MGMT 310 Final Exam (Ch 1-17)

Which of the following has the LEAST influence on job design?

Employee motivation

Which term refers to the compatibility between HR strategies and other key aspects of an organization?

Fit

Which of the following has aided decentralization in many companies?

Internet technology

Which of the following is NOT an element of a job description?

Job compensation

Which of the following is LEAST important when determining which HR strategies will positively impact a firm's performance?

Overall cost leadership strategy

Which of the following is a characteristic of most intended strategies?

They mobilize responses from top management

Your production lines make a standardized product. Efficiency is critical to your production costs. The majority of production line tasks are mechanical and repetitive. Which of the following would be most appropriate?

Work simplification

All of the following are key elements of organizational culture EXCEPT:

available technology.

Candles, Inc. is currently evaluating the ________ the firm gives its employees, including stock options, benefit packages, and raises based on performance.

compensation

When it comes to managers dealing with ethical issues, it is most safe to say that:

what is ethical or unethical is seldom clear cut.

Job sharing is primarily appealing to:

working mothers

In 2010, what percentage of the total labor force in the United States consisted of contingent workers?

26%

According to the text, what percentage of new businesses fail in their first year of operation?

40%

Companies spend around ________ billion dollars each year on employee training programs.

55

What is the primary HR challenge of outsourcing?

A firm is still accountable for the actions of its subcontractors, but it exercises less control over them.

According to Herzberg's theory, the absence of which of the following would most likely lead to employee dissatisfaction?

Coworker relationships

Which term refers to transferring responsibility and decision-making authority from a central office to people closer to the situation that demands attention?

Decentralization

What is the primary reason for the rising importance of HR at firms over the last four decades?

Employment laws

Which of the following is a strategic HR issue related to staffing?

Empowering supervisors to make hiring decisions

What is the primary reason for training SMT members in many different technical areas?

Enhancing team flexibility

Which of the following is an environmental challenge faced by modern HR managers?

Globalization

Which type of job analysis is often used to develop a performance appraisal?

Hay plan

Which of the following is an aspect of an organization's "personality"?

Market posture

Which job analysis tool asks 194 questions and uses a five-point scale to determine which job elements are involved in performing a specific job?

Position analysis questionnaire

Your organization is trying to decide if it should implement TQM. Management assembles a team from one department to study the issue. The team will disband once the study is complete. Which of the following would be most appropriate?

Problem-solving team

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) offers which of the following?

Professional certification

Which of the following is a motivator, according to Herzberg?

Recognition for accomplishments

Job analysis is helpful to HR professionals in performing which of the following tasks?

Recruiting employees

Which of the following is a term used to describe one or several duties that identify and describe the major purpose for the job's existence?

Responsibility

Which of the following is a core job characteristic that activates the three psychological states, according to job characteristics theory?

Skill variety

Marquis is examining the knowledge, skills, and abilities used in performing certain tasks. His process begins with interviews of the incumbents and their managers. He then constructs and administers a survey, and finally creates a matrix for rating the task. Marquis is most likely using which job analysis technique?

Task inventory analysis

Your relatively flat organization is moving toward a boundaryless structure. Layers of management have been reduced to a minimum. You want employees to be self-managing, to perform several different tasks, and to take complete responsibility for the entire production process. ________ would be your best choice as you implement a job redesign program.

Team-based job designs

Which of the following is a characteristic of a boundaryless organization?

Teams whose members cross organizational boundaries

A team-based job design would work best for a business under what circumstances?

The business has a flat and boundaryless structure.

Stacey notes that her firm is risk averse, operates with a flexible, delegating management style, and is outwardly focused. Stacey's observations describe which organizational characteristic of a company?

The firm's management philosophy

Which of the following aspects is NOT examined in a functional job analysis?

The motivators a job incumbent experiences

What is the primary reason that firms use business process reengineering?

To identify jobs that can be eliminated

Which term refers to an organization-wide approach to improving the quality of all the processes that lead to a final product or service?

Total Quality Management

Which of the following would most likely increase as a result of work simplification?

Turnover

Alyssa finds a job description for an interesting retail position. The job description indicates exactly what department of the store she would be responsible for and what her duties would be. The ad describes good opportunities for advancement within the retail area, so she could become the managing retail director for her department. However, she would not be able to move into finance or production. This is an example of which organizational strategy?

Work specialization

Karl is trying to improve company productivity by focusing on employee competence. Karl is focusing on the ________ factor of productivity.

ability

Organizational culture most likely refers to:

basic beliefs shared by members of an organization.

An evolutionary firm would most likely:

be highly decentralized and flexible

HR strategies that fit a company's focus strategy are best described as being:

between those of a differentiation and a low-cost strategy.

One organizational structure that lends itself to the formation of joint ventures and strategic alliances is a:

boundaryless structure

Courtland Corporation recently reduced its number of management levels and decentralized its entire managerial approach. Prior to this, the corporation maintained a pyramid-shaped management structure and was based on a functional division of labor. Courtland evolved from a ________ organization to a ________ organization.

bureaucratic / flat

Maryland Times News is a publishing company that has a functional division of labor, work specialization, and a pyramid of authority. MTN most likely uses a:

bureaucratic organizational structure

The goal-setting theory of motivation suggests that employee satisfaction and motivation are functions of:

clear, direct goals over which the employee has control.

The establishment of an affirmation action plan has three steps. The first is to:

conduct a utilization analysis.

