SHRM Final Exam

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

"Reservation"

What is the weighted average of the following salaries? $20,000 (2 incumbents) $30,000 (1 incumbent) $35,000 (2 incumbents) $40,000 (1 incumbent)

$30,000

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to all employers with at least how many employees?

15

What is the usefulness of a key risk indicator (KRI)?

A KRI provides early warning of risk emergence.

What characterizes the most successful talent management OED initiatives?

A consideration of the strategic needs of the organization as well the individual needs of the employee

How will measuring revenue per employee help HR better understand the level of employee engagement?

A decrease in revenue per employee may correlate with lower employee engagement.

What is the best definition of moral hazard?

A person engages in risky behavior knowing that someone else will absorb any losses.

Which definition best describes the concept of a stakeholder?

A stakeholder is anyone who shares in the value of an organization and its activities.

What is a good example of an upside risk?

A team finishes its project two weeks ahead of the schedule.

What is a characteristic of alternative dispute resolution (ADR)?

ADR does not preclude litigation.

To reinforce the importance of safety, employees' annual bonuses are linked to the aggregate safety key performance indicators (KPIs). Which effect is this likely to have on the rate of accidents?

Accidents will increase due to underreporting.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which statement is true?

Accommodation is not required if it results in undue hardship for the organization.

What two organizational functions most typically report to the chief financial officer?

Accounting and finance

Third-party contractors are best used for what types of activities?

Activities that are not strategic

What federal law or regulation applies to most employers?

Age Discrimination in Employment Act

Outside the United States, for which employees are employment contracts generally used?

All levels of staff, including most temporary and part-time workers

Senior management has determined that a reduction in force (RIF) is the only way it can address financial difficulties. Which action would best minimize the impact of the downsizing on the organization and employee morale?

Allow employees to volunteer to be separated.

What is the best career development strategy for an engineer who is not interested in a management position?

Allow for upward movement in technical positions.

During an interview, when is it appropriate to ask candidates about any outcome they might consider a failed performance?

Always; failures contribute to learning.

What is meant by the term "residual risk"?

Amount of uncertainty remaining after all management efforts have been made

In general, which employee is most likely to have developed a global mindset?

An employee who spent time throughout her education in programs abroad

What fits the definition of workplace retaliation?

An employer takes an adverse action against an employee.

What is the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability?

An organization's CSR strategy will most likely include goals related to sustainability.

An HR specialist prepares a business case to support an initiative. The case includes descriptions of the project's goals and benefits, method, budget, and time line. What other information would have been good to include?

Analysis of the initiative's possible risks

What type of assessment is most likely to be conducted near the beginning of the development of a global staffing plan?

Analysis to determine the gap between the current staffing situation and future staffing resource requirements

An HR department consists of 18 employees, with three managers directly working under an HR director. The three managers, one of whom is new to the group, present and face certain challenges to maintaining a positive and productive workplace. Two managers complain to the HR director that the newly hired manager does not delegate responsibilities, which hurts the team's productivity and challenges the productivity of the entire department. The same two managers are putting pressure on the new manager to give a certain job applicant, the daughter of a close friend of the HR director, an advantage in the hiring process. The new manager, once trained, wants more autonomy. He has been appointed the project leader for the new HRIS implementation and is responsible for allocating team member tasks and responsibilities. The team does not seem to be completing their tasks properly and within the stated amount of time, severely jeopardizing the delivery of the project. Many on the team have hinted that they are unsure of what they are supposed to be doing and how they contribute to the overall success of the project. How should the HR director handle the complaints from the more-tenured managers about the new manager's delegation style?

Arrange a meeting with all three managers, expressing confidence in each of them and asking the older managers to help the new one learn the routine and expectations.

How is today's global organization best characterized?

As any organization, large or small, whose every process, action, and decision is firmly rooted in a carefully conceived global strategy

An HR manager receives an e-mail from a department director with an attached termination-of-employment memo for a groundskeeping employee. The company's recreational vehicle resort is over 200 miles away from the company headquarters where the HR manager works. The terminated employee works at the resort and lives there in a trailer. The memo states that the director terminated the employee yesterday for gross misconduct. The employee had a good performance record during his career of 10 years. The groundskeeper was working in the heat all morning and then informed the director he was going home for lunch and a cold beer. Later the groundskeeper radioed the director that he was running late in returning from lunch. Subsequent communications led to the director sending a student worker to the employee's trailer to pick him up and return to the office. Upon their return, the groundskeeper smelled of alcohol, and the student worker reported to the director that the intoxicated groundskeeper offered the under-aged student worker a beer, which was refused. The student worker stressed that she did not want to get the groundskeeper in any trouble; however, the groundskeeper insisted that he be allowed to drive the golf cart back to the office after drinking beer, which made the student feel uncomfortable. The day following the groundskeeper's termination, another resort employee calls the HR manager to state that the termination was too severe and that the groundskeeper made a mistake but has otherwise had a good employment record. How should the HR manager respond?

Ask the caller if he was a witness to the incident, and, if so, would he be willing to provide a written statement on what he saw and heard.

What strategy would be most helpful in obtaining commitment from managers when planning major changes in the performance appraisal process?

Ask the managers what changes they think should be made.

During which stage of the global assignment process should criteria for the ideal expatriate candidate be developed?

Assessment and selection

The recruiting department is overwhelmed with requests for employees at the 24-hour company call center. Recently, several recruiters and a number of long-time, high-level performers resigned to work for competitors for better pay. With the remaining workforce, last-minute illnesses create particular challenges. The work is tedious, the pay is low, the space is tightly packed and noisy, and there is no opportunity for advancement. Callers typically say they cannot hear workers because of the noise. Workers take turns being on call at night and route phones to their mobile devices, enabling them to work remotely. A high-volume contract recruiter, used often by the company, offers to assist for a few weeks. The recruiting manager enthusiastically sets up a private office with a phone, computer, printer, and employee directory with contact information and also issues an identification card, entry access, and system access to all online search engines paid for by the company. The office doubles as an interview room, and the call center manager sees only the final candidates. One reason the contract recruiter has been successful is the very flexible hours worked while not many people are in the office. Applicants currently employed at other companies like the flexibility afforded by these hours for their interviews. A search firm regularly used by this company recently placed an HR manager, who handles the call center. In a casual conversation with the recruiting manager, the HR manager mentions how nice it was to see the temporary recruiter who is the spouse of that search firm's owner. How might the HR manager quickly address compensation to assist with retention?

Based on the local regulations, award premium pay for evening, holiday, and long hours.

What type of engagement is evident in the effort an employee puts into his or her job?

Behavioral engagement

What is the basis of religious law?

Beliefs and conventions

Following recent media attention, a manufacturer is experiencing a sudden growth spurt. Which HR tasks can be effectively outsourced to allow HR to focus on strategic activities?

Benefits and payroll administration

A new operations manager is assigned to a cash management operations function in a wholesale bank. He recently acquired his MBA, and he has decided to apply his new knowledge to speed up the work by using an assembly-line process and a total quality management (TQM) approach. Most employees are of Philippine descent and hold graduate degrees from Philippine universities. Although they have been teachers, lawyers, and professional workers at home, because their degrees are not recognized in their new country, they have been relegated to clerical-level positions. The new manager has implemented his assembly-line approach, and the employees are miserable. They complain to the business head, who asks the HR manager to work with the operations manager and help him implement the change more effectively. In reviewing the changes that have been implemented, HR can see that the new schedule offers some impressive business results, increasing the unit's throughput rate and the bottom line because of the volumes being produced. However, the assembly-line element of the new work process means that some employees are only stapling documents together or putting them into a file folder. The work is monotonous and offers little autonomy. HR also notes that one element of the change is a move to a 24/7 operations schedule. A shift differential in wages has been offered, and employees have volunteered for the shifts. However, they are experiencing problems, and attendance and error rates are suffering. From employee complaints, it appears that the schedule is causing personal and family issues for the employees. How can HR best provide support to leadership in overcoming issues related to the employees' different language and culture?

Build team frameworks that support trust, including cross-cultural learning experiences.

A highly matrixed, decentralized international company has six business units in various locations. Although there's a corporate human resources team with all HR functions represented, each business unit also has its own HR department and functions. All of them operate in a polycentric fashion; only the vice presidents of HR, who report to the senior vice president of HR, interact on a periodic basis. A downturn in the economy has impacted the company and has led corporate HR to explore the possibility of using a new centralized service model to combine one or more of the HR functions into corporate. Other reasons for this include reduction in HR practitioners/cost savings, improved consistency, and elevated expertise. An HR manager who has been with one business unit for the last six years has joined a team pulled together by corporate HR to design and implement an appropriate servicing model. He is the only one from outside of the corporate function participating on the team. For the past month, they have been looking at the pros and cons of different HR structures and are discussing a shared services approach. How should the HR manager and the team start the process to determine the appropriate HR servicing model?

By looking at the vision, mission, and values of the company

Which statement about corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and programs is correct?

CSR policy results are being included in annual financial performance reports.

An HR manager receives an e-mail from a department director with an attached termination-of-employment memo for a groundskeeping employee. The company's recreational vehicle resort is over 200 miles away from the company headquarters where the HR manager works. The terminated employee works at the resort and lives there in a trailer. The memo states that the director terminated the employee yesterday for gross misconduct. The employee had a good performance record during his career of 10 years. The groundskeeper was working in the heat all morning and then informed the director he was going home for lunch and a cold beer. Later the groundskeeper radioed the director that he was running late in returning from lunch. Subsequent communications led to the director sending a student worker to the employee's trailer to pick him up and return to the office. Upon their return, the groundskeeper smelled of alcohol, and the student worker reported to the director that the intoxicated groundskeeper offered the under-aged student worker a beer, which was refused. The student worker stressed that she did not want to get the groundskeeper in any trouble; however, the groundskeeper insisted that he be allowed to drive the golf cart back to the office after drinking beer, which made the student feel uncomfortable. The HR manager reviews the memo and decides to contact the director. What approach should the HR manager pursue next?

Call the director and ask for details about what happened.

Which market practice benefits might be offered to entice an executive to join an organization?

Car, transportation allowance, and meal vouchers

How is career development often viewed in Eastern cultures?

Career decisions may be strongly influenced by family and friends.

What is an example of direct compensation?

Cash achievement award

An organization is projecting future employee flow based on past transition rates. What is a potential outcome of this approach?

Change can diminish the accuracy of the flow projection.

After a workplace survey showed that it was not perceived as "employee-friendly," an organization decides to implement alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Which type of ADR would be most appropriate?

Chosen officer

Which task is critical to identifying the talent needs of a business?

Clarifying performance standards

An organization has designed and published its values, provided training on the values, and outlined an individual's responsibilities in upholding those values. What has the organization created?

Code of ethics

What do software as a service (SaaS) users need to access the software?

Compatible browser

What type of information might be discovered during an environmental scan?

Competitive threats

What term best describes a corporate culture that focuses on meeting the technical requirements of regulations?

Compliance culture

What is the best way to evaluate an emergency response plan?

Conduct a crisis drill.

A nonprofit social services organization has experienced rapid growth. The organization's services have expanded to new geographic markets, and the workforce has doubled to 200 social service professionals in two years. While the organization continues to gain financial support for expanding services into new markets, the overall performance in service quality is showing signs of a downward trend. This decline is raising concerns for the CEO and the executive committee. They suspect it must be due to the quality of new hires or a lack of incentive for them to perform better. Until now the organization has been managing the HR functions with a sparse team of two. Recognizing the increasing demands of HR management issues, the CEO and the executive committee agree to hire an experienced HR manager. The role of the HR manager is to ensure that the social service employees provide high quality service, which in turn should help the organization secure additional funding and continue its growth trajectory. The newly hired HR manager begins to tackle the issues by conducting internal research, reviews, and analysis in order to diagnose the root causes of the service quality decline. The HR manager's investigation uncovers several critical problems that must be solved in order to improve the performance of the organization, including poor job descriptions, a poor performance management system, a lack of training, low base pay for new hires, and no recognition program. The rate of expansion will need to slow down significantly in order to make corrections with the current staff and have a solid talent management program in place when the expansion efforts are reinstated. In addition, making these corrections will require a significant financial investment. So, while the HR manager can help fix the problems, it will come at a cost. In an attempt to cut costs, one of the members of the executive committee proposes that it is best to fire all current social services employees and start over by hiring a new cohort who are better qualified. What is the best action for the HR manager to take in order to foster acceptance and adoption of the new role definitions, role expectations, and performance management approach by all the social service professionals?

Conduct a two-pronged communication campaign comprising regular and ongoing centralized communications for all employees and training for supervisors and managers to enable them to provide individualized messages to their direct reports.

What is the best method to use when training employees on an emergency response plan?

Conduct drills and role plays.

A recent employee survey identified work/life balance as a problem for an organization. What would be the best objective to include in HR's business plan?

Conduct five focus groups to identify work/life balance issues and prepare a report/recommendations by mid-year.

In his curriculum vitae (CV), a well-qualified applicant takes a lot of credit for team initiatives. What should HR do?

Consider scheduling a screening interview.

What features characterize the global integration strategy?

Consistency of approach and standardization of processes

What policy gives employees an opportunity to understand expectations and change their behaviors?

Constructive discipline

What type of policy clarifies performance expectations and demonstrates organizational support of individual performance improvement?

Constructive discipline

What is the basis for international law?

Conventions and treaties

An organization places more emphasis on formalizing policies and procedures. What challenge typical of the growth phase is this organization trying to address?

Coordinating its parts

What factors provide the best basis for determining future global staffing requirements?

Corporate and HR strategic plans

An organization has a resource-intensive project that requires specialized expertise not currently available in-house. To maintain managerial control over the contractor, which relationship should be pursued?

Cosourcing

An international hard discount supermarket chain's competitive strategy is to provide the lowest-cost products by minimizing operational costs. Which generic competitive strategy is it using?

Cost leadership

What is a traditional measure of recruiting costs?

Cost of hire

A manager in the IT department does not identify high-potential employees. As a result, many employees leave the company. What would be the best first step in solving the problem?

Counsel the manager on the importance of employee retention.

