managing people final exam (past test questions)

Angela accidentally deleted a hard drive filled with important client files. Her supervisor loudly criticized her in front of her colleagues and other managers and called her an idiot. He continued to bring up this mistake long after it occurred. This is an example of __________ supervision

Abusive

Reliability and Validity

Are related in that for a measure to be valid, it must be reliable

What dimensions of HRM practices measures employees' performance?

Assessing and developing human resources

Focuses on characteristics and traits believed desirable for company success

Attribute approach to performance management

Analysis of incidents of effective and ineffective job performance or competencies that enable employees to perform their jobs

Behavioral approach to performance management

Includes alternation ranking and forced distribution techniques

Comparative approach to performance management

The Right Fit, incorporated has come up with a new technical test to assess the knowledge of job applicants. To assess the validity of the test, they request that present employees take the new technical test and correlated it with their job performance. Which of the following types of validation tests has the Right Fit, Incorporated used to test the validity of its new technical test?

Concurrent validation

Linda wants to leave her company. No one ever seems to do what they say they will do. In addition, her manager's expectations seem to change from one day to the next. Linda is missing _____________

Contractual trust

_________ team are created with members from different disciplines working an organization, such as finance, operations, and R&D

Cross functional

The dean of Roan College is looking for a new head of admissions. She wants to be sure that Roan College has an admissions program with the highest standards. As the committee interviews various candidates, the dean tries to point out potential flaws in each person. She is playing the role of ___________

Devils advocate

Apple has pursued a ___________ by creating an impression that their product is different than others in the industry, creating a distinct brand image, and offering unique features in their products

Differentiation strategy

Marvin is a medical technician who administers stress tests. He has a low tolerance for ambiguity and is oriented toward task and technical concerns when making decisions. In his role, he must follow procedures precisely for all patients so the stress test data is valid and reliable. The _______ decision making style is best suited to Marvin's position

Directive

Ergon incorporated, a high-end bakery, has a large production facility that employs 1,000 workers. The company recently filled 209 jobs openings. As part of evaluating applicants, the company administered the same tests and used the same standards for evaluating all job applicants for evaluating all job applicants. Despite this, an analysis of the company's hiring data reveal that women applicants were hired at a much lower rate than male applicants. This is an example of _________

Disparate impact

A national retail clothing company has been hiring only white cis-gender male sales associates between the ages of 18 and 26 (all other applicants have been turned away), because its executives believe doing so is consistent with its brand image (e.g., youthful, preppy). In what form of discrimination is the company engaging?

Disparate treatment

Senior management at the ELZ Corporation, an athletic shoe manufacturer, has hired you as a consultant to help them develop a strategy to enhance the ability to be efficient and minimize costs in a highly competitive and price-sensitive industry. When meeting with management, the CEO asks you about the possibility of pursuing a lean thinking strategy and what it attempts to do. Your response should be that when a company participated in lean thinking, it evaluated current practices to:

Do more with less effort, time, space, and equipment

If a speedy decision is needed, the _______ conflict handling style is appropriate.

Dominating

Which of the following statements is true of the strategic implementation stage of the strategic management process?

During this stage, an organization follows through on a strategy chosen in the strategy formulation stage

Which of the following is true about pay?

Employees attach great importance to pay decisions when they evaluate their relationship with the organization.

The CUL8TR corporation has been using "people-pro", a sophisticated form of HR management software to keep track of employee data for the past 10 years. The software has become outdated and cumbersome and often results in more problems than solutions, but the president of the HR division has decided to continue using this software, because the company has invested so much time and money into it. This decision best represents the _______ decision making bias

Escalation of commitment

An employer administers a key personality test to all job applicants in the initial application process and then again at the final interview. It was found that the scores on the personality test are very consistent with each other. This is an example of a selection test that meets the legality standard

False

Bullying is not evident to others

False

Performance feedback should focus on the person, and not their behavior or results

False

Workplace injuries and deaths are rare in the United States.

