HR Certification
Which is the best example of direct compensation?
Cash achievement award
Pay for performance (P4P, PfP)
Situation where an individual's performance on the job is the basis for the amount and timing of pay increases; also called merit pay or performance-based pay.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
U.S. act that creates a rolling time frame for filing wage discrimination claims and expands plaintiff field beyond employee who was discriminated against.
Which must be permitted when conducting an investigative interview of a union employee?
Union representative adding information supporting the employee's case
Domestic partners
Unmarried couples, of the same or opposite sex, who live together and seek economic and noneconomic benefits comparable to those granted to their married counterparts.
Incentive pay
Form of direct compensation where employers pay for performance beyond normal expectations to motivate higher performance.
Paired-comparison method
Job evaluation method in which each job is compared with every other job being evaluated; the job with the largest number of "greater than" rankings is the highest-ranked job, etc.
Job-content-based job evaluation
Job evaluation method in which the relative worth and pay structure of different jobs are based on an assessment of their content and their relationship to other jobs within the organization.
A new division manager wants to terminate a new employee for borrowing work equipment for personal use, an act specifically prohibited in the employee handbook. This has happened before, but, in that case, the employee was not terminated. Which action should HR recommend the manager take?
Not proceeding with the termination because it may not be defensible
Selection screening
Analyzing candidates' application forms, curricula vitae, and resumes to locate the most-qualified candidates for an open job.
HR has undertaken a review of the company's talent management plan in order to make recommendations for possible improvements. Which action should HR take first?
Conduct a thorough review of the organization's strategic plan and goals.
A line manager approaches HR to explore ways to increase cross-training among her employees. How can HR meet the manager's need while increasing employee engagement?
Consult with the manager to understand which duties of the specific role incorporate higher levels of decision making.
Which represents the best use of the balanced scorecard in strategic planning?
Identifying significant strategic objectives
Reverse innovation
Innovations created for or by emerging-economy markets and then imported to developed-economy markets.
After an acquisition, the HR director at the acquiring company is tasked with aligning the total rewards systems of both organizations. Which should the HR director review first?
Mission and strategy
What is a direct result of HR's evolving strategic role?
Required competence to develop talent through career development and succession planning
Green-circle rates
Situations in which an employee's pay is below the minimum of the range.
Red-circle rates
Situations in which employees' pay is above the range maximum.
Which of the following is an advantage of external recruiting?
Provides cross-industry insights
A HR professional has been assigned to help a new product development team that has had difficulty achieving smooth collaboration. The members keep accusing each other of not doing what they're supposed to be doing and instead interfering in each other's work. What tool could help the HR professional and the product team in this situation?
RACI matrix
Which is diversity's greatest value to an organization?
Range of perspectives and modes of thinking
Gross profit margin
Ratio of gross profit to net sales.
In 2015, Company X's turnover rate was 74%. The HR director would like to know if a new CSR program has impacted the retention rates for 2016 and 2018. Which formula should the HR director use?
(Employed employees for the entire measurement period/Number of employees at the start of the period) x 100
How has the cloud repositioned HR software?
As a service to be consumed
Which is one of the negative social effects of global technological forces?
Complexity of privacy issues
What advice would you give an HR colleague facing an employee grievance in a unionized environment?
Document all grievance meetings and take notes.
Which of the following is the best reason to maintain employment records electronically?
Easier storage and access for records that span many years
Triple bottom line
Economic, social, and environmental impact metrics used to determine an organization's success.
Which option best defines risk?
Effect of uncertainty on the ability to meet organizational objectives
Nonexempt employees
Employees covered under U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act regulations, including minimum wage and overtime pay requirements.
Single loss expectancy (SLE)
Expected monetary loss every time a risk occurs; calculated by multiplying asset value by exposure factor.
Annualized loss expectancy (ALE)
Expected monetary loss for an asset due to a risk over a one-year period; calculated by multiplying single loss expectancy by annualized rate of occurrence.
What term refers to a company building a new global location from the ground up?
Greenfield operation
Force-field analysis
Group decision-making tool designed to analyze the forces favoring and opposing a particular change. A factor is weighted, and the factors on each side are summed and compared.
How does communicating the guiding principles behind employee pay support an effective compensation philosophy?
It creates a framework for transparency.
NLRB v. Weingarten
Landmark 1975 U.S. labor relations case that dealt with the right of a unionized employee to have another person present during certain investigatory interviews.
A graphic designer is leaving a technology consulting firm after five years. Can the designer use copyrighted materials to launch a start-up company?
No, the work is the property of the employer.
Service-level agreement (SLA)
Part of a service contract where the service expectations are formally defined.
Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)
Pay adjustment given to eligible employees regardless of performance or organizational profitability; usually linked to inflation.
Which is the most important reason for training professionals to understand their own learning style?
People tend to teach the way they prefer to learn.
Strategy
Plan of action for accomplishing an organization's overall and long-range goals.
Sourcing
Process by which an organization generates a pool of qualified job applicants.
Recruitment
Process by which an organization seeks out candidates and encourages them to apply for job openings.
A company has separate divisions for distinct types of products. Each division has its own marketing, sales, manufacturing, and finance functions. What type of organizational structure does this illustrate?
Product
Career development
Progression through a series of employment stages characterized by relatively unique issues, themes, and tasks.
Bill
Proposal presented to a legislative body for possible enactment as a statute.
Which type of survey should an HR professional use to collect information on base pay, incentive plans, and benefits?
Remuneration
What is the first step in developing an HR documentation policy?
Researching what laws apply, the records required, and the retention period
A consulting company knows that its primary advantage lies in the expertise and commitment of its people. Which practice should HR recommend that leaders focus on?
Retention
A mining company has had a safety program in place for over ten years. It has been effective in decreasing accidents and injuries. What should HR recommend?
Review the technology used in the program to see if newer, more effective technology is now available.
Jurisdiction
Right of a legal body to exert authority over a given geographical territory, subject matter, or persons or institutions.
Independent contractors
Self-employed individuals hired on a contract basis for specialized services.
In an assessment center, a candidate is asked to handle a hypothetical situation dealing with typical job-related challenges. Which selection tool is being used?
Simulation
Which is a computer application distribution model in which a third-party provider makes the application available to contracted customers over the Internet?
Software as a service (SaaS)
Software as a service (SaaS)
Software that is owned, delivered, and managed remotely and delivered over the Internet to contracted customers on a pay-for-use basis or as a subscription based on use metrics.
Which employee action is most effective in developing a global mindset?
Spending time living abroad
Which action best illustrates the use of evidence-based decision making in HR?
Staff performs a regression analysis to identify likely factors for success in candidate profiles.
Which is the difference between a strategic alliance and a joint venture?
Strategic alliances do not involve equity; joint ventures require that both partners contribute equity.
Risk management
System for identifying, evaluating, and controlling actual and potential risks to an organization.
Nominal group technique (NGT)
Technique in which participants each suggest ideas through a series of rounds and then discuss the items, eliminate redundancies and irrelevancies, and agree on the importance of the remaining items.
Lagging indicator
Type of metric describing an activity or change in performance that has already occurred.
Leading indicator
Type of metric describing an activity that can change future performance and predict success in the achievement of strategic goals.
Judgmental forecasts
Use of information from past and present to predict future conditions.
Mode
Value that occurs most frequently in a set of data.
A new HR professional wants to understand how to gain credibility in his organization. Which activity would help the most?
Watching how people react to other team members in team discussions
The HR director and union representatives are unable to resolve a formal grievance at either the local or national level. What is the next step in the formal grievance process?
Arbitration
Amendment
Modification of the U.S. Constitution or a U.S. law.
To better meet the growing need for new parents to balance work with family, which program should HR include as part of the organization's employee benefits?
Flexible work schedules
The HR director wants to transition from paper-based record keeping to digital record keeping. Which factors should the director consider before engaging in a purchasing process for HR technology?
Alignment of user and departmental objectives
Which action would be most important in building trust with colleagues?
Acting consistently in line with shared values
Lockout
Action of an employer to shut down operations to prevent employees from working.
Veto
Action of rejecting a bill or statute.
Sympathy strike
Action taken in support of another union that is striking the employer.
Risk control
Action taken to manage a risk.
Workforce planning
Activities needed to ensure that workforce size and competencies meet current and future organizational and individual needs.
Developmental activities
Activities that focus on preparing employees for future responsibilities while increasing their capacity to perform their current jobs.
Vision statement
Description of what an organization hopes to attain and accomplish in the future, which guides it toward that defined direction.
Coaching
Focused, interactive communication and guidance intended to develop and enhance on-the-job performance, knowledge, or behavior.
General pay increase
Pay increase given to employees based on local competitive market requirements; awarded regardless of employee performance.
Which method is most effective for controlling hazards and their negative consequences?
Abate and eliminate the hazard from the workplace.
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 under-reporting.
Hacking
Act of deliberately accessing computer data without permission.
Which employee is considered a globalist?
An employee who moves from one international assignment to another.
An employee complains about a colleague working remotely two days a week when policy allows for only one remote day. The manager reveals that the colleague has an autistic child at home and goes to therapy on those days. What ethical violation has the manager committed in this situation?
Breach of confidentiality
Policy
Broad statement that reflects an organization's philosophy, objectives, or standards concerning a particular set of management or employee activities.
What is the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability?
CSR encompasses sustainability.
Trade union
Group of workers who coordinate their activities to achieve common goals in their relationship with an employer or group of employers; also called labor union.
Labor union
Group of workers who coordinate their activities to achieve common goals in their relationship with an employer or group of employers; also called trade union.
Which is the chief information officer likely most concerned about?
Database Security
E-learning
Electronic media delivery of educational and training materials, processes, and programs.
Employee value proposition (EVP)
Employees' perceived value of the total rewards and tangible and intangible benefits they receive from the organization as part of employment, which drives unique and compelling organizational strategies for talent acquisition, retention and engagement.
Which activity is prohibited by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)?
Employer domination of unions
Which is the best example of a civil law being applied to the practice of HR?
Employers changing policy to comply with newly enacted legislation.
What does OSHA's General Duty Clause mandate?
Employers must provide a work environment free of recognized hazards to safety.
Bribery
Exchange of anything of value to gain greater influence or preference.
Which factor is essential for the success of a diversity and inclusion initiative?
Executive commitment
It is estimated that one-third of Fortune 500 CEOs have remained in their positions fewer than three years. Which does this indicate about executive development?
Executives have the knowledge and intellect to succeed but lack the people skills to build teams or maintain productive relationships.