The recruiting department is overwhelmed with requests for employees at the 24-hour company call center. Recently, several recruiters and a number of long-time, high-level performers resigned to work for competitors for better pay. With the remaining workforce, last-minute illnesses create particular challenges. The work is tedious, the pay is low, the space is tightly packed and noisy, and there is no opportunity for advancement. Callers typically say they cannot hear workers because of the noise. Workers take turns being on call at night and route phones to their mobile devices, enabling them to work remotely. A high-volume contract recruiter, used often by the company, offers to assist for a few weeks. The recruiting manager enthusiastically sets up a private office with a phone, computer, printer, and employee directory with contact information and also issues an identification card, entry access, and system access to all online search engines paid for by the company. The office doubles as an interview room, and the call center manager sees only the final candidates. One reason the contract recruiter has been successful is the very flexible hours worked while not many people are in the office. Applicants currently employed at other companies like the flexibility afforded by these hours for their interviews. A search firm regularly used by this company recently placed an HR manager, who handles the call center. In a casual conversation with the recruiting manager, the HR manager mentions how nice it was to see the temporary recruiter who is the spouse of that search firm's owner. With the loss of so many employees, what creative solutions might the HR manager suggest?

Create a new level of experienced employee coaches to lead small teams, and provide time each week for teams to discuss and recommend process improvements.

The HR department has been shrinking in recent years because technology has automated many HR tasks. As HR evolves from transactional to transformational, some managers balk at the increased workload. Which is the best way to solve this problem?

Create manager self-service training to help managers prepare required reports.

The recruiting department is overwhelmed with requests for employees at the 24-hour company call center. Recently, several recruiters and a number of long-time, high-level performers resigned to work for competitors for better pay. With the remaining workforce, last-minute illnesses create particular challenges. The work is tedious, the pay is low, the space is tightly packed and noisy, and there is no opportunity for advancement. Callers typically say they cannot hear workers because of the noise. Workers take turns being on call at night and route phones to their mobile devices, enabling them to work remotely. A high-volume contract recruiter, used often by the company, offers to assist for a few weeks. The recruiting manager enthusiastically sets up a private office with a phone, computer, printer, and employee directory with contact information and also issues an identification card, entry access, and system access to all online search engines paid for by the company. The office doubles as an interview room, and the call center manager sees only the final candidates. One reason the contract recruiter has been successful is the very flexible hours worked while not many people are in the office. Applicants currently employed at other companies like the flexibility afforded by these hours for their interviews. A search firm regularly used by this company recently placed an HR manager, who handles the call center. In a casual conversation with the recruiting manager, the HR manager mentions how nice it was to see the temporary recruiter who is the spouse of that search firm's owner. How can the recruiting manager prevent the appearance of misconduct in the recruiting department now and for the future?

Create master service agreements with frequently used recruiting firms to prevent them from stealing any employee they place.

What is the goal of enabling local cluster developments?

Creating shared value

A mail-order bakery that has had national success in the U.S. is expanding into global markets. They intend to start with five cakes that are current best sellers. Which potential issue should HR anticipate with this strategic approach?

Cultural tastes will vary from what is popular in the U.S.

What action would an organization take during the strategy formulation phase?

Deciding on the organization's mission

What is the outcome of the arbitration process?

Decision

Which stage in the workforce analysis process considers the business challenges an organization faces and creates a forecast of the organization's future workforce composition?

Demand analysis

A nonprofit social services organization has experienced rapid growth. The organization's services have expanded to new geographic markets, and the workforce has doubled to 200 social service professionals in two years. While the organization continues to gain financial support for expanding services into new markets, the overall performance in service quality is showing signs of a downward trend. This decline is raising concerns for the CEO and the executive committee. They suspect it must be due to the quality of new hires or a lack of incentive for them to perform better. Until now the organization has been managing the HR functions with a sparse team of two. Recognizing the increasing demands of HR management issues, the CEO and the executive committee agree to hire an experienced HR manager. The role of the HR manager is to ensure that the social service employees provide high quality service, which in turn should help the organization secure additional funding and continue its growth trajectory. The newly hired HR manager begins to tackle the issues by conducting internal research, reviews, and analysis in order to diagnose the root causes of the service quality decline. The HR manager's investigation uncovers several critical problems that must be solved in order to improve the performance of the organization, including poor job descriptions, a poor performance management system, a lack of training, low base pay for new hires, and no recognition program. The rate of expansion will need to slow down significantly in order to make corrections with the current staff and have a solid talent management program in place when the expansion efforts are reinstated. In addition, making these corrections will require a significant financial investment. So, while the HR manager can help fix the problems, it will come at a cost. In an attempt to cut costs, one of the members of the executive committee proposes that it is best to fire all current social services employees and start over by hiring a new cohort who are better qualified. How should the HR manager respond to the executive committee member who proposes to fire all current social services employees and start over by hiring new employees who are better qualified?

Demonstrate the projected return on investment for the proposed integrated HR programs, including several scenarios that show building a new workforce vs. training the existing workforce.

A law office is in the process of converting from paper to electronic record storage. Which protocol should HR use as a standard to ensure organizational compliance?

Department of Labor's "Final Rules"

An HR director has been assigned to develop a program to support the opening of new retail stores. Which step in the ADDIE process identifies the behavioral results of the program?

Design

An employee who has been with the organization for over 10 years arrives every day on time at 9:00 a.m. The employee's team is scheduled to work from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The employee returns from lunch 15 minutes after the other members of the team and ends the workday at 5:15 p.m. A new manager has recently taken over the department and notices this pattern of behavior. During an informal conversation, the manager mentions that the employee is taking extended lunches. The employee responds with, "What does it matter? I stay and make up the time." After concluding the conversation, the manager decides to partner with the HR generalist, as the manager wishes to document the employee taking an extended lunch. The manager is concerned that the previous manager allowed the behavior. There are no notes that the employee has any accommodation. Additionally the manager is concerned that the morale of the team is suffering because of this, as three team members have approached her about this since she took over two months ago. The new manager is also worried that if the issue is not addressed in a timely manner, she may lose the ability to effectively manage the team. The manager asks the HR generalist if HR can simply update the policy to allow the employees some flexibility in their hours. What should the HR generalist do in order to effectively assess whether to update the policy?

Determine when the last update was, and, if over a year ago, partner with the HR manager to begin the process of updating.

A new operations manager is assigned to a cash management operations function in a wholesale bank. He recently acquired his MBA, and he has decided to apply his new knowledge to speed up the work by using an assembly-line process and a total quality management (TQM) approach. Most employees are of Philippine descent and hold graduate degrees from Philippine universities. Although they have been teachers, lawyers, and professional workers at home, because their degrees are not recognized in their new country, they have been relegated to clerical-level positions. The new manager has implemented his assembly-line approach, and the employees are miserable. They complain to the business head, who asks the HR manager to work with the operations manager and help him implement the change more effectively. In reviewing the changes that have been implemented, HR can see that the new schedule offers some impressive business results, increasing the unit's throughput rate and the bottom line because of the volumes being produced. However, the assembly-line element of the new work process means that some employees are only stapling documents together or putting them into a file folder. The work is monotonous and offers little autonomy. HR also notes that one element of the change is a move to a 24/7 operations schedule. A shift differential in wages has been offered, and employees have volunteered for the shifts. However, they are experiencing problems, and attendance and error rates are suffering. From employee complaints, it appears that the schedule is causing personal and family issues for the employees. After responding to the complaints, how should HR proceed?

Develop a data display document to communicate internal information to management.

A new operations manager is assigned to a cash management operations function in a wholesale bank. He recently acquired his MBA, and he has decided to apply his new knowledge to speed up the work by using an assembly-line process and a total quality management (TQM) approach. Most employees are of Philippine descent and hold graduate degrees from Philippine universities. Although they have been teachers, lawyers, and professional workers at home, because their degrees are not recognized in their new country, they have been relegated to clerical-level positions. The new manager has implemented his assembly-line approach, and the employees are miserable. They complain to the business head, who asks the HR manager to work with the operations manager and help him implement the change more effectively. In reviewing the changes that have been implemented, HR can see that the new schedule offers some impressive business results, increasing the unit's throughput rate and the bottom line because of the volumes being produced. However, the assembly-line element of the new work process means that some employees are only stapling documents together or putting them into a file folder. The work is monotonous and offers little autonomy. HR also notes that one element of the change is a move to a 24/7 operations schedule. A shift differential in wages has been offered, and employees have volunteered for the shifts. However, they are experiencing problems, and attendance and error rates are suffering. From employee complaints, it appears that the schedule is causing personal and family issues for the employees. How can HR help in maintaining the benefits of the new shift and mitigating the negative impacts?

Develop a focused orientation program to address issues that the employees will experience in shifting their sleeping and working schedules.

A nonprofit social services organization has experienced rapid growth. The organization's services have expanded to new geographic markets, and the workforce has doubled to 200 social service professionals in two years. While the organization continues to gain financial support for expanding services into new markets, the overall performance in service quality is showing signs of a downward trend. This decline is raising concerns for the CEO and the executive committee. They suspect it must be due to the quality of new hires or a lack of incentive for them to perform better. Until now the organization has been managing the HR functions with a sparse team of two. Recognizing the increasing demands of HR management issues, the CEO and the executive committee agree to hire an experienced HR manager. The role of the HR manager is to ensure that the social service employees provide high quality service, which in turn should help the organization secure additional funding and continue its growth trajectory. The newly hired HR manager begins to tackle the issues by conducting internal research, reviews, and analysis in order to diagnose the root causes of the service quality decline. The HR manager's investigation uncovers several critical problems that must be solved in order to improve the performance of the organization, including poor job descriptions, a poor performance management system, a lack of training, low base pay for new hires, and no recognition program. The rate of expansion will need to slow down significantly in order to make corrections with the current staff and have a solid talent management program in place when the expansion efforts are reinstated. In addition, making these corrections will require a significant financial investment. So, while the HR manager can help fix the problems, it will come at a cost. In an attempt to cut costs, one of the members of the executive committee proposes that it is best to fire all current social services employees and start over by hiring a new cohort who are better qualified. The HR manager has identified several HR problems that need to be solved. What should the HR manager do first?

Develop an HR vision and a road map for developing a qualified and high-performing workforce, and secure executive committee buy-in.

What type of activities are aimed at preparing for long-term, future job responsibilities as well as increasing skills for performing an employee's current job?

Developmental activities

The Center for Creative Leadership, after 30 years of research, designed a model of learning called the 70-20-10 rule. The rule proposes that to develop managers it is important to engage them in three clusters of experience, using a 70-20-10 ratio. What type of experience does the "20" in the ratio stand for?

Developmental relationships

An employee receives a piece rate up to a standard and then receives a higher rate once the standard has been exceeded. What type of pay system is this?

Differential piece rate

What obstacles to accomplishing a successful change to a new enterprise management system are unique to a global firm?

Difficulties in communication across borders and time zones

What emotional challenge can HR help retained employees confront after a mass reduction in workforce?

Diminished job security

A supervisor hires a new employee, and, by the end of the first month, the employee is having performance problems. What is the first thing the supervisor should do?

Discuss performance issues with the employee.

A salesperson takes a personal phone call while a customer needs help. How should the owner give the salesperson feedback?

Discuss the incident with the salesperson immediately and in private and remind the salesperson of the policy on personal phone calls.

What is the best definition of risk?

Effect of uncertainty on the ability to meet objectives

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which occupation is considered nonexempt?

Electrician

Which best describes the impact of self-service technologies on internal HR?

Eliminates many time-consuming duties for HR and benefits managers

Because of an increase in terrorism, a global organization establishes evacuation procedures and communication plans for company sites. The organization also creates a website that sits outside the company's firewall for easy access if the organization's network goes down. What activity has the organization completed?

Emergency response planning

Financial planning, legal assistance, and tuition assistance programs are just a few examples of what type of work/life program?

Employee assistance

HR is trying to better understand the indirect costs associated with organizational turnover. The employee engagement survey is coming up. What should HR try to assess as part of the survey?

Employee morale

An employer wants to survey employees on current safety procedures to determine if they have ideas on how to improve overall safety in the workplace. What type of survey would the employer conduct?

Employee opinion survey

When is the retention rate for adult learners highest?

Employees are able to practice what they have learned.

Which practice is most likely to protect sensitive corporate data?

Encrypting employee computers and network communications

What approach will most help the change process go more smoothly?

Ensuring that employees have input into change alternatives

Which globalization factors pose the most significant talent management challenges for HR professionals?

Eroding physical barriers and managing a multicultural and multigenerational workforce

The creation of a global compensation and benefits strategy that fails to take into account important local differences in culture is most likely to occur in what approach to global management?

Ethnocentric

What type of talent management training is best for senior managers?

Executive coaching

Mentor, facilitator, innovator, and broker are roles of what level of leader?

Executive-level

Under Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations, how is a bank teller who works 38 hours per week and is paid $28,000 a year classified?

Exempt professional

A union is attempting to organize employees in a nonunion workplace. HR training for the organization's supervisors and managers explains allowable and prohibited behaviors during the union representation campaign. What is one thing supervisors and management can do legally?

Explain why the organization seeks to maintain a union-free workplace.

In the four-layer model of diversity, which layer consists of the results of life experiences and choices?

External dimensions

What communication method is more likely to be favored by high-context cultures?

Face-to-face

A new operations manager is assigned to a cash management operations function in a wholesale bank. He recently acquired his MBA, and he has decided to apply his new knowledge to speed up the work by using an assembly-line process and a total quality management (TQM) approach. Most employees are of Philippine descent and hold graduate degrees from Philippine universities. Although they have been teachers, lawyers, and professional workers at home, because their degrees are not recognized in their new country, they have been relegated to clerical-level positions. The new manager has implemented his assembly-line approach, and the employees are miserable. They complain to the business head, who asks the HR manager to work with the operations manager and help him implement the change more effectively. In reviewing the changes that have been implemented, HR can see that the new schedule offers some impressive business results, increasing the unit's throughput rate and the bottom line because of the volumes being produced. However, the assembly-line element of the new work process means that some employees are only stapling documents together or putting them into a file folder. The work is monotonous and offers little autonomy. HR also notes that one element of the change is a move to a 24/7 operations schedule. A shift differential in wages has been offered, and employees have volunteered for the shifts. However, they are experiencing problems, and attendance and error rates are suffering. From employee complaints, it appears that the schedule is causing personal and family issues for the employees. What could HR do to help involve the employees in the design of their new roles?

Facilitate a workshop with employees to identify alternatives that maintain the bottom-line value of the new initiative while solving complaints of boredom.

What key characteristic of an effective risk management program is identified in ISO 31000?

