HRM/300T Week 5 Apply Assignment

Recent successes at Clearwater Electronics have created additional financial resources for the company. As a result, management has decided to install a new incentive system for the entire organization. Management has asked the director of HR to research and present an incentive system that will best align employee motivation with firm productivity. Which of the following options is most likely to create this alignment and why?

A profit-sharing plan would allow all employees to align their work with company goals, contribute through increased productivity, and then share in the increased profits.

Over the past 40 years, the HR department at Clearwater Electronics has changed and evolved in its contribution to the organization, becoming a strategic partner that helps implement significant changes for the company's success. Which statement best explains why the company has been successful in improving human resource management?

Aligning human resources with the strategic goals and objectives of the firm has enabled new ideas and techniques to drive effective organizational change.

The HR department has conducted a series of employee surveys and discovered that many employees are unhappy with their current benefits packages. After a thorough analysis, HR decides that expanding the benefits that are offered is the best option moving forward. However, in order to increase benefits, the additional costs must be justified to the board of directors. Which of the following is the best justification for the additional costs of offering better employee benefits?

Better employee benefits help attract and retain excellent employees.

The HR director at Clearwater Electronics has been asked to create a series of job classifications for a new group of jobs that have recently emerged within the public relations (PR) department. An important part of the process is to decide the number of job classes to use. Which statement best explains why it is important to have the proper number of job classes?

Having the right number of job classes gives a framework for setting fair and equitable compensation for similar jobs and eliminates errors from job evaluations.

Clearwater Electronics has a strong organizational culture that is demonstrated by high employee engagement. HR has played a vital role in perpetuating that culture, starting with recruiting applicants who share the company's beliefs, understand the organizational strategy, and work hard. However, knowing that the only constant is change, the HR department continually monitors employees' engagement and behaviors. Why is assessing employees' views of the company important in maintaining a strong company culture?

If employees are positive about what the company stands for, they will be more positive, more productive, and more open to change.

Due to a recent patent expiration, a new industry-wide computer chip design has been released. As a result, the company that develops and produces the chip fastest will have a significant increase in revenue and market share. The HR department at Clearwater Electronics responds quickly to the patent expiration—a feature of the external environment—by hiring more innovative employees who can help with the implementation of the chip. Which of the following statements best describes the necessity for Clearwater Electronics to respond quickly to the external environment?

Organizations that can respond quickly and efficiently to the external environment often have a competitive edge over their competitors.

The managers at Clearwater Electronics sometimes focus so much on day-to-day operations that they can lose sight of the goals of the company and how it plans to achieve those goals—its strategy. The HR department has been given the responsibility to remind the managers of the strategy, vision, purpose, and values that drive Clearwater's business. Why is HR the right department to carry out this assignment?

The HR department contributes significantly to organizational success since it is mainly responsible for aligning the workforce with company strategy.

The union at Clearwater Electronics reported a major safety issue at the company and worked with the HR director to draft a document to improve the safety of the production line and the workers. Why is a good relationship with the union one of the most important for the HR director to maintain?

The HR director ensures the company is protected and employees are satisfied with their compensation and working conditions.

A central part of Clearwater Electronics' strategic plan is to design and implement a new warehouse management system (WMS). This new system should improve many of the systems and processes within the organization. As a result, most employees will experience a significant amount of change. Why would the HR director be tasked to manage this change process?

The HR director has the responsibility to align the organization's employees with its strategic goals and make sure employees understand how the change affects them.

Because most of Clearwater Electronics' nonexempt employees belong to the union, the HR department at Clearwater Electronics recently hired a labor relations specialist, a new position in the company. Which statement gives the best reason for the company to have union expertise in the HR department?

The company needs the expertise to navigate the many changes in union legislation.

The HR department at Clearwater Electronics received notice that a grievance procedure was filed by an employee. A member of the HR department has met with the employee, a union representative, and the employee's immediate supervisor to resolve the issue of concern. A resolution was reached, and the employee returned to work. Why is it important to have a grievance procedure?

The grievance procedure provides a method to handle employee complaints before they become serious issues.

An argument broke out between a manager and one of his employees; HR was asked to investigate. After interviewing both the employee and the manager, the HR director overheard the employee saying, "I wish this were the olden days. I'd take this argument out in the street and solve it without anyone's help." Because Clearwater Electronics has a zero-tolerance policy for workplace violence, with prominent signage in a number of visible locations in the plant, the employee was immediately terminated. Why did this incident of workplace violence occur?

The incident stemmed from ineffective problem-solving on the part of the employee.

Clearwater Electronics was recently issued a safety violation that was reported to a newspaper, resulting in an unfavorable article about the company. HR has been tasked by management to review and revise safety procedures for the entire production line. After creating an updated set of safety procedures, the chief operating officer (COO) of Clearwater Electronics is pressuring HR to implement the new safety protocols before testing so the company can issue an updated press release. Why should the safety procedures be thoroughly tested before allowing a press release?

The new procedures may be inefficient and create additional harm without thorough testing.

After a reported accident on the production line at Clearwater Electronics, an inspection was conducted in accordance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules. The compliance safety and health officer (CSHO) found a problem with the new automated robotic arms that had been installed at the end of the assembly line. The CSHO issued a notice of unsafe working conditions because the safety procedures and policies of the new machines were not communicated, nor readily available, to employees. Which statement best describes why HR professionals should be familiar with safety violations, even if they do not result in OSHA citations?

Unsafe working conditions can result in great costs to the organization, and HR can work to implement safety procedures to avoid this.

Clearwater Electronics has purchased a mining company that supplies various rare-earth metals such as lanthanum, neodymium, and samarium that are used in the firm's advanced electronics manufacturing. Why is vertical integration an ideal business growth strategy for Clearwater Electronics?

Vertical integration will allow the company to gain control over its value chain.