HURE 3001 Exam 1

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects only those workers who are over the age of

40

Seo-Yun, a new human resource manager, proposes using automated systems for screening résumés of applicants. Seo-Yun believes that automated systems are better than humans at picking the right profiles. Which statement weakens Seo-Yun's claim?

Automated systems might reject qualified people who didn't use the same keywords as the job description.

Big City Grocers, an international company, opens a store in a town predominantly populated by a particular racial group. While recruiting employees for the store, it uses a test in the selection process that favors that same racial group. When questioned about the selection procedure, the management reasons that the customers are more comfortable with employees of their own race. In the context of the legal standards of selection, what is an accurate statement?

Big City Grocers' actions during the selection process violate the Civil Rights Act of 1991 because customer preference is not a justifiable reason for discriminatory practices.

Identify the similarity between the outsourcing and overtime strategies for avoiding a labor shortage.

Both strategies are easy to reverse.

Which situation may involve disparate impact?

Carly wants to be part of her local police force. Both men and women are encouraged to apply, but Carly discovers the force has a minimum height requirement of 5'8''. She is 5'6''.

Identify the correct statement regarding the composition of the U.S. labor force during the projected 2018-2028 period.

Despite a small increase in the number of young workers, the overall workforce will be aging.

What is necessary for the success of employee empowerment?

Employees must be properly trained to exert their wider authority and use information resources such as the Internet.

Abercrombie & Fitch hired only employees that fit their brand image, "cool and good looking." Under equal employment opportunity laws, this is considered a justifiable selection method.

False

If an individual's behavior in the workplace creates an environment in which it is difficult for someone of a particular sex to work, it cannot be regarded as sexual harassment.

False

Research suggests that realistic job previews have a strong and consistent effect on employee turnover.

False

The current fastest-growing age group of workers are Millennials.

False

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that employers may retaliate against employees for opposing a perceived illegal employment practice.

False

To ensure success with an outsourcing strategy, companies should offshore any work that is proprietary or requires tight security.

False

Traditional management thinking treated human resource management primarily as a means to support a company's strategy.

False

When Maria was promoted, she listed all the tasks, duties, and responsibilities in her job to help her manager hire her replacement. Maria was participating in work flow design.

False

Tetsu is a member of the human resource department at a fabric wholesale company. Setting a goal to enhance the firm's strategy, Tetsu works to attain it by understanding the current human resources. Through a series of surveys, interviews, and observations, she learns what talents the various departments of the company currently need, and attracts new human resources according to those requirements. What kind of HRM responsibility does this example illustrate?

HRM's responsibility to serve as a strategic partner

Which statement best describes evidence-based HR?

It is demonstrating that human resource practices have a positive influence on a company's profits or key stakeholders.

Which statement about content validity is true?

It is usually measured on the basis of expert judgment.

What is a basic difference between job specifications and job descriptions?

Job descriptions look at a job's activities, and job specifications look at the qualities needed to do the job.

Which statement about KSAOs is true?

KSAOs are characteristics of people and are not directly observable.

Danny has been newly appointed as the head of the HR team at Dorige Corp. In an attempt to establish a more efficient and reliable work flow, Danny has taken the responsibility of creating job descriptions and job specifications for the newly hired and current engineers within the organization. While doing so, Danny gathers information about the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) required for an engineer to successfully perform the job. How will determining the KSAOs most benefit the organization?

KSAOs play a significant role in interviews and selection decisions.

A software company is putting together a new team to work on the marketing strategies for its expansion project. In the context of using the "Big Five" personality traits for effective team building, which employees would be good additions to a team that encourages a strong and harmonious culture and is most likely to give the best results?

Kandy is very organized; Alia is very cooperative.

_____ensure(s) that new and current employees know the ins and outs of the organization and have the skills that they need to succeed, both now and in the future.

Learning and development

Which statement about work flow analysis is true?

Outputs may be tangible or intangible products of the work processes.

_____focuses on choosing the best person from a pool of candidates.

Selection

What is one challenge HR might find when attempting to downsize?

The best workers may leave before the organization lays off anyone.

Companies today are finding that to survive, they must compete in international markets and fend off foreign competitors' attempts to gain ground in the United States. What would help businesses in the United States meet these challenges?

They must prepare employees for global assignments.

What is true of companies that use a "lead-the-market" pay strategy?

They pay more than the current market wages for a job.

A reliable measurement provides consistent results.

True

Competency models are used to ensure that talent management aligns with the organization's strategy.

True

During a slow economy, skilled knowledge workers generally have many job opportunities.

True

HR competencies are the sets of knowledge and skills associated with successful human resource management.

True

If a company wanted to be sure that an applicant would be able to acquire the skills necessary to do a job, it could give them an aptitude test.