Fits the organization's risk and control environment

An organization has experienced significant turnover among its creative writers. During exit interviews, the writers have expressed dissatisfaction with rigid starting times, a lack of recognition for their work, and poor communication between managers and employees. What measure could the organization take immediately to address some of the concerns?

Flextime

At what stage of the strategic planning process is a SWOT analysis performed ?

Formulation

What onboarding activity would be the best way to help a management new hire understand and navigate the cultural and political landscape of the organization during the first 90 days on the job?

Fostering organizational relationships and providing frequent opportunities for open discussions

What is the most critical change in how organizations now define diversity?

From a defensive, compliance-based view to a strategic view of diversity as an asset

How has the role of the HR professional evolved?

From operational to strategic

What is an example of strategic drift?

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

In the value chain, which business function is likely to be closer to the customer?

Fulfillment

What do judgmental forecasting, trend and ratio analysis projections, and turnover analysis help predict?

Future staffing needs

Points, challenges, leaderboards, rules, and incentives characterize which employee engagement technology?

Gamification

After completing a benefits needs analysis, HR begins to compare existing benefits to the needs of the organization and of the employees. What does this activity exemplify?

Gap analysis

The creation of a single, cohesive global compensation and benefits strategy, with the flexibility to conform to local cultural and legal differences, reflects what approach to global management?

Geocentric

What is a primary goal during supply analysis?

Get a snapshot of an organization's current pool of talent.

What features characterize globalization?

Global markets, economies, and technologies are increasingly interconnected.

Which term refers to a company building a new global location from the ground up?

Greenfield operation

Which court case established the criteria for disparate impact?

Griggs v. Duke Power

What converts HR metrics into decision-support tools by providing additional context?

HR analytics

An organizational crisis is rapidly unfolding as several key employees were killed in a car accident. How can HR best contribute to rapid recovery of operations?

HR can fill in or supplement workforce gaps with the best qualified employees.

Which HR professional is fulfilling the correct role of HR in managing organizational risk?

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

During an HR audit, what undergoes a systematic and comprehensive evaluation?

HR policies, practices, procedures, and strategies

HR is interviewing candidates who will have to think on their feet and keep calm in high-pressure, high-stakes, and emotionally charged situations. Which leadership development method should be used to simulate this environment?

Hardship testing

The CEO of a manufacturing company decides that restructuring of the organization is needed immediately in order to support the company's current business needs. The CEO decides to implement a team-based work structure, believing that work decisions need to be made by the employees doing the work. A consultant is brought in to provide managers and employees with training on working as a team. In the proposed team structure, supervisors and managers are to act as coaches over administrative and production teams. Coaches are to oversee and assist their teams but are still responsible for production. Employees are to act as team members, with each team electing a team leader. The company's office staff consists of purchasing, accounting, engineering, IT, and sales employees and provides support mostly for the first shift. Newly hired employees start on the second shift and work their way up to the first shift. The new team structure has been implemented, and some areas of the organization are struggling with operating in the structure. Decisions in all areas of the organization that were once made quickly are now delayed because of confusion as to who has the authority to make them. There is a lack of accountability among team members and coaches. Teams now tasked with making decisions concerning their work are waiting for management to intervene and make those decisions, and coaches once tasked with making decisions now wait for the teams to make the decisions. Teams avoid disciplining and giving effective performance reviews of fellow team members. Morale is low, tensions are high, and turnover is rising. Conflicts arise constantly between teams and departments. Production is falling, and shipments are slipping. Teams are conducting performance evaluations. No team member wants to address another team member's poor performance. What is the best action the HR manager can take to help teams learn to give accurate performance reviews?

Have coaches assist their teams during the performance evaluations, and hold teams accountable for giving accurate performance evaluations.

The recruiting department is overwhelmed with requests for employees at the 24-hour company call center. Recently, several recruiters and a number of long-time, high-level performers resigned to work for competitors for better pay. With the remaining workforce, last-minute illnesses create particular challenges. The work is tedious, the pay is low, the space is tightly packed and noisy, and there is no opportunity for advancement. Callers typically say they cannot hear workers because of the noise. Workers take turns being on call at night and route phones to their mobile devices, enabling them to work remotely. A high-volume contract recruiter, used often by the company, offers to assist for a few weeks. The recruiting manager enthusiastically sets up a private office with a phone, computer, printer, and employee directory with contact information and also issues an identification card, entry access, and system access to all online search engines paid for by the company. The office doubles as an interview room, and the call center manager sees only the final candidates. One reason the contract recruiter has been successful is the very flexible hours worked while not many people are in the office. Applicants currently employed at other companies like the flexibility afforded by these hours for their interviews. A search firm regularly used by this company recently placed an HR manager, who handles the call center. In a casual conversation with the recruiting manager, the HR manager mentions how nice it was to see the temporary recruiter who is the spouse of that search firm's owner. How can the HR manager determine whether any ethical implications exist with the contract recruiter?

Have the IT department monitor the contract recruiter's computer to confirm that the activity is for this company and not for another organization.

An employee who has been with the organization for over 10 years arrives every day on time at 9:00 a.m. The employee's team is scheduled to work from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The employee returns from lunch 15 minutes after the other members of the team and ends the workday at 5:15 p.m. A new manager has recently taken over the department and notices this pattern of behavior. During an informal conversation, the manager mentions that the employee is taking extended lunches. The employee responds with, "What does it matter? I stay and make up the time." After concluding the conversation, the manager decides to partner with the HR generalist, as the manager wishes to document the employee taking an extended lunch. The manager is concerned that the previous manager allowed the behavior. There are no notes that the employee has any accommodation. Additionally the manager is concerned that the morale of the team is suffering because of this, as three team members have approached her about this since she took over two months ago. The new manager is also worried that if the issue is not addressed in a timely manner, she may lose the ability to effectively manage the team. The manager asks the HR generalist if HR can simply update the policy to allow the employees some flexibility in their hours. After a discussion with the manager, what should the HR generalist recommend?

Have the manager meet with the employee individually to reset expectations about what the attendance policy requires.

Which characteristic is representative of an ethnocentric approach to global staffing?

Headquarters-country staffing policies are replicated in each country.

In which type of culture may employee surveys be less acceptable?

Hierarchical

HR is recruiting for a job that requires a high degree of accuracy. A mistake made by a worker could be dangerous and costly. What feature would be most important in a preemployment test for this position?

High validity

What factors characterize big data?

High volume, high velocity, high variety

What term has been used to describe the global assignee who is unable to assimilate into the local culture?

Homebound

What distinguishes a punitive discipline system from a nonpunitive system?

How an employer responds to an infraction

Which level of learner participation offers the best opportunity for retention?

Immediate use

An HR manager receives an e-mail from a department director with an attached termination-of-employment memo for a groundskeeping employee. The company's recreational vehicle resort is over 200 miles away from the company headquarters where the HR manager works. The terminated employee works at the resort and lives there in a trailer. The memo states that the director terminated the employee yesterday for gross misconduct. The employee had a good performance record during his career of 10 years. The groundskeeper was working in the heat all morning and then informed the director he was going home for lunch and a cold beer. Later the groundskeeper radioed the director that he was running late in returning from lunch. Subsequent communications led to the director sending a student worker to the employee's trailer to pick him up and return to the office. Upon their return, the groundskeeper smelled of alcohol, and the student worker reported to the director that the intoxicated groundskeeper offered the under-aged student worker a beer, which was refused. The student worker stressed that she did not want to get the groundskeeper in any trouble; however, the groundskeeper insisted that he be allowed to drive the golf cart back to the office after drinking beer, which made the student feel uncomfortable. One month after the termination of employment, the HR manager receives a notice of unemployment insurance claimed by the groundskeeper. The notice indicates that the groundskeeper does not understand why his employment was terminated as he never received any documentation. What should the HR manager do next?

Immediately file an appeal with the unemployment insurance agency to contest the groundskeeper's claim for unemployment benefits.

During which phase of the strategic planning process does motivating employees to work toward organizational goals take place?

Implementation

During which stage of strategic planning do managers develop action plans and assign staff members to projects?

Implementation

What is the best example of risk mitigation?

Implementing an emergency communication system for assignees

An organization becomes entrenched in rules and policies and is resistant to change. According to Greiner's five phases of organizational growth, how can an organization successfully meet this challenge?

Implementing processes that foster diversity and collaboration

What type of business problem is solved most appropriately by using Six Sigma tools?

Improving quality

What type of program are stock-ownership plans based on organizational performance?

Incentive pay program

A major reorganization is announced. What is most likely to happen after the initial shock?

Individuals may deny the reality of the change

The current HR structural model in a high-growth organization has resulted in fragmented, localized HR activity, inconsistencies in HR processes, poor-quality data, and high costs. What is the MOST significant benefit the organization can expect from adopting a center of excellence (COE) model?

Integrated talent management

An organization attempts to create employee participation teams that balance employee membership, in part, by age. What dimension of diversity is being addressed?

Internal

Which communication platform provides a community where employees can share feelings and post specific questions about HR issues?

Internal social network

A firm exports its products to foreign countries, where it also opens production facilities, but its products, processes, and strategy are developed in the home country. What term best describes this company?

International

Which technology has impacted benefits administration the most?

Internet access

What is an ideal platform for publishing HR policies, procedures, and other documents that are useful in keeping employees informed?

Intranet

What is the first step in developing a knowledge management system?

Inventorying knowledge assets

What recommendation would you make to a new HR practitioner concerning investigating workplace complaints?

Investigators should be familiar with the requirements of labor contracts and local laws.

What is the primary value of a written code of conduct?

It becomes a decision-making tool to guide employee conduct.

What is the correct positioning of an HR strategy?

It cascades from the organization's corporate strategy.

What is the primary advantage of developing a career management program?

It ensures that the company will have the skilled employees it needs in the future.

What is true of common law?

It evolves over time through judicial decisions.

In global staffing, why is it important to use a common approach for analyzing and describing jobs?

It facilitates communication and decision making about jobs.

How has talent acquisition been affected by social media?

It is easier to find passive candidates.

What can be said about a customer service sales associate selection test that successfully measures essential job-related skills and abilities?

It is valid.

What is the purpose of a works council?

It promotes communication between management and employees on issues that affect workers' interests.

Why do many organizational effectiveness and development (OED) programs begin with data collection from all the parties affected?

It provides a deeper understanding through multiple perspectives on the issue.

What is an advantage of using the point-factor method in job evaluation?

It provides documentation and an audit trail.

An applicant scored in the 95th percentile on a job knowledge test. Because the interviewer questioned the results, the applicant was asked to retake the test. Again, the result was a very high score, and the applicant was hired. Three months later, it was determined that this new hire could not perform the job effectively. What can you conclude about the job knowledge test?

It was only reliable, not valid.

Factory workers who usually work in the assembly department are assigned to the shipping department every other week. What career development program are these workers participating in?

Job rotation

What job evaluation tool assesses the content of different jobs and their relationship to other jobs within the organization?

Job-content-based job evaluation

Which of these technologies has the primary mission of sharing information in meaningful ways to promote employee learning?

Knowledge management systems

What HR-directed policy initiatives could best help resolve glass ceiling issues for women?

Leadership development and mentoring programs

An HR manager receives an e-mail from a department director with an attached termination-of-employment memo for a groundskeeping employee. The company's recreational vehicle resort is over 200 miles away from the company headquarters where the HR manager works. The terminated employee works at the resort and lives there in a trailer. The memo states that the director terminated the employee yesterday for gross misconduct. The employee had a good performance record during his career of 10 years. The groundskeeper was working in the heat all morning and then informed the director he was going home for lunch and a cold beer. Later the groundskeeper radioed the director that he was running late in returning from lunch. Subsequent communications led to the director sending a student worker to the employee's trailer to pick him up and return to the office. Upon their return, the groundskeeper smelled of alcohol, and the student worker reported to the director that the intoxicated groundskeeper offered the under-aged student worker a beer, which was refused. The student worker stressed that she did not want to get the groundskeeper in any trouble; however, the groundskeeper insisted that he be allowed to drive the golf cart back to the office after drinking beer, which made the student feel uncomfortable. Two weeks after the groundskeeper's employment was terminated, the groundskeeper contacts the HR manager and claims he was discriminated against due to his age and that he could not handle the physical demands of the job, particularly during the summer heat. He points out that this is why the director hired much younger college students. What should the HR manager do?

Let the groundskeeper know that the HR manager can discuss the situation with him at a later time, and schedule a time for him to call back later in the day or week.

What level of evaluation will measure changes in productivity after training?

Level 4: Results

What is an example of an ILO core labor standard?

Limiting employment in hazardous work to those over 18

What does "chain of command" identify?

Line of authority within an organization

Training activities that spell out all the details and use direct and logical communication work best in what type of culture?

Low-context culture

An employee who has been with the organization for over 10 years arrives every day on time at 9:00 a.m. The employee's team is scheduled to work from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The employee returns from lunch 15 minutes after the other members of the team and ends the workday at 5:15 p.m. A new manager has recently taken over the department and notices this pattern of behavior. During an informal conversation, the manager mentions that the employee is taking extended lunches. The employee responds with, "What does it matter? I stay and make up the time." After concluding the conversation, the manager decides to partner with the HR generalist, as the manager wishes to document the employee taking an extended lunch. The manager is concerned that the previous manager allowed the behavior. There are no notes that the employee has any accommodation. Additionally the manager is concerned that the morale of the team is suffering because of this, as three team members have approached her about this since she took over two months ago. The new manager is also worried that if the issue is not addressed in a timely manner, she may lose the ability to effectively manage the team. The manager asks the HR generalist if HR can simply update the policy to allow the employees some flexibility in their hours. If the employee agrees to follow the policy, what should the HR generalist recommend that the manager do?

Make a note of the date and time the employee agreed to the policy. Send a recap e-mail to the employee regarding their acknowledgment and the expectation they have agreed to

The recruiting department is overwhelmed with requests for employees at the 24-hour company call center. Recently, several recruiters and a number of long-time, high-level performers resigned to work for competitors for better pay. With the remaining workforce, last-minute illnesses create particular challenges. The work is tedious, the pay is low, the space is tightly packed and noisy, and there is no opportunity for advancement. Callers typically say they cannot hear workers because of the noise. Workers take turns being on call at night and route phones to their mobile devices, enabling them to work remotely. A high-volume contract recruiter, used often by the company, offers to assist for a few weeks. The recruiting manager enthusiastically sets up a private office with a phone, computer, printer, and employee directory with contact information and also issues an identification card, entry access, and system access to all online search engines paid for by the company. The office doubles as an interview room, and the call center manager sees only the final candidates. One reason the contract recruiter has been successful is the very flexible hours worked while not many people are in the office. Applicants currently employed at other companies like the flexibility afforded by these hours for their interviews. A search firm regularly used by this company recently placed an HR manager, who handles the call center. In a casual conversation with the recruiting manager, the HR manager mentions how nice it was to see the temporary recruiter who is the spouse of that search firm's owner. If the department decides to provide a realistic job preview, what should the recruiting manager add to the interview process?