A key manager is retiring, and the company wants her to keep working in a part-time capacity. She will work 20 hours a week and continue to perform a portion of her old duties. What Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) classification should the HR manager recommend for the manager?
Exempt employee
Incentive
Factor that motivates performance of a desired behavior or discourages performance of an undesired behavior.
Which activity is critical to ensure that strategy is implemented effectively?
Feedback on strategic initiatives is obtained on a regular basis from all parts of the organization.
What would indicate a cultural shift as a result of an organization and employee development change initiative?
Fewer product returns due to quality issues
Which statement best describes how organizations have evolved in their definition of diversity?
From a defensive, compliance-based view to that of a strategic asset.
A team leader comes to HR for advice. The team is meeting its first milestone goals, but the team leader is worried about the effect on future productivity of one team member. This person spends more time socializing at meetings than talking about the task at hand. What should the HR professional recommend?
Give the team time to develop its roles and relationships.
Which statement characterizes globalization?
Global markets, economies, and technologies are increasingly interconnected
Works councils
Groups that represent employees, generally on a local or organizational level, for the primary purpose of receiving from employers and conveying to employees information about the workforce and the health of the enterprise.
What is the primary obstacle that must be avoided during the norming phase of team formation?
Groupthink
Staffing
HR function that acts on the organizational human capital needs identified through workforce planning and attempts to provide an adequate supply of qualified individuals to complete the body of work necessary for the organization's financial success.
Shared services HR model
HR structural alternative in which centers with specific areas of expertise develop HR policies in those areas; each unit can then select what it needs from a menu of these services.
How does HR support strategic management in a global organization?
Implement processes to increase integration and knowledge exchange
Feedback loop
In communication, structuring a message to include opportunities for correction or clarification. This requires two-way communication.
Which statement best describes the relationship between diversity and inclusion?
Inclusion enables an organization to leverage the strategic value of diversity.
A firm has just announced a major reorganization to its employees. Which is most likely to happen first after the initial shock of the news?
Individuals may deny the reality of the change.
The HR director learns that an employee who has already met the sales goal for the month is keeping extra sales secret. The employee is moving the extra sales to the next month in order to ensure that future goals are met. Which should the HR director do first?
Inform the employee's manager and coach the manager on how to address the issue with the employee.
Human resource information system (HRIS)
Information technology framework and tools for gathering, storing, maintaining, retrieving, revising, and reporting HR data.
Selection interviews
Interviews designed to probe areas of interest to the interviewer in order to determine how well a job candidate meets the needs of the organization.
Which tool enables organizations to capture information about attendance, exam results, and evaluation survey responses?
Learning management systems
What is the chain of command?
Line of authority within an organization
What is one of the benefits an organization receives from having information systems that are scalable?
Less waste and better use of investments
Which is the best method for an HR compensation manager to use to evaluate the jobs and salary ranges of the organization's key positions compared to those of its competitors?
Market-based evaluation to establish the worth of positions
Which part of the organization is responsible for assembling products?
Operations
In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, how are the needs of self-actualization exemplified?
Opportunities for development, problem solving, and creativity
Grievance procedure
Orderly way to resolve differences of opinion.
Which is regulated by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)?
Overtime pay
Intellectual property (IP)
Ownership of innovation by an individual or business enterprise; includes patented, trademarked, or copyrighted property.
An exit interview assessment finds that the primary reason employees leave is for better total rewards offered at other organizations. Which is the best action HR should take to gather information on competitive total rewards packages to potentially offer its employees?
Participate in an external remuneration survey to assess the competitiveness of the organization's current offerings.
Which is a disadvantage of a time-based pay system?
Pay levels may be raised over time regardless of performance.
HR management creates a shared services center for career development counseling. Several months later, management notes high turnover in HR offices throughout the organization. Which is the most likely reason for this outcome?
Poor management of the extended effects of an organizational change
Employment at-will
Principle of employment in the U.S. that employers have the right to hire, fire, demote, and promote whomever they choose for any reason unless there is a law or contract to the contrary and that employees have the right to quit a job at any time.
Orientation
Process by which new employees become familiar with the organization and with their specific department, coworkers, and job.
Negotiation
Process by which two or more parties work together to reach agreement on a matter.
Which is a primary advantage of the balanced scorecard?
Relate the performance of business functions to the organization's mission
Regulation
Rules or orders issued by an administrative agency of government that usually have the force of law.
PESTLE analysis
Scanning process that searches for environmental forces in political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental categories.
Many employees in the manufacturing department will be retiring in the next six months. The department supervisor asks the HR manager to identify ways to capture the employees' knowledge. In order to address this request, what should the HR manager identify first?
The knowledge that will be lost when the employees retire
What is the best description of an information system portal?
User's point of access to system data and applications
Which approach is most effective for promoting diversity and inclusion globally?
Using a wide range of measures of success beyond demographics.
Technological forces have had which critical effect on today's corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices?
Using analytical capabilities has made CSR impacts more demonstrable.
How are local cluster developments used in corporate social responsibility?
To create shared value
Risk scorecard
Tool used to gather individual assessments of various characteristics of risk (e.g., frequency of occurrence; degree of impact, loss, or gain for the organization; degree of efficacy of current controls).
Realistic job preview (RJP)
Tool used to provide a job applicant with honest, complete information about a job and the work environment.
Root-cause analysis
Type of analysis that starts with a result and then works backward to identify fundamental cause.
Risk
Uncertainty that has an effect on an objective, where outcomes may include opportunities, losses, and threats.
Equal Employment Opportunity Act
U.S act that amended Title VII and gave the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission authority to "back up" its administrative findings and conduct its own enforcement litigation.
Departmentalization
Way an organization groups jobs to coordinate work.
Information system (IS)
Way to collect, organize, store, analyze, and share data.
An organization wants to encourage its employees to improve their health and fitness. How could technology increase employee involvement in this goal?
Wearable technology that gathers and uploads data to the cloud
During the hiring process, at which point does an employer have the opportunity to initially engage the individual?
When exploring the company's careers page
Under which circumstances should ignoring conflict be used as a conflict management strategy?
When the issue will resolve itself without damaging the team processes and relationships
An HR professional has just joined an organization and she wants to better understand its informal characteristics. What should she pay attention to?
Who people interact with and the nature of their interactions
Which metric should an organization look to when evaluating an employee engagement strategy that is focused on safety?
Workers' compensation incident rate
Job specifications
Written statements of the minimum qualifications for the job incumbent.
An employee has a small online business selling a sauce made from the employer's copyrighted recipe. The company handbook forbids any employee from disclosing the employer's proprietary information. What can the employer do?
Demand the employee cease the activity and terminate employment.
Which types of data should be measured at the preliminary assessment stage of the diversity and inclusion strategic process?
Demographic and attitude data
Which technique is critical to being a more active listener?
Keeping an open mind, recognizing that she may think differently after the conversation.
Which of the following is true about employment practices liability insurance (EPLI)?
It usually covers legal costs regardless of the outcome of the case.
An organization is in the process of updating its compensation system and has started the task of evaluating jobs and grouping those with similar duties together. Which documents would be most useful for this purpose?
Job descriptions
Which technology has the primary mission of sharing information in meaningful ways to augment employee performance?
Knowledge management systems
A union has been accused of an unfair labor practice (ULP). What body has the authority to listen to the ULP charge?
Labor board
Point-factor system
Job evaluation method that looks at compensable factors (such as skills and working conditions) that reflect how much a job adds value to the organization; points are assigned to each factor and then added to come up with an overall point value for the job.
Which factor is critical for HR to consider before conducting an employee engagement survey?
Leadership buy-in and commitment to act on survey results
Which should be included in manager training for an organization's diversity and inclusion strategic initiative?
Leading diverse teams effectively and fostering an inclusive work environment
What type of organization embraces change, tolerates risk, and views failures as an opportunity to learn?
Learning organization
Which action would best support a group brainstorming session?
Listen to what each person has to say before thinking about responses.
Which strategy should HR recommend to embrace diversity in the workforce at a greenfield operation?
Local responsiveness
Framing
Process of constructing a message so that an audience sees communicated facts in a certain way and is persuaded to take a certain action.
Knowledge management (KM)
Process of creating, acquiring, sharing, and managing knowledge to augment individual and organizational performance.
Job evaluation
Process of determining a job's value and price for the purpose of attracting and retaining employees by comparing the job against other jobs within the organization or against similar jobs in competing organizations.
Networking
Process of developing mutually beneficial contacts through the exchange of information.
Succession planning
Process of implementing a talent management strategy for identifying and fostering the development of high-potential employees or other job candidates who, over time, may move into leadership positions of increased responsibility.
Job enrichment
Process of increasing a job's depth by adding responsibilities to the job.
Strategic planning
Process of setting goals and designing a path toward a competitive position.
Online analytical processing (OLAP)
Processing applications that store data in a multidimensional "cube," which enables users to analyze data quickly in a variety of different ways.
HR audit
Systematic and comprehensive evaluation of an organization's HR policies, practices, procedures, and strategies.
Delphi technique
Technique that progressively collects information from a group of anonymous respondents.
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA)
U.S. act that imposed regulations on internal union affairs and the relationship between union officials and union members.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability because of his/her disability.
Which alternative staffing arrangement meets the needs of an organization that is experiencing turnover in professional service positions due to employees desiring to work fewer hours?
Job sharing
Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA)
U.S. act that amended the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to include all employee benefits; also provided standards that an employee's waiver of the right to sue for age discrimination must meet in order to be upheld by a court.
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act
U.S. act that established the first national policy for workplace safety and health and continues to deliver standards that employers must meet to guarantee the health and safety of their employees.
National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA)
U.S. acts that expanded FMLA leave for employees with family members who are covered members of the military.
Faragher v. City of Boca Raton
U.S. court ruling that distinguished between supervisor harassment that results in tangible employment action and supervisor harassment that does not.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
Umbrella term for the various approaches and techniques, other than litigation, that can be used to resolve a dispute.
Which best defines the concept of moral hazard?
A person engages in risky behavior knowing that someone else will absorb any losses.
Emotional intelligence (EI)
Ability to be sensitive to and understand one's own and others' emotions and impulses.
Leadership
Ability to influence, guide, inspire, or motivate a group or person to achieve their goals.
In addition to cost, which is the most important factor to consider when reviewing the proposals of outsourced companies?
Ability to meet specifications
Project labor agreement (PLA)
Agreement that requires specific contractors to accept certain conditions in project contracts, such as paying a fair wage and contributing to health insurance, pension, and training funds.
Cosourcing
Arrangement in which an enterprise and a vendor share different tasks within a larger complex, often strategic responsibility.
