1:4 HR Competencies: Communication Quiz

A supervisor and an employee have a disagreement via e-mail that escalates into an outright argument. HR has been called in to intervene and learns that neither party has had a face-to-face meeting in over a month. How should HR help resolve this issue? Encourage regular meetings between the supervisor and the employee to create a feedback loop. Limit the use of jargon or historical information in communication between supervisor and employee. Suggest a template for written and in-person conversations between the supervisor and the employee. Require that e-mails be used to document supervisor and employee interactions or challenges.

Encourage regular meetings between the supervisor and the employee to create a feedback loop. Encouraging regular meetings strengthens the receiver-communicator link, which depends on an existing feedback loop. While tools, templates, or e-mail guidelines may help those responses, they do not capture the complete communication breakdown and lack of feedback. Limiting the use of specific language does not address the specific communication challenge in this scenario.

A new HR manager wants to assess whether corporate communications, including those regularly issued by HR, have been effective. What metric would be useful? Calls into HR's help desk seeking further information or offering feedback Number of hours allocated to creating messages for employees High levels of engagement throughout the organization Number and volume of messages delivered to employees

High levels of engagement throughout the organization Employee engagement is a good surrogate metric for the effectiveness of communications, since employee satisfaction with communication is a significant ingredient in engagement. Calls into HR could indicate ineffective or effective communication. The time allocated to communication and the output of that time may indicate efficiency but are not good metrics for effectiveness.

A company has an outdated applicant tracking system, which upper management has been reluctant to replace. The HR department has had great difficulty managing the large number of applicants with this system. Many hiring-related tasks that the system is incapable of handling have been carried out manually. This has led to administrative errors, delay in application processing, and miscommunication for internal applicants. One day, the HR manager receives a call from an internal applicant who had applied for a position a month ago. This applicant immediately received an email from the HR department about scheduling next steps in the selection process but has not heard back since. During the phone call, the HR manager looks into the tracking system to find that this applicant had been screened out due to not being a good fit with the position, and the initial email had been sent due to an administrative error. The HR manager communicates this to the applicant. The HR manager discovers that the administrative error was caused by one of the company's HR specialists. What should the HR manager do to motivate the HR specialist to be more attentive when processing hiring-related tasks to prevent similar mistakes in the future? Meet with the HR specialist to discuss the consequences of making administrative errors. Tell the HR specialists to pay closer attention to details when processing applications. Meet with the HR specialist to discuss any challenges to using the application tracking system. Meet with the HR specialist to determine the root cause of the administrative error.

Meet with the HR specialist to determine the root cause of the administrative error.

The largest customer of a small consulting firm demands that the project manager terminate an employee for poor performance or the customer will terminate its contract immediately. The account project manager has documented the employee's performance as meeting expectations, there is no documentation to support a termination, and there is no place to transfer the employee to. The HR manager conducts a comprehensive investigation and learns that the employee and the customer had a verbal disagreement about how the employee had classified specific expenses and how it affects the customer's budget. The confrontation was significant but did not involve any unacceptable language. In addition, the employee's classification was technically correct; however, a reclassification was also acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles. The project manager was unaware of this conflict. The HR manager concludes that the employee did not follow the policy that requires an employee to advise the supervisor of a client issue. Because such a conflict could significantly harm the company's business, the policy states that an employee can be disciplined up to and including termination for this violation. What steps can HR implement to ensure that this type of event does not recur with the company's current employees? Review the onboarding agenda to make sure that employees are aware of workplace policies that are related to customer interface and that they are clearly understood. Meet with the entire project manager group to review policies, their job descriptions, and how to handle issues faced in day-to-day supervision. Implement a "buddy system" so employees always have a fellow employee to seek advice from. Send a company-wide e-mail with the policies attached.