Make sure all candidates understand the job requirements, see the environment in which they will be working, and are asked predictive questions and permit the candidate to listen in on a few calls.

What does the final stage of both Kurt Lewin's and John Kotter's models of change management involve?

Making the change part of the organization

As regulated by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which employee must be paid overtime?

Manager who earns $450 per week

What is the impact of cognitive barriers on risk management?

Managers perceive risks in an outdated manner.

What is the primary focus of organizational development?

Managing change

What job evaluation tool uses pay survey data to identify the relative value of jobs based on what other employers pay for similar jobs?

Market-based job evaluation

Which part of the organization has primary responsibility for bringing in revenue?

Marketing and sales

If an organization's competitive advantage is cost leadership, what practice is most likely to happen?

Mass-producing product to meet general market needs

What stage of the life cycle concept is characterized by stability?

Maturity

What is the best way to demonstrate the effectiveness of an organizational effectiveness and development initiative?

Measure change over the course of the initiative.

In terms of risk management, what is a control?

Measure taken to reduce the probability or severity of a threat

An employee who has been with the organization for over 10 years arrives every day on time at 9:00 a.m. The employee's team is scheduled to work from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The employee returns from lunch 15 minutes after the other members of the team and ends the workday at 5:15 p.m. A new manager has recently taken over the department and notices this pattern of behavior. During an informal conversation, the manager mentions that the employee is taking extended lunches. The employee responds with, "What does it matter? I stay and make up the time." After concluding the conversation, the manager decides to partner with the HR generalist, as the manager wishes to document the employee taking an extended lunch. The manager is concerned that the previous manager allowed the behavior. There are no notes that the employee has any accommodation. Additionally the manager is concerned that the morale of the team is suffering because of this, as three team members have approached her about this since she took over two months ago. The new manager is also worried that if the issue is not addressed in a timely manner, she may lose the ability to effectively manage the team. The manager asks the HR generalist if HR can simply update the policy to allow the employees some flexibility in their hours. What should the HR generalist recommend to the manager regarding the most effective way to reset expectations in the department?

Meet one-on-one with the employee to explain the expectations of the role and the time and attendance policy.

A manager has come to you because an employee cannot meet production standards. After further investigation, you discover that several other employees cannot meet production standards. Records show that all employees have been properly trained and certified. What would you recommend to the manager?

Meet with each employee to determine the obstacles to production.

The performance of the head of the IT department (who has been with the company for 19 years) has been eroding in the past few years. Through a combination of not continuing his education and not keeping up with current trends in technology, the employee is no longer capable of meeting the minimum expectations of this role. Management is struggling to hold the employee accountable while also keeping employee morale positive. There is also a concern that, if placed on a performance improvement plan or a documented coaching program, the employee would respond negatively and retaliate by wreaking havoc on the organization's IT infrastructure. The length of employment has allowed the employee to be protected from accountability in the past. Management has decided that the current situation is no longer acceptable, but they also realize the precarious place they have put the organization in by failing to have sufficient safeguards in place to protect company assets. Management approaches the new HR generalist and asks what steps they can take to either create an environment where the IT manager can succeed or effectively manage the IT manager out of the organization. Prior to this discussion, the HR generalist was not aware of either the previous protections afforded to the employee or of the failure of management to hold the employee accountable. The HR generalist is concerned that management has tolerated this behavior for so long and wonders if there are other employees in the organization who, because of the tenure they have, have been similarly protected from being held accountable or being disciplined. The HR generalist realizes that two issues need to be addressed. The HR generalist realizes that there is the potential for other employees to have been shielded from accountability. What should the HR generalist do in order to ensure that all employees are being treated equally?

Meet with managers who have the most tenured employees first to ensure that shielding of tenured employees from accountability is not an ongoing, acceptable practice in the organization.

An HR department consists of 18 employees, with three managers directly working under an HR director. The three managers, one of whom is new to the group, present and face certain challenges to maintaining a positive and productive workplace. Two managers complain to the HR director that the newly hired manager does not delegate responsibilities, which hurts the team's productivity and challenges the productivity of the entire department. The same two managers are putting pressure on the new manager to give a certain job applicant, the daughter of a close friend of the HR director, an advantage in the hiring process. The new manager, once trained, wants more autonomy. He has been appointed the project leader for the new HRIS implementation and is responsible for allocating team member tasks and responsibilities. The team does not seem to be completing their tasks properly and within the stated amount of time, severely jeopardizing the delivery of the project. Many on the team have hinted that they are unsure of what they are supposed to be doing and how they contribute to the overall success of the project. If the new manager feels frustrated with the pace at which the HR director is assigning him new tasks and challenges, what approach should he take with the HR director?

Meet with the HR director to discuss the working relationship and affirm his confidence in his ability to do the job.

What is the most important consideration when forming focus groups?

Members should be a representative sample of the employee population.

Mentoring programs can be very significant for the international assignee. They provide a number of benefits, including the value of having an advocate and personal coach while abroad.

Mentoring

Which activity requires an HR strategy of organizational growth?

Mergers and acquisitions

The recruiting department is overwhelmed with requests for employees at the 24-hour company call center. Recently, several recruiters and a number of long-time, high-level performers resigned to work for competitors for better pay. With the remaining workforce, last-minute illnesses create particular challenges. The work is tedious, the pay is low, the space is tightly packed and noisy, and there is no opportunity for advancement. Callers typically say they cannot hear workers because of the noise. Workers take turns being on call at night and route phones to their mobile devices, enabling them to work remotely. A high-volume contract recruiter, used often by the company, offers to assist for a few weeks. The recruiting manager enthusiastically sets up a private office with a phone, computer, printer, and employee directory with contact information and also issues an identification card, entry access, and system access to all online search engines paid for by the company. The office doubles as an interview room, and the call center manager sees only the final candidates. One reason the contract recruiter has been successful is the very flexible hours worked while not many people are in the office. Applicants currently employed at other companies like the flexibility afforded by these hours for their interviews. A search firm regularly used by this company recently placed an HR manager, who handles the call center. In a casual conversation with the recruiting manager, the HR manager mentions how nice it was to see the temporary recruiter who is the spouse of that search firm's owner. If cost is an issue, what environmental recommendations should the HR manager consider?

Move the desks to provide the maximum distance between staff, bring in an environmental specialist to check the ventilation system, and issue noise-canceling headphones to block out a maximum of ambient noise.

In pursuit of cost savings, a western European company decides to partner with an organization in central Europe. In addition to a lower cost base, the company chose this partner over a Chinese prospect because of reduced geographical, cultural, and linguistic distances. What outsourcing arrangement does this describe?

Near-shoring

What areas of HR practice can technology support?

Nearly every HR functional area

HR in a nonunion U.S. manufacturing environment is always searching for participatory mechanisms and initiatives for the purposes of improving workplace morale and efficiency. Is a works council a viable option?

No, because it is prohibited by the National Labor Relations Act.

A team leader uses social media to express frustration to team members about recent cuts in a project budget. Is this appropriate?

No, comments can quickly spread beyond the team and have unintended effects.

Which is a specific and measurable aspect of strategy that serves as the basis for implementation decisions?

Objectives

What is the difference between offshoring and outsourcing?

Offshoring relocates processes or production to another country; outsourcing transfers portions of work to outside suppliers.

Which recruiting source would be the most effective way to extend the employment brand for a global enterprise?

Online social networks and blogs

A consulting company recently changed its vacation and leave policies and wants to know how employees feel about the changes. Its 500 employees are located in 40 locations throughout the U.S. and western Europe. What survey method is likely to yield the highest response rate and best data?

Online survey

What type of survey usually has the highest response rate among knowledge workers?

Online surveys

In most parts of the world, on what grounds are individual dismissals allowable?

Only for poor performance and serious misconduct

A company has established an internal procedure to improve communication between workers and management. According to company policy, managers are available to meet with any employee who wishes to discuss an issue. What form of dispute resolution is being used?

Open-door policy

Which part of the organization is responsible for assembling products?

Operations

An organization has chartered three cross-functional teams with representation from senior management, middle management, and employees. Each team has distinct goals that focus on different aspects of the customer experience. Every six weeks, the teams share their accomplishments. What approach to planning and implementing the change has the organization adopted?

Organic

Who must begin the process of creating an ethical environment?

Organization's leaders

Based on an analysis of future skills needs, an organization implements two new training courses. What type of intervention is this?

Organizational

What term describes how work groups are related in an organization?

Organizational structure

What process initially helps an employee become familiar with a new job, department, and coworkers?

Orientation

How can factors like PESTLE analysis data have a greater impact on successful employee engagement and retention?

PESTLE data helps in adapting to environmental realities.

The performance of the head of the IT department (who has been with the company for 19 years) has been eroding in the past few years. Through a combination of not continuing his education and not keeping up with current trends in technology, the employee is no longer capable of meeting the minimum expectations of this role. Management is struggling to hold the employee accountable while also keeping employee morale positive. There is also a concern that, if placed on a performance improvement plan or a documented coaching program, the employee would respond negatively and retaliate by wreaking havoc on the organization's IT infrastructure. The length of employment has allowed the employee to be protected from accountability in the past. Management has decided that the current situation is no longer acceptable, but they also realize the precarious place they have put the organization in by failing to have sufficient safeguards in place to protect company assets. Management approaches the new HR generalist and asks what steps they can take to either create an environment where the IT manager can succeed or effectively manage the IT manager out of the organization. Prior to this discussion, the HR generalist was not aware of either the previous protections afforded to the employee or of the failure of management to hold the employee accountable. The HR generalist is concerned that management has tolerated this behavior for so long and wonders if there are other employees in the organization who, because of the tenure they have, have been similarly protected from being held accountable or being disciplined. The HR generalist realizes that two issues need to be addressed. What should the HR manager recommend to address the more pressing concern regarding the individual employee performance?

Partner with management to create a performance improvement plan that addresses current shortcomings but also sets up a plan to address them and a time line to resolve them.

The performance of the head of the IT department (who has been with the company for 19 years) has been eroding in the past few years. Through a combination of not continuing his education and not keeping up with current trends in technology, the employee is no longer capable of meeting the minimum expectations of this role. Management is struggling to hold the employee accountable while also keeping employee morale positive. There is also a concern that, if placed on a performance improvement plan or a documented coaching program, the employee would respond negatively and retaliate by wreaking havoc on the organization's IT infrastructure. The length of employment has allowed the employee to be protected from accountability in the past. Management has decided that the current situation is no longer acceptable, but they also realize the precarious place they have put the organization in by failing to have sufficient safeguards in place to protect company assets. Management approaches the new HR generalist and asks what steps they can take to either create an environment where the IT manager can succeed or effectively manage the IT manager out of the organization. Prior to this discussion, the HR generalist was not aware of either the previous protections afforded to the employee or of the failure of management to hold the employee accountable. The HR generalist is concerned that management has tolerated this behavior for so long and wonders if there are other employees in the organization who, because of the tenure they have, have been similarly protected from being held accountable or being disciplined. The HR generalist realizes that two issues need to be addressed. The HR generalist wants to ensure that all employees are aware that they are to be held to the same standards and that employees know what the standards are. What is the most effective way to do this?

Partner with management to hold small group meetings reviewing the most up-to-date employee handbook and signing an acknowledgment of receipt.

The performance of the head of the IT department (who has been with the company for 19 years) has been eroding in the past few years. Through a combination of not continuing his education and not keeping up with current trends in technology, the employee is no longer capable of meeting the minimum expectations of this role. Management is struggling to hold the employee accountable while also keeping employee morale positive. There is also a concern that, if placed on a performance improvement plan or a documented coaching program, the employee would respond negatively and retaliate by wreaking havoc on the organization's IT infrastructure. The length of employment has allowed the employee to be protected from accountability in the past. Management has decided that the current situation is no longer acceptable, but they also realize the precarious place they have put the organization in by failing to have sufficient safeguards in place to protect company assets. Management approaches the new HR generalist and asks what steps they can take to either create an environment where the IT manager can succeed or effectively manage the IT manager out of the organization. Prior to this discussion, the HR generalist was not aware of either the previous protections afforded to the employee or of the failure of management to hold the employee accountable. The HR generalist is concerned that management has tolerated this behavior for so long and wonders if there are other employees in the organization who, because of the tenure they have, have been similarly protected from being held accountable or being disciplined. The HR generalist realizes that two issues need to be addressed. The HR generalist wants to ensure that employees are held accountable but also that they are set up for success. How can the HR generalist help make certain this happens?

Partner with management to make certain that employees are aware of additional training resources available in order to ensure that they stay current on technology and other job-related requirements as updated yearly.

An employee who has been with the organization for over 10 years arrives every day on time at 9:00 a.m. The employee's team is scheduled to work from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The employee returns from lunch 15 minutes after the other members of the team and ends the workday at 5:15 p.m. A new manager has recently taken over the department and notices this pattern of behavior. During an informal conversation, the manager mentions that the employee is taking extended lunches. The employee responds with, "What does it matter? I stay and make up the time." After concluding the conversation, the manager decides to partner with the HR generalist, as the manager wishes to document the employee taking an extended lunch. The manager is concerned that the previous manager allowed the behavior. There are no notes that the employee has any accommodation. Additionally the manager is concerned that the morale of the team is suffering because of this, as three team members have approached her about this since she took over two months ago. The new manager is also worried that if the issue is not addressed in a timely manner, she may lose the ability to effectively manage the team. The manager asks the HR generalist if HR can simply update the policy to allow the employees some flexibility in their hours. How should the HR generalist advise the manager if she insists on documenting the employee behavior?

Partner with the manager and the next level of management to gain effective buy-in that expectations must be reset before documentation can commence.

An organization has more than 50 full-time employees. Which act requires the organization to provide health coverage that meets minimum benefit specifications or pay a $2,000 per employee penalty?

