HR CH 5

False

The negative effect of downsizing would be low among firms that use performance-related pay incentives.

Overtime

A small company that manufactures special-order wood furniture has kept its employees busy on a 40-hours-a-week schedule for the past two years. The company just received a large contract from a Japanese company that is opening offices in the area. The Japanese company has given a month's time for completion of its order. To complete the contract in the required one month, the furniture company needs additional skilled labor on short notice. Which of the following strategies is best suited to avoid this short-term labor shortage if the company desires to find a simple and cost-effective solution?

Transfers

Betty, a production manager at Renton Inc., needs to avoid a labor surplus in the company in a fast and effective way. She wishes to do so with minimal suffering to the employees in terms of lay-offs and salary. Which of the following strategies will help Betty accomplish her goal?

Errol must hire temporary employees because he can let them go once the holiday season is over.

Errol, a manager at a large toy store, is expecting increased sales during the holiday season. He knows that he will experience a labor shortage during this time. Which of the following options is most suitable for Errol's situation to avoid a labor shortage?

cost per hire

Gilbert, an HR manager at MaxNet Inc., hires 50 employees in five months. He has used different sources of recruitment to recruit these employees. He desires to determine the success rate of the recruitment sources. Gilbert must use the ________ to achieve his objective.

Realistic job preview

Harriett wants to apply for a job vacancy. She calls the recruiter who had advertised this vacancy to know more about the job. The recruiter gives some background information about the positive and negative qualities of the job to Harriett. Which of the following terms refers to the job information given by the recruiter?

These workers tend to be relatively less committed to the organization.

Identify a disadvantage of using temporary and contract workers.

They are generally cheaper and faster than other means

Identify the benefit of relying on internal recruitment sources.

Downsizing often disrupts the social networks through which people are creative and flexible.

Identify the correct statement regarding downsizing.

False

In human resource planning, forecasting is an intermediary step.

True

In the context of employing temporary and contract workers, if the person providing the service is a contractor and not an employee, the company is not supposed to directly supervise the worker.

True

In the context of forecasting the demand for labor, leading indicators are objective measures that accurately predict future labor demand.

leading indicators

In the context of forecasting the demand for labor, using trend analysis, inventory levels, changes in technology, and actions of competitors are examples of ________.

Both strategies have high revocability.

In the context of options for avoiding a labor shortage, identify the similarity between outsourcing and overtime strategies.

Both strategies yield slow results for an organization.

In the context of options for reducing a labor surplus, identify the similarity between natural attrition and early retirement strategies.

True

In the context of recruiter traits and behavior, the recruiter affects the nature of both the job vacancy and the applicants generated.

False

In the context of recruitment sources, referrals are people who apply for a vacancy without prompting from the organization.

transitional matrix

James, a new HR manager at Flenzel Inc., aims to understand the proportion of employees in the public relations department to decide if the company needs to hire new employees. James most likely needs to use a(n) ________ to achieve his objective.

Emily is right because downsizing will affect the organization's team culture and result in poor productivity.

Joe, the CEO of TexTel Inc., studies the structure of his organization and finds that many of its processes are inefficient. His company has a team-oriented culture in which people perform as groups and complete short-term projects to earn revenue. He decides to downsize the organization to increase profits and use the profits to enhance the organization's efficiency. Emily, the company's HR manager, thinks downsizing is detrimental to the organization's growth. Which one of them is right?

downsizing

Jonathan, the CEO of Maxofan Inc., finds that the company needs to eliminate a labor surplus to avoid financial difficulties. To deal with this problem, he chooses a strategy that gives him fast results. However, the amount of suffering caused to employees is high. Jonathan is most likely using the ________ strategy to reduce the labor surplus.

realistic job preview

Juliette intends to approach Kaskade Inc. to fill a vacant position they have in the organization. She conducts a background check to find the merits and limitations of the vacancy. In the context of the behavior of the recruiter, Juliette is checking the ________.

True

Many of the people reading classified ads are either over- or underqualified for the position.

self-selection

Most direct applicants to an organization have done some research and concluded there is enough fit between themselves and the vacant position to warrant submitting an application. This process is termed:

gain an advantage over competitors.

Organizations carry out human resource planning to:

direct applicants

People who apply for a vacancy without prompting from an organization are referred to as a(n):

False

Personnel policies influence the kinds of job applicants an organization attracts.

image

Rhodes Group, a financial services corporation, advertises itself to cultivate a favorable picture of the organization by using the slogan, "Investing innovatively." This scenario is an example of ________ advertising.

transitional matrix

Ron, an HR manager at Franton Inc., needs to determine how the number of administrative staff increased in the last two years. He observed that there was a decrease in the accounting department by the same number of staff. In the context of determining labor supply in the accounting department, Ron must use a(n) ________.

trend analysis

Sasha, a production manager at ZestCorp Inc., must predict future labor demand using information about inventory levels from the past three years. Sasha is most likely using ________ to predict the demand.

referral

Steve applies for a job at Texel Inc. because his friend Dan, who is a manager there, prompts him to do so. In this scenario, Steve is a(n) ________.

True

The goals an organization sets in its human resource planning process should come directly from the analysis of its labor supply and demand.

False

The use of temporary workers might provide an organization with additional administrative tasks and financial burdens.

Personnel policies

Which of the following aspects of recruitment is most likely to affect the nature of the positions that are vacant?

It refers to reducing the number of hours older employees work, as well as the cost of these employees.

Which of the following best describes a phased-retirement program?

Quality-control problems

Which of the following is a challenge associated with an outsourcing strategy?

They serve as a buffer, providing confidentiality between an employer and a recruit.

Which of the following is true of executive search firms?

Using temporary workers frees an employer from many administrative tasks.

Which of the following is true of temporary workers?

The use of referrals tends to promote nepotism.

Which of the following statements is true about referrals?

Downsizing would hurt long-term organizational effectiveness.

Wilma heads the production department at Riden Inc., a firm that stresses the importance of maintaining regular contact with customers. Wilma is expecting a labor surplus in the future. John, a supervisor, recommends downsizing as an option to deal with this labor surplus. However, Wilma rejects this option. Which of the following statements will validate that Wilma made the right decision?

False

Work sharing is usually implemented in an effort to avoid labor shortages.