Meet with the entire project manager group to review policies, their job descriptions, and how to handle issues faced in day-to-day supervision

An employee files a complaint alleging discrimination based on other employees creating an intimidating work environment, primarily by making insensitive and inappropriate comments. The alleged actions have made the employee uncomfortable in the workplace. The HR generalist begins to review the information submitted by the employee and, as part of the review, discovers that this is not the first discrimination allegation the employee has filed. All the other complaints were closed following a determination that the allegations were unfounded. When prompted for further information, the employee eventually lists the names of everyone who is being accused in the complaint. To the surprise of the HR generalist, it is the majority of the company's senior leadership team. Based on the employee's history of complaints and who is being accused this time, the HR generalist determines that an investigation is not warranted and immediately dismisses the employee's concerns. However, several weeks later, the employee presents documented proof of comments made by a number of employees, including some from the senior leadership team. Upon review, the HR generalist determines that this additional information could add merit to the complaint. What is the best course of action the HR generalist could take at this point? Request that the employee raise the issue with a supervisor and then escalate it to the HR manager if they feel an investigation is still warranted. Confront the members of the senior leadership team and demand that they immediately stop all inappropriate actions. Request that a meeting be held with the employee and the individuals who are being accused to publicly address the situation. Set up a formal meeting with the employee to gather additional details, assess whether an investigation is needed, and propose a plan to the HR manager.

Set up a formal meeting with the employee to gather additional details, assess whether an investigation is needed, and propose a plan to the HR manager.

Which communications medium has a high risk of becoming a source of noise because many communications may seem urgent even when they are not important? Videoconferencing E-mails Worksheets Short messaging

Short messaging Messaging or texting can be distracting if it is used too much. This can create noise in the form of the important messages being overlooked.

The largest customer of a small consulting firm demands that the project manager terminate an employee for poor performance or the customer will terminate its contract immediately. The account project manager has documented the employee's performance as meeting expectations, there is no documentation to support a termination, and there is no place to transfer the employee to. The HR manager conducts a comprehensive investigation and learns that the employee and the customer had a verbal disagreement about how the employee had classified specific expenses and how it affects the customer's budget. The confrontation was significant but did not involve any unacceptable language. In addition, the employee's classification was technically correct; however, a reclassification was also acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles. The project manager was unaware of this conflict. The HR manager concludes that the employee did not follow the policy that requires an employee to advise the supervisor of a client issue. Because such a conflict could significantly harm the company's business, the policy states that an employee can be disciplined up to and including termination for this violation. What steps should the company take with the customer to improve communication and ensure that all employees are aligned with how information should be communicated going forward? The company and the customer do not need to meet. The HR manager and the project manager should meet with the customer to define what effective communication should be, and they then should share the new communication plan during an all-employee meeting. The CEO of the company should contact the customer's CEO and blame his employee for the termination. The HR manager should conduct a problem-solving meeting with the project manager and the customer's counterpart to review the situation in total and develop a communications plan so conflicts are handled effectively.

The HR manager and the project manager should meet with the customer to define what effective communication should be, and they then should share the new communication plan during an all-employee meeting.

Which feedback message will be most useful to the feedback receiver? "I notice that you never check back in with our HR customers. That's the last step in our process. Why do you skip that?" "I got an e-mail last month from one of our HR customers who wanted to know the status of a compensation dispute. Not good." "That was a good call. Please make sure to always follow up with our HR customers to explain the status of an issue." "You need to improve your customer service delivery. We scored low on that in the last quality survey."

"That was a good call. Please make sure to always follow up with our HR customers to explain the status of an issue." Effective feedback should be clear about what behavior needs to be changed, and the feedback should be delivered in a timely manner. The best feedback statement is "Please make sure to always follow up...." It is specific about what should be done (follow up). It is timely, unlike the feedback based on an observation made a month ago. It is not a generalization, like "you never check back."

During a team meeting, one member is dominating the discussion while others are quietly listening. What should the manager leading the meeting do? Encourage participation from less active team members by asking questions of those team members. Tell the talkative team member that they manager is in charge of the meeting. Summarize what the talkative team member has said and then move to the next agenda item. Allow the meeting to flow without interruption.

Encourage participation from less active team members by asking questions of those team members. Managers support and control discussion during their meetings. This may involve asking quieter participants for their reactions or protecting participants from difficult or abusive group members. Asserting that the manager is in charge is a poor way of providing support and control.