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

HR is conducting a benefits needs assessment and has just finished analyzing the design and utilization data on all benefit plans. What should be done next?

Perform a gap analysis.

What would be the first step in solving an organization's problems with a sharp increase in back orders of shipments?

Perform a process analysis.

A woman with preschool-aged children is not hired while a man with preschool-aged children is hired. Which U.S. Supreme Court case found this practice in violation of Title VII?

Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation

An organization treats each of its subsidiaries as its own entity. Local personnel manage the operation, and there is little cross-border movement of talent. In terms of its staffing, this is an example of what type of organization?

Polycentric

For a multinational enterprise subsidiary in Malaysia, which compensation and benefits strategy would embrace incentives that promote the achievement of Malaysian objectives over global ones?

Polycentric

What 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?

Present the changes as necessary to maintaining competitiveness.

Which tools are used in building an employment brand?

Principles of marketing

What are three key reasons why D&I initiatives require full-fledged, organization-wide efforts?

Priority, complexity, resistance

What factors does the risk equation use to determine level of risk?

Probability of occurrence and magnitude of impact

What factors are used to determine an organization's risk level?

Probability of occurrence of a threat and the threat's impact

Performance improvement involves accurately identifying sources of unacceptable outcomes and intervening to create effective practices. Impractical or outdated procedures are an example of which type of performance problem?

Process-related

What pay system ties pay to the volume of the work performed by the individual?

Productivity-based

The CEO of a manufacturing company decides that restructuring of the organization is needed immediately in order to support the company's current business needs. The CEO decides to implement a team-based work structure, believing that work decisions need to be made by the employees doing the work. A consultant is brought in to provide managers and employees with training on working as a team. In the proposed team structure, supervisors and managers are to act as coaches over administrative and production teams. Coaches are to oversee and assist their teams but are still responsible for production. Employees are to act as team members, with each team electing a team leader. The company's office staff consists of purchasing, accounting, engineering, IT, and sales employees and provides support mostly for the first shift. Newly hired employees start on the second shift and work their way up to the first shift. The new team structure has been implemented, and some areas of the organization are struggling with operating in the structure. Decisions in all areas of the organization that were once made quickly are now delayed because of confusion as to who has the authority to make them. There is a lack of accountability among team members and coaches. Teams now tasked with making decisions concerning their work are waiting for management to intervene and make those decisions, and coaches once tasked with making decisions now wait for the teams to make the decisions. Teams avoid disciplining and giving effective performance reviews of fellow team members. Morale is low, tensions are high, and turnover is rising. Conflicts arise constantly between teams and departments. Production is falling, and shipments are slipping. Acknowledging that there is high turnover in teams, what should HR do to assist teams in making workplace decisions on their own?

Provide additional training to the team coaches on giving their teams ongoing support and coaching to help them in making better workplace decisions.

An organization develops a technical training course on using spreadsheet software for administrative assistants. What factor about the training will be most appealing to adult learners?

Provides skills they can immediately apply in their work

In the balanced scorecard approach to strategic management, what company action does the customer value?

Providing quality goods and services

An agency drafts proposed changes in existing workplace safety requirements. The changes are not deemed critical. What will happen next?

Public comment on the changes will be sought.

A nonprofit social services organization has experienced rapid growth. The organization's services have expanded to new geographic markets, and the workforce has doubled to 200 social service professionals in two years. While the organization continues to gain financial support for expanding services into new markets, the overall performance in service quality is showing signs of a downward trend. This decline is raising concerns for the CEO and the executive committee. They suspect it must be due to the quality of new hires or a lack of incentive for them to perform better. Until now the organization has been managing the HR functions with a sparse team of two. Recognizing the increasing demands of HR management issues, the CEO and the executive committee agree to hire an experienced HR manager. The role of the HR manager is to ensure that the social service employees provide high quality service, which in turn should help the organization secure additional funding and continue its growth trajectory. The newly hired HR manager begins to tackle the issues by conducting internal research, reviews, and analysis in order to diagnose the root causes of the service quality decline. The HR manager's investigation uncovers several critical problems that must be solved in order to improve the performance of the organization, including poor job descriptions, a poor performance management system, a lack of training, low base pay for new hires, and no recognition program. The rate of expansion will need to slow down significantly in order to make corrections with the current staff and have a solid talent management program in place when the expansion efforts are reinstated. In addition, making these corrections will require a significant financial investment. So, while the HR manager can help fix the problems, it will come at a cost. In an attempt to cut costs, one of the members of the executive committee proposes that it is best to fire all current social services employees and start over by hiring a new cohort who are better qualified. The HR manager needs to define key metrics to show the return on investment for the proposed HR initiatives. Which of the following would be the most critical indicator of improved performance for the organization?

Quality of service

What is diversity's greatest value to an organization?

Range of perspectives and modes of thinking it provides

What does the term "business intelligence" mean?

Raw internal and external data translated into meaningful information to support decision making

A new operations manager is assigned to a cash management operations function in a wholesale bank. He recently acquired his MBA, and he has decided to apply his new knowledge to speed up the work by using an assembly-line process and a total quality management (TQM) approach. Most employees are of Philippine descent and hold graduate degrees from Philippine universities. Although they have been teachers, lawyers, and professional workers at home, because their degrees are not recognized in their new country, they have been relegated to clerical-level positions. The new manager has implemented his assembly-line approach, and the employees are miserable. They complain to the business head, who asks the HR manager to work with the operations manager and help him implement the change more effectively. In reviewing the changes that have been implemented, HR can see that the new schedule offers some impressive business results, increasing the unit's throughput rate and the bottom line because of the volumes being produced. However, the assembly-line element of the new work process means that some employees are only stapling documents together or putting them into a file folder. The work is monotonous and offers little autonomy. HR also notes that one element of the change is a move to a 24/7 operations schedule. A shift differential in wages has been offered, and employees have volunteered for the shifts. However, they are experiencing problems, and attendance and error rates are suffering. From employee complaints, it appears that the schedule is causing personal and family issues for the employees. What would HR be able to do to support and enhance the type of communication this intervention requires?

Recommend and employ methodology and technology to support communication across all shifts and to all members of the team.

The CEO of a manufacturing company decides that restructuring of the organization is needed immediately in order to support the company's current business needs. The CEO decides to implement a team-based work structure, believing that work decisions need to be made by the employees doing the work. A consultant is brought in to provide managers and employees with training on working as a team. In the proposed team structure, supervisors and managers are to act as coaches over administrative and production teams. Coaches are to oversee and assist their teams but are still responsible for production. Employees are to act as team members, with each team electing a team leader. The company's office staff consists of purchasing, accounting, engineering, IT, and sales employees and provides support mostly for the first shift. Newly hired employees start on the second shift and work their way up to the first shift. The new team structure has been implemented, and some areas of the organization are struggling with operating in the structure. Decisions in all areas of the organization that were once made quickly are now delayed because of confusion as to who has the authority to make them. There is a lack of accountability among team members and coaches. Teams now tasked with making decisions concerning their work are waiting for management to intervene and make those decisions, and coaches once tasked with making decisions now wait for the teams to make the decisions. Teams avoid disciplining and giving effective performance reviews of fellow team members. Morale is low, tensions are high, and turnover is rising. Conflicts arise constantly between teams and departments. Production is falling, and shipments are slipping. Some teams are having trouble making the transition to the team structure. What is the best recommendation HR can make to resolve this problem and keep production at acceptable levels?

Recommend that coaches be placed back over the teams to manage the operation until the teams can develop the skills needed to manage themselves.

The CEO of a manufacturing company decides that restructuring of the organization is needed immediately in order to support the company's current business needs. The CEO decides to implement a team-based work structure, believing that work decisions need to be made by the employees doing the work. A consultant is brought in to provide managers and employees with training on working as a team. In the proposed team structure, supervisors and managers are to act as coaches over administrative and production teams. Coaches are to oversee and assist their teams but are still responsible for production. Employees are to act as team members, with each team electing a team leader. The company's office staff consists of purchasing, accounting, engineering, IT, and sales employees and provides support mostly for the first shift. Newly hired employees start on the second shift and work their way up to the first shift. The new team structure has been implemented, and some areas of the organization are struggling with operating in the structure. Decisions in all areas of the organization that were once made quickly are now delayed because of confusion as to who has the authority to make them. There is a lack of accountability among team members and coaches. Teams now tasked with making decisions concerning their work are waiting for management to intervene and make those decisions, and coaches once tasked with making decisions now wait for the teams to make the decisions. Teams avoid disciplining and giving effective performance reviews of fellow team members. Morale is low, tensions are high, and turnover is rising. Conflicts arise constantly between teams and departments. Production is falling, and shipments are slipping. Second shift employees are usually new hires who need guidance and direction on the job. With no supervision on the production floor, production issues increase and employees have no sense of urgency or interest. What is the best action the HR manager can take to correct this issue?

Recommend that the coaches be placed back on the second shift production floor, not to supervise but to provide guidance and direction to the younger teams and team leaders.

An employee life cycle describes all of the activities associated with an employee's tenure in the organization. What is the first phase in the employee life cycle?

Recruitment

What is a direct cost of turnover for the loss of a key account sales representative?

Recruitment fees

What practice would be recommended when measuring performance?

Reexamine occasionally what you're measuring and change it as needed.

What action is an ombudsperson empowered to take after hearing both sides of a workplace dispute?

Refer the matter to further alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

What is the term for a cultural vision that holds that there are no absolutes and everything is based on the situation?

Relativism

To collect information on base pay, incentive plans, and the like, what type of a survey should an HR professional use?

Remuneration survey

What best describes the difference between replacement planning and succession planning?

Replacement planning focuses on the short term; succession planning focuses on the long term.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), what right can employees exercise?

Requesting an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection

What is a direct implication of HR's evolving strategic role?

Required competence to develop talent through career development and succession planning

Which function has the most responsibility for future revenue stream generation?

Research and development

HR professionals must anticipate future talent needs as well as foresee the future employee talent pool. This is increasingly significant when a likely labor shortage looms. Which key factor will contribute to this anticipated shortage?

Retirement of baby boomers

What type of measure is an average value of increased production as a result of a development initiative?

Return

An American multinational corporation known for its big, powerful, premium-priced ultrasound scanners (designed for use in U.S. hospitals) introduces a portable product version in emerging markets, which is 15% of the cost of the traditional ultrasound scanner. The portable scanner also creates new markets and applications in the U.S., for example, in hospital environments where space is limited and patients are immobile, such as emergency rooms and operating rooms. What globalization force does this exemplify?

Reverse innovation

An organization that provides benefits to help parents achieve better work/life balance has been accused of providing more benefits to employees who are parents than to childless employees. Parents get time off for child-related illnesses and appointments, while childless employees are expected to work longer hours. Which is the best course of action to address this complaint?

Review related policies and, if the claims are valid, revise the policies so they apply equitably and fairly to all employees.

An organization that offshores apparel fabrication has come under fire for using a supplier subcontractor cited for human rights violations. To avoid this situation in the future, which certification should the organization seek in their next supplier?

SA8000

In developing a corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, an organization is reviewing existing international principles and guidelines. It is looking for CSR certification and is focusing its attention on human rights issues. Which set of guidelines is apt to be most useful to them?

SA8000

One factor that may "push" a business to expand globally is increased cost pressures in the home market that inhibit the ability of the business to compete. What is another possible "push" factor?

Saturated demand at home

If you were trying to show the relationship between employees' formal education and job performance ratings, what data analysis tool would you use?

Scatter diagram

What graphic data analysis tool shows possible relationships between two variables?

Scatter diagram

An annual workplace survey shows a significant decline in overall employee satisfaction rates across departments. What should management do?

Schedule group interviews to gather more qualitative data.

Which of the following is considered a flexible staffing strategy?

Seasonal contracting

Which company illustrates a regiocentric global orientation as described by Perlmutter?

Senior management talent moves between countries within regions.

Which type of agreement often helps users migrate from the licensing of a product to a service subscription?

Service-level agreement (SLA)

What is the most significant impact of the creation of the triple bottom line?

Serving as the foundation for measurement and public reporting of sustainability performance by multinational corporations

What is one of the key tasks of the "Plan implementation" step in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategic process?

Set priorities and objectives.

An HR department consists of 18 employees, with three managers directly working under an HR director. The three managers, one of whom is new to the group, present and face certain challenges to maintaining a positive and productive workplace. Two managers complain to the HR director that the newly hired manager does not delegate responsibilities, which hurts the team's productivity and challenges the productivity of the entire department. The same two managers are putting pressure on the new manager to give a certain job applicant, the daughter of a close friend of the HR director, an advantage in the hiring process. The new manager, once trained, wants more autonomy. He has been appointed the project leader for the new HRIS implementation and is responsible for allocating team member tasks and responsibilities. The team does not seem to be completing their tasks properly and within the stated amount of time, severely jeopardizing the delivery of the project. Many on the team have hinted that they are unsure of what they are supposed to be doing and how they contribute to the overall success of the project. How can the new manager assigned to the HRIS project support his confused team members?

Set up a briefing session to go back over the basics and clarify all of the tasks for the entire team.

An organization recently changed its employee benefits package and has decided to measure employee satisfaction. What action should the employer take before administering an employee survey?

Share survey goals with employees.

An organization with several regional locations is migrating to outsourced recruitment and benefits administration. Primary goals are economies of scale and better management of information, provided more consistently across the organization as a whole. Technology will offer various routes to user-friendly delivery. Local HR and line managers will be able to select options. Which HR structural alternative does this exemplify?

Shared services

An employee working for a western European company travels to the Asia-Pacific region to be part of a project team involved in the transfer of technology for an outsourced manufacturing process. The employee remains on home-country compensation and benefits plans while on assignment. Various incentives and living allowances are provided. The employee is allowed one trip home every 12 weeks to visit family that remained at home. What type of global assignee is this individual?

Short-term assignee

In an assessment center, a candidate is asked to handle a hypothetical situation dealing with typical job-related challenges. This is an example of what type of selection tool?

Simulation

What does the type of technology an organization selects greatly depend on?

Size of organization

What recruitment method would best support an organization's attempts to attract Generation Y applicants?

Social media

HR is nearly ready to start recruiting. Which activity must be completed first?

Sourcing

What would be the most effective measure of an effort to improve customer service?

Specific numerical rating on a customer satisfaction survey

The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) of 1990 prohibits age discrimination in the provision of employee benefits. Since some benefits cost more for older employees, how can an employer afford older workers on the payroll?

