SHRM Exam 1

There is sometimes a trust issue between the "average worker" and the executive (CEO, CFO, etc.), primarily due to which of the following factors that has changed largely in the past 50 years?

Executives used to make about 20 times more than the average worker and now they make around 400 times more than the average worker.

A business that has a good history of low rates of unemployment and/or workers' compensation claims will get a lower rate from insurance companies because the insurance companies do not have to spend as much money covering the company's employees. This is an example of what?

Experience Ratings

Which of the following is true about employee benefits?

Understanding the value of a dollar in a benefits package is more complicated than understanding it in a salary.

Especially considering recent events, which is currently the most used training method?

blended learning

A movie director auditions only white males to play the role of George Washington in a biographical film on Washington's life. This is most likely an example of _______.

bona fide occupational qualification.

Musketeer Tech., a software company, changed its pay structure from 3,000 job titles and 12 pay grades to a simpler structure with 1,000 jobs and 5 pay grades. The managers were then asked to choose pay levels that were based on the market. This is an example of _____.

delayering

The acquisition of knowledge, skills, and behaviors that improve an employee's ability to meet changes in job requirements and in client and customer demands is called _____.

development

While downsizing is a quick process for saving money, what are some drawbacks that may hurt the company more in the long-term than the money saved will help the company in the short term? (Select ALL that apply for full credit)

disruption of social networks, lower long-term productivity, lower long-term profit

Units that are a part of the _____ structure act almost as separate, self-sufficient, semi-autonomous organizations, and tend to be more flexible and innovative.

divisional

____ costs are incurred regardless of the number of units produced.

fixed

The first step in the human resource planning process is:

forecasting

_____ involves development programs, courses, and events that are developed and organized by the company.

formal training

An organization's _____ is what it hopes to achieve in the medium- to long-term future, and it reflects how an organization's reason for being is operationalized.

goal

When it comes to examining and understanding skill levels for a particular job, _____ may be the most accurate source.

job incumbents

______ validation is a validity study that looks for a correlation between something like high test scores for intelligence, prior to being hired, and eventual performance on the job.

predictive

AT&T wants to test a new training system for it's technicians. They are spending lots of money on this new program so they want to be sure it is effective. Which of the following would provide the strongest test of whether or not the training was effective?

pretest/posttest with comparison group

Which of the following stages in the training design process involves self-management strategies and peer and manager support?

transfer of training

On Canvas, in the Employee Development Module, there is an article about succession planning at Disney. According to the article, which of the following positions is NOT in line to possibly be the next CEO?

vice-president, head of ABC

Which of the following pairs of recruiter characteristics does an applicant tend to respond to most positively?

warmth and informativeness

On Canvas and in the class lecture video, there is a video about a company using evidence-based HR by going into a bank and analyzing their workforce and the effectiveness of various employees. In this particular example, they studied many data points and found that part-time employees with more years of experience were actually more effective workers for this bank. This is an example of a company performing _____________ for this bank.

workforce analytics

Madison takes a test for employment in which the questions are of varying levels of difficulty. As the questions become harder (increasing in difficulty), her scores go down (she starts missing most every question). In this context, which of the following accurately shows the correlation factor between the difficulty levels of the questions and Madison's scores?

-0.92

An engaged employee is one that is passionate about their work, is committed to the company and its mission, and is motivated to work hard to contribute to the company. Understandably, management would like to have as many engaged employees as possible. Unfortunately, there is an "engagement gap" where only ____________ of workers are actively engaged in their work.

30%

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits discrimination against employees over the age of _____.

40

In the article entitled, "Yahoo's Forced Ranking Raises Legal Questions About Ratings" (posted on Canvas in the Performance Management Module), Mr. Gregory Anderson filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Yahoo. One of the complaints Mr. Anderson noted in his lawsuit was that three years after a new "female vice president of editorial began working at Yahoo, less than 20 percent of the top managers in the media division were female. Three years later, more than 80 percent of the top managers were female." What was one of his reasons for arguing there may have been discrimination in Yahoo's performance appraisal system?

