BUSN 210 Exam 2

31. What are some of the questions HR needs to be prepared to answer to be a strategic asset to a business? A. To what extent does our organization have effective controls in place so that employees do not have the legal basis for lawsuits? B. To what extent does our organization have the appropriate skills, abilities, and knowledge to implement its strategy? C. To what extent can our organization remain stable in the face of uncertainty and change?

. To what extent does our organization have the appropriate skills, abilities, and knowledge to implement its strategy?

1. In baseball, ________ is often the difference between success and failure. Tough decisions are easier to make when players know exactly what they're facing. They gain this knowledge by listening to their teammates and by sharing their own observations and experiences. A. communication B. accountability C. positive conflict

A) communication

1. In 1999, a ________ caused the failure of a NASA satellite. Lockheed Martin, who built the craft, typically expresses force in pounds, but it was standard practice to convert force to newtons for space missions. One pound of force is about 4.45 newtons. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab assumed the conversion had been made, and didn't check! A. communication error B. lack of accountability C. team-building exercise

A) communication error

1. Team members need to be attentive to how they interact and collaborate with each other. The goals should emphasize A. team interaction B. what each individual controls C. individual goals

A) team interaction

1. Walmart serves cost-conscious customers. To keep prices low, it needs efficient operations. It is not particularly worried about adaptability and flexibility. Walmart uses A. a network organization with decentralized decision making B. a bureaucratic organization with functional and geographic departmentalization C. a modular organization with outsourced departments

A. a bureaucratic organization with functional and geographic departmentalization

1. Fortus makes industrial 3-D printers used in manufacturing prototypes. The printers can be used in a wide variety of industries. Salespeople for Fortus are given ________. A. regulations governing selling B. strict rules and procedures for how to sell C. a great deal of freedom in how they approach selling

A. a great deal of freedom in how they approach selling

1. The financial crisis of 2008 demonstrated the flaw in a bottom-up detailed approach to calculating risk. There are too many individual judgments that can be biased. Banks and bank regulators instead use a rule of thumb that bank capital should be 8-10 percent of the balance sheet. That is, managers rely on A. rational decision making B. a heuristic. C. intuitive decision making

A. a heuristic.

1. Procter & Gamble (P&G) is a consumer products company. It launches many new products every year. The team for each new product must understand consumer tastes, distribution, manufacturing, marketing, accounting, and legal issues. P&G creates teams from each of these functional areas for each project, with two managers supervising each team. This is which kind of organization? A. a product B. a matrix C. a functional

A. a matrix

1. On the TV show Shark Tank, pitcher Donny McCall presented his company Invis-A-Rack, which produces a cargo equipment holder for trucks. McCall was able to outsource the manufacturing, the distribution, and the accounting functions. McCall's company is which type? A. a modular B. a shell company C. a network

A. a modular

1. Which of the following companies would be best served by using a customer structure to organize their departmentalization? A. a fast growing company that requires employees to have a specialization B. a psychiatrist office specializing in treatment for adults, teenagers, and children C. a construction manufacturer that produces health, beauty, and food products

A. a psychiatrist office specializing in treatment for adults, teenagers, and children

1. Walmart is the largest private employer in the United States and has over 2 million employees. To accommodate all the reporting relationships, Walmart has A. many automated reports B. a flat organization C. a tall hierarchy

A. a tall hierarchy

1. An organization with a clear mission is one that is easy to understand and manage. A ________ unifies employees and helps them understand the organization's direction. A. scalar chain of authority B. pyramidal organization C. common purpose

A. common purpose

1. Bethesda Softworks created the video game The Elder Scrolls. Because the software is so complicated, Bethesda Softworks uses teams—one who makes the role-playing video games, and another team who focuses on the International Hot Rod Association drag racing titles. They prefer the team structure because the work is A. shared, competitive, and requires mutual accountability B. complementary, shared, and requires mutual accountability C. complementary and shared, but does not require mutual accountability.