Spend the same amount on the benefit for each employee.

At what stage of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategic process does a global organization decide whether there will be local initiative leadership and how they will coordinate with global efforts?

Step 3: Infrastructure creation

What is the primary benefit of localization strategy?

Strong customer ties and responsiveness

Most of the supervisory and management staff in a start-up company have limited interviewer training and experience. What interview technique will best mitigate this inexperience?

Structured interview

A three-year-old company has achieved excellent results through perceptive market timing and aggressive marketing. What type of strategy is the company following?

Successful differentiation strategy

An organization has four generations working side-by-side in the workplace. Which practice could alleviate management concerns that intergenerational tensions and a lack of camaraderie could undermine organizational success?

Succession planning

What is the difference between succession planning and replacement planning?

Succession planning is based on a pool of talented candidates for several assignments; replacement planning designates a preferred candidate for a position.

Workforce planning is a technique used to help an organization reach its short- and long-term goals and objectives. The workforce analysis process consists of four steps. What is the first step?

Supply analysis

What is the purpose of training program objectives?

Support measurement of learning.

In an effort to enrich jobs, management wants employees working at one of three assembly stations to complete the entire assembly job and put their names on the finished product. About half of the employees are resisting the change. What is the best course of action?

Talk with those opposed to the change to determine their concerns.

An HR department consists of 18 employees, with three managers directly working under an HR director. The three managers, one of whom is new to the group, present and face certain challenges to maintaining a positive and productive workplace. Two managers complain to the HR director that the newly hired manager does not delegate responsibilities, which hurts the team's productivity and challenges the productivity of the entire department. The same two managers are putting pressure on the new manager to give a certain job applicant, the daughter of a close friend of the HR director, an advantage in the hiring process. The new manager, once trained, wants more autonomy. He has been appointed the project leader for the new HRIS implementation and is responsible for allocating team member tasks and responsibilities. The team does not seem to be completing their tasks properly and within the stated amount of time, severely jeopardizing the delivery of the project. Many on the team have hinted that they are unsure of what they are supposed to be doing and how they contribute to the overall success of the project. How should the new manager respond to the pressure to give preference to the job candidate who has ties to the HR director?

Tell his colleagues that they all should evaluate the candidates based on their experience.

An HR manager receives an e-mail from a department director with an attached termination-of-employment memo for a groundskeeping employee. The company's recreational vehicle resort is over 200 miles away from the company headquarters where the HR manager works. The terminated employee works at the resort and lives there in a trailer. The memo states that the director terminated the employee yesterday for gross misconduct. The employee had a good performance record during his career of 10 years. The groundskeeper was working in the heat all morning and then informed the director he was going home for lunch and a cold beer. Later the groundskeeper radioed the director that he was running late in returning from lunch. Subsequent communications led to the director sending a student worker to the employee's trailer to pick him up and return to the office. Upon their return, the groundskeeper smelled of alcohol, and the student worker reported to the director that the intoxicated groundskeeper offered the under-aged student worker a beer, which was refused. The student worker stressed that she did not want to get the groundskeeper in any trouble; however, the groundskeeper insisted that he be allowed to drive the golf cart back to the office after drinking beer, which made the student feel uncomfortable. The HR manager reviews the documentation and thinks about options the director could have taken. What first step could she have suggested if the director had called the HR manager for advice before terminating the groundskeeper's employment?

Thank the student worker for raising their concern and drive the groundskeeper for a drug/alcohol test to be taken immediately.

A bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) is a job criterion that employers can use to hire a foreigner. To use the BFOQ defense, what must employers prove?

That local employees cannot perform the key duties required by the job

What type of learning is characterized by rapid and easy access and opportunities for continuous learning?

The "pull" model of learning

A hospital has recently seen a significant increase in turnover of nurses. Many recent hires have left to work at a nearby privately run clinic. The HR business partner for the hospital has been asked to design and oversee a recruitment campaign to attract ten new nurses and an additional five nurse trainees. One of the measures of success that has been given to the HR business partner is that these new hires need to remain with the hospital for a minimum of 18 months. The hospital is looking to have these individuals onboarded within six weeks. While trying to manage recruiting and hiring, the HR business partner keeps thinking about the hospital's retention issue. In reviewing exit interview information, the business partner has noticed a trend: Many of the nurses who have left indicated that the private clinic has a more modern location and great employee facilities that include a gym and an indoor swimming pool. Hospital leadership has also been criticized, in particular, the hospital administrator. Over lunch with an HR acquaintance who works at the private clinic, the business partner tries to find out why the clinic has been so successful in attracting and retaining staff. To the HR business partner's surprise, the colleague offers to share this information if the business partner provides information about the hospital's wage and benefits structure. The business partner promises to think about this offer. Later, the HR business partner is jogging with a former college mentor and mentions the stress of having to deal with the loss of so many good employees to the private clinic. "Hmm," the professor responds, "That's ironic. We had a financial manager from the clinic apply for a full-time teaching position. She hinted that the clinic was not on solid ground financially." Should the HR business partner agree to the colleague's offer to discuss recruiting in exchange for wage and benefit information?

The HR business partner should decline the offer, recommend that the clinic participate in a broader industry wage survey, and share names of good surveys.

A hospital has recently seen a significant increase in turnover of nurses. Many recent hires have left to work at a nearby privately run clinic. The HR business partner for the hospital has been asked to design and oversee a recruitment campaign to attract ten new nurses and an additional five nurse trainees. One of the measures of success that has been given to the HR business partner is that these new hires need to remain with the hospital for a minimum of 18 months. The hospital is looking to have these individuals onboarded within six weeks. While trying to manage recruiting and hiring, the HR business partner keeps thinking about the hospital's retention issue. In reviewing exit interview information, the business partner has noticed a trend: Many of the nurses who have left indicated that the private clinic has a more modern location and great employee facilities that include a gym and an indoor swimming pool. Hospital leadership has also been criticized, in particular, the hospital administrator. Over lunch with an HR acquaintance who works at the private clinic, the business partner tries to find out why the clinic has been so successful in attracting and retaining staff. To the HR business partner's surprise, the colleague offers to share this information if the business partner provides information about the hospital's wage and benefits structure. The business partner promises to think about this offer. Later, the HR business partner is jogging with a former college mentor and mentions the stress of having to deal with the loss of so many good employees to the private clinic. "Hmm," the professor responds, "That's ironic. We had a financial manager from the clinic apply for a full-time teaching position. She hinted that the clinic was not on solid ground financially." As the deadline approaches, the HR business partner has not met the hiring goal. What should the HR business partner do next?

The HR business partner should meet with the hospital administrator to review success to date, renegotiate the deadline, and propose a strategy to fill the last few positions.

A hospital has recently seen a significant increase in turnover of nurses. Many recent hires have left to work at a nearby privately run clinic. The HR business partner for the hospital has been asked to design and oversee a recruitment campaign to attract ten new nurses and an additional five nurse trainees. One of the measures of success that has been given to the HR business partner is that these new hires need to remain with the hospital for a minimum of 18 months. The hospital is looking to have these individuals onboarded within six weeks. While trying to manage recruiting and hiring, the HR business partner keeps thinking about the hospital's retention issue. In reviewing exit interview information, the business partner has noticed a trend: Many of the nurses who have left indicated that the private clinic has a more modern location and great employee facilities that include a gym and an indoor swimming pool. Hospital leadership has also been criticized, in particular, the hospital administrator. Over lunch with an HR acquaintance who works at the private clinic, the business partner tries to find out why the clinic has been so successful in attracting and retaining staff. To the HR business partner's surprise, the colleague offers to share this information if the business partner provides information about the hospital's wage and benefits structure. The business partner promises to think about this offer. Later, the HR business partner is jogging with a former college mentor and mentions the stress of having to deal with the loss of so many good employees to the private clinic. "Hmm," the professor responds, "That's ironic. We had a financial manager from the clinic apply for a full-time teaching position. She hinted that the clinic was not on solid ground financially." How might the HR business partner go about addressing the broader trends uncovered in the exit interviews?

The HR business partner should recap the trends for the hospital's leadership team and recommend specific changes in programs and practices.

A hospital has recently seen a significant increase in turnover of nurses. Many recent hires have left to work at a nearby privately run clinic. The HR business partner for the hospital has been asked to design and oversee a recruitment campaign to attract ten new nurses and an additional five nurse trainees. One of the measures of success that has been given to the HR business partner is that these new hires need to remain with the hospital for a minimum of 18 months. The hospital is looking to have these individuals onboarded within six weeks. While trying to manage recruiting and hiring, the HR business partner keeps thinking about the hospital's retention issue. In reviewing exit interview information, the business partner has noticed a trend: Many of the nurses who have left indicated that the private clinic has a more modern location and great employee facilities that include a gym and an indoor swimming pool. Hospital leadership has also been criticized, in particular, the hospital administrator. Over lunch with an HR acquaintance who works at the private clinic, the business partner tries to find out why the clinic has been so successful in attracting and retaining staff. To the HR business partner's surprise, the colleague offers to share this information if the business partner provides information about the hospital's wage and benefits structure. The business partner promises to think about this offer. Later, the HR business partner is jogging with a former college mentor and mentions the stress of having to deal with the loss of so many good employees to the private clinic. "Hmm," the professor responds, "That's ironic. We had a financial manager from the clinic apply for a full-time teaching position. She hinted that the clinic was not on solid ground financially." The leadership team agrees with many of the HR business partner's recommendations on how to address the employee engagement issues. What is the best approach for the HR business partner to take as he begins to tackle this task?

The HR business partner should work with the leadership team to develop a complete strategy to improve and sustain employee engagement.

A division of a company lacks a compensation structure for hourly and salaried employees. This presents problems in establishing initial pay rates for new hires, poses a risk of pay inequity within job titles between employees at each location, calls into question whether the division's pay rates are competitive, and likely results in retention issues. The division recognizes that it requires a compensation structure for review of existing employees' pay rates, including competitiveness, and also for newly hired employees' starting rates of pay. For a number of years, the division has relied upon general managers or the president to determine initial pay rates for new hires as well as promotion rates. They base the promotional pay rates on factors such as how many hours the employees work and the number of days of absence. No pay ranges exist. On occasion, an HR representative from another division has offered general advice on pay practices; however, they have their own divisional HR responsibilities. After suffering over a number of years from no pay ranges or HR expertise, the divisional president chooses to bring in a contract HR leader to research, design, and implement an appropriate pay structure for all positions. How should the HR leader address the information uncovered in relation to promotional pay practices?

The HR leader should benchmark multiple data sources and recommend a comprehensive structure for all positions.

A division of a company lacks a compensation structure for hourly and salaried employees. This presents problems in establishing initial pay rates for new hires, poses a risk of pay inequity within job titles between employees at each location, calls into question whether the division's pay rates are competitive, and likely results in retention issues. The division recognizes that it requires a compensation structure for review of existing employees' pay rates, including competitiveness, and also for newly hired employees' starting rates of pay. For a number of years, the division has relied upon general managers or the president to determine initial pay rates for new hires as well as promotion rates. They base the promotional pay rates on factors such as how many hours the employees work and the number of days of absence. No pay ranges exist. On occasion, an HR representative from another division has offered general advice on pay practices; however, they have their own divisional HR responsibilities. After suffering over a number of years from no pay ranges or HR expertise, the divisional president chooses to bring in a contract HR leader to research, design, and implement an appropriate pay structure for all positions. How should the HR leader maximize benchmark source data to establish new pay ranges?

The HR leader should compare, contrast, and analyze multiple different data sources to design a new wage structure that is best for the division.

A division of a company lacks a compensation structure for hourly and salaried employees. This presents problems in establishing initial pay rates for new hires, poses a risk of pay inequity within job titles between employees at each location, calls into question whether the division's pay rates are competitive, and likely results in retention issues. The division recognizes that it requires a compensation structure for review of existing employees' pay rates, including competitiveness, and also for newly hired employees' starting rates of pay. For a number of years, the division has relied upon general managers or the president to determine initial pay rates for new hires as well as promotion rates. They base the promotional pay rates on factors such as how many hours the employees work and the number of days of absence. No pay ranges exist. On occasion, an HR representative from another division has offered general advice on pay practices; however, they have their own divisional HR responsibilities. After suffering over a number of years from no pay ranges or HR expertise, the divisional president chooses to bring in a contract HR leader to research, design, and implement an appropriate pay structure for all positions. How should the HR leader approach analyzing internal equity among the employee population, within each job title, as part of the wage structure project?

The HR leader should review employees' rates of pay to determine if they are appropriately positioned within the range.

The performance of the head of the IT department (who has been with the company for 19 years) has been eroding in the past few years. Through a combination of not continuing his education and not keeping up with current trends in technology, the employee is no longer capable of meeting the minimum expectations of this role. Management is struggling to hold the employee accountable while also keeping employee morale positive. There is also a concern that, if placed on a performance improvement plan or a documented coaching program, the employee would respond negatively and retaliate by wreaking havoc on the organization's IT infrastructure. The length of employment has allowed the employee to be protected from accountability in the past. Management has decided that the current situation is no longer acceptable, but they also realize the precarious place they have put the organization in by failing to have sufficient safeguards in place to protect company assets. Management approaches the new HR generalist and asks what steps they can take to either create an environment where the IT manager can succeed or effectively manage the IT manager out of the organization. Prior to this discussion, the HR generalist was not aware of either the previous protections afforded to the employee or of the failure of management to hold the employee accountable. The HR generalist is concerned that management has tolerated this behavior for so long and wonders if there are other employees in the organization who, because of the tenure they have, have been similarly protected from being held accountable or being disciplined. The HR generalist realizes that two issues need to be addressed. After meeting with several of the managers of the organization and discussing employees, the HR generalist arrives at the conclusion that managers are uncomfortable having accountability conversations with employees. What should the HR generalist recommend to rectify the issue?

The HR manager should conduct a survey of managers to gauge their level of confidence, create a training tool designed to aid in developing their confidence, and set a time line for completion of the training.