Mean
Average score or value.
An economic comparison of options for a new applicant tracking system shows that the cost of the system best suited to meet the organization's long-term goals exceeds the amount management has budgeted. What should the HR manager present to management to support the purchase of the more expensive system?
Business case
What does an effective pre- and post-test training assessment measure?
Changes in knowledge before and after training
Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
Common form of post-employment agreement, especially in knowledge industries, in which employee agrees not to discuss knowledge gained during employment.
Ratio analysis
Comparing the sizes of two variables to produce an index or percentage; commonly used to analyze financial statements.
What is the best approach HR can take to align organizational effectiveness and development (OED) with the goals of the organization?
Connecting the organization's strategy and the intervention activities
Which position may require an applicant to take a polygraph test?
Delivery driver for a pharmaceutical firm
Transfer of learning
Effective and continuing on-the-job application of the knowledge and skills gained through a training experience.
Which risk strategy is being enhanced when a global HR organization establishes enterprise-wide evacuation procedures and communication plans and creates a website that sits outside the company's firewall for easy access in the event of terrorist act?
Emergency response planning
Reliability
Extent to which a measurement instrument provides consistent results.
An organization is researching labor costs for similar operations and projections by a government labor agency on the availability of certain types of skilled employees. What stage of the workforce analysis process is the organization completing?
Gap
HR is asked to evaluate the organization's overall retention. Which would be the best information for HR to assess first?
How the current turnover rate compares to the industry average
A manager has lost several staff members to a competitor in the last quarter however continues to meet team targets. Which type of report can HR share to ease this manager's dismay over losing staff members?
Human capital value added
An HR function has purchased applicant tracking software that allows external recruiters to access certain areas of the organization's information system. Throughout the purchasing process, HR has excluded the IT function. What is a possible outcome?
IT refuses to allow the software to be loaded into the system.
After a company lays off 40% of its workforce, organizational output decreases by 20%. In order to better understand these changes, the HR director tasks the HR manager with improving the employee attitude survey response rate by 15% in the next quarter. What should the HR manager do first?
Identify the survey response rates before the layoff to note any trends.
During which stage of strategic planning do managers develop action plans and assign projects?
Implementation
What benefit should HR emphasize to support a proposal to use a software as a service (SaaS) product to address an HR operational need ?
In-house IT needs will not increase due to vendor-supplied IT support.
Employees
Individuals who exchange work for wages or salary; in the U.S., workers who are covered by Fair Labor Standards Act regulations as determined by the IRS.
Which action best illustrates HR's strategic role in an organizational change initiative?
Influencing and affecting management's view of organizational change
A employee learns that a coworker earns a higher hourly rate for the same job and asks the supervisor for a pay increase. As a result, the supervisor prohibits employees from discussing their pay. The supervisor is participating in which unfair labor practice?
Interfering with employees' engagement in concerted activity
How does HR ensure organizational effectiveness and development (OED) interventions deliver value?
Intervention objectives link outcomes to organizational goals.
Civil law
Legal system based on written codes (laws, rules, or regulations).
Median
Middle value in a range of values.
An HR practitioner voices concerns regarding the actions of an administrative agency through phone calls, letters, and personal visits to elected officials. Which practice is being described?
Public comment period
An advertising firm 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. Which actions should HR recommend managers implement to improve employee engagement?
Requesting and valuing employee input on important organizational issues
Which function has the highest potential to increase future revenue?
Research and development
An organization seeks to evaluate the overall business impact of its employee retention strategies. What engagement metric would provide this insight?
Revenue per employee
The HR manager at a hospital is tasked with reviewing hospital job requisition records. Upon doing so, they observe a trend where job applicants who are from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds are not progressing past interviews during the selection process. After observing this trend, the HR manager interviews current hospital employees to seek out why this trend is occurring. The HR manager learns that these applicants typically have language barriers. Additionally, these job applicants have often immigrated to the country after pursuing and completing higher education in their home country. As a result, their medical practice licenses are not always equivalent to the country's requirements. The HR manager is concerned that patterns in the requisition data may be related to adverse hiring practices. What action should the HR manager take to understand if that is the case?
Review the interviewers' ratings for patterns related to how candidates from certain groups are being evaluated.
A mature organization has relied on stable processes that supported its current success. One of these processes is succession planning. This HR team has followed a strategy of identifying effective higher-level managers and grooming them for leadership positions. If you were a new HR manager assigned to lead this team, what would you advise?
Review the succession planning strategy to ensure alignment with current business conditions.
What is a best practice as it relates to an organization's employee handbook?
Reviewing the handbook to ensure that expectations are realistic and enforceable
Why are multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) tools particularly useful for teams who are purchasing HR technology?
Scoring can be adjusted to reflect an organization's unique technology needs.
Which technology can reduce HR's transactional workload?
Self-service systems
Ethics
Set of behavioral guidelines that an organization expects all of its directors, managers, and employees to follow to ensure appropriate moral and ethical business standards.
Pay ranges
Set the upper and lower bounds of possible compensation for individuals whose jobs fall within a pay grade.
Which communications medium has a high risk of becoming a source of noise because many communications may seem urgent even when they are not important?
Short messaging
Which best describes the impact when an organization's values are effectively paired with goal setting?
Shows employees how their individual efforts contribute to the success of the organization's strategy
At a staffing agency, recruiters are facing a challenge in finding high-quality candidates. Additionally, the recruiters adhere to an unwritten rule that they should not contact candidates who have already worked with other recruiters within the agency. A new recruiter corresponds with a candidate who was previously in communication with a veteran recruiter. The two recruiters get into an argument, and the recruitment manager tries to intervene. The new recruiter claims not knowing about this unwritten rule and challenges the rule's efficacy. The veteran recruiter says that the unwritten rule is explained during the onboarding process. The recruitment manager asks the HR manager to discipline the new recruiter. How should the HR manager respond?
Suggest adding the unwritten rule to the policy to avoid this situation in the future.
What do the final stages of Kurt Lewin's and John Kotter's models of change management primarily focus on?
Sustaining the change in the organization
Strategic management
System of actions that leaders take to drive an organization toward its goals and objectives.
Diversity council
Task force created to define a diversity and inclusion initiative and guide the development and implementation process.
Which term is best described as traditionally higher-level leadership responsibilities being transferred to leaders at lower levels?
Task migration
Downsizing
Termination of employment of individual employees or groups of employees for reasons other than performance, for example, economic necessity or restructuring; also known as reduction in force (RIF).
Value
The benefit created when an organization meets its strategic goals; measure of usefulness, worth, or importance.
Which would constitute an unfair labor practice (ULP)?
The union fines a member for criticizing union actions.
What is the primary purpose of the analysis step of the ADDIE process?
To identify gaps between actual and desired performance
J curve
Visualization of the impact of change on productivity. When change is introduced, there is typically a decrease in productivity and then a gradual return to or, ideally, a surpassing of previous levels of productivity.
When is knowledge management most productive?
When it focuses on sharing organizational learning and reducing knowledge loss
Equity
Amount of owners' or shareholders' portion of a business.
Turnover rate
Annualized formula that tracks number of separations and total number of workforce employees per month.
Workweek
Any fixed, recurring period of 168 consecutive hours (7 days times 24 hours = 168 hours).
How often should an organization review the components of its enterprise risk management framework?
At an agreed-upon and regular interval
Secondary action
Attempt by a union to influence an employer by putting pressure on another employer, for example, a supplier.
Weighted mean
Average of data that adds factors to reflect the importance of different values.
An employee at a large health-care company takes an extended leave of absence from work due to a personal matter. The company's policy states that the employee must re-apply for the position within a specified time period to be re-hired without having to go through the full external hiring process. The employee fails to meet the deadline for re-applying, and the position is filled with an external candidate. After finding out that the position was filled, the employee reports to the office. The employee begins yelling at the supervisor, demanding to have the employee's job back. The HR manager overhears the conversation and must respond to the situation. The employee tells the HR manager that the time period for re-applying for the position was not sufficient. The HR manager has been told this by other employees in the past. Which action should the HR manager take to evaluate whether the company's policy should be revised?
Calculate the percentage of employees who missed the deadline to re-apply but wanted to be considered for re-hire with the company in the past 12 months.
HR is in the process of recruiting a senior-level position for a global organization. Which benefit might distinguish the organization from the competition?
Club membership
An HR director recognizes the need to work with a preferred staffing vendor to address the organization's short- and long-term staffing needs and to help streamline recruiting for specialized positions in several departments. This approach falls into which category of the organization's talent acquisition strategy?
Creating a talent pipeline
Constructive discipline
Form of corrective discipline that implements increasingly severe penalties for employees.
Which type of program promotes ongoing career development support, repatriation assistance, and advice for international assignees?
Mentoring
Accounts payable
Money an organization owes its vendors and suppliers.
Based on an analysis of future skills needed, an organization implements two new training courses. What type of intervention is this?
Organizational
Due diligence
Process of investigating a decision thoroughly before finalizing it to identify all potential factors that could affect the positive and negative impacts of the decision.
Contingency plan
Protocol that an organization implements when an identified risk event occurs.
Single-rate pay
Provides each incumbent of a job with the same rate of pay, regardless of performance or seniority; also known as flat-rate pay.
Which activity most effectively conveys HR's value as a strategic business partner?
Providing information to internal stakeholders which demonstrates HR's impact on the business operations
An employee's ex-husband waits outside her place of work. When she emerges, he begins yelling. She retreats inside the building. The husband attempts to follow but is prevented by a door that locks automatically behind the employee. An HR staff member observes the incident. What action should the staff member take?
Recommend that those involved debrief the incident.
Under deadline pressure, a global team leader grows angry with workers from one region, resorting to threats and accusations. Realizing that this behavior is counterproductive, she apologizes and sets up a meeting to determine the source of the delays and how she can best help. Which critical ability is she applying?
Self-regulation component of emotional intelligence
Prudent person rule
States that a fiduciary of a plan covered by the U.S. Employee Retirement Income Security Act has legal and financial obligations not to take more risks when investing employee benefit program funds than a reasonably knowledgeable, prudent investor would under similar circumstances.
Trend analysis
Statistical method that examines data from different points in time to determine if a variance is an isolated event or if it is part of a longer trend.
How does hyperconnectivity assist an organization in achieving its strategic goals?
Through the digital interconnection of people and things at any time and any place
Griggs v. Duke Power
U.S. case that set the standard for determining whether discrimination based on disparate impact exists.
Replacement planning
"Snapshot" assessment of the availability of qualified backup for key positions.
Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
2007 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that claims of sex discrimination in pay under Title VII were not timely because discrimination charges were not filed with the EEOC within the required 180-day time frame.
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
2010 U.S. law that requires virtually all citizens and legal residents to have minimum health coverage and requires employers with more than 50 full-time employees to provide health coverage that meets minimum benefit specifications or pay a penalty.
In which scenario would having a knowledge management program be beneficial to an organization?
A company's workforce has a large percentage of employees nearing retirement age.
A small publishing firm feels they are too small to benefit from strategic planning. Which short-term benefit is the best choice for HR to influencing leaders to begin the strategic planning process?
Allocate resources more effectively
A CEO assigns employees to participate in fund-raising for a nonprofit school for students with learning disabilities. The company provides time off and covers the employees' expenses. Employee contributions and school accomplishments are communicated in newsletters and at annual meetings. How could this attempt at community involvement be improved?
Allow employees more voice in choosing the community involvement partner.
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.
How does benchmarking improve the creation of an organizational strategy?
Allows for an understanding of best practices
Which method best determines recruiting effectiveness?
Analyzing yield ratios
A newly hired HR director of a small nonprofit organization notices that the organization is lacking a comprehensive compensation philosophy and salary rate structure. New hires routinely receive higher pay than more-senior employees. The organization does not have a performance management process, and not all employees receive yearly salary increases. The CEO is concerned that the organization will lose quality staff without a strategic focus on its employees, and she tasks the HR director with designing and implementing a performance management model for the organization. The CEO decides to implement 360-degree performance assessments for the upcoming year. What should the HR director do to ensure buy-in for this effort?
Arrange training sessions for managers and employees.
A technical recruiter receives a job description from a hiring manager. One of the requirements listed by the manager states that the position is not ideal for single parents. Which risk management strategy should the technical recruiter use to avoid similar situations in the future?
Avoid the risk by training hiring managers and reviewing all job descriptions before use.
Affinity diagramming
Data-sorting technique in which a group categorizes and subcategorizes data until relationships are clearly drawn.
Mind mapping
Data-sorting technique in which group members add related ideas and indicate logical connections, eventually grouping similar ideas.
Covering
Defensive behavior that occurs when an organization recruits a diverse workforce but, consciously or otherwise, promotes assimilation rather than inclusion.
Which approach describes the form of data gathering in which experts take turns presenting their assumptions and refining a composite answer but never meet face-to-face?
Delphi technique
Which stage in the workforce analysis process considers the business challenges an organization faces when creating a forecast of the organization's future workforce composition?
Demand analysis
What term describes how work groups are related in an organization?
Departmentalization
Individual development plan (IDP)
Document that guides employees toward their goals for professional development and growth.
Dedicated HR
HR structural alternative that allows organizations with different strategies in multiple units to apply HR expertise to each unit's specific strategic needs.
Which can best be used in the evaluation of the outcomes of a compliance program?
How willing the participants are to report issues of noncompliance
Which characteristic is associated with the Six Sigma project management approach?
It measures value and uses evidence-based analysis.
What part of job documentation provides a written statement of the necessary qualifications of the job incumbent?
Job specification
Within a month at a new job, an employee feels disconnected from peers and unsure of job expectations. In what part of the employee experience does there seem to be a breakdown?
Onboarding
Which best describes the process where training or educational activities occur at multiple levels?
Organizational learning
Auditory learners
People who learn best by relying on their sense of hearing.
What does an HR audit measure the effectiveness and the efficiency of?
Policies, practices, procedures, and strategies to support HR's goals
Vesting
Process by which a retirement benefit becomes nonforfeitable.
Job analysis
Process of systematically studying a job in order to identify the activities/tasks and responsibilities it includes, the personal qualifications necessary to perform it, and the conditions under which it is performed.
Gender identity
Refers to one's internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or boy or girl), which may or may not be the same as one's sexual assignment at birth.
What phase of risk management is represented in the acronym MECE, which stands for "mutually exclusive and comprehensively exhaustive?"
Risk identification
What is the appropriate role for an HR manager in an investigatory interview for a dischargeable offense?
Risk manager for the organization
Globalization
Status of growing interconnectedness and interdependency among countries, people, markets, and organizations worldwide.
Which part of the SWOT analysis identifies the core competencies of an organization?
Strengths and weaknesses
Time-based step-rate pay
System in which pay is based on longevity in the job and pay increases occur on a pre-determined schedule.
Learning management system (LMS)
System that holds course content information and has the capability of tracking and managing employee course registrations, career development, and other employee development activities.
Which best describes technology's impact on employee engagement levels?
The boundaries between work and non-work life are increasingly overlapping, contributing to employee fatigue and burnout.
As the result of a reorganization, an employer is laying off 20% of its sales employees. Which existing practice will help ensure that the company retains the knowledge of the departing employees?
The sales department maintains a customer database.
Which statement about using social media as a primary recruiting tool is correct?
There is a risk of unintentional discrimination against certain groups.
Public comment period
Time allowed for the public to express its views and concerns regarding an action of an administrative agency.
Which is the most important reason for a global organization to have a values-based corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy?
To create a foundation to make ethical decisions
Which is the primary goal of an organization's diversity and inclusion efforts?
To develop diverse perspectives
Unfair labor practice (ULP)
Violation of employee rights; act prohibited under labor relations statutes.
HR has been asked to target and identify how the organization's strategic plans can be realized over a three-year scope. This will necessitate examining current organizational competencies against those needed in the future and reconciling the differences. Which process should HR recommend to assist the organization in making these determinations?
Workforce analysis
Which is the most effective organizational policy on the use of social media?
Clarify prohibitions for social media behavior in the handbook or code of conduct.
What is the first step in developing a knowledge management system?
Inventorying knowledge assets
Which is an organizational benefit of using differential pay?
It can incent employees to perform less desirable work or work in undesirable locations.
How does the Global Integration-Local Responsiveness matrix aid HR in developing policies and determining staffing needs?
It defines HR's role at headquarters and subsidiaries
Which process initially helps an employee become familiar with a new job, department, and coworkers?
Orientation
Visual learners
People who learn best by relying on their sense of sight.
Well-being
Physical, psychological, and social aspects of employee health.
An organization is entering the decline phase of its growth, and leaders are uncertain about its future. Still, all departments must continue to fulfill their tasks, now with a steadily decreasing head count. HR would like to purchase new technology that would support required productivity levels without new hiring. Would a software as a service (SaaS) technology meet this organization's needs?
Yes, because the service can be scaled to the organization's changing needs.
Job enlargement
Process of broadening a job's scope by adding different tasks to the job.
Risk appetite
Amount of uncertainty an organization is willing to pursue or to accept to attain its risk management goals.
Which best describes how an organization's focus on diversity is a benefit to its recruitment efforts?
It enhances the employment brand to attract talent.
What characterizes a learning organization?
It manages change and adapts to its environment.
Occupational illness
Medical condition or disorder, other than one resulting from an occupational injury, caused by exposure to environmental factors associated with employment.
Firewalls
Software and/or hardware that filters incoming and outgoing communication according to preset rules.
Which identifies the primary purpose of employer branding?
To establish the organization as an employer of choice
Total rewards
Direct and indirect remuneration approaches that employers use to attract, recognize, and retain workers.
Which best describes a global organization?
An organization whose processes, actions, and decisions are firmly rooted in a carefully conceived global strategy
How is a written code of conduct used in today's work environment?
As a decision-making tool to guide employees and their actions
A manager has organized a team to assist with planning an event. At a meeting, one of the team members complained, dominated the discussion, and resisted each new suggestion. Which strategy should the manager use to control this behavior?
Assess the team member's behavior and follow up with him through discussion and coaching.
How can HR help prevent its organization from committing an unfair labor practice?
By training management on allowed speech
Which action is best characterizes an organization that approaches global assignments from a strategic-systematic perspective?
Coordinating critical functions among the home office and foreign locations
How do career planning and career management differ?
Career planning identifies personal abilities, while career management focuses on organizational staffing needs.
Competencies
Clusters of highly interrelated attributes, including knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), that give rise to the behaviors needed to perform a given job effectively.
A strategic project meets the defined objectives but is unsuccessful in its impact to the strategy. Which action in the project planning process has the project manager overlooked?
Collaboration and agreement on how the project purpose supports the overall strategy
Effective global organizations recognize the value of travel assignments, in developing cultural awareness and appreciation. Why might an organization find short term travel assignments to be less effective in achieving these goals?
Coping with cultural differences and overcoming culture shock takes time and multiple exposures.
Which does not count toward the regular rate of pay for overtime calculations?
Discretionary bonuses
Standard deviation
Distance of any data point from the center of a distribution when data is distributed in a "normal" or expected pattern.
A group has formed to organize the annual company picnic. Because one member has experience planning a similar events, he volunteers to take the lead. The other employees choose to follow him. Which kind of leadership does this exemplify?
Emergent
The turnover rate among recent hires has increased. Exit interview feedback shows that employees' expectations of the company's culture, vision, and mission have not been fulfilled. What should the company reassess based on these trends?
Employee value proposition
HR meets with team leaders to analyze the pros and cons of a suggested change. As a group, they brainstorm on factors that could influence the outcome of the change in both positive and negative ways. The factors are assigned weights in order to quantify the pros and cons and assist the leaders in their decision making. What type of analysis is the group using in this situation?
Force-field analysis
Webinar
Form of webconferencing where a presenter facilitates communication of material or information to an audience in real time.
What is the difference between formal and informal characteristics of an organization?
Formal characteristics are documented and change less frequently than informal characteristics.
At the request of senior management, an HR manager is assigned to solve a problem with a critical product development team. The manager has little information other than the fact that the team has fallen significantly behind schedule and the project leader is inexperienced. What should the HR manager do first?
Gather information through interviews and observation of the team at work.
The HR generalist at a regional bank informs managers when fully qualified candidates apply for jobs. Although there may not be any current openings, HR and position-specific managers will screen candidates and determine next steps. How can HR reliably predict when an opening is likely to occur?
Historical data of movement
Which best describes a diversity council?
Management task force to promote diversity and inclusion in the organization
Which best demonstrates HR's role in managing organizational risk?
Participating in the identification and management of threats and opportunities across the organization
Total rewards strategy
Plan or method implemented by an organization that provides monetary, benefits-in-kind, and developmental rewards to employees who achieve specific business goals.
Which option best defines a contingency plan?
Plan that is activated when a risk event occurs
Blended learning
Planned approach to learning that includes a combination of instructor-led training, self-directed study, and/or on-the-job training.
