SHRM CP Questions 2

How has the sustainability movement changed organizations' relations with their stakeholders?

A broader range of stakeholders is now considered, allowing for a more active role in shaping policies and goals.

The creative manager requests that the HR manager make an exception to the company policy and allow the hiring process to continue. How should the HR manager address the request?

A. Explain to the creative manager that this is a long-standing employment requirement.

Which tactic should the HR director take to most effectively recruit outside the local market upon realizing that the company will not be able to find all qualified candidates locally, especially for specialized positions?

A. Hire a staffing agency to find people for these out-of-market positions.

The receptionist claims to have fallen asleep at work only once, while the senior dentist claims it was several times. How should the HR manager figure out the actual number of times to include in the receptionist's HR record?

Accept the receptionist's story as the truth and document that in the employee file.

A CEO assigns employees to participate in fund-raising for a nonprofit school for students with learning disabilities. The company provides time off and covers the employees' expenses. Employee contributions and school accomplishments are communicated in newsletters and at annual meetings. How could this attempt at community involvement be improved?

Allow employees more voice in choosing the community involvement partner.

An employee submits a complaint to the HR director stating that he has not received a pay raise in two years because of a physical disability. How should the HR director respond to the complaint?

Analyze salary increase history for all employees in that department.

The CEO decides to implement 360-degree performance assessments for the upcoming year. What should the HR director do to ensure buy-in for this effort?

Arrange training sessions for managers and employees.

The HR manager and staff member discuss this case, and the HR manager asks for the staff member's opinion about changes that might be needed to the performance appraisal process. How should the HR staff member respond?

Ask for permission to review other assessments to see if this type of unaddressed conflict occurs regularly.

Which action should the HR manager take in response to the allegation about the branch manager?

Ask the financial analyst to describe the situations that triggered the complaint.

Which approach should the HR consultant recommend to leadership to best improve the efficiency of organizational processes?

B. Select employees to participate in focus groups to provide suggestions.

Which approach should the HR director take after learning that a competing health-care facility is opening nearby and recruiting for office positions?

Benchmark the competition and other relevant comparison groups, and develop an employment branding strategy.

What is the difference between career management and career planning?

Career management focuses on the organization's needs; career planning focuses on the individual's needs.

Which initial step should an HR director recommend to best support a global pay-for-performance initiative?

Clear, meaningful, and challenging goal setting

What has become a popular solution to the problem of the volume of data created by big data strategies?

Cloud computing

The creative manager asks the HR manager for help in recruiting designers since the department has had difficulty finding qualified applicants. How should the HR manager respond?

Collaborate with the creative manager on a social media recruiting effort.

The HR manager believes that the new company needs an HR manager on site. The former owners disagree and believe that the finance/HR clerk is sufficient. What is the first step the HR manager should take to resolve the difference of opinion?

Conduct an audit of the HR department to determine effectiveness, capability, and historic compliance with organizational policies, laws, and regulations.

In assessing the workplace culture of the smaller company, HR uncovers a significant degree of pro-union sentiment among its employees. What should the HR manager do with this knowledge?

Conduct employee meetings. Acknowledge that there have been shortcomings, and ask employees for an opportunity to make things better.

Which action should the HR consultant recommend to ensure that employees understand the expectations for their positions?

Conduct job analyses to identify the essential tasks and requirements for all jobs.

What should the HR consultant recommend to the leadership team to most effectively address employee concerns that they are prioritizing new business over existing business?

Conduct monthly feedback meetings between the leadership team and employees to discuss concerns.

A manager approves a training course on the condition that it includes some way of ensuring that the training reinforces critical learning objectives. Which strategy should an HR manager employ to best meet the manager's needs?

Conducting a pilot program for a limited group

A municipality enacts certain employee benefit requirements. An organization operates in municipalities in regions all around the country. The HR director must decide how to address this situation. What legal concept does this situation represent?

Conflict of laws

Given the feedback and the request for one point of contact, which action is best for the VP of HR to take?

Coordinate in-person discussions with business leaders to better understand their experience and expectations.

Which method would best prepare current employees for potential promotion into the open positions?

Creating a formal career management plan for high-potential employees that includes an individual development plan for each

What is the primary driver of aligning the HR business unit and functional area strategies to the organizational strategy?

Creating a line of sight between individual work and organizational results

Which type of HR structure allows organizations with different strategies in multiple units to apply HR expertise to each unit's specific strategic needs?