False

Baby cakes, a new bakery in Fayetteville, is attempting to maximize profits but knows the company cannot charge too much for its cake and pastries in this market. As the company explores locations, the owner notes rent, property taxes, and parking costs. These are example of _________ costs

Fixed

Title VII of the civil rights act of 1964

Forbids discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or National origin

In the first case, a patient is referred for hip replacement surgery but the patient hasn't tried ibuprofen. In the second case, a patient is referred for hip replacement surgery, but this patient hasn't tried ibuprofen or piroxicam. In the first case, recommend ibuprofen before hip replacement. In second case, recommended hip replacement surgery instead of trying the drugs. The physician decision makers are influenced by how the patients case is presented. This is an example of _______ bias.

Framing

The main provision of the occupational safety and health acts states that each employer should furnish each employee a place of employment free from recognized hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. This is referred to as the _____________

General duty clause

__________ is a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to appraise alternative courses of action realistically

Groupthink

Which of the following statements about HRM practices is true?

HRM practices directly affect an employee's ability to satisfy customer needs

We all use mental shortcuts or _______when making decisions

Heuristics

_____________ refers to the policies, practices, and systems that influence employees' behavior, attitudes, and performance

Human Resources management

Ben is preparing for his first job interview after graduating from college. He gets a haircut, purchases a suit, and has it tailored to fit. He practices answering common interview questions and he arrives 20 minutes early. Ben is engaging in __________

Impression management

A(n) ________ negotiation describes a situation where an agreement can be found that is better for both parties

Integrative

At the EXM Corporation, a consumer electronics manufacturer, all of the activities in the HRM function are fully integrated into all phases of the company's strategic management process. This is an example of which level of integration of HRM into the strategic management process?

Integrative linkage

Research shows that __________ are unreliable, low in validity, biased, costly, subjective, and can lead to legal issues

Interviews

Which of the following observations is true about equity theory?

It suggests that people evaluate the fairness of their situations by comparing them with those of others

Albert smith is a safety engineer at KTZ manufacturing. One of his monthly tasks is to evaluate and rate the basic elements of every job in the company on its potential for harm or injury. Roberto is using the_______________

Job hazards analysis technique

The star corporation is a biotech company that engages in a lot of research and development, conducts research to identify improvements in product or service quality, trains workers on associated best practices, and then conducts ongoing meetings to pinpoint specific takeaways for future improvements in their work process. This company is an example of a(n) _____________

Learning organization

Corporate boards of directors have the authority to decide on management issues with a vote. This exemplifies their _________ power.

Legitimate

__________ is the basis of power that most people think of as authority as it is anchored to one's formal position

Legitimate

Jason is responsible for conducting the annual performance evaluations for his subordinates. Even though he has observed that some of his subordinates performed poorly throughout the year, he decided to give everyone high performance ratings regardless of their performance. This is an illustration of ________.

Leniency

______________ is one of the most common workplace injuries

Lower Back Disability (LBD)

At MegaRetailer, Inc., management's perspective is that employees dislike work, must be heavily monitored and that workers can only be motivated with rewards and punishments. Which theory best exemplifies MegaRetalier's perspective on employee motivation?

McGregor's Theory X

To provide excellent customer service to those in the electrical industry through the use of high-tech solutions is an example of ______

Mission

The managing people and organizations group has weekly meetings every Sunday at 7pm. All group members are expected to show up on time with the previous week's task complete. All group members are in agreement with these standards of behavior. What would these behaviors be considered an example of?

Norms

The ________authorized the federal government to establish and enforce occupational safety and health standards for all places of employment engaging in interstate commerce.

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

Senior management at the Longwell Corporation formulated its strategic plan independently then informed HR leaders of the specifics of the plan this is an example of a(n) __________ linkage

One-way

Carol and Dee have never gotten along. Carol thinks Dee acts superior, while Dee believes that Carol tried to please everyone. This is __________ conflict

Personality

Which of the following compensation programs would best describe Lincoln Electric's compensation program, which you learned about in the video from Dr. Delerey's lecture?