Collective bargaining
Process by which management and union representatives negotiate the employment conditions for a particular bargaining unit for a designated period of time
A department manager contacts HR to discuss a situation involving a schedule change that was initiated for an employee three months ago. The employee has a medical condition and possibly needs surgery, and he requested the a change to his schedule until a decision can be made by his health-care provider. HR was not involved in the initial request. Other staff members are now becoming upset as this accommodation is causing an issue in the department. With no end date set, the manager is not certain of the status of the medical condition. The manager does not believe that the employee has a plan and therefore wants to reassign or terminate the employee. HR has been contacted for guidance on how to handle this situation. What is the most effective action the HR director should take to resolve the questions arising around the employee's accommodation?
Obtaining more information about the employee's limitations to determine if the current schedule adjustment is appropriate
Onboarding
Process of assimilating new employees into an organization through orientation programs and their experiences in their first months of employment.
Geographic structure
Organizational structure in which geographic regions define the organizational chart.
Sustainability
Practice of purchasing and using resources wisely by balancing economic, social, and environmental concerns, with the goal of securing the interests of present and future generations.
What is the first step in the negotiation process?
Preparation
A large organization is faced with a sudden and severe downturn in revenue and must suspend contributions to employees' retirement accounts. What is the most effective way to communicate this?
Prepare front-line managers for the change and then have the CEO communicate the information to the entire workforce.
An assignee returning to the United States after several years in Asia says he feels like an alien at home and at work. What is the assignee experiencing?
Reverse culture shock
Which statement best describes a productive knowledge management system?
Sharing of organizational learning and reducing knowledge loss
An assembly operation has completely redesigned its work floor and added new machines. What would be the best way for HR to fulfill its duty of care to the operation's employees?
Schedule a walk-through of the redesigned area during a work shift.
Which recruitment method would best support an organization's attempts to attract Generation Y applicants?
Social media
Compensation philosophy
Short but broad statement documenting an organization's guiding principles and core values about employee compensation.
Moral hazard
Situation in which one party engages in risky behavior knowing that it is protected against the risk because another party will incur any resulting loss.
Performance-based pay
Situation where an individual's performance on the job is the basis for the amount and timing of pay increases; also called merit pay or pay for performance.
Merit pay
Situation where an individual's performance on the job is the basis for the amount and timing of pay increases; also called performance-based pay or pay for performance.
Focus group
Small group of invited persons (typically six to twelve) who actively participate in a structured discussion, led by a facilitator, for the purpose of eliciting their input.
Low-context cultures
Societies in which relationships have less history; individuals know each other less well and don't share a common database of experience, so communication must be very explicit.
High-context cultures
Societies or groups characterized by complex, usually long-standing networks of relationships; members share a rich history of common experience, so the way they interact and interpret events is often not apparent to outsiders.
Compliance
State of being in accordance with all national, federal, regional, and/or local laws, regulations, and/or other government authority requirements applicable to the places in which an organization operates.
Regression analysis
Statistical method used to determine whether a relationship exists between variables and the strength of the relationship.
Scenario/what-if analysis
Statistical method used to test the possible effects of altering the details of a strategy to see if the likely outcome can be improved.
A small but growing organization is just beginning to build its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. Which objective would be most appropriate for the organization at this stage?
To develop a CSR program that is aligned with the organization's business strategy
Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation
1971 U.S. case that stated that an employer may not, in the absence of business necessity, refuse to hire women with preschool-aged children while hiring men with such children.
Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB
1992 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employer cannot be compelled to allow nonemployee organizers onto the business property.
How will using a revenue-per-employee metric allow HR to demonstrate the impact of turnover on employee engagement?
A decrease in revenue per employee may correlate with lower employee engagement.
How does the issue of allegiance in global assignments affect the processes of global assignment selection and assignee management?
A priority should be placed on the support needed for assignee's unique needs.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Ability of a computer to imitate human thought and behavior.
Retention
Ability of an organization to keep its employees.
Social intelligence
Ability to create connections or rapport with others.
Global mindset
Ability to take an international perspective, inclusive of other cultures' views.
Business intelligence
Ability to use information to gain a deeper understanding of an organization and make sound business decisions.
A large clothing company has a bad reputation because of its hiring practices, its treatment of employees, and its lack of support to the communities it operates in. The CEO and senior managers are known to make decisions based solely on revenue potential, without regard for the impact it may have on society. In fact, the CEO has commented several times that investing money in anything other than operations is a bad business strategy and unethical in terms of the company's obligation to its investors. Recently, major suppliers for the company, located outside the company's home country, were accused of unethical labor practices, unsafe workplace conditions, and possible human rights violations. This has become a public relations nightmare. Several groups have called for boycotts against the company. At the last shareholders' phone conference, several institutional investors expressed their displeasure with management's failure to respond strongly to the problems with suppliers. The CEO expressed his belief that critics were being unrealistic about their expectations for the suppliers. In fact, they were themselves insensitive to business practices and local norms in these countries. Concerned with the negative publicity and lacking confidence in the CEO's response to it, the company's board of directors requests that the CHRO immediately be given the task of formulating a committee to audit the company's operating practices, its employer branding, and its attitude on social issues. This action would at least show that the company has heard the criticisms. The CEO immediately goes to the CHRO's office and angrily says that the CHRO will be showing disloyalty if the CHRO conducts this audit. The CHRO had been one of the CEO's first hires. How should the CHRO respond to this situation?
Accept the board's assignment, explaining to the CEO the board's power to order this.
A competency-based pay approach works best in an environment that fosters which of the following?
Acquiring knowledge and skill that enhances employee performance and satisfaction
Organizational learning
Acquisition and/or transfer of knowledge within an organization through activities or processes that may occur at several organizational levels; ability of an organization to learn from its mistakes and adjust its strategy accordingly.
Restructuring
Act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of an organization.
Turnover
Act of replacing employees leaving an organization; attrition or loss of employees.
Career planning
Actions and activities that individuals perform in order to give direction to their work lives.
Value drivers
Actions, processes, or results that are needed to deliver a desired value.
Employee life cycle (ELC)
Activities associated with an employee's tenure in an organization.
How must HR strategy account for political factors?
Adjust organizational policies to comply with environmental regulations in different locations
An HR professional transitioned into a new role that requires thorough knowledge of federally mandated laws in order to create new organizational policies. Which is the best resource to ensure federal compliance?
Administrative agencies
An HR manager receives a memo from a department director for termination of a groundskeeping employee. The company's recreational vehicle resort is at the same location as company headquarters. The terminated employee works and lives at the resort, and has no prior record of performance issues in his 10 year career. The memo states that the director terminated the employee yesterday for gross misconduct. The groundskeeper was working in the heat all morning and then informed the director he was going home for lunch. 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 discharge, the groundskeeper contacts the HR manager and claims he was discriminated against due to his age and presumptions that he could not meet that 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. How should the HR manager respond?
Advise the groundskeeper that the HR manager can schedule a time and day for him to come in to the office to discuss the situation.
Several employees were hurt in an accident in the manufacturing department. To evaluate the effectiveness of the organization's risk controls, HR conducted a meeting with the department supervisor. Which document would provide the best information for this meeting?
After-action debrief
A compensation and benefits specialist conducted a salary data survey last year but did not have time to benchmark the results to the organization's pay structure. What action should the specialist take at this point in time?
Age the data to make it current.
A manager of a new restaurant is having difficulty with her chef's interaction with servers as well as the quality of food he is preparing. After consulting with her HR partner, they plan to develop a performance management system. What is most critical to the effectiveness of the performance management system?
Aligned individual contributions that drive organizational results
Workforce management
All activities needed to ensure that workforce size and competencies meet the organization's strategic needs.
Compensation
All financial returns (beyond any tangible benefits payments or services), including salary and allowances.
ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA)
Amendments to U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act covering the definition of individuals regarded as having a disability, mitigating measures, and other rules to guide the analysis of what constitutes a disability.
Risk tolerance
Amount of uncertainty an organization is willing to pursue or to accept to attain its risk management goals.
Residual risk
Amount of uncertainty that remains after all risk management efforts have been exhausted.
Which organization is least likely to succeed in its strategic planning and management?
An organization that shares strategic plans with top management only to preserve its competitive edge
Center of excellence (COE)
An organizational structure that leverages staff expertise in certain areas to improve the entire organization's strategic performance.
Gaps between actual and desired performance are best identified in which phase of the ADDIE process?
Analysis
What is a business case?
Analysis of a problem and possible solutions
An HR specialist prepares a business case to support an initiative. The case includes descriptions of the project's goals, benefits, method, budget, and time line. Which information is required to complete the business case?
Analysis of the initiative's possible risks
A long-time employee of a small, rural branch of a national bank dies unexpectedly. This employee held a position requiring extensive institutional knowledge. Fellow employees are deeply saddened by the loss of their colleague, but bank policy allows bereavement leave for only members of the immediate family. The branch was already understaffed in several mid-level positions due to a limited pool of qualified applicants. The loss leads to increased workloads for the other employees, who are struggling to complete tasks on time. The branch manager notices an increase in transaction errors in all employees and asks the HR manager to recommend a solution. When the HR manager asks about the errors, employees indicate they have too much work to double-check for mistakes. How should the HR manager respond?
Analyze data about error rates and types over the last month to develop targeted solutions.
The HR manager at a hospital is tasked with reviewing hospital job requisition records. Upon doing so, they observe a trend where job applicants who are from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds are not progressing past interviews during the selection process. After observing this trend, the HR manager interviews current hospital employees to seek out why this trend is occurring. The HR manager learns that these applicants typically have language barriers. Additionally, these job applicants have often immigrated to the country after pursuing and completing higher education in their home country. As a result, their medical practice licenses are not always equivalent to the country's requirements. The HR manager would like to determine the diversity of the hospital's workforce. What should the HR manager do?
Analyze employee data to determine in which jobs and departments underrepresentation is occurring in the hospital.
A newly hired HR director of a small nonprofit organization notices that the organization is lacking a comprehensive compensation philosophy and salary rate structure. New hires routinely receive higher pay than more-senior employees. The organization does not have a performance management process, and not all employees receive yearly salary increases. The CEO is concerned that the organization will lose quality staff without a strategic focus on its employees, and she tasks the HR director with designing and implementing a performance management model for the organization. An employee submits a complaint to the HR director stating that he has not received a pay raise in two years because of a physical disability. How should the HR director respond to the complaint?
Analyze salary increase history for all employees in that department.