In his initial meeting with the HR team, a newly hired HR director hears several concerns relating to the organization's talent acquisition process including inconsistent questions, different decision-making criteria, and a lack of diversity across departments. The HR director believes these concerns, as he experienced several questionable actions during his own hiring. The HR team is not confident that the organization is hiring the best people, but each department believes its hiring approach is effective and show no interest in trying a new approach. Which action should the HR director take to encourage department heads to use a new hiring process? Conduct a benchmarking study to compare the organization's hiring outcomes (diversity, etc.) to those of similar organizations. Conduct an audit of company-wide hiring practices to demonstrate internal discrepancies. Present anecdotal evidence from similar companies that show the benefits of a centralized hiring processes. Ask department heads what data they would need from a new hiring process.

Conduct a benchmarking study to compare the organization's hiring outcomes (diversity, etc.) to those of similar organizations.

A company has an outdated applicant tracking system, which upper management has been reluctant to replace. The HR department has had great difficulty managing the large number of applicants with this system. Many hiring-related tasks that the system is incapable of handling have been carried out manually. This has led to administrative errors, delay in application processing, and miscommunication for internal applicants. One day, the HR manager receives a call from an internal applicant who had applied for a position a month ago. This applicant immediately received an email from the HR department about scheduling next steps in the selection process but has not heard back since. During the phone call, the HR manager looks into the tracking system to find that this applicant had been screened out due to not being a good fit with the position, and the initial email had been sent due to an administrative error. The HR manager communicates this to the applicant. The HR manager wants to ensure that employees understand the application process and timeline. Which should the HR manager do? Create a standardized response email for inquiries that outlines the application timeline from when internal applications are submitted. Create a message board on the company's intranet to address internal applicants' questions. Send a company-wide email notifying employees of HR's estimated processing time for internal job applications. Post a flow chart on the company's intranet that illustrates the application process and timeline.

Create a standardized response email for inquiries that outlines the application timeline from when internal applications are submitted.

In his initial meeting with the HR team, a newly hired HR director hears several concerns relating to the organization's talent acquisition process including inconsistent questions, different decision-making criteria, and a lack of diversity across departments. The HR director believes these concerns, as he experienced several questionable actions during his own hiring. The HR team is not confident that the organization is hiring the best people, but each department believes its hiring approach is effective and show no interest in trying a new approach. Which is the best immediate course of action the HR director could take to address organizations talent acquisition issues? Maintain the current process, but have HR participate in all of the interviews going forward. Solicit feedback from organizational stakeholders about the key qualities they are looking for in talent. Create a structured interview process that standardizes the questions asked and the criteria for grading. Analyze turnover, performance, and exit interview data over the past two years to present to leaders.

Create a structured interview process that standardizes the questions asked and the criteria for grading.

What is the best way to deliver negative feedback to a subordinate? Start and end with positive feedback, even if it is about a minor performance element. Deliver positive feedback in person and negative feedback in writing for the purpose of documentation. Create a work environment fostering open and honest communication in which employees feel valued even when negative feedback is necessary. Wait for a quiet moment, when any stress related to the issue has subsided.

Create a work environment fostering open and honest communication in which employees feel valued even when negative feedback is necessary. Negative feedback is most effective when it occurs within a work context that makes employees feel valued. They see the negative feedback as opportunity to improve and contribute rather than as a personal failure.

An HR business partner for a mid-sized company has been asked to investigate root causes of high employee turnover. The CEO thinks that the turnover is the result of HR failing to set clear expectations for managers and has stated that there is a disparity in how managers lead their employees versus what employees think their managers should be doing. The CEO believes that this inconsistency in expectations is the reason for attrition. HR currently conducts annual employee engagement and morale surveys and presents the results to management. However, most of the management team has been with the company for many years and are resistant to change. Past efforts to guide the management team have been unsuccessful due to limited participation. For example, leadership skills training has been held in the past, but most of the management team have declined to attend. The CEO has requested that the HR manager provide a detailed plan to address the turnover by next quarter. Which action should the HR manager take to ensure the success of an initiative to improve employee engagement and retention? Create employee-led committees to develop ideas and provide support for the initiative. Assign HR employees to the initiative who have the availability and interest to support it. Ask the CEO to provide feedback on the action plan for the initiative. Ask all managers which aspects of the initiative they are willing to participate in.

Create employee-led committees to develop ideas and provide support for the initiative.