Piece-rate work and profit sharing

A financial services firm administered a leadership assessment questionnaire to all job applicants for a management trainee job and then correlated scores on this test with the job performance of those who were hired one year later. This is an example of an assessment of __________

Predictive validity

The _________ model of group development is when groups have periods of stable functioning until an event causes a dramatic change in norms, roles and/or objectives

Punctuated equilibrium

Goal is improving customer satisfaction

Quality approach to performance management

The _________ model of decision making assumes that managers are entirely objective and possess all information for their decisions. In the model, decisions demonstrate perfect logic

Rational

Angela Robinson, an applicant with a physical disability that limits the use of her arms and hands, applied for one of the customer service representative jobs. Angela met all of the basic qualifications for the job, but she requested the employer provide her with a voice-activated technology application so she can perform her job without use of her arms and hands. The employer agreed to do this and she was hired. This is an example of _________

Reasonable accommodation

Huang is charismatic and can often get other employees to work late on special projects by being friendly and fun to be around. He is exercising his ________ power

Referent

As part of the selection process, an employer uses a personality test that produces consistent results when it's administered over time and in different contexts this is an example of a _______ selection method

Reliable

Focuses on achieving goals which are specified using business based metrics

Results approach to performance management

In destiny's annual performance review meeting with Eileen, who has been working at the company for two years, she suggests that if Eileen keeps up her good work, she will likely be offered a promotion within the next year. Destiny is exercising her _________ power

Reward

The _________ imposes criminal penalties for corporate governing and accounting lapses

Sarbanes-oxley act

Ever since Damien interned at an accounting firm the summer after his freshman year of college, he's wanted to become a CPA working at a large firm. Now, several years later after graduating from college, passing the CPA exam, and working at medium-sized firm, he's been offered a job at a large national firm with the potential to become a partner in five years. Which of the five needs from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs has Damien attained?

Self-Actualization

__________ leadership focused on increased benefit to others rather than to oneself

Servant

The __________ rate error is when individuals who are like us in race, gender, age, background, interests, beliefs, and the like receive higher performance ratings than those who are not

Similar to me

A company's competitiveness is related to their ability to satisfy the needs of ____________, which include workers, the community, customers, stockholders, and the environment

Stakeholders

Rich is part of a newly formed work group. He has been introduced to all the group members, but he still feels like he cannot trust them. The group has not yet chosen a leader, and Rich feels unsure about his exact role within the group. According to Tuckman's five-stage model of group development, which of the following stages is Rich's group currently in?

Storming

The goal of ___________ in an organization is to deploy and allocated resources in a way that provides the company with a competitive advantage

Strategic management

Gessen leatherworks is a large manufacturer of handbags, wallets, and other small leather accessories. It has always lagged behind its closest competitor, Odin Leather Goods. Gessen leatherworks plans to overtake Odin Leather Goods by leveraging its strength in women's handbags and entering markets in the US Midwest that it had traditionally ignored. Gessen Leatherworks is in the ___________ phase of strategic management

Strategy formulation

COMPX, a major computer hardware manufacturer, has been working to update its strategic plan so that it reflects an emphasis on achieving superior results in terms of the triple bottom line or economic, social, and environmental benefits. In doing so COMPX business is seen as:

Sustainable

__________ refers to the systematic planned strategy effort by a company to use bundles of human relations management (HRM) practices to attract, retain, develop and motivate highly skilled employees and managers

Talent management

Wendy is a large-scale project manager. She can break down a project into its component parts, create the project timelines, and ensure that milestones are met. Wendy is much more focused on end results than specific roles or the overall mission of the organization. This is an example of ________ leadership.

Task oriented

A fitness company administers a series of physical ability tests as part of its hiring process for personal trainers. Because the company wants to make sure it gets good data from each applicant, they administer the test at the beginning of the interview and then on hour later, comparing the scores on the test to see if they are consistent with each other. This is an example of the assessment of _____________

Test-retest reliability

Which of the following is an important change that is projected in the demographics and diversity of the workforce in the United States

The average age of the workforce will increase

Conflict avoidance is why many qualified employees are passed over for management and executive positions

True

Garbage and recycling collectors are more likely to die at work that police officers

True

Groups socialize individuals into functioning organizational members by enforcing role expectations and norms

True

High impact HR costs more per employee but ultimately saves money by reducing turnover and increasing levels of employee engagement

True

Hiring women to serve as personal attendants in the women's locker room of a health club would most likely be considered as a bona fide occupational qualification

True

Interviews will have higher content validation if experience based questions are used

True

Quality specialists at mountain top poultry collected data on the different types of errors in the chicken slaughter and evisceration process and plotted them in a bar chart showing the relative frequency of these different performance errors, listing the causes of errors in decreasing importance. This is an example of a Pareto analysis.