True

Job design is the process of defining how work will be performed and what tasks will be required in a given job.

True

Someone who thrives in a highly structured environment might not be motivated by autonomy and would be a better fit for jobs with more supervision.

True

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 was partly designed to overturn Supreme Court decisions.

True

The Occupational Information Network uses a common language that generalizes across jobs to describe the abilities, work styles, work activities, and work context required for 1,000 broadly defined occupations.

True

The supervisors in an organization play a key role in employee relations because they are most often the voice of management for the employees.

True

Barney, an employee with the U.S. Postal Service, was deployed to Iraq to serve in the U.S. Army for two years. After the completion of his military duties, he resumed work at the post office. He was reemployed with an increase in pay. Which law protected Barney by requiring that his employer reemploy him with the seniority, status, and pay rate he would have earned if he had stayed on the job during the time of his deployment?

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)

What is an HR dashboard?

a display of how the company is performing on specific HR metrics

The process of getting detailed information about jobs is referred to as

a job analysis.

Which action by employers can result in reverse discrimination?

affirmative action

Titanium Inc. is a software company in which the software developers and programmers interact directly with customers. The team asks the customers for their requirements, develops a sample, and sends it to them for feedback. The team continues production based on the feedback given by their clients. The firm spends less time on negotiating contracts and documenting processes. This scenario implies that Titanium Inc. is using which approach?

agile

At Softcomp, a company that deals in software products, employees regularly complain about the lack of clarity regarding the tasks they are required to perform. Often there are two employees working on overlapping tasks, while some tasks are not designated to any employee. Though employees are satisfied with the pay and work culture, this aspect of their work environment has led to a lot of conflict in the workplace. From the information provided, this complaint of the employees can be closely linked to which HR function?

analysis and design of work

Which action during the selection process would be illegal under the equal employment opportunity laws?

asking candidates how close they are to retirement age

According to the Job Characteristics Model, __________ reflects the degree to which a job allows an individual to make decisions about the way the work is carried out.

autonomy

Tests designed to measure such mental abilities as verbal skills, quantitative skills, and reasoning ability are referred to as __________ tests.

cognitive ability

A company's _____ system exerts a strong influence on the attitudes and behaviors of employees because it sends a message regarding the employees' value to the company.

compensation

Information that measures the degree to which two sets of numbers are related are known as

correlation coefficients.

Tari is a human resource manager at a software company. She receives a call from an HR manager at another software company asking about Misha, a software engineer who used to work at the company and has applied for a job at the caller's company. Tari checks the company's records and sees that a co-worker had accused Misha of racial discrimination, but an investigation did not turn up any evidence to support the charge. Misha left the company two months later, saying she was no longer comfortable there. Tari is concerned about sharing the details of this situation with the caller. If telling the information to the caller leads to the other company not hiring Misha, what potentially unlawful behavior could Misha accuse the company of engaging in?

defamation

Differing conduct toward individuals, where the differences are clearly based on the individuals' race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability status is termed as

disparate treatment.

A CEO determines that the company needs to eliminate a labor surplus to avoid financial difficulties. To deal with this problem, the CEO chooses a strategy that gives fast results. However, the amount of suffering caused to employees is high. The CEO is most likely using the __________ strategy to reduce the labor surplus.

downsizing

Single parenting, caring for aging parents, or juggling schedules with an employed spouse are all examples of _____.

employee concerns

A company hires Bradley as a supervisor in the company. It has an implied understanding that both the employer and the employee have the right to end their relationship at any time they desire. In the context of personnel policies, the relationship between the company and Bradley is based on the

employment-at-will policy.

Managing cultural diversity involves

encouraging career development for women and minorities.

Bao, a production manager, works with a human resource consultant to design a new work flow for the production unit. Together they define the necessary inputs. These include raw materials, information, human resources, and

equipment

What is most likely to contribute to errors in a job analysis?

fixed and unchanging job descriptions for various jobs

CareerBuilder and Monster are examples of which type of recruiting source?

help-wanted advertising

Dominic, an HR manager, is expecting a labor surplus for the company in the month of November. This gives Dominic nearly eight months to deal with the problem. In order to reduce the labor surplus, Dominic decides to use a __________ strategy, which causes less suffering for employees.

hiring freeze

What term describes the employees of an organization in terms of their training, experience, judgment, intelligence, relationships, and insight?

human capital

Review of résumés is most valid when the content of the résumés is evaluated

in terms of the elements of a job description.