A manufacturing organization is in the decline phase of its life cycle. The organization's largest customer has notified the CEO that it plans to withdraw its business over the next two years. The CEO and his staff must consider options to replace the lost revenue related to this customer account. The company's employees are nervous and uncertain about their future. Two options are quickly identified to replace the expected loss of revenue. Option 1 is to develop a new product that could be manufactured and delivered in one week while the competition delivers product in six weeks. To compete successfully with this approach, the company would also need to design an order entry system so customers could place orders online. This strategy requires engineering to design the product line. It also requires IT staff to design the software and customer portals, marketing and sales to develop sales literature and pricing models, manufacturing to prepare for production, and HR to develop the workforce plan. Option 2 would be to acquire a struggling competitor and quickly turn that company around. The CEO has asked the HR manager to assess possible HR issues for both of these options. Which would be the best strategic action for the HR manager to use to demonstrate HR's value in this new product venture?
Analyze the process throughput plan with the production manager, determine the staff levels needed, and conduct a job analysis for each position.
In the past year, a mid-sized company has decided to strengthen its global operations. As an initiative to achieve this goal, there has been an increase in hiring in offices across countries. Employees have also been transferred to work in offices in different countries. However, this has caused some difficulties for supervisors at the local headquarters who must manage personnel transferred from foreign countries. In particular, supervisors have found it difficult to conduct performance ratings. Specifically, they have mentioned the difficulty in interpreting how employees transferred from abroad interact with locally hired coworkers, because some behaviors that are considered polite in some cultures may be seen as inappropriate in others. The supervisors have also expressed concerns that they may be seen as intolerant if they happen to rate employees from other countries lower than employees who share the same background as the supervisor. Because of these issues, many supervisors have missed the deadline for submitting the past quarter's performance ratings, which was a week ago. This delay has slowed down other corporate operations. An HR manager at the headquarters has been appointed to help the supervisors manage personnel from various backgrounds. The HR manager wants to create guidelines that could be used by supervisors to rate expatriates (i.e., employees transferred from abroad) and local employees fairly. Which should the HR manager do first?
Apply research on cross-cultural best practices to formulate rating guidelines for supervisors.
An organization is opening a new factory in the United States. Due to availability issues, the factory will be temporarily unable to comply with an OSHA standard regarding required safety equipment. What should the organization do?
Apply to OSHA for a temporary variance from the standard due to the unavailability of required equipment.
An employee at a large health-care company takes an extended leave of absence from work due to a personal matter. The company's policy states that the employee must re-apply for the position within a specified time period to be re-hired without having to go through the full external hiring process. The employee fails to meet the deadline for re-applying, and the position is filled with an external candidate. After finding out that the position was filled, the employee reports to the office. The employee begins yelling at the supervisor, demanding to have the employee's job back. The HR manager overhears the conversation and must respond to the situation. Following this incident, the HR manager wants to increase employees' awareness of the company's code of conduct to discourage similar outbursts from employees in the future. What action should the HR manager take to most effectively do this?
Ask all employees to review and sign the company's code of conduct to confirm their understanding of it.
The HR team has recently revised the company code of conduct in order to connect the code with the organization's values more clearly. Before posting the finished code of conduct to the organization's intranet, what final step should the HR team perform?
Ask leaders to adopt the code formally and communicate its rationale to employees.
A nonprofit institution partners with 20 countries and several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide medical and educational services to refugees. For the past year, the institution has failed to deliver adequate services for its three largest service locations, and now some partners are threatening to cancel their contracts. One of the primary challenges is that there is a critical shortage of service location managers, who are typically recruited from the local population. The institution's HR team is centralized in the home-country headquarters and has no direct contact with the service location managers. The service location managers report to the VP of operations, who rarely travels and often seems more interested in pursuing career advancement opportunities than in addressing the institution's operational challenges. The VP of operations requests HR's support to implement several small projects in the home country that will enhance the VP's resume. What should the HR manager do?
Ask the VP of operations to describe how the small projects will benefit the institution.
An HR manager receives a memo from a department director for termination of a groundskeeping employee. The company's recreational vehicle resort is at the same location as company headquarters. The terminated employee works and lives at the resort, and has no prior record of performance issues in his 10 year career. The memo states that the director terminated the employee yesterday for gross misconduct. The groundskeeper was working in the heat all morning and then informed the director he was going home for lunch. 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.
An employee at a large health-care company takes an extended leave of absence from work due to a personal matter. The company's policy states that the employee must re-apply for the position within a specified time period to be re-hired without having to go through the full external hiring process. The employee fails to meet the deadline for re-applying, and the position is filled with an external candidate. After finding out that the position was filled, the employee reports to the office. The employee begins yelling at the supervisor, demanding to have the employee's job back. The HR manager overhears the conversation and must respond to the situation. What action should the HR manager take first to respond to the situation?
Ask the employee to accompany the HR manager to the HR manager's office to discuss the matter.
Over the past 12 months, a global hotel franchise has been experiencing steady, significant growth, and needs to hire more employees at all levels. The leadership team asks the HR department to transition into a strategic business partner role to ensure that the franchise can meet current and future demands. However, some senior managers in the franchise believe that HR should focus only on administration of traditional HR activities such as recruiting, payroll, benefits, and these managers refuse to include HR in business conversations. As a result, many HR staff have adopted a strict policy enforcement role that has only made it more difficult for the HR department to make the transition. An HR manager is tasked with identifying ways to expand the role of the HR function in the organization and aligning it with business strategy. The HR manager is also charged with presenting an HR transformation plan to the executive leadership team. Which approach should the HR manager use to evaluate the success of the HR transformation plan?
Assess the extent of change in key HR performance metrics over time.
A long-time employee of a small, rural branch of a national bank dies unexpectedly. This employee held a position requiring extensive institutional knowledge. Fellow employees are deeply saddened by the loss of their colleague, but bank policy allows bereavement leave for only members of the immediate family. The branch was already understaffed in several mid-level positions due to a limited pool of qualified applicants. The loss leads to increased workloads for the other employees, who are struggling to complete tasks on time. The branch manager wants to initiate succession planning for the recently vacated position in the future. How should the HR manager proceed?
Assess the knowledge, skills, and abilities that need to be learned on the job.
What is the first step in an HRIS implementation?
Assessing organizational needs
Which stage of the global assignment process should criteria for the ideal expatriate candidate be defined?
Assessment and selection
For some supervisory and managerial openings, recruiters use work samples of job situations that include individual and group activities, in-basket exercises, and work-related performance tests to evaluate a candidate's abilities. The results are reviewed by a panel of trained assessors. What is this assessment method called?
Assessment center
Situation judgment tests (SJTs)
Assessment tools that present prospective leaders with sample situations and problems they might encounter in a work environment.
Assessment centers
Assessment tools that provide candidates a wide range of leadership situations and problem-solving exercises.
A call center needs to hire more than 1,000 employees over the next three months to meet its hiring needs for a new health-care contract. The terms of the contract require that all employees have clear background screenings and at least half be multilingual. Currently, 25 managers and 10 employees meet all the requirements. Senior management has offered to actively participate in the hiring process and has made many suggestions, including group interviews, mass training, and virtual hiring and training. The CEO has asked HR to take the lead in putting together a comprehensive project plan within the next week to be presented to the management team. Which strategy should HR use to decrease turnover of the multilingual new-hire population?
Assign the 35 qualified current employees to serve as peer mentors for the new hires.
A manufacturing organization is in the decline phase of its life cycle. The organization's largest customer has notified the CEO that it plans to withdraw its business over the next two years. The CEO and his staff must consider options to replace the lost revenue related to this customer account. The company's employees are nervous and uncertain about their future. Two options are quickly identified to replace the expected loss of revenue. Option 1 is to develop a new product that could be manufactured and delivered in one week while the competition delivers product in six weeks. To compete successfully with this approach, the company would also need to design an order entry system so customers could place orders online. This strategy requires engineering to design the product line. It also requires IT staff to design the software and customer portals, marketing and sales to develop sales literature and pricing models, manufacturing to prepare for production, and HR to develop the workforce plan. Option 2 would be to acquire a struggling competitor and quickly turn that company around. The CEO has asked the HR manager to assess possible HR issues for both of these options. The CEO decides on option 1 to develop a new product. In this scenario, the engineering department would be understaffed. Which action should the HR manager recommend as a first step to assist the engineering manager?
Assist the engineering manager by researching engineering outsourcing firms and other short-term sourcing opportunities.
Which critical role must HR assume in light of globalization?
Balance an organization's global strategy with policy localization to reflect national cultures and laws
Culture
Basic beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, and customs shared and followed by members of a group, which give rise to the group's sense of identity.
An HR manager is contacted via telephone by an employee concerned about the need for the replacement of protective equipment currently being used. The employee indicates that the equipment is damaged upon reporting to the supervisor, the concerns have not been addressed. Compliance with industry safety standards is reported publicly on an ongoing basis. During the conversation, the spouse of the employee can be heard speaking loudly in the background expressing dissatisfaction and posts comments on social media. The HR manager and the public relations department have been notified of the postings. The HR manager contacts the employee to request the posts be removed which further incites the spouse and additional comments are posted. The spouse requests to meet with the leadership of the firm to discuss. What practices could the HR manager implement to protect the reputation of the organization?
Begin the investigation of the safety concern, monitor future postings, and make no further requests to remove the comments.
As part of screening interviews, recruiters use an interview style that focuses on how applicants handled real life situations in the past as a way to qualify them for their openings. What type of interview technique is being used?
Behavioral
Performance standards
Behaviors and results as defined by an organization to communicate the expectations of management.
Which best describes the impact of having senior leaders directly involved in a diversity council?
Being a catalyst for change that aligns functions and responsibilities and creates greater commitment, efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity
Which factor/s most contribute to basing laws on religion?
Beliefs and conventions
Organizational values
Beliefs and principles defined by an organization to direct and govern its employees' behavior.
Which tasks should an HR department outsource in order to focus on strategic activities?
Benefits and payroll administration
Which task should HR consider for outsourcing?
Benefits management and administration
An organization is concerned that its current approach to onboarding is not supporting their diversity and inclusion goals. What type of audit could help the organization set specific targets for improvement?
Best practices
A fitness organization requires its employees to wear technology that tracks wellness bio-data. What challenges to this technology are likely to emerge?
Biohacking and DNA privacy
The recent departure of two leaders has delayed implementation of the organization's strategic plan. HR wants to assure that this never happens again and has requested all functional leaders to identify potential successors for their position. The responses identify individuals who are positioned directly below or closest to the job grade within the same function. HR schedules a meeting to discuss the submissions. What should be the key agenda topic of this meeting?