A woman with the same low rating of "occasionally misses" was not fired, but a man with the same rating was fired.

When employees are in a meeting, but their focus is on a text with their friend, then their Instagram webpage, and then the Reds' score, they are likely exhibiting a case of _______.

Absence presence

Chick-Fil-B recently had a meeting with cooks, marketers, and financial advisors. When the topic of a new utensils was brought up, the cooks were in charge. When they discussed a potential new ad campaign, the marketers had the final say. When the financial impact of these decisions was considered, then the financial advisors were given the authority to make the final decision. This entire process is an example of which dimension of teamwork we discussed?

Authority differentiation

Jason, an African-American, and Quincy, a Caucasian, both experienced welders, apply for two openings at Cincy Steel Inc. Quincy is hired and Cincy Steel continues to look for candidates to fill the other position. Jason alleges racial discrimination by Cincy Steel, but Cincy Steel denies this. Which of the following statements would both negate Jason's case and support Cincy Steel's case?

Cincy Steel deals in building equipment that requires a certified welder and Jason is not a certified welder.

Which of the following is true regarding the differentiation strategy?

Companies achieve above-average returns if they succeed in their differentiation strategy.

Summer, an employee for Dairy Princess, is able to choose which stocks and bonds she wants to invest with and she is able to choose the amount she wants to invent. This is an example of which type of retirement plan?

Defined contribution

There are two agencies that are responsible for the enforcement of equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws and executive orders, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). While it is illegal to force quotas in hiring, if there is a protected group that potentially may have been underutilized in a company's workforce, the OFCCP can require "action steps" to encourage a more active role in recruiting the potentially underutilized protected group. Which of these is NOT a potential action step?

Demanding that the company hire six asian women to balance out the office representation

Which of the following is a criticism of traditional merit pay programs?

Employees are encouraged to focus on personal gains rather than what is good for the organization.

Which of the following is true about pay?

Employees attach great importance to pay decisions when they evaluate their relationship with the organization.

Assume a professor and his spouse adopted a child from China and he was given the semester off to attend to the needs involved (travel, paperwork, legal requirements, health examinations, etc.) with the adoption of a child outside the country. Under which benefit option was this professor categorized in this situation?

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Because one of the components of managerial and executive pay states that some companies reward executives regardless of the company's current profits or the current performance of the company's stock, there has been pressure from regulators and shareholders to better hold top executives accountable for the profit and stock price of the company (i.e., linking pay to performance). Which of the following would NOT be an example of this?

Giving the executive a bonus solely because they already have a large salary and the company doesn't want to upset the executive and have them leave.

Which of the following is a reason for the growth of benefits offered by an organization as a method of employee compensation?

Groups of employees can typically receive a cost advantage over individuals.

Pay is very important for many reasons in an organization. With high pay, a company can attract high-quality employees that can produce high-quality products and provide high-quality services. Knowing this, what is the most likely reason that a business, that wants to make high-quality products, doesn't simply pay their employees more than their competitors?

High pay results in high payroll cost, leaving organizations struggling to make a profit

Which of the following is a form of sexual harassment that involves employees using offensive sexually explicit language or using sex-related jokes or innuendoes in conversations?

Hostile working environment

An organization introduces an active employee wellness programs. Which of the following is likely to happen in the organization as a result?

Increased focus on awareness and opportunity as well as support and reinforcement with counselors

Which of the following observations is true about the equity theory?

It suggests that people evaluate the fairness of their situations by comparing them with those of other people.

Which of the following includes a list of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities that a job entails?

Job description

Kim, an hourly employee, stays at work an extra hour finishing a project each day of the week before the project's deadline (Kim's boss did not tell her to stay and work late). At the end of the week, she has worked 45 hours. Which of the following statements is true?

Kim's employer is required to pay her overtime, even though they did not ask or expect her to do so.

Which of the following is NOT a consequence of a bad hire?

Lower expenses in recruiting/training a replacement

We discussed the validity of achievement tests like the ACT and the SAT. Why is it so important that these tests have as much predictive validity as possible? Select ALL possible answers for full credit.