True

Senior living company has contracted with truck to go to handle all of its employee relocation services to enable its company's HR department to focus on other critical activities. This is an example of outsourcing.

True

Standard and Cramer is planning to downsize. Management sees a positive outcome being the opportunity to change company culture

True

Teams are a cornerstone of work life in today's organizations.

True

The civil rights act of 1991 adds a financial incentive for compliance with anti-discrimination laws by allowing plaintiffs to sue for both compensatory and punitive damages

True

Walmart has used a cost leadership strategy to become the largest company in the world

True

A financial services firm administers a logical- reasoning skills test for all applicants to fill business analyst positions. Based on an evaluation of this test, it was found that the logical-reasoning test does an excellent job of predicting the future job performance of business analysts. This result shows that the logical-reasoning skills test possesses_____________

Validity

_______ is the extent to which a measure assesses all the relevant, and only the relevant, aspects of job performance.

Validity

Michele is a freelancer who works with a publishing company on an editorial team. She resides in Connecticut, while the company is based in Illinois. Michele attends team meetings via Skype and is in constant email contact. This is an example of a ________ team

Virtual

Teddy is a project manager at a consulting firm. He travels a lot and works very long hours. When he's home, he is always checking e-mail. He has a three-year-old son and a brand-new daughter, and his wife is upset that he doesn't help more. He is experiencing ________

Work life conflict

Otto, the CEO of a company, appraises his managers based on how well they empower their employees. Which of the following managers is Otto likely to rate at the highest in this regard

Yao, who assigns responsibilities to his subordinates and only intervenes when there is a need

Tamara complains that her male colleagues often tell dirty jokes in front of her, make offensive sexual comments about her physical appearance, and touch her inappropriately during the workday. This is an example of

a hostile work environment

The extent to which a performance measure is deemed to be satisfactory or adequate by those who use it is known as its _________

acceptability

The three components of attitudes include:

affective, cognitive, behavioral

Our guest speakers, Molly Himmelberg and Simeon Hinsey, began their careers in _______ before pivoting to corporate roles.

athletics

________ is the extent to which a job enables an individual to experience freedom, independence, and discretion.

autonomy

Companies engaged in a differentiation strategy require employees to ________.

be willing to take risks

The three key elements of equity theory are outputs, inputs, and a(n) ___________.

comparison of the ratio of outputs to inputs.

The ___________ theory describes the conditions when the benefits of higher pay outweigh higher costs.

efficiency wage

Owen leads a team tasked with developing a client-tracking system. He is nervous and worried, afraid that he won't be promoted if this assignment doesn't go well. Jack, a team member, is relaxed, unworried, and secure in feeling they have all the necessary resources and talents to make this work. Jack is likely to score high on __________.

emotional stability

In the encounter phase of organizational socialization,

employees' values, skills, and attitudes start to shift as the new recruit discovers what the organization is truly like.

Gabe has a supervisor who supports his work and understands his needs. He is rewarded for meeting his sales goals, but his salary isn't fair compared to those with the same job description and experience level. He also feels he puts more work into following up with sales leads than his colleagues. Gabe is lacking in what model of job satisfaction?

equity

HR leaders at the Hillsboro Corporation need to evaluate the effectiveness of the company's compensation system, in terms of the perceived fairness of the system from the perspective of employees. The company assesses employee perceptions of the pay and other outcomes they receive given the amount of time and effort they put into their jobs compared to how comparison workers see these issues. This is an example of using __________ theory.