A company sends a team of employees and one field supervisor to a customer's location for a week. Employees stay in hotel rooms, two employees per room, and receive a daily meal allowance that allows the purchase of one alcoholic beverage. At dinner one evening, the employees have a few alcoholic beverages, and then they return to the hotel, where one employee passes out in the parking lot. The other employees call an ambulance, and emergency personnel ask if the unconscious employee takes any medication. The employee who shares a room with the unconscious employee goes to the room and finds the employee's medication bottles. No one rides in the ambulance or follows it to the hospital. The field supervisor calls HR to report the incident. The HR manager asks if the employee's spouse has been called and which hospital the employee was admitted to. No one knows where the employee has been taken, nor has the employee been in contact with anyone. The field supervisor locates the employee, who is in serious condition. The employee remains unconscious; it is unknown if the employee will recover from the incident. Management wants to end the employment relationship with the employee. What can HR do to ensure that all employees understand the company's daily meal allowance policy? Distribute the policy to employees and provide a venue to review it and answer questions. E-mail the company's daily meal allowance policy to all employees and direct the employees to review it. Take no action, since it has not been determined that the employee's medical condition is related to alcohol consumption. Forward the policy to supervisors and rely on them to review the policy with each of their employees.

Distribute the policy to employees and provide a venue to review it and answer questions.

An HR business partner for a mid-sized company has been asked to investigate root causes of high employee turnover. The CEO thinks that the turnover is the result of HR failing to set clear expectations for managers and has stated that there is a disparity in how managers lead their employees versus what employees think their managers should be doing. The CEO believes that this inconsistency in expectations is the reason for attrition. HR currently conducts annual employee engagement and morale surveys and presents the results to management. However, most of the management team has been with the company for many years and are resistant to change. Past efforts to guide the management team have been unsuccessful due to limited participation. For example, leadership skills training has been held in the past, but most of the management team have declined to attend. The CEO has requested that the HR manager provide a detailed plan to address the turnover by next quarter. Which step should the HR manager take to identify the root causes of turnover? Set up an anonymous employee suggestion box in a common area. Review previous employee complaints related to manager behaviors. Examine employee exit interview documentation for trends. Read comments from past employee engagement surveys.

Examine employee exit interview documentation for trends.

In his initial meeting with the HR team, a newly hired HR director hears several concerns relating to the organization's talent acquisition process including inconsistent questions, different decision-making criteria, and a lack of diversity across departments. The HR director believes these concerns, as he experienced several questionable actions during his own hiring. The HR team is not confident that the organization is hiring the best people, but each department believes its hiring approach is effective and show no interest in trying a new approach. After confirming that an absence of diversity is an issue in certain departments, which next step should the HR director take? Encourage interviewers to read a copy of the company's diversity policy. Develop a company-wide diversity hiring program to help reverse this identified trend. Explain to interviewers and managers why diversity among employees is good for business. Discipline the interviewers for engaging in discriminatory hiring practices that have occurred.

Explain to interviewers and managers why diversity among employees is good for business.

An employee files a complaint alleging discrimination based on other employees creating an intimidating work environment, primarily by making insensitive and inappropriate comments. The alleged actions have made the employee uncomfortable in the workplace. The HR generalist begins to review the information submitted by the employee and, as part of the review, discovers that this is not the first discrimination allegation the employee has filed. All the other complaints were closed following a determination that the allegations were unfounded. When prompted for further information, the employee eventually lists the names of everyone who is being accused in the complaint. To the surprise of the HR generalist, it is the majority of the company's senior leadership team. Based on the employee's history of complaints and who is being accused this time, the HR generalist determines that an investigation is not warranted and immediately dismisses the employee's concerns. However, several weeks later, the employee presents documented proof of comments made by a number of employees, including some from the senior leadership team. Upon review, the HR generalist determines that this additional information could add merit to the complaint. Which is the most effective first step the HR manager should take to create an environment of inclusiveness? Tell employees that they need to learn other languages to relate better to others. Tell employees to contact the employee assistance program (EAP). Hold inclusiveness training for all employees at various points in the year. Discuss the importance of inclusiveness during the onboarding process.

Hold inclusiveness training for all employees at various points in the year.

Which technique is critical to being a more active listener? Keeping an open mind, recognizing that she may think differently after the conversation. Engaging in the conversation and avoiding paraphrasing what she just heard. Asking follow-up questions during the conversation, especially if the speaker seems to be changing subjects in mid-speech. Maintaining hard eye contact, not looking away any more than she can help.