An HR manager is asked by the vice president (VP) of HR to define and implement a simulation-based assessment center that uses specially trained observers to rate each candidate's performance. The need is to assess which employees have potential for promotion into management, and the VP of HR is familiar with this practice, having used the technique in a prior company. She sees the assessment center as a best practice innovation. The VP of HR is new to this company. She came from a large but entirely domestic organization with an aging workforce. She is aware of the need for building a talent pipeline, and her instincts are toward merit-based promotion. Her new company is a global organization with eight operations located around the world. It is highly diverse in terms of ethnicity. The average worker is probably 15 to 20 years younger than the VP of HR is used to. In researching methodologies, the HR manager stumbles onto an online assessment system that requires no trainers and raters, takes 25% of the time to complete that the assessment center process takes, and has higher validity and reliability as an assessment technique. Given that the VP of HR has already indicated a preference for the assessment center approach, what would be the most effective way to reopen the options for this project?

The HR manager should emphasize business needs met by the online assessment option that are not provided by the traditional method

The CEO thinks an organizational initiative to promote diversity should include mandatory training that focuses on categories of employees and their cultural differences. What is a problem with this approach?

The approach is not framed positively and does not encourage social accountability.

Which statement about Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) procedures regarding an alleged Title VII violation is true?

The charging party is given notice of the right to sue if no reasonable cause is found.

What is the relationship between an organization's code of conduct and its compliance program?

The code of conduct defines organizational standards for compliance and ethical issues; the compliance program ensures that everyone can understand and adhere to that code.

What characteristic of an organizational effectiveness and development program would demonstrate that it was designed for how adults learn?

The debate and challenge of ideas is encouraged.

Large numbers of people from an emerging country move abroad for richer work opportunities. These migrants send monies back home. What aspect of globalization does this describe?

The diaspora

Which of the following is considered a criterion for effective employee resource groups (ERGs) as established by DiversityInc.?

The groups has a formal charter.

HR would like to implement an organizational policy regarding the use of the organization's e-mail system. Senior management is wary about adding yet another policy. What would be the strongest argument in support of HR's initiative?

The new policy would reduce the amount of risk posed to the organization by employees' use of the e-mail system.

How should an organization's diversity and inclusion strategic initiative affect supply chain management and relations?

The organization can build diversity requirements into searches for vendors and suppliers and seek out minority-owned vendors.

A program pairs at-risk youths with corporate mentors who encourage them to stay in school. The cost of the program to corporate participants is approximately $30,000 per year. What is the primary advantage to an organization of participating in the program?

The organization will build goodwill in the community.

A division of a company lacks a compensation structure for hourly and salaried employees. This presents problems in establishing initial pay rates for new hires, poses a risk of pay inequity within job titles between employees at each location, calls into question whether the division's pay rates are competitive, and likely results in retention issues. The division recognizes that it requires a compensation structure for review of existing employees' pay rates, including competitiveness, and also for newly hired employees' starting rates of pay. For a number of years, the division has relied upon general managers or the president to determine initial pay rates for new hires as well as promotion rates. They base the promotional pay rates on factors such as how many hours the employees work and the number of days of absence. No pay ranges exist. On occasion, an HR representative from another division has offered general advice on pay practices; however, they have their own divisional HR responsibilities. After suffering over a number of years from no pay ranges or HR expertise, the divisional president chooses to bring in a contract HR leader to research, design, and implement an appropriate pay structure for all positions. Why should the division president be concerned about having a competitive and equitable compensation structure?

The president can ensure that the organizational strategy is positively impacted by having an appropriate reward system for the employees.

Diversity may improve a team's innovation and creativity. However, what negative effect may diversity instead have on a team effort?

The team may become fragmented, nonproductive, and indecisive.

A highly matrixed, decentralized international company has six business units in various locations. Although there's a corporate human resources team with all HR functions represented, each business unit also has its own HR department and functions. All of them operate in a polycentric fashion; only the vice presidents of HR, who report to the senior vice president of HR, interact on a periodic basis. A downturn in the economy has impacted the company and has led corporate HR to explore the possibility of using a new centralized service model to combine one or more of the HR functions into corporate. Other reasons for this include reduction in HR practitioners/cost savings, improved consistency, and elevated expertise. An HR manager who has been with one business unit for the last six years has joined a team pulled together by corporate HR to design and implement an appropriate servicing model. He is the only one from outside of the corporate function participating on the team. For the past month, they have been looking at the pros and cons of different HR structures and are discussing a shared services approach. How should the team go about gaining buy-in for their recommendations?

The team should develop a business case outlining their recommendations to present to the leadership team

A highly matrixed, decentralized international company has six business units in various locations. Although there's a corporate human resources team with all HR functions represented, each business unit also has its own HR department and functions. All of them operate in a polycentric fashion; only the vice presidents of HR, who report to the senior vice president of HR, interact on a periodic basis. A downturn in the economy has impacted the company and has led corporate HR to explore the possibility of using a new centralized service model to combine one or more of the HR functions into corporate. Other reasons for this include reduction in HR practitioners/cost savings, improved consistency, and elevated expertise. An HR manager who has been with one business unit for the last six years has joined a team pulled together by corporate HR to design and implement an appropriate servicing model. He is the only one from outside of the corporate function participating on the team. For the past month, they have been looking at the pros and cons of different HR structures and are discussing a shared services approach. How should the team best use the HR manager's experience with the organization?

The team should use the HR manager to provide balanced input into the structure and delivery approach

An organization terminates an employee for borrowing work equipment for personal use, an act specifically prohibited in the employee handbook. This has happened before, but a new manager believes the rule must be enforced. What should HR advise?

The termination may not be legally defensible.

A manager approves a training course on the condition that there be some way of measuring program effectiveness and making changes. What strategy would best meet the manager's needs?

The trainer conducts a pilot program.

What is a benefit associated with informal organizations?

These elements make it easier to try new approaches and practices.

According to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), what is true about covered employees?

They are entitled to return to a similar job with the same pay and status.

What is a characteristic of employment contracts?

They are required in most parts of the world.

An organization's IT and HR functions both report a gender problem regarding high-level recruiting and retention. What is likely to be true about these problems?

They are the inverse of one another: not enough female candidates in IT or enough male candidates in HR.

Why is it important to have well-written, accurate, and current job descriptions?

They can provide a basis for job-related performance standards.

Employee resource groups (ERGs) primarily serve as resources for their identity group members, but they can also be a critical resource for their parent organizations. What is one appropriate and valuable way in which ERGs can be an organizational resource?

They can provide valuable insights into the needs of new minority-based markets.

What is a major disadvantage of time-based pay systems?

They can raise pay levels over time even if performance is mediocre.

What is an advantage of having job descriptions in a global environment?

They expedite forecasting of current and projected staffing.

How have corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies evolved in corporations?

They have redefined values and goals based on CSR principles.

How do the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines support corporate governance?

They help countries address globalization issues.

How can defined talent pools influence compensation decisions?

They help ensure that key talent is motivated and rewarded.

An organization received 150 applicants from an advertisement, 50 of whom were minority applicants. It interviewed 36 qualified applicants, 12 of whom were minority applicants. What is the yield ratio of qualified applicants to total applicants?

This yield ratio is determined by dividing the number of qualified applicants by the number of total applicants (36 / 150 = 24%).

Recently, top management agreed on major organizational changes without including HR in change planning. Now, HR has been tasked with developing a plan for communicating the changes to the employees. Which is the most effective way to communicate the changes?

Through multiple channels (e-mail, meetings, training)

Sexual harassment is a violation of which legislation?

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

What is the primary purpose of strategic planning?

To align organizational units and employees with business goals

When a mediator is called in to resolve a collective bargaining impasse, what is the proper role of the mediator?

To bring the parties together to find common ground

What is the proper role of training in an organization's diversity and inclusion initiative?

To create awareness and help develop knowledge and skills

What is the primary function of an HR audit?

To determine HR programs to enhance or eliminate

What is the most important reason to complete a risk assessment?

To develop management tactics for strategic and operational risks

What is the primary purpose of a safety self-audit?

To ensure employee compliance with the organization's safety programs

Why is it crucial that HR partner with other functions?

To ensure that the organization's human capital matches its needs

What is the primary purpose of employer branding?

To establish the organization as an employer of choice

What is the primary reason for conducting an HR audit?

To evaluate the effectiveness of the HR function

What is the main purpose of a global organization's code of ethics?

To guide its members' decision making and behavior

What is the purpose of an HR compliance checklist?

To help ensure compliance with HR laws and regulations

Why is it important for an HR director to establish internal partnerships with the managers of each business unit?

To illustrate and demonstrate understanding of what HR can do to help meet the needs of the business units

HR works with IT to restrict access to websites of a sexual nature from computers on the organization's network. What is the primary purpose of this policy?

To limit legal liability and ensure data security

What are the three key reasons for approaching diversity and inclusion as a comprehensive, organization-wide strategic initiative?

To make it a priority, to allow for its complexity, and to address organizational resistance to change

What is the primary purpose of the balanced scorecard?

To measure goals from the perspectives of key stakeholders

What organization is most likely to fail in its strategic planning and management?

To preserve competitiveness, strategic plans are shared among top management only.

Why is cross-cultural training critical for international assignees and their families?

To reduce the risk of failed assignments

What is the best reason to review other organizations' annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability reports when first devising a sustainability strategy?

To see how general principles and guidelines can be adapted to an organization's unique strategic focus

What is a benefit of using differential pay?

To tie performance and compensation together

How is Porter's "Five Forces" framework used in developing strategies?

To understand competitive industry factors that can shape strategy

Why are costs easier to justify using corporate shared value (CSV) rather than traditionally defined corporate social responsibility (CSR)?

Traditional CSR efforts focus on reputation rather than outcomes.

What type of engagement describes the inherent personality-based elements that predispose an individual to being engaged?

Trait engagement

A well-funded Asian Arts Museum has architectural sustainability as a core design consideration. Phase 2 in the design plan includes a traditional tea garden on the roof that can accommodate both public and private events. Event planning staff have little understanding of Japanese tea culture and the museum is willing to invest in their training. Which of the four Ts represents the best tool to help the event planning staff develop cultural awareness and appreciation for the rooftop tea garden experience?

Travel to Tokyo to experience tea culture and tour rooftop tea gardens.

During global recruiting, which factor is likely to appeal to the greatest number of candidates?

Trust in leadership

Management is considering the shared services and centers of excellence (COE) HR models. Which potential risk should management be warned about?

Underuse of service centers

Which legal protection source assists employers in complying with federal regulations against discrimination?

Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures

A key international assignee has resigned. Although there is a skilled replacement to take over, time constraints prevent adequate pre-departure preparation for the cultural aspects of the assignment. Which is the best option to help the replacement rapidly acclimate to the new culture?

Use a specialized third-party vendor.

Of all the possible performance problems, cultural problems in the workplace tend to be the most challenging to remedy. Which possible solution may provide a more holistic and objective perspective of the performance issue?

Using an external tool or facilitator

What is an example of implicit culture?

Views toward power

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. What is the best way to obtain additional useful information?

Walk through the area and observe conditions during work operations.

What belief best defines cultural relativism?

What is ethical is determined by local culture, laws, and practices.

When is a narrow span of control the best option?

When tasks are complex

A new operations manager is assigned to a cash management operations function in a wholesale bank. He recently acquired his MBA, and he has decided to apply his new knowledge to speed up the work by using an assembly-line process and a total quality management (TQM) approach. Most employees are of Philippine descent and hold graduate degrees from Philippine universities. Although they have been teachers, lawyers, and professional workers at home, because their degrees are not recognized in their new country, they have been relegated to clerical-level positions. The new manager has implemented his assembly-line approach, and the employees are miserable. They complain to the business head, who asks the HR manager to work with the operations manager and help him implement the change more effectively. In reviewing the changes that have been implemented, HR can see that the new schedule offers some impressive business results, increasing the unit's throughput rate and the bottom line because of the volumes being produced. However, the assembly-line element of the new work process means that some employees are only stapling documents together or putting them into a file folder. The work is monotonous and offers little autonomy. HR also notes that one element of the change is a move to a 24/7 operations schedule. A shift differential in wages has been offered, and employees have volunteered for the shifts. However, they are experiencing problems, and attendance and error rates are suffering. From employee complaints, it appears that the schedule is causing personal and family issues for the employees. How should HR respond to the employee complaints?

Work with the manager to communicate to the employees how the problems they have raised will be solved.

What approach to employee engagement is evident in emergency child-care programs, job sharing, and limits on overtime?

Work/life programs

HR has been asked to target and identify how to improve employee performance. This will necessitate examining current organizational competencies against those needed in the future and reconciling the differences. What process would help HR to make these determinations?

Workforce analysis

A hospital has recently seen a significant increase in turnover of nurses. Many recent hires have left to work at a nearby privately run clinic. The HR business partner for the hospital has been asked to design and oversee a recruitment campaign to attract ten new nurses and an additional five nurse trainees. One of the measures of success that has been given to the HR business partner is that these new hires need to remain with the hospital for a minimum of 18 months. The hospital is looking to have these individuals onboarded within six weeks. While trying to manage recruiting and hiring, the HR business partner keeps thinking about the hospital's retention issue. In reviewing exit interview information, the business partner has noticed a trend: Many of the nurses who have left indicated that the private clinic has a more modern location and great employee facilities that include a gym and an indoor swimming pool. Hospital leadership has also been criticized, in particular, the hospital administrator. Over lunch with an HR acquaintance who works at the private clinic, the business partner tries to find out why the clinic has been so successful in attracting and retaining staff. To the HR business partner's surprise, the colleague offers to share this information if the business partner provides information about the hospital's wage and benefits structure. The business partner promises to think about this offer. Later, the HR business partner is jogging with a former college mentor and mentions the stress of having to deal with the loss of so many good employees to the private clinic. "Hmm," the professor responds, "That's ironic. We had a financial manager from the clinic apply for a full-time teaching position. She hinted that the clinic was not on solid ground financially." What is the first step the HR business partner needs to take to achieve his hiring objectives?

Working back from the date of the onboarding, the HR business partner needs to establish when he will need to advertise the positions and create an advertisement to attract individuals whose values align with those of the hospital.

A group of workers and management representatives are charged with examining how to improve company performance, working conditions, job security, and other related matters. What is this structure called?

Works council

Should a firm require that its suppliers follow a specific code of conduct?

Yes, this is a good way to make sure that suppliers are behaving ethically.

A company has experienced computer system problems from Internet viruses introduced by employees opening nonwork-related files. The system administrator wants HR to develop and implement a policy restricting employee use of the Internet. Would this Internet policy be a good idea?

Yes; it can help an employer to monitor employees' Internet use

SA8000

a certifiable standard that can be used to ensure human rights in extended supply chains.