equity

Sales representatives at the Saratoga Corporation are highly motivated because they feel that they can be successful, and they see high job performance as being rewarded with outcomes they value. This explanation of worker motivation is best explained by _________ theory

expectancy

__________ focuses on the link between rewards and behaviors and emphasizes anticipated rewards.

expectancy theory

When Jackson exceeds his sales goal for the month, he will get a 20 percent bonus along with recognition in the monthly corporate newsletter. This is an example of which type of motivation?

extrinsic motivation

According to Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors are always in perfect alignment.

false

At WalMart, performance feedback is only given once a year during the annual performance review.

false

Spatial intelligence is likely to be most valuable to a ______________.

fighter pilot

Consultative interactions, a focus on the issues, mutual respect, and useful give and take, are all characteristics of _______ conflict

functional

A company whose employees have low engagement is likely to have ________ compared to a company with high employee engagement.

higher turnover

During the strategy ________ phase of the strategic management process, the company follows through on the chosen strategy

implementation

Which of the following is the most fixed of a person's individual differences?

intelligence

The amount an organization must pay to compete against other companies that hire similar employees is referred to as _____________

labor market competition

Sofia has been putting in a lot of overtime. Her supervisor keeps telling her that she will be rewarded. To date, Sofia has seen no change in her status or pay. This reflects a _______.

low instrumentality

A(n) _______ is suitable for an organization with a culture that promotes individual competition.

merit pay plan

Company Z has a pay policy that provides annual pay raises for their employees based on each employee's supervisor appraisal of his/her performance. This type of pay policy is known as which of the following?

merit pay program

Carlos works at Tyner Construction Company as an assistant project manager. His manager assured him that if his projects came in on time and under budget, he would be promoted within a year. At nine months, Carlo is promoted to project manager. This is an example of _________________.

met expectations

Alexia, one of your employees, always seems to be "taking it easy", often ignores problems as they arise, and rarely takes action on her own. It is like that Alexia is _________.

not a proactive personality

Mason is highly satisfied with his job. He receives consistently strong evaluations and volunteers to train new employees. Mason exhibits positive job performance and _____________.

organizational citizenship behavior.

________________ is the extent to which an individual identifies with an organization and commits to its goals.

organizational commitment

The ___________ is the average compensation, including wages, salaries, and bonuses, of jobs in an organization.

pay level

Martha worked for a marketing company with a casual atmosphere and informal culture. The company declared bankruptcy. Martha can't wait to find a similar position. In the past, she worked for companies with a more traditional and formal structure. She now has a new job in a bank. Martha dresses differently, puts in longer hours, and studies at home to better understand the bank's services. She is exhibiting ________ intelligence.

practical

Suzette is the CEO of a company who forces her male assistant to perform sexual favors in exchange for increasing his salary. This is an example of

quid pro quo harassment

What is the last phase of the mentoring process?

redefinition

The primary purpose of _________ behaviors is to enhance employees' skills and to create positive work relationships among coworkers and between the leader and his or her employees.

relationship-oriented

One of the major findings of goal-setting research is that the best goals are those that are:

specific and measurable

A ______________ rating on performance is used in merit pay programs.

supervisor's

Wendy is a large-scale project manager. She can break down a project into its component parts, create the project timelines, and ensure that milestones are met. Wendy is much more focused on end results than specific roles or the overall mission of the organization. This is an example of ________ leadership.

task-oriented

At Regal Company, employees and teams had higher performance, greater job satisfaction, and increased organizational commitment when their managers showed ________ behaviors.

theory Y

Why would an organization use benchmarking?

to compete for talent

Abusive supervision is the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behavior by managers.

true

An "Employee of the Month" parking space by the front door of a business would be considered a corporate artifact.

true

Emotions change over time and from situation to situation; therefore, they can be altered more easily.

true

Gainsharing plans encompass more than just a monetary component.

true

In determining employee pay, communication and participation of all workers is important

true

Merit pay has the ability to define and reward a broad range of performance dimensions

true

Motivation explains why we do the things we do.

true

Open source and maker approaches allow innovation to occur

true

Relatively flexible individual differences (IDs) include attitudes and emotions, and managers can help manage these differences.

true

_________ are relatively stable and can stem from our parents' beliefs, our experiences in childhood and throughout life, and our religious, spiritual, or ethical beliefs.

values