A. complementary, shared, and requires mutual accountability

1. Kira's office needs to agree on a new copier purchase. The group discusses the alternatives and all concerns. The group generally agrees on the recommendation. What method have they used to make a decision? A. nominal group technique (NGT) B. decision tree C. consensus

A. consensus

1. W.L.Gore and Associates needs skills from productions, accounting, legal, and marketing to focus on implementing a new medical product. The group will be autonomous with their own budget and responsibility to succeed. W.L.Gore needs a A. cross-functional team B. task force C. virtual team

A. cross-functional team

1. Southwest Airlines gives its employees considerable spending authority to fix a problem. When a flight was delayed, the pilot ordered lunch for the passengers and paid with his Southwest credit card. The company praised him for taking the initiative instead of faulting the expense. This represents A. improper expense control B. decentralization C. centralization

A. decentralization

1. If you are trying to avoid a framing bias and you are looking for a way to diagram a yes/no decision-making process, you should choose what tool to make your decisions? A. group decision support systems (GDSS) B. decision tree Delphi technique

A. decision tree

1. Bright Learning Co. has a problem. Some people want to move the headquarters to a place with nicer weather and others do not. There are many factors to consider, and different people will weigh the factors differently. To reach a common decision, they should A. define the problem, identify criteria, generate alternatives, evaluate each alternative against the criteria, and make a decision B. define the problem, identify criteria, weight the criteria, generate alternatives, and make a decision C. define the problem, identify criteria, weight the criteria, generate alternatives, evaluate each alternative against the criteria, and make a decision

A. define the problem, identify criteria, weight the criteria, generate alternatives, evaluate each alternative against the criteria, and make a decision

1. Managers can help subordinates develop by A. delegating responsibility rather than fixing problems before they arise B. using the Management by Objectives model recommended by Peter Drucker C. setting SMART goals

A. delegating responsibility rather than fixing problems before they arise

1. McDonald's restaurants can be viewed as a manufacturing operation. McD's wants each crew to be efficient and productive. The crews organize by A. finding the first-class worker in each crew B. dividing the labor into parts C. sharing a common purpose

A. dividing the labor into parts

1. Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776. A key example in his book was a pin "manufactory." "The important business of making a pin is ... divided into about eighteen distinct operations," he wrote. Ten men were able to make 240 times as many pins as each working separately might accomplish. This is how Smith explained A. division of labor and specialization B. division of resources C. pin manufacturing in the 1700s

A. division of labor and specialization

1. According to an article in Forbes, John Gourville, a Harvard Business School professor, said, "Historically, first-degree price discrimination has been very difficult to implement, mostly for logistical reasons. With advances in technology and collecting of big data, then it may...become easier to do." Now Freshplum, an online seller, experiments with price discrimination based on geography, repeat sales, and how a customer reaches the website. Freshplum uses ________ to increase sales. A. data collection and analytics B. evidence-based decision making C. natural experiments

A. evidence-based decision making

19. All of the following are difficulties with a matrix structure, EXCEPT: A. coordinating the work of managers requires more work because they are more interdependent B. reporting to two or more managers can lead to conflict and turf wars C. finding that there is little to no interpersonal conflict with leaders or team members

A. finding that there is little to no interpersonal conflict with leaders or team members

1. Indeed.com and Monster.com are A. job posting websites B. placement services C. monster movie websites

A. job posting websites

1. In the stock brokerage business, Schwab, Fidelity, and others offer back-office work as a service. Financial advisers can leave the large firms like Merrill Lynch and go out on their own. These advisers have created A. customer departmentalization B. functional departmentalization C. modular organizations

A. modular organizations

1. Jack Welch was a famed CEO of General Electric. He ran GE as a conglomerate, a company of companies. One of his criteria was that his companies should be in the top 3 of their industry. Companies with a large market share have much more negotiating power with suppliers and customers. His decision strategy was A. combinatorial B. positional C. driven by market share

A. positional

1. As a manager, you need to fill empty positions within your department. When interviewing prospective candidates for your retail company's customer service department, what would you ask about? A. required skills and experience for the position B. shared interests like the local basketball team C. their personal health situation

A. required skills and experience for the position

1. USAA sells automobile, home, and mortgage insurance. State law requires insurance companies to separate their capital reserves for these businesses, and the legal requirements for selling each product differ. Most insurance companies organize around A. differentiating customer demographics such as age and income B. selling products like home and automobile insurance C. organizing functions such as accounting and risk management

A. selling products like home and automobile insurance

1. Leader-led group training programs can be used to teach "soft" skills such as A. team-building and customer service B. discrimination law C. cyber-security safety

A. team-building and customer service

1. Teams are ineffective when they lack leadership, when the decision making is not democratic, and when A. the team lacks expertise and necessary skills B. the team experiences task variety and task significance C. the tasks are interdependent

A. the team lacks expertise and necessary skills

1. A self-managed team is a group of employees that's responsible and accountable for ________. A. achieving specific goals B. all or most aspects of producing a product or delivering a service C. hiring virtual workers