Keeping an open mind, recognizing that she may think differently after the conversation. Keeping an open mind as an active listening technique involves accepting the fact that this conversation could change one's position on an issue, feelings about the speaker, or understanding of the subject. One should not interrupt as it could be rude, one should summarize and paraphrase to signal understanding, and one should maintain soft eye contact.

Which action would best support a group brainstorming session? Generate a conscious idea of what the various contributors will likely say. Make a list of rebuttals for concerns that will likely be raised. Listen to what each person has to say before thinking about responses. Think of possible responses to facilitate smooth transitions as others speak.

Listen to what each person has to say before thinking about responses. Active listening requires turning away from oneself—one's preconceptions about the speaker, concerns about what's being said, one's own needs, possible responses—and focusing instead on the speaker.

Which is a valuable insight that can be gained from studying the sender-receiver communication model (the basic communication model)? If the receiver objects to the sender's message, the sender needs to explain it again in a new way. People's perspectives have a strong impact on how messages are understood. Communication breakdowns almost always occur on the receiver's end. Natural communication flow requires thinking of how to respond as the other person is speaking.

People's perspectives have a strong impact on how messages are understood. The model is commonly used to highlight people's perspectives and the things that can get in the way of understanding.

An HR business partner for a mid-sized company has been asked to investigate root causes of high employee turnover. The CEO thinks that the turnover is the result of HR failing to set clear expectations for managers and has stated that there is a disparity in how managers lead their employees versus what employees think their managers should be doing. The CEO believes that this inconsistency in expectations is the reason for attrition. HR currently conducts annual employee engagement and morale surveys and presents the results to management. However, most of the management team has been with the company for many years and are resistant to change. Past efforts to guide the management team have been unsuccessful due to limited participation. For example, leadership skills training has been held in the past, but most of the management team have declined to attend. The CEO has requested that the HR manager provide a detailed plan to address the turnover by next quarter. Which step should the HR manager take to ensure buy-in from the managers when implementing an initiative to address the turnover? Create a policy that links participation in leadership training with incentives and bonuses for managers. Present data to managers that shows how the high turnover has affected the company's profit. Ask employees about their managers' capabilities and provide managers with this feedback. Purchase off-the-shelf business competency models to use as a management tool. Submit

Present data to managers that shows how the high turnover has affected the company's profit.

A company has an outdated applicant tracking system, which upper management has been reluctant to replace. The HR department has had great difficulty managing the large number of applicants with this system. Many hiring-related tasks that the system is incapable of handling have been carried out manually. This has led to administrative errors, delay in application processing, and miscommunication for internal applicants. One day, the HR manager receives a call from an internal applicant who had applied for a position a month ago. This applicant immediately received an email from the HR department about scheduling next steps in the selection process but has not heard back since. During the phone call, the HR manager looks into the tracking system to find that this applicant had been screened out due to not being a good fit with the position, and the initial email had been sent due to an administrative error. The HR manager communicates this to the applicant. What should the HR manager do to convince management to replace the applicant tracking system? Present to management results of a survey about employee opinions on the current system. Present to management a graph showing the use rate of applicant tracking systems that have been released recently. Provide management with articles describing best practices for how often applicant tracking systems should be replaced. Present to management a comparison of the capabilities of the company's current applicant tracking system to alternatives.

Present to management a comparison of the capabilities of the company's current applicant tracking system to alternatives.

A company sends a team of employees and one field supervisor to a customer's location for a week. Employees stay in hotel rooms, two employees per room, and receive a daily meal allowance that allows the purchase of one alcoholic beverage. At dinner one evening, the employees have a few alcoholic beverages, and then they return to the hotel, where one employee passes out in the parking lot. The other employees call an ambulance, and emergency personnel ask if the unconscious employee takes any medication. The employee who shares a room with the unconscious employee goes to the room and finds the employee's medication bottles. No one rides in the ambulance or follows it to the hospital. The field supervisor calls HR to report the incident. The HR manager asks if the employee's spouse has been called and which hospital the employee was admitted to. No one knows where the employee has been taken, nor has the employee been in contact with anyone. The field supervisor locates the employee, who is in serious condition. The employee remains unconscious; it is unknown if the employee will recover from the incident. Management wants to end the employment relationship with the employee. Which action should the HR manager take first to ensure that field supervisors are prepared to handle emergency situations in the field? Identify emergency training programs and offer non-mandatory training. Review company emergency protocols and conduct a needs assessment to identify gaps. Recognize that emergency situations are unpredictable; therefore, training should focus on previous situations. Survey the field supervisors to determine their desire for training.