Dedicated

In order to approach global assignments from a strategic-systematic perspective, which action should HR take?

Develop future executives with essential global perspectives.

Which occupation is considered nonexempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act?

Electrician

Since the accounts receivable manager is resistant to adding staff, which workforce strategy should the HR director encourage the manager to take for developing the accounts receivable department?

Encourage the manager to "buy or build" new workforce approaches to help the department meet the organizational demands in the immediate future.

HR has noticed a higher-than-normal rate of voluntary terminations and determined that this warrants investigation. Plans are made to survey the employees. Which type of survey would best determine reasons for the employee departures?

Engagement survey

When administered in the same way in different countries, which assessment approach would provide the most consistent results in collecting information on job candidates?

Evaluation of work samples

A new competitor entered the market and attracted many of a manufacturing organization's employees with higher hourly wages. The organization's HR team has revised the staffing plan. Which data could alert HR to the need for further revisions?

Exit interviews

Which activity is critical to ensure that strategy is implemented effectively?

Feedback on strategic initiatives is obtained on a regular basis from all parts of the organization.

For which position and in which situation would a stress interview be most appropriate?

For emergency room nurses, where behaviors can have life or death consequences

Which example illustrates strategic drift?

Front-line managers continue to perpetuate old ways of doing things and fail to address changing external forces.

Which course of action should the HR manager take to address the concerns regarding the trustworthiness of the HR/finance clerk with the former owners?

Further investigate the substantiated concerns, sharing this with the CEO to collaborate on an appropriate course of action.

Which activity best illustrates HR's strategic role in managing organizational risk?

HR conducts a workshop with other functions to identify potential upside and downside risks under the workforce management plan.

The teams have decided to conduct performance evaluations on one another; however, no members want to address poor performance. What is the best action the HR consultant can take to ensure a fair evaluation process while respecting the decision of the teams?

Have coaches deliver the performance evaluations but incorporate a peer evaluation to allow team members to provide feedback.

Engagement drivers differ from country to country, making it important to understand cultural differences that may influence survey results. In a multinational organization, in which type of culture may employee surveys be less acceptable?

Hierarchical

The HR generalist at a regional bank informs managers when fully qualified candidates apply for jobs. Although there may not be any current openings, HR and position-specific managers will screen candidates and determine next steps. How can HR reliably predict when an opening is likely to occur?

Historical data of movement

A manager has lost several staff members to a competitor in the last quarter but continues to meet her team targets. Which type of report can HR share to ease this manager's dismay over losing staff?

Human capital value added

HR in an English-speaking location is planning to launch critical training in multiple languages. What is the strongest strategy for an HR professional trying to manage the risk of not meeting a training launch date?

Identify and pre-certify multiple translation options.

Which step should the HR director take to quickly identify employees who the company might be able to promote into new positions, factoring in the short time frame?

Identify the open positions and skills needed, use the HRIS to match skill sets of existing employees, and then analyze those employees' performance evaluations.

An organization needs to prioritize spending for its risk management initiatives. Which is the first step the HR leader should take?

Identifying processes and individuals critical to the organization's delivery of value

How should the HR manager address the junior dentist's suspicions?

Independently investigate whether the rumor is true and if the senior dentist is retaliating against the receptionist.

Which recommendation should HR provide to assist an organization that wants a benefit plan that manages increased costs without sacrificing employee morale?

Initiate several representative focus groups to determine preferences.

How does HR make sure that organizational effectiveness and development (OED) interventions deliver value?

Intervention objectives link outcomes to organizational goals.

The HR manager discovers that the financial analyst has exaggerated the severity of the investment banker's error in an attempt to have the investment banker transferred to another office. Which action should the HR manager take?

Interview the investment banker and the financial analyst to gain a better understanding of their interactions.

What should the HR director do about the accounts receivable that have not been processed?

Investigate, evaluate, document, and respond to the reports of the unethical behavior with the controller and the manager.

What is the best first step the HR manager should take to create a positive working relationship with the former owners?

Involve the former owners along with representatives of the acquiring company in developing a plan for implementing policy changes.

While training a new staff member, an HR manager emphasizes that the staff member should always confirm with a line manager by phone call or email when a request has been resolved. Why is this especially important?

It reinforces HR's service and value to its internal business partners.