Broadening the identification of potential successors
The CEO of a sales company hires an HR consultant to assess the company's organizational structure, operating model, and culture due to declining sales, increasing expenses, and workforce environment challenges. The CEO asks the consultant to share the results with key stakeholders to gain support for the recommended changes. Because the company has little market competition, the CEO thinks the company's poor results stem from company-based issues and its inability to leverage its robust IT infrastructure. The HR consultant analyzes the company's financial statements and business processes and confidentially interviews every employee in the company to determine why the company is struggling. The consultant also works as an employee in every department in order to get a realistic understanding of how the company operates. The consultant's analysis reveals that the company has no mission statement, no company-wide or departmental goals, and no individual goals to hold employees accountable. Additionally, no formal recruitment, onboarding, or training procedures exist. The consultant thinks the poor results are caused by poorly trained sales representatives. Customer loyalty is strong; however, it is because of the low-cost products not easily found elsewhere. Which action should the HR business consultant take to gain the support of the key stakeholders in order to implement recommended changes?
Build strong relationships with key stakeholders and transparently share the benefits and risks of the changes.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Business management software, usually a suite of integrated applications, that a company can use to collect, store, manage, and interpret data from many business activities.
During the employee selection process, how can HR identify an employee who is more likely to become engaged in the organization?
By assessing how well the candidate will fit with the organization's culture
How does a broadbanding approach support an egalitarian organization?
By encouraging de-layering efforts
Sales has made an unrealistic commitment to a customer. In order to meet the commitment, the CEO suggests that all salaried employees work ten-hour days, six days a week, for a minimum of one year. How should HR respond?
By finding another alternative that will not take advantage of employees but will meet sales and customer needs.
A supplier offers to provide an employee with tickets to a professional athletic event. How should the code of ethics support the employee?
By guiding decision making and behavior
How can HR add the most value in the strategic planning process?
By identifying the HR implications of the company's strategy
How do the International Labour Organization's legally binding conventions impact the practice of HR?
By influencing standards that create employment legislation in member states
How should an HR professional make a strong business case for incorporating a diversity and inclusion strategy in an organization?
By linking it directly to the organization's mission, vision, and business objectives
How do the three spheres of sustainability support an effective corporate social responsibility (CSR) program?
By offering an all-encompassing view of how an organization should function
How do robust orientation and onboarding activities contribute to a new hire's engagement?
By providing employees with tools and strategies to be successful
Leadership has requested HR to design a program to allow employees to telecommute. How will this advance the organization's sustainability?
By reducing organization's carbon footprint
An organization is sending salespeople into a new territory where bribery is common. How can HR support the code of ethics in this environment?
By reviewing current ethical guidelines and creating specific guidelines on bribery if necessary
A company with a specialty product that has gained rapid popularity with hospitals has grown quickly from 15 employees to 300 in a one-year period. The organization expects to grow by several hundred employees per year for the foreseeable future. The president's secretary has been handling all human resources matters, and the accounting department has been handling payroll. The supervisors have been making their own human resources decisions regarding recruitment, employee relations, discipline, and rewards, with varying levels of success. The president pays little attention to the day-to-day operations of the business and focuses his attention on marketing and publicity. He decides that it is now necessary to hire an HR director to lead and manage the HR function. The supervisors are resistant to having a formal HR function in the company, believing that it will create unnecessary work and affect their ability to effectively manage the organization. During the interview process, the president indicates that there are a number of areas in need of focused attention, as the organization does not have job descriptions or a formal compensation structure and benefits are the same as when the company started. On the HR director's first day, there is no formal onboarding process. The president suggests that a good starting point for the HR director is to create a plan and catch up on the recruiting requests for the company. He then walks the HR director to her new office, offers to help with any questions, and walks away The HR director wants to determine if the current recruitment efforts are effective. Which action should she take first to best make this determination?
Calculating the cost per hire and average time to fill
The CEO of a sales company hires an HR consultant to assess the company's organizational structure, operating model, and culture due to declining sales, increasing expenses, and workforce environment challenges. The CEO asks the consultant to share the results with key stakeholders to gain support for the recommended changes. Because the company has little market competition, the CEO thinks the company's poor results stem from company-based issues and its inability to leverage its robust IT infrastructure. The HR consultant analyzes the company's financial statements and business processes and confidentially interviews every employee in the company to determine why the company is struggling. The consultant also works as an employee in every department in order to get a realistic understanding of how the company operates. The consultant's analysis reveals that the company has no mission statement, no company-wide or departmental goals, and no individual goals to hold employees accountable. Additionally, no formal recruitment, onboarding, or training procedures exist. The consultant thinks the poor results are caused by poorly trained sales representatives. Customer loyalty is strong; however, it is because of the low-cost products not easily found elsewhere. What is the critical first step the HR business consultant should do to determine the return on investment (ROI) of a new sales training program?
Call several vendors to gather more information regarding training outcomes, price, and schedule.
An HR manager receives a memo from a department director for termination of a groundskeeping employee. The company's recreational vehicle resort is at the same location as company headquarters. The terminated employee works and lives at the resort, and has no prior record of performance issues in his 10 year career. The memo states that the director terminated the employee yesterday for gross misconduct. The groundskeeper was working in the heat all morning and then informed the director he was going home for lunch. 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. Which approach should the HR manager pursue next?
Call the director and ask for details about what happened.
Which is the best action an HR business partner should take when receiving an e-mail from the director of finance, that they have never communicated with before, asking for an employee's tax documents for an urgent mortgage verification request?
Call the director of finance's office and offer assistance.
Cultural intelligence
Capacity to recognize, interpret, and behaviorally adapt to multicultural situations and contexts.
Dual career ladders
Career development programs that identify meaningful career paths for professional and technical people outside traditional management roles.
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?
Challenging assignments
An organization is projecting future employee flow based on past transition rates. Which potential outcome is most likely from this approach?
Change can diminish the accuracy of the flow projection.
Which best illustrates the principle of sustainability in the workplace?
Changes to a headquarters location are weighed against the effects on stakeholders.
Glocalization
Characteristic of an organization with a strong global image but an equally strong local identity.
A workplace survey reflects dissatisfaction with an organization's current mediation process since too many problems seem to be unresolved. Which approach will create more accountability and closure to the complaint process?
Chosen officer
An HR manager is training managers on team leadership. Which one of these tips will reduce unnecessary conflict within the managers' teams?
Clarify goals, expectations, and ground rules for team behavior.
A manufacturing organization is in the decline phase of its life cycle. The organization's largest customer has notified the CEO that it plans to withdraw its business over the next two years. The CEO and his staff must consider options to replace the lost revenue related to this customer account. The company's employees are nervous and uncertain about their future. Two options are quickly identified to replace the expected loss of revenue. Option 1 is to develop a new product that could be manufactured and delivered in one week while the competition delivers product in six weeks. To compete successfully with this approach, the company would also need to design an order entry system so customers could place orders online. This strategy requires engineering to design the product line. It also requires IT staff to design the software and customer portals, marketing and sales to develop sales literature and pricing models, manufacturing to prepare for production, and HR to develop the workforce plan. Option 2 would be to acquire a struggling competitor and quickly turn that company around. The CEO has asked the HR manager to assess possible HR issues for both of these options. During this time of change and uncertainty for the organization, what should the HR manager do to encourage retention of key employees?
Clearly communicate job expectations and ensure that employees have adequate resources to perform their work.
An HR manager is contacted via telephone by an employee concerned about the need for the replacement of protective equipment currently being used. The employee indicates that the equipment is damaged upon reporting to the supervisor, the concerns have not been addressed. Compliance with industry safety standards is reported publicly on an ongoing basis. During the conversation, the spouse of the employee can be heard speaking loudly in the background expressing dissatisfaction and posts comments on social media. The HR manager and the public relations department have been notified of the postings. The HR manager contacts the employee to request the posts be removed which further incites the spouse and additional comments are posted. The spouse requests to meet with the leadership of the firm to discuss. What approach can the HR manager take to address the request for a meeting with the leadership team?
Clearly explain to the employee why a meeting with the spouse will not be necessary to resolve the concern submitted.
What document is a formal statement describing a company's principles and the business practices?
Code of conduct
Broadbanding
Combining several salary grades or job classifications with narrow pay ranges into one band with a wider salary spread.
Non-compete agreement (NCA)
Common form of post-employment agreement that prevents employee from leaving to work for one of employer's competitors.
Which action can be taken by HR to help prevent industrial actions?
Communicating the perspective of employees to management
Active listening
Communication technique to increase the engagement between communicators and their audiences. It involves two-way communication and attention to nonverbal signs that indicate interest and reactions to the message and speaker.
When conducting a benefits needs assessment, what is the next step HR should take after analyzing the design and utilization data for all benefit plans?
Compare organizational needs, employee needs, and current benefit offerings.
Perquisites
Compensation provided on an individual basis in the form of goods or services.
Which type of information might be discovered during the external portion of an environmental scan?
Competitive threats
Which best describes the situation most likely to use a narrow span of control?
Complexity of tasks
Nonverbals
Components of a message apart from its words. This could include physical gestures and posture and vocal tones, volume, and speed.
The term "cultural relativism" is best demonstrated by which of the following?
Concept that holds that there are no absolutes and everything is based on the situation
Comparable worth
Concept that jobs filled primarily by women that require skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions comparable to similar jobs filled primarily by men should have the same classifications and salaries.
Due process
Concept that laws are enforced only through accepted, codified procedures.
Stakeholder concept
Concept that proposes that any organization operates within a complex environment in which it affects and is affected by a variety of forces or stakeholders who all share in the value of the organization and its activities.
Rule of law
Concept that stipulates that no individual is beyond the reach of the law and that authority is exercised only in accordance with written and publicly disclosed laws.
Mission statement
Concise outline of an organization's strategy, specifying the activities the organization intends to pursue and the course its management has charted for the future.
The director of the HR department is taking personal leave for three weeks and assigns an HR employee to work with a consulting firm to conduct a strategic planning process for the company. The consulting firm conducts interviews with 10% of the employees, but none of the interviews is with line staff. The HR employee feels that the consulting firm's approach did not fully capture the information required to support the strategic planning process, so the HR employee decides to conduct a separate data collection. The HR employee develops a company-wide survey, gains buy-in from key leaders, and presents the survey to the executive team. Once approved by the executive team, the employee administers the survey and achieves a 77% response rate. The company's CEO shares the survey results with the consulting firm so it can implement the next phase of the strategic planning process. Line workers were excluded from the initial interviews, which negatively affected employee morale. Which is the best approach for the HR employee to mend this relationship?