Review company emergency protocols and conduct a needs assessment to identify gaps.

A company sends a team of employees and one field supervisor to a customer's location for a week. Employees stay in hotel rooms, two employees per room, and receive a daily meal allowance that allows the purchase of one alcoholic beverage. At dinner one evening, the employees have a few alcoholic beverages, and then they return to the hotel, where one employee passes out in the parking lot. The other employees call an ambulance, and emergency personnel ask if the unconscious employee takes any medication. The employee who shares a room with the unconscious employee goes to the room and finds the employee's medication bottles. No one rides in the ambulance or follows it to the hospital. The field supervisor calls HR to report the incident. The HR manager asks if the employee's spouse has been called and which hospital the employee was admitted to. No one knows where the employee has been taken, nor has the employee been in contact with anyone. The field supervisor locates the employee, who is in serious condition. The employee remains unconscious; it is unknown if the employee will recover from the incident. Management wants to end the employment relationship with the employee. The leadership team wants to implement a policy that prohibits sending employees who have medical conditions out of town on business. How should HR handle this request? Schedule a meeting with the leadership team to address their request and offer other options that are focused on the best interests of the business. Agree with the leadership team and create the policy that forbids employees with medical conditions from company travel. Ignore the leadership team's request because it is impractical and hope that they will forget about it. Require all new hires to pass a physical exam and, if the exam isn't passed, don't allow them to travel.

Schedule a meeting with the leadership team to address their request and offer other options that are focused on the best interests of the business.

A company has an outdated applicant tracking system, which upper management has been reluctant to replace. The HR department has had great difficulty managing the large number of applicants with this system. Many hiring-related tasks that the system is incapable of handling have been carried out manually. This has led to administrative errors, delay in application processing, and miscommunication for internal applicants. One day, the HR manager receives a call from an internal applicant who had applied for a position a month ago. This applicant immediately received an email from the HR department about scheduling next steps in the selection process but has not heard back since. During the phone call, the HR manager looks into the tracking system to find that this applicant had been screened out due to not being a good fit with the position, and the initial email had been sent due to an administrative error. The HR manager communicates this to the applicant. The applicant becomes furious about being misinformed and starts swearing at the HR manager over the phone. How should the HR manager respond? Warn the applicant that such behavior will be recorded as misconduct if it does not stop. Tell the applicant that HR understands why the applicant is upset about the error. Tell the applicant that the HR department is working to prevent such issues in the future. Instruct the applicant to re-apply for the position once the system has been updated.

Tell the applicant that HR understands why the applicant is upset about the error.

The largest customer of a small consulting firm demands that the project manager terminate an employee for poor performance or the customer will terminate its contract immediately. The account project manager has documented the employee's performance as meeting expectations, there is no documentation to support a termination, and there is no place to transfer the employee to. The HR manager conducts a comprehensive investigation and learns that the employee and the customer had a verbal disagreement about how the employee had classified specific expenses and how it affects the customer's budget. The confrontation was significant but did not involve any unacceptable language. In addition, the employee's classification was technically correct; however, a reclassification was also acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles. The project manager was unaware of this conflict. The HR manager concludes that the employee did not follow the policy that requires an employee to advise the supervisor of a client issue. Because such a conflict could significantly harm the company's business, the policy states that an employee can be disciplined up to and including termination for this violation. What can management do to improve the communication between the project manager and the project manager's employees so that this type of event does not recur? The manager's supervisor should meet with the project manager for coaching on the responsibilities of day-to-day supervision and communication with employees and the customer. The project manager should be written up. Since the manager feels bad about what has happened, the company should take the "lessons learned" approach. No other action is necessary. Management should tell the project manager to work more closely with the customer.

The manager's supervisor should meet with the project manager for coaching on the responsibilities of day-to-day supervision and communication with employees and the customer.