Which organizational initiative should HR recommend to resolve glass ceiling issues for women?

Leadership development and mentoring programs

Which is an advantage of blended learning over only instructor-led training?

Less expensive to deliver

When designing a training program, which should a global HR professional consider first?

Local differentiation and stakeholder support

Which strategy should HR recommend to embrace diversity in the workforce at a greenfield operation?

Local responsiveness

What demonstrates the use of artificial intelligence in an organization?

Machine learning chatbot that answers benefit questions and gets smarter as it collects more information

Which best describes how management differs from leadership?

Management maintains order, while leadership produces and manages change.

An elder care service organization is challenged with retention of staff. Recently the service director left the organization with little notice. HR wants to prepare for future unplanned vacancies to avoid any disruption in client services. What is the best way for HR to mitigate this risk?

Managers can cross-train a subordinate.

Which would be the first step the HR director should take to gather more detailed information to begin the staffing process?

Meet with the COO to discuss a comprehensive talent acquisition strategy.

The CEO requests that the HR manager research industry trends regarding hiring policies and drug use that takes place during personal time. How should the HR manager gather the information?

Meet with the executive board to determine their specific goals for this research regarding drug use during personal time.

What should the HR manager do to prevent future conflict between the financial analyst, the investment banker, and the branch manager?

Meet with the financial analyst to discuss the firm's ethical and team expectations of its employees.

An HR business partner (BP) knows that HR is struggling to improve its relationship with the operations function. The BP receives an e-mail from an operations supervisor who refuses to implement a disciplinary action that the BP has recommended. What should the BP do?

Meet with the supervisor and explain the rationale for taking disciplinary action.

How should the HR staff member approach reconciling these divergent sets of feedback?

Meet with two team members separately and confidentially to gather examples of the team leader's behavior.

A Taiwanese manufacturer of electronic components for major global brands has production locations in several countries, including Vietnam, Turkey, Mexico, and the United States. What offshoring trend does this exemplify?

Multidirectional shift in the flow of offshoring jobs to and from developed and emerging economies

A scientist is hired to perform research for a new product at a pharmaceutical company. Which clause is most critical to include in the employment contract?

Non-disclosure of trade secrets and other confidential information

An organization with unionized and non-unionized workers negotiates a union contract that includes early retirement benefits and a 10% reduction in starting wages for new employees. Which should the organization likely expect as a result?

Non-unionized workers will expect similar terms.

A new division manager wants to terminate a new employee for borrowing work equipment for personal use, an act specifically prohibited in the employee handbook. This has happened before, but, in that case, the employee was not terminated. Which action should HR recommend the manager take?

Not proceeding with the termination because it may not be defensible

Which next step should the VP of HR take to send a clear message to business leaders that HR has heard the concerns and is working to improve the customer experience?

Outline a plan of action to address customer concerns and communicate with business leaders on an ongoing basis.

Once the work flow is amended, which is the best way for the VP of HR to identify the measures of success and the impact on the organization?

Partner with the business unit leaders to outline meaningful measures and outcomes that demonstrate alignment with strategy.

What should the HR director do to ensure that the organization's job descriptions are accurate?

Perform a job analysis to identify the activities, tasks, and responsibilities of each position in the organization.

How should an HR manager address an employee's concern about pay equity between his job and the job of another employee with a similar role?

Perform a job evaluation of the employee's position.

Which is the best way for an HR professional to persuade a function to embrace changes in work processes that are part of an organizational effectiveness intervention?

Presenting the changes as necessary to maintaining competitiveness

One member who is new to the organization argues forcefully for approaches that she used in her previous job. The other two team members complain off-line to the team leader, saying that the new member does not listen and just wants to do things in a familiar way. What should the team leader do?

Promptly and privately meet with the new member and discuss project goals and team ground rules.

An HR manager observes that a staff member spends considerable time following up on compliance questions from line managers and supervisors. How should the manager respond?

Provide positive feedback to motivate this type of behavior.

How can the HR consultant assist the teams in making workplace decisions on their own?

Provide training on defining roles, establishing trust, and giving teams ongoing support and coaching in workplace decisions.

What recommendation should the HR manager make to the CEO to address these issues?

Recommend that more coaches be placed on the second shift production floor to provide guidance and direction to the newer teams' members.