Millions of dollars of college scholarships are on the line, Students getting accepted in the various colleges is on the line, tudents as possible. Correct answer: Colleges want to accept students with the best chances of succeeding and graduating

In the video lecture, I told a story about three individuals who were building a cathedral and how each had attached a different significance to their job. Finding and attaching task significance to a job is an example of which job design approach?

Motivational

Which of the following is true of an organization that follows the mechanistic approach?

New employees can be quickly and inexpensively trained for the job.

Which stage in a work-unit activity analysis focuses on the product produced or service provided?

Output

As it relates to Safety Awareness Programs, which of the following practices is OSHA NOT responsible for?

Providing safety equipment

Which of the following individuals is eligible for unemployment benefits?

Reena lost her job due to outsourcing.

Which of the following statements is true of the reliability of a measurement?

Reliability is the consistency of a performance measure and the degree to which a performance measure is free from random error.

Which of the following, if true, would support reshoring as a strategy for a U.S. firm?

Rising labor costs overseas

For your Ch. 13 exercise, you watched a video about SAS. In that video, we saw the primary reason SAS has such luxurious benefits was that SAS saves millions of dollars every year due to very low turnover. What best explains why SAS has low turnover?

SAS employees are treated so well, they have little desire to leave the company

In the video about SAS, how are they able to justify the cost of having something like an onsite doctor?

SAS has data showing their employees can be more productive if they are not spending time traveling back and forth to a doctor.

Which of the following is NOT an effective approach to performance feedback?

Sending out a company-wide email explaining how poorly an employee performed on a recent project.

Which of the following is true about temporary workers?

Temporary workers give employers additional flexibility to respond to fluctuations in consumer demand for their products and services.

Which of the following is true of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)?

The beneficiaries (whether the employee, spouse, or dependent) can purchase coverage at the individual rate (but not the group discount rate).

Which of the following is a difference between profit-sharing plans and employee (stock) ownership plans? (*Hint: With a ownership plan, employees may not realize any financial gains until they actually sell their stock).

The link between pay and performance is less obvious under ownership than under profit sharing.

Which of the following statements is true about the composition of the U.S. labor force in the next decade?

The median age of the labor force will increase to the highest number ever.

Which of the following statements is true of variable costs incurred by firms?

These costs change directly with the units produced.

which of the following is true about simulations as a training technique?

They are methods used to represent real-life situations.

Which of the following is true of statistical forecasting methods used to capture historic trends?

They provide predictions that are much more precise than judgmental methods.

Which of the following companies most closely follows an overall cost leadership strategy _____?

Walmart

As a part of a new training initiative, a local company took new employees to a local escape room where multiple new employees worked together to solve clues to escape a room within an hour. This type of training can be classified as _____.

adventure learning

A job candidate is more likely to respond more positively when a recruiter is/has __________

an incumbent in the candidate's job area

Work-flow desgin is the process of

analyzing the tasks necessary for the production of a product.

Research has shown that interviews tend to be an unreliable selection test, thus not a valid predictor of job success. However, a structured interview may be more valid than other types of interviews. Why is this?

asking the same questions to each candidate increases reliability of answers because the interviewer(s) can compare the various answers on the same questions.

_____ involves collecting information and providing feedback to employees about their behavior, communication style, or skills.

assessment

Wendy is evaluated on her knowledge of the company and their products, her communication with her coworkers and managers, and her initiative and creativity in solving problems. This type of approach to measuring performance is known as the _____ approach.

attribute

Jacob, the CEO of PodcastU, an educational Podcast company designed to organize podcasts, has his performance ratings come from four categories, 1) How much revenue he is generating (financial component) 2) User comments - are they positive or negative? (customer component) 3) The number of listeners/listener growth (key business drivers) 4) Employee satisfaction (Culture of the workplace). What is the type of pay plan which Jacob is rated?

balance scorecard

If Skyline had a new training method to help its employees learn their new menu, which of the following outcomes would they most likely be most interested in?

