Employee Engagement & Retention AND Learning & Development

How can management best establish a culture that values career development in an individual development plan (IDP)?

b a)Assign employees responsibility for their own IDPs. b)Link career development to business objectives. c)Ask HR to implement career paths for employees. d)Have supervisors coach employees on career concerns.

Which best demonstrates job enlargement?

b a)A salesperson switches between the paint department and the electrical department. b)A bank teller handles deposits and disbursements and also sells certificates of deposit. c)A production worker works one day in assembly and one day in shipping. d)During a new product installation, an electrician supervises and develops new apprentices.

Which of the following actions is most likely to reduce job burnout?

a a)Giving employees control over their work b)Raising wages c)Offering stress reduction classes d)Providing employees with more sick days

How can HR best engage employees in developing the performance standards for a new performance management system?

a a)By communicating performance expectations b)By providing praise and recognition rather than monetary rewards c)By rewarding equally regardless of the task performed d)By evaluating performance annually rather than on a continuous basis

Which program gives technical workers the ability to earn as much as they would in a management position?

a a)Dual career ladder b)Perquisites c)Pay for performance d)Maturity curves

An HR manager recommends that, as a way to closely monitor engagement, briefer, more frequent surveys are given to specific segments of the workforce. This describes what type of survey?

a a)Pulse b)Performance c)Specific d)Opinion

Which would be the best way for HR to increase employee willingness to participate in pulse surveys to gauge improvement in comprehensive surveys?

a a)Relate any employment practice changes made and their effectiveness to input provided on the last survey. b)Resolve the most challenging problem identified in a comprehensive survey to demonstrate efforts to follow up. c)Downplay areas that have not improved since the last survey. d)Survey only every two or more years to minimize survey fatigue.

Which is the primary purpose of creating and communicating training program objectives?

a a)To determine who is qualified to attend the training b)To alert participants to the most important content c)To satisfy the key stakeholders about the value of training d)To support measurement of the acquisition of learning

A company is expanding into a new country and wants to extend its collaborative, team-based approach to help engage its new workforce. Which driver of engagement should the HR director consider first?

b a)Proceed without delay; collaboration is a global driver of engagement. b)Align company practices to new country practices using valid research to guide changes. c)Continue with new country practices, as changes could cause engagement to decrease. d)Conduct a pilot test in the new workplace to see if localization of company practices will be accepted.

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?

b a)Constructively discharge the least productive employees. b)Allow employees to volunteer to be separated. c)Encourage voluntary separations and treat them as terminations. d)Suggest that terminated employees might be called back.

The 70-20-10 model created by the Center for Creative Leadership identifies three clusters of experiences to develop people. Which type of experience does the 70 in the model represent?

b a)Coursework and training b)Challenging assignments c)Developmental relationships d)On-the-job training

A government-mandated seminar on safety was recently converted to an e-learning course and is available on the organization's intranet. The course consists of self-study units with accompanying quizzes and e-mail access to a subject matter expert. Which best describes the primary benefit of this approach?

b a)Employees have easy access to someone who can answer questions. b)Participants can complete the training when it is convenient for them. c)The organization can track the training that each employee completes. d)Internal or external trainers can be eliminated, reducing costs.

Some managers in an organization rate their employees' performance as uniformly high. An HR audit reveals that business outcomes do not support these higher employee assessments. Recommendations include changing the appraisal method to the behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS). Which method's shortfalls are mitigated by using BARS?

b a)Management by objectives b)Category rating c)Comparative d)Narrative

Which situation best indicates that training is the preferred solution?

b a)Morale is low due to unexpected recent layoffs. b)Salespeople lack the product knowledge to answer customer questions. c)Employees are not engaged in their day-to-day work activities . d)Production workers are given unrealistic performance goals.

Which factor has the greatest impact on maintaining peak performance?

b a)Training opportunities b)Challenging assignments c)Cultural obstacles d)Risk management

Which program best allows HR to support long-term employee engagement and retention?

b a)Wellness b)Family assistance c)Employee assistance d)Concierge services

An organization seeks to evaluate the overall business impact of its employee retention strategies. What engagement metric would provide this insight?

c a)Employee absence rate b)Yield ratio c)Revenue per employee d)Monthly voluntary turnover rate

What positive outcome will result from coaching high-potential employees?

c a)Employees will be less engaged in their current jobs. b)Employees are more likely to leave the organization. c)Employees will contribute more effectively to the organization. d)Employees will change jobs less frequently.

What characterizes a learning organization?

c a)It advocates internal rather than external networking. b)It takes responsibility for the learning of its employees. c)It manages change and adapts to its environment. d)It encourages each department to function independently.

An organization recognizes the benefit of long-tenured employees - they provide valuable experience that is key to its success. What practice can HR use to help ensure that employees remain with the organization for a longer period of time?

c a)Streamlining HR processes b)Performing annual salary reviews c)Conducting realistic job previews d)Improving benefit plans

How should a chief HR officer explain to her senior leadership colleagues the value of measuring employee attitudes through an annual survey?

d a)By explaining how the survey may be counterproductive b)By convincing leadership of how the survey solves organizational problems c)By providing in-depth information about employee attitudes d)By demonstrating how the survey can reveal unreported problems

Which best describes the process where training or educational activities occur at multiple levels?

d a)Climate of engagement b)Positive organizational culture c)Learning design d)Organizational learning

A plant manager informs the HR manager that employees are leaving due to limited advancement opportunities. What is the first step the HR manager should take?

d a)Review base pay programs to move employees more quickly through the pay ranges. b)Review recruiting practices emphasizing expectations around growth and development. c)Review current promotional practices to encourage faster advancement for qualified employees. d)Review exit interview data to see if it reflects limited promotional opportunities leading to employees leaving the organization.