Given the increasing use of computers to do routine tasks, which employee skill is most likely to be actively sought by U.S. employers today?

interpersonal skills

An HR manager observes that the number of employees quitting their jobs has been steadily increasing over the last six months. On closer inspection, he finds that a majority of the employees who quit were unhappy with the pay structures. The manager assesses the significance of each job to the organization, giving each job a dollar value. This helps him set up fair pay structures and retain valuable employees. What most likely relates to the task undertaken by this manager?

job evaluation

The process of communicating information about a job vacancy on company bulletin boards, in employee publications, on corporate intranets, and anywhere else an organization communicates with employees is referred to as

job posting.

The number and types of employees the company needs to meet its current and future strategic objectives is called _____.

labor demand

When the demand for labor exceeds the available supply of it, the condition is called a ______.

labor shortage

What is the most common reason why U.S. organizations hire employees in foreign countries?

low cost of labor in foreign countries

A high school has three open positions for teachers. The school's HR personnel review résumés to identify the candidates who meet the school's minimum requirements. Next, potential candidates are invited for interviews. After this, interviewers discuss the results with HR personnel and select a short list of candidates, who then appear before a panel of teachers and HR personnel for the final interview. The new teachers are selected from among these finalists. Which term describes this school's method of selection?

multiple-hurdle model

The most important source of recruits for entry-level professional and managerial vacancies is

on-campus interviewing.

A car manufacturing company wants to hire a new product manager. Senior management decides to have the department heads for production, sales, and human resources meet and interview the candidates on a variety of topics. This is an example of a(n) __________ interview.

panel

Effective _____ involves more than just evaluating employees, however; it also focuses on providing employees with feedback (positive and negative) on an ongoing basis, and on using employee learning and development activities to improve current and future performance.

performance management

An entrepreneur wants to hire a human resource professional who can help her make decisions about who will or will not be allowed to join her organization. In advertising for this professional, what term should she use to describe the process she wants help with?

personnel selection

Jagger applies for the position of an emergency direct care worker at a hospital. In the last round of the selection process, he takes part in a testing procedure that simulates an emergency situation. He runs a half-mile on the treadmill, followed by a step test, a posture test, a squat test, and a weight-lifting test. His performance is timed and his heart rate is monitored throughout the tests. Which type of test is exemplified in this case?

physical ability

Selection methods should accurately predict how well individuals perform, and they should

produce information that actually benefits the organization.

Parul, the human resource manager at Triant Inc., has a clear understanding of the firm's business. This enables her to understand the various needs of the business and help the company meet its goals for attracting, keeping, and developing employees with the required skills. This scenario indicates Parul's responsibility of

providing business partner services.

Which method of recruiting does not charge for its services and may include a partnership with nonprofit groups to meet the needs of the community?

public employment agencies

When an individual is promised a positive outcome for submission to sexual advances, or threatened with a negative outcome for failure to submit to sexual activities, this is referred to as

quid pro quo harassment.

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

realistic job preview

Identify the process through which an organization seeks applicants for potential employment.

recruitment

When an organization undertakes a complete review of its critical work processes to make them more efficient in an effort to deliver higher quality, it is engaging in

reengineering

Jake applied for a job at Texco Inc. because his friend Chad, who is a manager there, told him to do so. In this scenario, Jake is a(n)

referral

The __________ of a type of measurement indicates how free that measurement is from random error.

reliability

In most organizations, the first step in the personnel selection process is

screening the applications to see which ones meet the basic requirements for the job.

The process by which an organization attempts to identify applicants with the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that will help the organization achieve its goals is referred to as

selection

The use of technology by HR departments in business organizations has resulted in

the empowerment of employees to get the information or services they need.

Bishop Corp. is eliminating most of its desktop computer repair centers in Minnesota. Meanwhile, the demand for mobile device repair—a service it provides in Florida and New Jersey—is growing rapidly. Betsy, the HR manager at the company's headquarters must plan to avoid a labor surplus in Minnesota in a fast and effective way. She wishes to do so with the least possible employee suffering in terms of layoffs and salary. Which strategy would best help her accomplish her goal?

transfers

According to the affirmative-action plan required by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which term refers to a comparison of the race, sex, and ethnic composition of an employer's workforce with that of the available labor supply?

utilization analysis

Reliability answers the important question of

whether you are measuring something accurately.

Which process involves analyzing the tasks necessary for the production of a product or service?

work flow design

Donatello's Pizza is known for its quick service. To make a pizza, employees must prepare the dough and add the sauce and toppings. Cooking happens next, followed by packaging. In this scenario, the employees of Donatello's Pizza are engaged in

work processes.

When a consulting company finished a major contract, the owner realized that there wasn't enough work left for all the remaining workers. The company was negotiating contracts that could provide future work in a few months, but it needed to address its labor surplus in order to remain financially sound. What is the best strategy to deal with this labor surplus?

work sharing