Compensation: Exam 1 (STUDY GUIDE)

According to the Hudson Employment Index Survey, ______ percent of employees said they would change the mix of cash and benefits if they had the chance.

44

The verification step of the government job analyses method is always conducted with ___________.

All interviewees

Inclusion of essential elements in job descriptions is required by the __________.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Different compensation strategies are found_________.

Among firms within the same industry, within the same company, and within the same company at different times

The most common way to collect job information is ________.

Ask incumbents to fill out a questionnaire

"Putting some skin in the game" refers to __________?

Below market base pay with stock ownership

What level of strategy is the question "how do we gain competitive advantage?"

Business unit

Hourly compensation costs for manufacturing workers are lower in ______ than the U.S.?

Canada

When job analysis shows managers and employees disagree on parts of a job, what is the best answer?

Collect more data

Which of the following is not a comparison employees use to judge fairness of their organization's pay structure?

Comparing their pay raises to others in their organization

Which of the following is not one of the changes in organization design that may affect pay structure?

Dual careers

In firefighting and rescuing squads and global software design teams, a ________ structure is associated with high performance.

Egalitarian

Stock holders are most likely to be interested in _________?

Executive pay

Compensation policy choices affecting pay level are most closely associated with ________?

External competitiveness

Decisions regarding what forms compensation should be a part of ___________.

External competitiveness

Pay mix decisions are a part of which pay policy choice?

External competitiveness

Which of the following is not one of the tests to determine if the pay strategy is a source of competitive advantage?

External competitiveness of the pay system

A problem faced by some organizations using an egalitarian pay structure is ___________.

External recruiting becomes difficult

A job-based structure focuses on the skills, knowledge and competencies employees possess.

False

Acceptance of job analysis is greatest when job analysts conduct one-on-one interviews and observation.

False

An important criteria for determining the value of research is whether the research is useful.

False

Base wage reflects both the value of the work and individual employee skills and experience.

False

CEO's of organizations with egalitarian pay structures usually have higher salaries than CEO's in hierarchical pay structures.

False

Challenging work and employment security are examples of total compensation.

False

Equity theory research shows that an egalitarian pay structure will be seen as more fair than a hierarchical structure.

False

External competitiveness is one test of competitive advantage.

False

Hierarchical pay structures assume that employees will be satisfied, more cooperative and perform better.

False

If you often have to work 50 or more hours per week at an assembly job, you would probably prefer to that your job is classified as exempt under FLSA.

False

In a high-performance system. pay strategy plays a lead, as opposed to support role.

False

In judging the value of research, an important guideline is that the research is conducted by Ph D researchers.

False

In quantitative job analysis, employees rate the importance of time spent on all the tasks.

False

In the parable of the vineyard owner, compensation was regarded as fair by the laborers because it was based upon hours each worked.

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

Research on the effects of pay level showed that pay level affects financial performance while how employees are paid has no effect.

False

Since HR research contains information useful to managers, most managers read research in HR, management and compensation journals.

False

Since the U.S. has the highest hourly compensation costs for manufacturing workers of any industrialized nation, executives could minimize total labor costs by producing in low cost countries such as China and Mexico

False

The Americans with Disabilities Act has led to a significant increase in the employment rate of people with disabilities.

False

The way to increase validity is to understand and reduce sources of difference.

False

Unions prefer pay structures with large differences between jobs because it supports seniority.

False

In many Chinese and Japanese companies, __________ is(are) a unique component of compensation.

Family, housing and commuting allowances

All but which of the following affects reliability of job analysis?

Gender and race differences

According to government procedures of the job analysis process, the first interview should be conducted with the ____________.

Incumbent's supervisor

A compensation system using market-based pay is most likely to be part of a ________ strategy.

Innovator

Career growth, hierarchy and flexible design are examples of choices related to the ___________ strategy choice of total compensation.

Internal alignment

A set of identical positions is a(n) ____.

Job

The heart of job analysis is _________ data.

Job content

Which of the following is not a factor in defining equal work in the Equal Pay Act?

Knowledge

Which of the following is not a consequence of the size of pay differentials between entry level and the highest level in the pay structure?

Longer tenure, obtaining more training, and greater cooperation with co-workers

Organizations in a turbulent and unpredictable environment requiring flexibility in jobs and work processes are likely to be more successful with a ________ internal pay structure.

Loosely coupled

If an organization allows workers to get rewards such as stock options due to illegal and unethical means, this reflects a failure of which policy choice?

Management

The job analysis method that uses the factors information input, work output, job context, and relationships with other persons is _________.

PAQ

Which of the following is not an objective in the pay model?

Productivity

The institutional model __________.

Refers to firms that copy innovative practices adopted by other organizations

Which of the following items is from the PAQ?

Routine information exchange job related

The largest component of executive pay package is _________?

Stock options

"Essential elements" refers to ________.

Tasks that can not be reassigned to other workers

____________ should support the organization strategy, support the work flow and motivate behavior toward organization objectives.

The pay structure

The use value of a job is determined by ____________.

The value of goods or services produced

A major challenge facing most employers is the rising cost of health care benefits.

True

A major challenge of in the design of future pay systems is how to better satisfy individual needs and preferences.

True

Both skills and competencies can be used as the basis for developing an internal structure.

True

Broad, generic job descriptions increases the flexibility of a job structure.

True

CEO's seeking high salaries are more likely to find them in organizations with hierarchical pay structures.

True

Compensation is important to managers' success because it is a major cost and it influences employee behavior.

True

Demand and supply for a particular type of labor can lead to changes in the pay structure.

True

Depending upon the level of job analysis, two jobs may be paid either the same or differently.

True

How an organization positions it's total compensation against competitors is part of external competitiveness strategic choices.

True

Internal alignment refers to comparisons among jobs or skills inside a single organization.

True

International compensation comparisons are challenging because retirement and health care programs, paid holidays and length of work week varies across countries.

True

Monetary incentives produce the biggest increase in job performance.

True

Nearly half of surveyed U.S. workers would change their mix of cash and benefits if given the chance.

True

Organizations are more likely to be successful when their pay structures are in internal alignment.

True

Pay structures with more levels, though relatively small pay differences between levels, offer a sense of career progress.

True

The emphasis of job content data is the purpose of each task.

True

The fourth step of formulating a total compensation strategy is to reassess.

True

The value of offering employees choices in compensation mix may be offset by employees' poor choices and communication costs.

True

When an organization uses pay for performance and performance is improving, this is a virtuous cycle.

True

"Does the analysis create an accurate perception of the work?" is a question answered by _________.

Validity

"To maintain good citizenship as a company" and "To make a fair profit on current operations" are examples of ________.

Values

At the corporate level, a strategic compensation perspective addresses the question __________

What business should we be in?