cognitive outcomes

5/3 Bank is suspecting their last few hires are making more than they have budgeted for. They want to keep payroll costs within their budget so they perform what is known as a ______ to see how they actual pay compares to their intended pay.

compa-ratio

is a company's ability to maintain and gain market share, related to its effectiveness, which is determined by whether the company satisfies the needs of the stakeholders

competitiveness

A software company expects its software developers to work on software development 90% of the time and client support 10% of the time. The company's performance assessment assigns more weight to their client support skills than their software development skills. Which of the following would best describe the software company's performance management process?

contaminated

Hot Dog Heaven has seen a steady loss of customers over the last few months and now has too many employees to meet payroll demands. They feel their business may be in severe trouble if corrective action isn't taken quickly. Which of the following ways to reduce their surplus of employees would make the most sense in their current situation?

downsizing

A problem that sometimes occurs with incentives is, you "get the behavior you reward". In Canvas (Ch. 12 Module), there is an article that discusses ways incentives can sometimes produce unintended consequences. According to the article, what was the reason the laundry company accidentally demotivated their workforce (i.e., what were they actually rewarding)?

employees were more incentivized to call-in sick than to coming to work late

A company in which employees feel like management is trying to cut corners on the quality of their products - at the expense of customer safety - and they are not being upfront about the new risks in their products, is likely low on _______________

ethical culture

Auddie's Automobile Sales is looking to hire a new employee for their sales department. They are looking for someone who is outgoing, talkative, and has positive energy towards the customers. Which of the following personality traits would they be most likely to look for?

extroversion

Benito, a psychology student, does not agree with the political views of his psychology professor. As a consequence, during the end-of-term appraisal, he rates his professor low on all her performance criteria. Which of the following rater errors has Benito committed?

horns

refers to the policies, practices, and systems that influence employees' behavior, attitudes, and performance.

human resource management

Regis is applying to become a general manager at PayCor. To see if he is ready, they have him simulate an average work day and all the responsibilities that come with that position. This is an example of _____.

in-basked simulation

In incentive pay, performance measures are primarily based on _____.

individual productivity

Daniel believes that if he shows up early to work every day and leaves late, the boss will notice this and reward him with a favorable performance appraisal which will then lead to a higher salary increase. Which of the following components of expectancy theory is Daniel exhibiting?

instrumentality

Chris is evaluating his pay at his current job. He feels he makes less that some of his coworkers, even though he feels his inputs are at least equal to their inputs. Because of this, he may look for another job. What type of equity is Chris partaking in?

internal

Gainsharing can motivate employees as much as individual plans do because ________.

it allows groups or plants more control over performance.

Physical ability tests have sometimes come under question for potentially discriminating against certain populations. Which of the following would be a strong legal reason for including a physical ability test as a selection criteria?

it is mentioned prominently in the job description.

Which of the following is an example of a boundaryless career pattern?

jeremy moves multiple times in his career

A(n) _____ test attempts to simulate a job, in a pre-hiring context, to observe how the applicant should perform in real job scenarios

mock event

For an exercise, you did an exercise on Kings Island hiring for various positions, one being a head mechanic. Which of the following selection tests would have the highest construct validity for this particular job?

mock situation

McRonald's burger joint has decided that they spend too much time and effort on recruiting and hiring. Therefore, they decide to hire another company to do this for them. This is an example of

outsourcing

Jian is a manager at Zebra Corp. He needs to perform an evaluation of his subordinates. He does this by pairing each of his subordinates with every other subordinate in the same group, then selects the higher performer between the two. At the end of the process, he calculates the number of times a subordinate has been the higher performer in a match-up. Which type of performance management system does Jian employ to perform the evaluation?

paired comparison

The average compensation—including wages, salaries, and bonuses—of jobs in an organization is called the _____.

pay level

At the end of the year, you sit down with your boss and they go over how productive you have been in your job responsibilities during the year. This process is known as _____.

performance appraisal

_____ is the means through which managers ensure that employees' activities and outputs are congruent with the organization's goals.

performance managament

Which of the following is NOT a primary stakeholder when looking at the sustainability challenge facing an organization?

politicians

In Canvas (Ch. 12 Module), there is an agency theory video describing a situation where the principal had a goal of having a new building built. The principal hires a contractor (the agent) to complete the goal. However, the agent's goal is to help his sister-in-law and make money for himself. This is a situation where agency costs have been created. Agency costs like this arise when _____.

principals and agents have different goals

___ _ is what is left after a firm pays its variable costs and fixed costs.

profit

Carmen's boss terminated her employment because she did not submit to his sexual advances. Carmen is a victim of ______.

quid pro quo harassment.