B. all or most aspects of producing a product or delivering a service

1. Human resource management responsibilities include A. recruitment, budget control, and compensation B. recruitment and selection, training and development, and setting strategic objectives C. recruitment and selection, training and development, and compensation

C. recruitment and selection, training and development, and compensation

29. One of HR's goals is avoiding lawsuits over discrimination or wrongful termination. To this end, larger companies have written multi-step procedures for A. welcoming employees on the first day of work B. introducing employees to co-workers and managers C. terminating employee contracts when necessary

C. terminating employee contracts when necessary

1. Kahneman found that the way a problem was stated could change preferences. When the choices were presented in positive terms, the participants preferred the more certain choice. When the choices were presented in negative terms, participants preferred a gamble, the chance of avoiding the loss. Participants were guilty of A. overconfidence bias B. framing bias C. hindsight bias

Framing Bias

1. Groups tend to avoid critical evaluation of ideas that the group favors, which increases the risk of the group making flawed decisions. This is the definition of 1) nominal group technique 2) decision tree 3) groupthink

Groupthink

1. ________ can help a new employee to gain confidence and feel useful because he or she knows the company's system, people, and expectations. A. Relevant experience B. Orientation and training C. A mentor program

Orientation and training

1. What is an example of shadowing? A. a training class held in the company conference room B. a medical insurance service where an employee can speak to nurses by phone C. accompanying a colleague as he calls on clients

accompanying a colleague as he calls on clients

1. Peter and Mustafa are friends from a baseball league. They're gung-ho about converting an old Jeep Cherokee to an electric engine. They found a 1989 Jeep Cherokee that still runs for sale for $4000. Peter is an electrical engineer and Mustafa is an auto mechanic, so they are confident they have the right skills to complete the work. They have A. social cohesion B. collective efficacy C. collective consciousness

collective efficacy

28. You now work at EFG Co. building their relational database. You have hit the ground running and are two weeks ahead of schedule. If you keep up this pace, you will be rewarded with a $2000 bonus for getting the project done far ahead of schedule. This is an example of what key element area of HR? A. compensation B. diversity management C. selection and placement

compensation

1. At W.L. Gore, a company that makes Gore-Tex and 1,000 other products, any employee can propose a new product. The employee must put together a plan and find sponsors within the company. The sponsors act as a team. The advantage of this is A. effectively combining the diverse skills of employees B. creating opportunities for social loafing C. sharing the blame if anything goes wrong

effectively combining the diverse skills of employees

1. An analyst who gives presentations to potential clients but is not informed of the prospects' decisions has low A. skill variety B. autonomy C. feedback

feedback

1. The Microsoft Windows operating system is a complex product that takes a lot of coordination to pull together. Management used a competitive rank-and-yank personnel policy that discouraged teamwork. After 20 years, competition from outside the firm forced management to reconsider this approach. The management team was guilty of A. procrastination B. groupthink C. social loafing

groupthink

1. When a decision is made as a group, all the members will A)have a far greater understanding of the issues and the reasons behind the decision B) blindly support the decision because they were involved in making it C) continue to criticise the decision after it is made

have a far greater understanding of the issues and the reasons behind the decision

30. In high-performing organizations, the elements of the HR system are designed to express best practices that maximize the performance of employees. What are these key elements? A. managing the payroll system B. job design and diversity management C. firing and discipline

job design and diversity management

1. A major publisher uses a virtual team to assemble an engineering textbook. They hire editors from a content development firm and technical writers from the best university in India to develop exercise questions. The team members A. never meet B. are self-managed C. work out of the company's New York offices

never meet

1. The practice of predictive analytics should be disciplined. That is, not only should guesses be made about the likelihood of future outcomes based on present trends, but also those predictions should be supported by a) intuition b) inferential statistics C) parallels from past experience

parallels from past experience

1. Mayor McDougal's administration is not doing well. Team members vehemently disagree over policy. Some have leaked information to the press, so that public opinion can pressure the administration. The administration lacks A. social dynamics B. social cohesion C. social loafing

social cohesion

1. President Trump created a ________ to prioritize building projects the U.S. He appointed specialists to study this problem. A. virtual team B. cross-functional team C. task force

task force

1. A nurse handling the diverse needs of patients in the intensive care unit may score high on ________, whereas new nurses aiding in the same department may feel that they perform only busy work. A. feedback B. task significance C. autonomy

task significance

1. Walmart said that inept shelf-stocking cost the company $3 billion in 2014. This is a clear sign that employees are not receiving appropriate A. onboarding B. training C. orientations

training