Workers who are hired to deal with short-term increases in a business' workload are known as:

contingent workers.

Manvel Enterprises is implementing a differentiation strategy. Manvel will most likely:

create a unique product

The best job analysis tool for developing behavioral descriptions is the:

critical incident technique.

The first step to create general guidelines for conducting any job analysis is to:

determine the uses of the job analysis.

An HR strategy that fits a company's differentiation strategy would most likely:

emphasize innovation

Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory was developed to explain:

employee motivation.

If an HR department is reviewing whether to use discipline as a control mechanism or as a proactive way to encourage appropriate behavior, it is considering its strategic choices within the HR function of:

employee rights

Firms that display a defender strategy will most likely:

encourage individual training

Firms that display a defender strategy will most likely:

encourage individual training.

Emergent strategies generally

evolve and change as needs arise

Salaried employees are also known as ________ employees.

exempt

The work adjustment theory suggests that employee motivation depends on the:

fit between employee needs and the job characteristics.

Strategic human resource planning is best defined as the process of

formulating HR strategies and establishing programs to implement them

The first step in conducting a critical incident job analysis is to:

generate the dimensions to be examined

RCA is creating a corporate identity to smooth over cultural differences between its domestic and international employees. RCA is most likely addressing the HRM challenge of:

globalization.

Self-managed work teams are:

groups of peers in a company setting who take responsibility for a particular area or task.

Myrna is a fifty-year-old technical professional. She has worked for her company for over 15 years. She is Serbian by birth, but looks black because of her dark pigmentation. Myrna's new boss dislikes her for personal reasons. In meetings, he makes disparaging remarks about Serbians. In a recent argument, he cursed at her and called her an offensive name. On two occasions, he has refused to travel with her on business. What Myrna is experiencing would most likely be classified as ________ by the EEOC.

harassment

Firms are increasingly introducing family-friendly programs to:

hire and retain the best workers

If a woman has been subjected to undesirable and offensive sexual behavior by customers in the workplace, she has most likely been a victim of:

hostile work environment sexual harassment.

Mary Ellen is using a computer to collect, record, store, and analyze her company's human resource. She is most likely using a:

human resource information system.

As the director of HR, you are in a meeting with your corporate officers discussing the firm's deliberate use of personnel to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. You are most likely discussing:

human resource strategies

Job title, location, and author are all part of the ________ of a job description.

identification information

A firm that encourages an entrepreneurial climate would most likely:

implement a variable pay compensation system.

A summary statement of the essential job duties and responsibilities of a job is called a:

job description

The process by which work is organized into the separate tasks required to perform a specific job is called:

job design.

The ________ is the most important part of the job description because it influences all other parts of the job description.

job duties and responsibilities section

The ________ of a job analysis lists worker characteristics (KSAs) needed to perform the job successfully.

job specifications section

You are drafting a job description and have written a short statement that explains the duties and responsibilities of the job and where the job fits in the organizational structure. You have just written the:

job summary.

The current trend to downsize most likely results in:

lower salary expenditures

Managers who rely on their personal views and experiences to solve problems are more likely to run the risk of:

making false assumptions about the business and threatening corporate profitability.

The three psychological states central to the job characteristics theory include:

meaningfulness of the job.

According to job characteristics theory, jobs with certain core characteristics are more likely to:

motivate and satisfy employees

You are talking with a manager about one of his employees, Tom. The manager describes Tom as a person who has a strong desire to do the best possible job and put in the maximum effort to perform his assigned tasks. The manager is describing Tom's:

motivation.

Bureaucratic organizational structures are marked by:

narrow job descriptions and sharp vertical and horizontal boundaries

In order to stimulate critical thinking, the strategic HR planning process should most likely be:

ongoing and flexible.

Knott's Construction builds one house every month. Mr. Knotts and Scott perform all the structural work themselves while they subcontract the plumbing and electrical work. This subcontracting is an example of

outsourcing.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963:

permits pay differences for quality and quantity of production.

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 had several important effects on Title VII, such as:

permitting plaintiffs to collect damages as well as back pay.

The Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act:

prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against Vietnam-era veterans.

Molly heads a large company that has just experienced a major brain drain. She immediately increases compensation to new employees and gives each employee with over 10 years experience an extra 3 days of paid vacation per year. This is an example of:

reactive HR strategy

A critical ethical issue for HR managers related to technology use in work environments is the:

right to privacy

According to goal-setting theory, employees are most motivated when goals are:

specific and challenging

A ________ is a detailed summary of a job's tasks, duties, and responsibilities associated with the work flows. It emphasizes efficiency and control.

specific job description

The primary role of HR is to

support and help managers perform their jobs

The basic element of work that is a logical and necessary step to perform a job is a:

task

If managers needed a systematic way to analyze tasks in a given situation and wanted to use a tailored rather than a standardized questionnaire, they would most likely use a:

task inventory analysis

An HRIS has a number of applications for HRM professionals, such as:

tracking employee skills

Shamekwa believes that employees are motivated by their work, sense of achievement, responsibilities, and advancement opportunities. Shamekwa's thinking is most compatible with the:

two-factor theory.

According to research, the contributions that self-managed work teams offer a large firm are typically:

very positive

Working on his HR strategic plan, Jose is thinking about whether to recommend specific job descriptions or broad job classes, and detailed or loose work planning. Jose is considering the HR strategic choice related to:

work flows