Which of the following concepts addresses the fact that different employees in the same job may have different pay rates?

rate ranges

Cheslin decides to make a career change. She thinks she is the best performer at her company and feels she can command a higher salary at her current company if she threatens to leave. Which of the following steps in the career management process could most-likely derail her career aspirations?

reality check

A company has a water fountain that is too high for a person in a wheelchair. Rather than spend a large sum of money to reinstall the drinking fountain to a lower level, the company installs cup dispensers (at a height the person in the wheelchair can easily reach and fill their cup with water). This is likely an example of a business showing __________.

reasonable accommodation.

Which of the following theories suggests that high employee performance not followed by a monetary reward will make future high performance less likely?

reinforcement theory

Skystar Chili Inc. is a firm that holds frequent reviews and feedback sessions for its employees. It demands that the same three people review the employees of a team to ensure that the performance evaluation is consistent; evaluations are held six months apart - in early June and early December to make sure the evaluation is consistent. These two steps taken by Skystar Chili Inc. focus on the _____ of performance management.

reliability

Barry Sanders Hyundai in Stillwater, Oklahoma, has monthly objectives for their salespeople. 1. They should call 22 people who have recently purchased a vehicle from the dealership to see how satisfied they are. 2. They should call 11 people who have purchased a vehicle from the dealership over 3 years ago to see if they may be interested in a trade-in. 3. They should sell 8 vehicles. This type of approach to measuring performance is known as (the) _____________.

results approach

Netflix is looking to promote some employees for next season. They go through and evaluate all their employees and place them in a 9-box grid according to their performance ratings. The employees in which category are most likely to be promoted?

rising star

Giving employees online access to information about HR issues such as training, benefits, and compensation is called

self-service

For behavior to be considered a Hostile work environment via Title VII, the courts use the term, ______________.

severe and pervasive

_____ is the extent to which the performance management system elicits job performance that is consistent with an organization's strategy, goals, and culture.

strategic congruence

During _____, the strategic planning groups decide on a strategic direction by defining the company's mission and goals, its external opportunities and threats, and its internal strengths and weaknesses.

strategy formulation

Jupiter Inc. is a large manufacturer of footwear and accessories. It has always lagged behind its closest competitor, Polygon Inc. It plans to overtake Polygon by leveraging its strength in women's footwear and entering markets in the Southwest that it had traditionally ignored. Jupiter Inc. is in the _____ phase.

strategy implementation

Upward feedback is a great method to get feedback from employees/subordinates on their supervisors. There are shortcomings to this method of feedback, however. Which of the following answers is an example of this?

subordinates may be reluctant to be honest about their boss for fear of retaliation

Which of the following is NOT a factor that influences motivation to learn through training programs?

task analysis

_____ is the process of identifying the knowledge, skills, jobs, and behaviors that need to be emphasized in training.

task analysis

Wal-Mart of Norwood needs more of its current staff to stock shelves and is strongly considering moving cashiers to that position. To offset the lack of cashiers this move would create, they are considering adding more self-checkout machines. Which of the following options for avoiding a labor shortage is best represented by this proposed move?

technological innovation

Which of the following is NOT a benefit from a mentoring relationship?

there is a guarantee of future promotions in the organization

The Cincinnati Reds perform a SWOT analysis for the upcoming season. They see that the St. Louis Cardinals' HR department has already signed new players. This is an example of which component in the SWOT analysis?

threats

On Canvas, there is a Training video about Kaizen (continuous improvement) at Toyota. Why does the video state that the Toyota production system (TPS) monitors production lines?

to create improvements