poor rating to an employee who appears uncommitted in hopes of motivating improved performance Attending a training session designed to improve accuracy in the performance appraisal process Rating each employee on every dimension and combining all the dimensional ratings into an overall evaluation
Rating each employee on every dimension and combining all the dimensional ratings into an overall evaluation
The marketing department of a manufacturing company launches several new initiatives to increase the company's sales and profit margin. Strong promotion of these initiatives generates excitement throughout the company. Employees discuss the creativity of these efforts, and their expectations for the company to exceed forecasts. Several weeks after the launch of these new initiatives, there are reports of a 70% increase in the number of unanswered calls in the customer service call center. The call center's general manager is distressed about this report and believes the increase in unanswered calls is due to failure to include the call center in communications regarding the new initiatives. As a result, the call center was not prepared to handle the volume of calls and unable to resolve customers' issues in a timely manner. The call center's poor service decreases customer loyalty and satisfaction, and negatively impacts the company's sales and profit margins. The company's president, disappointed with the call center's minimal support for the new initiative, asks the HR manager to observe the call center's procedures and determine why calls are not handled effectively. The president expects call center employees to understand the time sensitivity of the new initiatives, work cohesively, and learn to address new types of customer issues. Additionally, employees in the headquarters office seek reassurance that the initial drop in profits, when compared to targets, is temporary and that the company will achieve its original projections. The HR manager wants to send a message to call center employees as a step toward restoring their confidence in the new initiatives. Which is the most effective information to include in the message? Answers Explanation for the errors and commitment to correcting them in the future Strategies for correcting the errors and an invitation to employees to express their concerns Company's support for, and confidence in, the call center manager Importance of the call center employees meeting their targeted call volume
Strategies for correcting the errors and an invitation to employees to express their concerns
