SHRM Final

_____ cultures tend to have flatter salary structures.

Collectivist

Which of the following is most likely a collectivist country?

Colombia

Which of the following is true of how human capital affects foreign investment in a country?

Countries that invest in education are likely to attract direct foreign investment.

Mel heads a team within the HR department that is responsible for the traditional HRM activities. Which of the following activities is Mel likely to be overseeing?

Employee relations

Lucas, an HR executive, is responsible for the transactional HRM activities at Coldstore Inc. If he is the sole HR person handling transactional HR activities, which of the following is most likely his responsibility?

Employee services

"Business-linked" HR functions begin with identifying major people outcomes.

False

Attempting to estimate the financial impact of substance abuse is an example of human resource accounting.

False

In strategically designed HR structures, centers for expertise ensure that transactional activities are delivered throughout the organization.

False

Individualist cultures such as those found in the United States often exhibit minimal differences between the highest- and lowest-paid individuals in an organization.

False

Masculine cultures value relationships over money.

False

The analytic approach to evaluating HR effectiveness focuses exclusively on reviewing the various outcomes of the HRM functional areas.

False

The basic process of building HR strategy starts with scanning the internal environment.

False

The human resource accounting approach places a dollar value on human resources as if they were physical or financial resources.

False

Transactional HRM activities provide the greatest strategic value to a firm.

False

Uncertainty avoidance describes how a culture deals with hierarchical power relationships.

False

_____ systems provide employees with an equitable return for their investment of skills and effort.

Reward

Which of the following stages involves identifying an increasing immigrant population in a basic HR strategy process?

Scanning the external environment

Which of the following is likely to be valued most in a feminine culture?

Solidarity

Which of the following is true of cultures that are strong in uncertainty avoidance?

These cultures condition people to seek security through technology and law.

In a generic structure, the HRM function effectively consists of three divisions: the centers for expertise, the field generalists, and the service center.

True

_____ describes how cultures seek to deal with the fact that the future is not perfectly predictable.

Uncertainty avoidance

For an HRM function to become truly strategic in its orientation, it must

adopt a customer-oriented approach.

____is expected to protect people when they are in trouble.

collectivist

Minority turnover rate is a key indicator of the _____ function of HRM.

equal employment opportunity

Examining the need to develop new technologies is part of

identifying strategic business issues.

The first step toward customer orientation is

identifying the customers.

According to Hofstede, a country's economic health is positively correlated with _____.

individualist cultures

Since the HR strategy seeks to address business issues, involving _____ can increase the quality of information from which the HR strategy is created.

line executives

U.S. companies tend to relocate their low-skill-high-wage manufacturing and assembly jobs to Mexico because it has a _____.

low level of human capital

A country with a large power distance

maintains the inequalities in wealth among different sections of the society.

Sam visits Mexico for a business meeting. At the meeting, Sam addresses the vice president of the firm by his first name rather than using his title. This is considered offensive. In the context of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, this difference in cultures is part of the _____ dimension.

power distance

The audit approach to evaluating the effectiveness of HR practices focuses on

reviewing the various outcomes of the HR functional area.

In the context of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, the masculinity-femininity dimension describes

the division of roles between the sexes within a society

Countries such as Mexico with low human capital are likely to attract

unionized low-skill-high-wage jobs.

A culture characterized by easygoing and flexible people who take each day as it comes is one that is _____.

weak in uncertainty avoidance

Which of the following HRM activities adds the lowest strategic value to a firm?

Benefits administration

Which HR strategy begins by identifying the major business needs and issues, considers how people fit in and what people outcomes are necessary, and builds HR systems focused on meeting those needs?

Business-driven

_____ functions begin with an assessment of what HR is doing and then identifying the major people outcomes they should focus on.

Business-linked

_____ functions' articulation of people outcomes stems from an analysis of what their functions currently do.

HR-focused

_____ usually exhibit greater differences between the highest- and lowest-paid individuals in an organization.

Individualist cultures

Which of the following is true of the audit approach?

It typically collects key indicators and customer satisfaction measures.

Which of the following HRM activities adds the highest strategic value to a firm?

Knowledge management

Which of the following is most likely to occur during the communication process of an organization in a collectivist culture?

Participative management

_____ functions have been clearly identified and articulated, and they have aligned their HR activities around people issues and outcomes, but not business issues and outcomes.

People-linked

Which of the following is likely to be valued most in a masculine culture?

Performance

Which of the following is likely to be valued in a culture with a long-term orientation?

Persistence

Which of the following cultural dimensions describes the degree of inequality among people that is considered normal?

Power distance

Which of the following is most likely to be valued in feminine cultures?

Relationships

Which of the following is likely to be valued in a culture with a short-term orientation?

Tradition

Which of the following strategies includes activities such as selection and compensation?

Traditional

Which of the following meet the needs of both the line managers and the employees by giving employees opportunities to ensure that they increase their human capital, thus providing increased value to the company?

Training and development systems

_____ activities of HRM have the lowest strategic value in a firm.

Transactional

A new trend that is consistent with the total quality management philosophy is HR executives moving to a customer-oriented approach while implementing the function.

True

According to Geert Hofstede's research, countries with individualist cultures were wealthier.

True

Achieving something visible and showing off are considered masculine values.

True

Capitalist systems attempt to reward individuals for their efforts by allowing them to keep more of their earnings.

True

Countries with high human capital are attractive sites for direct foreign investment that creates high-skill jobs.

True

Cultures with weak uncertainty avoidance tend to be rather easygoing and flexible regarding different views.

True

Employee relations are part of traditional HRM activities.

True

How decisions are handled within the hierarchy of an organization has implications for the selection and training of managers in different countries.

True

Human capital refers to the productive capabilities of individuals.

True