The process of adjusting salary data to keep pace with market movement is referred to as

aging

What is the correct order of the first four key steps in the seven-step diversity and inclusion strategic process? a. Preliminary assessment b. Executive commitment c. System changes d. Infrastructure creation

b, a, d, c Executive Commitment Preliminary assessment infrastructure creation system changes

In organizations instituting strategic performance management systems, employees should

be told about performance expectations.

What balance must be struck for effective information management?

between openness and security

How can an organization determine recruiting effectiveness?

by analyzing yield ratios

What is most critical to the effectiveness of performance management systems?

clarity of performance standards

What quality of mind suggests that an employee has a global mindset?

comfort with change and ambiguity

A major provider of health-care services, under a new senior leadership team, is embarking on a turnaround of the organization, which will impact all of its locations around the world. The CEO asks the CHRO to conduct an assessment of the compliance function in the context of the current state of affairs and to ensure that the organization is conforming to regulatory requirements on a global basis. The CHRO conducts an audit with all first- and second-tier managers to identify critical gaps and then conducts one-on-one interviews to clarify and validate findings. Simultaneously, the CHRO conducts multiple site audits of the HR, finance, operations, and IT functions to review compliance of systems and practices. As part of the site audits, the CHRO interviews front-line employees to assess their knowledge, skills, and abilities and to gain insight as to where improvements could be made. The CHRO is able to share with the CEO and the rest of the senior leadership team the outcomes of the analysis and a plan to address gaps and deficiencies as well as capitalize on opportunities. This includes recommendations to change the organizational structure, along with standardization of practices and polices related to regulatory compliance. Compliance rises to the top of the senior leadership team's concerns. After much discussion and debate as to having a standardized versus localized approach to compliance, they agree to a balanced, "glocalized" approach. The CEO tasks the CHRO with leading the efforts of moving toward this agreed-upon approach. How should the CHRO begin the process of developing relationships with global stakeholders?

conduct a stakeholder analysis to determine the relevant information needed by and the impact to each stakeholder

What are three potentially successful generic strategies according to Michael Porter?

cost leadership, differentiation, focus

An HR manager is asked by the vice president (VP) of HR to define and implement a simulation-based assessment center that uses specially trained observers to rate each candidate's performance. The need is to assess which employees have potential for promotion into management, and the VP of HR is familiar with this practice, having used the technique in a prior company. She sees the assessment center as a best practice innovation. The VP of HR is new to this company. She came from a large but entirely domestic organization with an aging workforce. She is aware of the need for building a talent pipeline, and her instincts are toward merit-based promotion. Her new company is a global organization with eight operations located around the world. It is highly diverse in terms of ethnicity. The average worker is probably 15 to 20 years younger than the VP of HR is used to. In researching methodologies, the HR manager stumbles onto an online assessment system that requires no trainers and raters, takes 25% of the time to complete that the assessment center process takes, and has higher validity and reliability as an assessment technique. What should the HR manager do with the information he has uncovered?

create a business case including cost-benefit analyses of both options

A major provider of health-care services, under a new senior leadership team, is embarking on a turnaround of the organization, which will impact all of its locations around the world. The CEO asks the CHRO to conduct an assessment of the compliance function in the context of the current state of affairs and to ensure that the organization is conforming to regulatory requirements on a global basis. The CHRO conducts an audit with all first- and second-tier managers to identify critical gaps and then conducts one-on-one interviews to clarify and validate findings. Simultaneously, the CHRO conducts multiple site audits of the HR, finance, operations, and IT functions to review compliance of systems and practices. As part of the site audits, the CHRO interviews front-line employees to assess their knowledge, skills, and abilities and to gain insight as to where improvements could be made. The CHRO is able to share with the CEO and the rest of the senior leadership team the outcomes of the analysis and a plan to address gaps and deficiencies as well as capitalize on opportunities. This includes recommendations to change the organizational structure, along with standardization of practices and polices related to regulatory compliance. Compliance rises to the top of the senior leadership team's concerns. After much discussion and debate as to having a standardized versus localized approach to compliance, they agree to a balanced, "glocalized" approach. The CEO tasks the CHRO with leading the efforts of moving toward this agreed-upon approach. How should the CHRO approach the development of a global mindset among all levels of employees to ensure that compliance needs are met in each location?

create a consistent global standard while deepening the senior leaders' understanding of local and cultural

An HR manager is asked by the vice president (VP) of HR to define and implement a simulation-based assessment center that uses specially trained observers to rate each candidate's performance. The need is to assess which employees have potential for promotion into management, and the VP of HR is familiar with this practice, having used the technique in a prior company. She sees the assessment center as a best practice innovation. The VP of HR is new to this company. She came from a large but entirely domestic organization with an aging workforce. She is aware of the need for building a talent pipeline, and her instincts are toward merit-based promotion. Her new company is a global organization with eight operations located around the world. It is highly diverse in terms of ethnicity. The average worker is probably 15 to 20 years younger than the VP of HR is used to. In researching methodologies, the HR manager stumbles onto an online assessment system that requires no trainers and raters, takes 25% of the time to complete that the assessment center process takes, and has higher validity and reliability as an assessment technique. In this situation, what ethical considerations should be uppermost in crafting a talent assessment tool?

defining criteria for success in management positions

Which of the following refers to the use of electronic communications and transaction processing when buying (or contracting for/tendering) supplies and services?

e-procurement

What does an HR audit measure?

effectiveness and efficiency

According to Goleman, what leadership attribute separates good leaders from great leaders?

emotional intelligence

Which situation violates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act standards for pension funds?

employers are required to have a minimum of 15 months of service before they can participate in their employer's defined benefit plan

What action during the termination process might violate an employee's due process?

failure to offer an opportunity for the employee to explain actions

What is the correct term for the right of an individual worker to unite with other workers to promote desired employment conditions as a group?

freedom of association

In a midsummer strategy session, a company determines that they will close their West Coast manufacturing unit and move the entire manufacturing effort to the East Coast business head office. To bring the East Coast office fully online, 90 new positions will have to be filled. The work is going to migrate to the East Coast over a 90-day period that will begin September 1. HR has been asked for advice and support. In planning and implementation processes, what is the most important ethical concern for HR?

having a clear understanding of the business case for the initiative and building a robust communication campaign

What is the strongest strategy for a retailer trying to manage the risk of interrupted merchandise supply?

identify and develop multiple vendor relationships

In which form of budgeting is the prior year's budget the basis for the next budget?

incremental budgeting

What process determines the relative worth of each job in an organization?

job evaluation

When comparing wages within a group, the most frequently occurring wage is called the

mode

Which part of a SWOT analysis reflects the external environment?

opportunities and threats

What term describes the process where training or educational activities occur at multiple levels in an organization?

organizational learning

Goal setting is most effective when paired with which performance management tool?

performance feedback

In the four-layer model of diversity, which layer includes cognitive and learning styles?

personality

Which situation that leads to workplace violence can be controlled by an organization?

pressure for increased productivity

In a midsummer strategy session, a company determines that they will close their West Coast manufacturing unit and move the entire manufacturing effort to the East Coast business head office. To bring the East Coast office fully online, 90 new positions will have to be filled. The work is going to migrate to the East Coast over a 90-day period that will begin September 1. HR has been asked for advice and support. What is the best action for HR to take to begin to support this business initiative?

review all of the job descriptions, current salaries and benefits, and existing policies to support the initiative

In a midsummer strategy session, a company determines that they will close their West Coast manufacturing unit and move the entire manufacturing effort to the East Coast business head office. To bring the East Coast office fully online, 90 new positions will have to be filled. The work is going to migrate to the East Coast over a 90-day period that will begin September 1. HR has been asked for advice and support. In trying to ensure strategic alignment of human capital activities, what would be most beneficial to HR?

scheduling a meeting with the business leaders to understand business needs and goals

What is likely to be of the most concern to the chief information officer or IT director?

security

A major provider of health-care services, under a new senior leadership team, is embarking on a turnaround of the organization, which will impact all of its locations around the world. The CEO asks the CHRO to conduct an assessment of the compliance function in the context of the current state of affairs and to ensure that the organization is conforming to regulatory requirements on a global basis. The CHRO conducts an audit with all first- and second-tier managers to identify critical gaps and then conducts one-on-one interviews to clarify and validate findings. Simultaneously, the CHRO conducts multiple site audits of the HR, finance, operations, and IT functions to review compliance of systems and practices. As part of the site audits, the CHRO interviews front-line employees to assess their knowledge, skills, and abilities and to gain insight as to where improvements could be made. The CHRO is able to share with the CEO and the rest of the senior leadership team the outcomes of the analysis and a plan to address gaps and deficiencies as well as capitalize on opportunities. This includes recommendations to change the organizational structure, along with standardization of practices and polices related to regulatory compliance. Compliance rises to the top of the senior leadership team's concerns. After much discussion and debate as to having a standardized versus localized approach to compliance, they agree to a balanced, "glocalized" approach. The CEO tasks the CHRO with leading the efforts of moving toward this agreed-upon approach. How should the CHRO assess the impact of these changes on the business goals and objectives?

select metrics that allow the organization to make sound business decisions and drive behavior change

Negotiations for an executive at a company have stalled with a prospective new international partner. How can the organization's global HR expert contribute to a better negotiation outcome for this executive?

share the cultural perspective of the other side in the negotiation

An organization has some managers who have too many employees reporting to them, hindering efficiency and resulting in conflicting goals. Which type of organizational effectiveness and development strategy will address this problem?

structural

What does OSHA's General Duty Clause mandate?

that employers must provide work environments free of recognized hazards to safety

A highly matrixed, decentralized international company has six business units in various locations. Although there's a corporate human resources team with all HR functions represented, each business unit also has its own HR department and functions. All of them operate in a polycentric fashion; only the vice presidents of HR, who report to the senior vice president of HR, interact on a periodic basis. A downturn in the economy has impacted the company and has led corporate HR to explore the possibility of using a new centralized service model to combine one or more of the HR functions into corporate. Other reasons for this include reduction in HR practitioners/cost savings, improved consistency, and elevated expertise. An HR manager who has been with one business unit for the last six years has joined a team pulled together by corporate HR to design and implement an appropriate servicing model. He is the only one from outside of the corporate function participating on the team. For the past month, they have been looking at the pros and cons of different HR structures and are discussing a shared services approach. Any changes to the HR structure or delivery model can create anxiety among employees. How should the team address employee fears?

the team should create a communication plan outlining high-level changes that the organization is considering

What is the key benefit of defining an organization's values?

they guide employee behavior and decision making

Knowledge management programs are most productive when

they share organizational learning and reduce knowledge loss.

Developing appropriate job-content-based (internal) job evaluation factors that are consistent with the employees' concerns about the strategy of the organization is important because

this is one of the best opportunities for compensation practices to contribute to organizational strategy.

A major provider of health-care services, under a new senior leadership team, is embarking on a turnaround of the organization, which will impact all of its locations around the world. The CEO asks the CHRO to conduct an assessment of the compliance function in the context of the current state of affairs and to ensure that the organization is conforming to regulatory requirements on a global basis. The CHRO conducts an audit with all first- and second-tier managers to identify critical gaps and then conducts one-on-one interviews to clarify and validate findings. Simultaneously, the CHRO conducts multiple site audits of the HR, finance, operations, and IT functions to review compliance of systems and practices. As part of the site audits, the CHRO interviews front-line employees to assess their knowledge, skills, and abilities and to gain insight as to where improvements could be made. The CHRO is able to share with the CEO and the rest of the senior leadership team the outcomes of the analysis and a plan to address gaps and deficiencies as well as capitalize on opportunities. This includes recommendations to change the organizational structure, along with standardization of practices and polices related to regulatory compliance. Compliance rises to the top of the senior leadership team's concerns. After much discussion and debate as to having a standardized versus localized approach to compliance, they agree to a balanced, "glocalized" approach. The CEO tasks the CHRO with leading the efforts of moving toward this agreed-upon approach. How should the CHRO collaborate, on an ongoing basis, with all global stakeholders to ensure the success of this change?

understand the context for the collaborative relationship

A major provider of health-care services, under a new senior leadership team, is embarking on a turnaround of the organization, which will impact all of its locations around the world. The CEO asks the CHRO to conduct an assessment of the compliance function in the context of the current state of affairs and to ensure that the organization is conforming to regulatory requirements on a global basis. The CHRO conducts an audit with all first- and second-tier managers to identify critical gaps and then conducts one-on-one interviews to clarify and validate findings. Simultaneously, the CHRO conducts multiple site audits of the HR, finance, operations, and IT functions to review compliance of systems and practices. As part of the site audits, the CHRO interviews front-line employees to assess their knowledge, skills, and abilities and to gain insight as to where improvements could be made. The CHRO is able to share with the CEO and the rest of the senior leadership team the outcomes of the analysis and a plan to address gaps and deficiencies as well as capitalize on opportunities. This includes recommendations to change the organizational structure, along with standardization of practices and polices related to regulatory compliance. Compliance rises to the top of the senior leadership team's concerns. After much discussion and debate as to having a standardized versus localized approach to compliance, they agree to a balanced, "glocalized" approach. The CEO tasks the CHRO with leading the efforts of moving toward this agreed-upon approach. What is the first step the CHRO should take to address the regulatory compliance requirements of the organization?

understand the organization-wide impact of compliance across multiple jurisdictions

Whose representation is most critical to a diversity council's success?

upper management must be directly involved

An HR manager is asked by the vice president (VP) of HR to define and implement a simulation-based assessment center that uses specially trained observers to rate each candidate's performance. The need is to assess which employees have potential for promotion into management, and the VP of HR is familiar with this practice, having used the technique in a prior company. She sees the assessment center as a best practice innovation. The VP of HR is new to this company. She came from a large but entirely domestic organization with an aging workforce. She is aware of the need for building a talent pipeline, and her instincts are toward merit-based promotion. Her new company is a global organization with eight operations located around the world. It is highly diverse in terms of ethnicity. The average worker is probably 15 to 20 years younger than the VP of HR is used to. In researching methodologies, the HR manager stumbles onto an online assessment system that requires no trainers and raters, takes 25% of the time to complete that the assessment center process takes, and has higher validity and reliability as an assessment technique. What would be the best criteria to use in deciding whether to implement either or both assessment alternatives?

validity in predicting success and accessibility to all qualified employees

A manager begins with no allocated budget and must justify allocations based on how the function will contribute to the organization's strategic goals. What budgeting method is being used?

zero-based budgeting