The largest customer of a small consulting firm demands that the project manager terminate an employee for poor performance or the customer will terminate its contract immediately. The account project manager has documented the employee's performance as meeting expectations, there is no documentation to support a termination, and there is no place to transfer the employee to. The HR manager conducts a comprehensive investigation and learns that the employee and the customer had a verbal disagreement about how the employee had classified specific expenses and how it affects the customer's budget. The confrontation was significant but did not involve any unacceptable language. In addition, the employee's classification was technically correct; however, a reclassification was also acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles. The project manager was unaware of this conflict. The HR manager concludes that the employee did not follow the policy that requires an employee to advise the supervisor of a client issue. Because such a conflict could significantly harm the company's business, the policy states that an employee can be disciplined up to and including termination for this violation. The HR manager and the project manager prepare to meet with the employee. They consider their options. Which is the most effective option that will honor the company's policy, yet maintain the relationship with the company's customer? Terminate the employee for violation of the company policy. Tell the employee to apologize to the customer. Tell the employee to do nothing; it will blow over. The employee's behavior toward the customer was wrong, and the employee will be written up.

Terminate the employee for violation of the company policy.

One month into working in a new department, an employee asks their new supervisor for feedback. The supervisor responds by listing three ways in which the employee's performance is inadequate. How is the employee likely to react? The employee's performance will deteriorate further because of excessive negative feedback. The employee will work harder to correct performance deficiencies because of the specific feedback. The employee will be discouraged and may ask someone else for an assessment of their performance. The employee will disregard the criticism because it was not delivered in a timely manner.

The employee will be discouraged and may ask someone else for an assessment of their performance. The critical information here is that the employee is fairly new and probably does not feel that he has a valued place in the organization yet. In these cases, the employee is likely to disregard the negative feedback and try to find some other source of positive feedback.

An HR business partner is conducting a focus group to examine possible causes for recent low engagement survey scores. What is the business partner's primary role in this meeting? To convey management's concern about the scores and commitment to action To identify candidates for individual interviews To encourage full discussion and participation To present HR's theories about the possible causes

To encourage full discussion and participation The business partner is a facilitator in the meeting, and the facilitator's role is to encourage an active and open discussion, asking follow-up questions and ensuring participation by all focus group participants.

A company sends a team of employees and one field supervisor to a customer's location for a week. Employees stay in hotel rooms, two employees per room, and receive a daily meal allowance that allows the purchase of one alcoholic beverage. At dinner one evening, the employees have a few alcoholic beverages, and then they return to the hotel, where one employee passes out in the parking lot. The other employees call an ambulance, and emergency personnel ask if the unconscious employee takes any medication. The employee who shares a room with the unconscious employee goes to the room and finds the employee's medication bottles. No one rides in the ambulance or follows it to the hospital. The field supervisor calls HR to report the incident. The HR manager asks if the employee's spouse has been called and which hospital the employee was admitted to. No one knows where the employee has been taken, nor has the employee been in contact with anyone. The field supervisor locates the employee, who is in serious condition. The employee remains unconscious; it is unknown if the employee will recover from the incident. Management wants to end the employment relationship with the employee. Which action should HR take to ensure that supervisors act appropriately in emergency situations without fear of violating employee privacy? Coach the supervisors to always call emergency personnel and to avoid any discussion with emergency personnel about the employee's medical condition. Require the supervisors to always call HR and to avoid any discussion with emergency personnel about the employee's medical condition. Instruct supervisors to choose the best action; every situation is different, and supervisors should apply common sense to the situation. Use a collaborative approach with leaders to create and communicate a company-wide protocol that outlines steps to take in an emergency situation.

Use a collaborative approach with leaders to create and communicate a company-wide protocol that outlines steps to take in an emergency situation.

HR is tasked with developing a plan to communicate major organizational changes to employees. Which is the most effective way to communicate the changes? Make one company-wide presentation so the changes are communicated consistently. Charge department heads with communicating the changes to demonstrate their support. Capitalize on social trends by using social media so everyone is aware of the changes. Use multiple channels of communication so the changes are shared in a variety of platforms. Submit

Use multiple channels of communication so the changes are shared in a variety of platforms. Change-related information should be communicated to employees through multiple channels and from multiple sources. In impactful communication, information is communicated in multiple frameworks so the message is better understood and received by a varied audience.