A stock brokerage firm incents in-house brokers with trips if they generate more than $500,000 worth of sales in a particular fund that the firm currently owns 20% in. Management asks HR to comment on the program. What should HR recommend?

Recommend that this unethical practice stop and discuss alternative incentive plans.

An organization has experienced rapid growth, hampering its ability to respond quickly to competitive threats. Which form of restructuring will offer the best opportunity to minimize response times?

Redistributing decision-making authority

What should the HR manager do to help the receptionist stay awake at work?

Refer the receptionist to the employee assistance program.

What legal principle is followed by national policies requiring affirmative action to prevent discrimination?

Reservation

Which factor differentiates successful training programs from unsuccessful programs?

Results showing transfer of learning

Which of the following employment practices would an HR director recommend to increase employees' behavioral engagement levels?

Select applicants with an interest in solving problems and ensure challenging work.

When separately asking the senior dentist and the receptionist about the sleep incidents, the HR manager observes strong hostility between them. Which approach should the HR manager take to manage the conflict between the two employees?

Serve as mediator while they talk through their issues.

The HR director and the management team of a small resort hotel have been working to solidify a union avoidance strategy. As this is occurring, they discover that a union's representatives are talking with the employees about organizing. Which action should the HR director recommend the resort take in response to the union activity?

Share the company's position and the union's strategy with the employees honestly.

A European employee travels to transfer company technology for a manufacturing process. The employee remains on home-country compensation and benefit plans while on assignment. Incentives include one trip home every 12 weeks to visit family that remained at home. What type of global assignee is this individual?

Short-term assignee

The HR manager also has demanding internal clients who do not understand it when an open position is not filled promptly. In the past, HR has always worked with a designated liaison, but the recruiter does not want to commit to that. In this scenario, what would be considered a "want" rather than a "need"?

Single Liaison

Which practice should have the best potential to decrease talent acquisition costs and increase an organization's ability to compete for skilled employees?

Staying current with labor market and economic trends

Two team members continually disagree about project decisions impacting work duties and tasks. The team leader meets with the employee relations director to seek advice on the best course of action to resolve this situation. Which is the best conflict management approach for the ER director to recommend?

Suggest that the team leader meet with both employees and mediate a mutually acceptable solution.

Under the system of codetermination, whose approval is required by management prior to implementing strategic plans?

Supervisory board

As part of a software company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, during non-working hours employees volunteer time and expertise helping low-income people build their own small businesses. Participation has been consistent but at a very low level. What recommendation should HR make to assist the company in increasing employee involvement?

Support employee participation with paid time off.

Technology automates many HR tasks, shrinking the HR department. Yet, as HR evolves from transactional to transformational work, the workload may increase and become more complex. Staff may complain about being overloaded. Which is the best way to solve this problem?

Support training to help HR staff make full use of available technology.

Which information should the director of HR present to the controller and the accounts receivable manager during the next discussion of workforce planning?

The HR director should present critical information about the exit interviews of accounts receivable staff and benchmark data on the staffing plans of large hospitals.

Which is the most advantageous outcome of employers treating employees with care and respect during termination of employment?

The employees may return to the organization, and they will require little training.

How does the Global Integration-Local Responsiveness (GI-LR) matrix aid HR in developing policies and determining staffing needs?

The globalization strategy reflected in the matrix helps define HR's role at headquarters and subsidiaries.

How is a growth-share matrix used in a large organization?

To understand the competitive position and value of each sector of the business

Contrary to policy, disciplinary actions taken by supervisors in the last year were not documented and terminations within the past six months have not been reviewed. Which action should a new HR manager take after learning about this situation?

Training supervisors and monitoring to ensure compliance

An HR director is creating a talent acquisition strategy. What should the director do first to incorporate risk management into the plan?

Understand the organization's risk appetite and tolerance.

A new HR manager is eager to win support for her idea for a new employee benefit. Which type of colleague would be a good ally in this situation?

Veteran HR manager familiar with how decisions are made and with connections in other areas

Which of the following terms describes the impact on an employer when an employee reports an incident of workplace harassment by a supervisor but the supervisor fails to act on it?

Vicarious liability

An HR manager is preparing a risk management plan for a manufacturing floor. The manager has reviewed accident records from the past five years and talked with an insurer. Which approach to obtain additional useful information is best?

Walk through the area and observe conditions during work operations.

Which aspect of communication is a primary focus in low-context cultures?

Words