Conduct HR-led focus groups to ask about line workers' concerns and establish next steps. Next Question
In his initial meeting with the HR team, a newly hired HR director hears several concerns relating to the organization's talent acquisition process including inconsistent questions, different decision-making criteria, and a lack of diversity across departments. The HR director believes these concerns, as he experienced several questionable actions during his own hiring. The HR team is not confident that the organization is hiring the best people, but each department believes its hiring approach is effective and show no interest in trying a new approach. Which action should the HR director take to encourage department heads to use a new hiring process?
Conduct a benchmarking study to compare the organization's hiring outcomes (diversity, etc.) to those of similar organizations.
A nonprofit social services organization has experienced rapid employee growth and is expanding services into new markets. Performance and service quality assessments, however, are showing quality regression as the organization expands. The CEO and the executive committee are worried about the decline in performance and service quality levels, and suspect the quality of their new hires and/or lack of incentive among employees are to blame. Leadership decided to hire an experienced HR manager to oversee the current HR team of two, in hopes to reverse the downward trend of performance and quality. The HR manager conducts an internal analysis to diagnose the root causes of the service quality decline. The analysis uncovers several critical problem areas to be addressed, including vague job descriptions, a lack of formal orientation, low base pay, an ineffective performance review program, and the lack of a recognition and awards program. The changes will require additional resources and significant financial investment. A member of the executive committee proposes to terminate all current employees and start over with ones who are better qualified, believing that starting from scratch would be cheaper than fixing the identified problems. Which action should the HR manager take in order to ensure that employees understand what is expected of them and how the new performance management system will work?
Conduct a communication campaign that includes ongoing communications for all employees and training for supervisors to reinforce with their direct reports
To attract talented university students, a public accounting firm offers an internship program to students who have completed 75% of their coursework. If a student is successful during the internship, the firm offers the student a position after graduation and provides opportunities for the student to study for the industry licensure exam. The firm pays for the exam and provides additional compensation once the student successfully completes the exam. For the past several years, the firm has seen an increasing rate of turnover among newly licensed employees. While it is common in the industry for employees to leave public accounting after they are licensed, the firm is losing many of its licensed employees to competitors. The high rate of turnover is negatively affecting the firm's performance. The HR manager has been charged with reducing the number of employees leaving for competitive firms as quickly and efficiently as possible. The accounting firm's leadership team requests information on the reasons employees stay. What should the HR manager do to respond to the leadership team's request?
Conduct a focus group with a random sample of employees to find out the reasons they stay with the organization.
A company's rapid growth is resulting in demand to hire new team members. Recognizing the need to ensure that the right talent is brought into the company, a newly hired HR director implements a more structured hiring process to assess applicants' skills, compensation needs, and culture fit. However, many managers do not support the new hiring process, claiming it slows down the hiring cycle. In addition, the managers believe that the initial salary and bonus recommendations resulting from HR's recently updated compensation structures are not reflective of market demand. The managers claim this situation is causing candidates to decline their offers of employment. How should the HR director address the managers' resistance to using a more structured hiring process?
Conduct a management training session to explain the business needs driving the process changes.
A company with a history of tolerating low-performing employees has recently gained new leadership. The new executive team has brought in an HR director with a mandate to resolve multiple issues. The new HR director is well aware of the history of the company. In addition to the low-performance issue, the HR director has uncovered a poor record of compliance with the ADA, the FMLA, and workers' compensation. This lack of compliance has allowed several employees to take advantage of the system to their own benefit. The HR director has been tasked with correcting these issues with a new performance management system. Additionally, the HR director will need to improve the HR department's understanding and compliance with legal requirements so that the company is less likely to be taken advantage of in the future. Which is the best strategy for the HR director to take when developing new protocols concerning the ADA, the FMLA, and workers' compensation?
Conduct a meeting with the company's legal counsel to ensure that new protocols are fully compliant with the law.
A manufacturing organization is in the decline phase of its life cycle. The organization's largest customer has notified the CEO that it plans to withdraw its business over the next two years. The CEO and his staff must consider options to replace the lost revenue related to this customer account. The company's employees are nervous and uncertain about their future. Two options are quickly identified to replace the expected loss of revenue. Option 1 is to develop a new product that could be manufactured and delivered in one week while the competition delivers product in six weeks. To compete successfully with this approach, the company would also need to design an order entry system so customers could place orders online. This strategy requires engineering to design the product line. It also requires IT staff to design the software and customer portals, marketing and sales to develop sales literature and pricing models, manufacturing to prepare for production, and HR to develop the workforce plan. Option 2 would be to acquire a struggling competitor and quickly turn that company around. The CEO has asked the HR manager to assess possible HR issues for both of these options. Six months after deciding to pursue option 1, the CEO also decides to acquire another company. Which is the best first step for the HR manager to take as part of HR's due diligence?
Conduct an HR audit of the new company's HR department for current and potential employment-related issues.
A company with a history of tolerating low-performing employees has recently gained new leadership. The new executive team has brought in an HR director with a mandate to resolve multiple issues. The new HR director is well aware of the history of the company. In addition to the low-performance issue, the HR director has uncovered a poor record of compliance with the ADA, the FMLA, and workers' compensation. This lack of compliance has allowed several employees to take advantage of the system to their own benefit. The HR director has been tasked with correcting these issues with a new performance management system. Additionally, the HR director will need to improve the HR department's understanding and compliance with legal requirements so that the company is less likely to be taken advantage of in the future. Because the HR director is new to the company, which is the best way to connect with and collect information from company managers?
Conduct individual meetings with company managers to develop relationships.
The HR business partner (HRBP) of a large retail chain has compiled an annual report on turnover and shared it with the director of sales (DOS) and the district manager (DM) for one of the chain's retail districts. The DOS and the DM are pleased with the results, since the overall retention rate meets the requirement for them to be eligible for a bonus. However, the HRBP looks more deeply into the data and determines that several stores are extreme outliers and have high turnover rates. The HRBP informs the DOS and the DM. They tell the HRBP to not worry about it, as the overall number is fine. They have enough to deal with; it is not necessary to go looking for problems. The HRBP believes that the results that have been uncovered are a cause for concern in these stores. Which is the best approach for the HRBP to use to determine the root cause of the high rate of turnover?
Conduct stay interviews with employees to determine what challenges they are experiencing.
The HR manager at a hospital is tasked with reviewing hospital job requisition records. Upon doing so, they observe a trend where job applicants who are from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds are not progressing past interviews during the selection process. After observing this trend, the HR manager interviews current hospital employees to seek out why this trend is occurring. The HR manager learns that these applicants typically have language barriers. Additionally, these job applicants have often immigrated to the country after pursuing and completing higher education in their home country. As a result, their medical practice licenses are not always equivalent to the country's requirements. What guidance should the HR manager provide interviewers for candidates who meet the credentialing requirements but struggle with language barriers?
Conduct training with interviewers that focuses on identifying potential biases during the interview process.
A manufacturer assembles commercial equipment in its host country, using components purchased from small manufacturers in other countries. Pursuing a new corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, the manufacturer has reviewed its own processes for potential environmental improvements related to energy and waste. HR has been directed to survey employees' workplace impressions, implement engagement practices, and initiate volunteer programs with local community groups. What else is HR in a good position to do to advance the CSR program?
Conduct workplace compliance audits for supply chain partners.
In the past year, a mid-sized company has decided to strengthen its global operations. As an initiative to achieve this goal, there has been an increase in hiring in offices across countries. Employees have also been transferred to work in offices in different countries. However, this has caused some difficulties for supervisors at the local headquarters who must manage personnel transferred from foreign countries. In particular, supervisors have found it difficult to conduct performance ratings. Specifically, they have mentioned the difficulty in interpreting how employees transferred from abroad interact with locally hired coworkers, because some behaviors that are considered polite in some cultures may be seen as inappropriate in others. The supervisors have also expressed concerns that they may be seen as intolerant if they happen to rate employees from other countries lower than employees who share the same background as the supervisor. Because of these issues, many supervisors have missed the deadline for submitting the past quarter's performance ratings, which was a week ago. This delay has slowed down other corporate operations. An HR manager at the headquarters has been appointed to help the supervisors manage personnel from various backgrounds. What should the HR manager do first to facilitate better integration of expatriates (i.e., employees transferred from abroad) and local employees?
Conduct workshops within work groups where expatriate and local employees can discuss differences in customs.
New leadership is in place at a large retailer, resulting in a business unit undergoing a detailed review of its support of the organizational strategy. It has been identified that the benefit offerings are not reflective of the organization's total rewards philosophy and that many benefits overlap, creating inefficiencies. Which action should be taken first by HR take to remedy the situation?
Conducting a utilization review of all benefits
Which responsibilities are usually charged to a safety committee?
Conducting area safety inspections and evaluating hazards
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?
Conducting realistic job previews
The annual loss ratio for a company's health plan is 158%. The CHRO has been asked by the CEO to propose changes to the plan that will lower costs while retaining as many of the current benefits as possible. A review reveals that the dental and prescription drug coverage account for 84% of the plan's claims and that 3 of their 91 employees account for 73% of the claims. After reviewing a series of benefit options, the CHRO decides that the best option is a plan that doubles the deductibles on the dental and prescription benefits while also lowering the maximum reimbursement coverage by 25%. The CHRO makes a presentation outlining this suggestion to the company's executive committee. After a brief discussion of the rationale and the merits, the COO mentions that the company should announce the plan's changes to employees immediately. The CHRO responds that doing so would defeat the purpose of the changes. Without further discussion, the executive committee proceeds to vote and accept the changes to become effective upon plan renewal the following month. Two months after the introduction of the new plan, it is discovered that two employees made bulk prescription purchases (a six-month supply) one week prior to the changes in the benefit plan going into effect. The CHRO suspects a leak of the confidential information. Which is the first step the CHRO should take to handle the suspected leak of confidential information?
Confidentially interview the employees who used the benefits just prior to the changes to assess their rationale
An office manager is tasked with contracting with a third party to clean the office building at night. The manager hires his family-owned cleaning business without undergoing a request-for-proposal process. What risk factor does this illustrate?
Conflict of interest
Which features best characterize a global integration strategy?
Consistent approach and standardization of processes
Which policy ideally gives employees an opportunity to understand expectations and change their behaviors?
Constructive discipline
How has technology affected the HR function?
Consumer-like applications will allow manager self-service.
Encryption
Conversion of data into a format that protects or hides its natural presentation or intended meaning.
An HR manager is contacted via telephone by an employee concerned about the need for the replacement of protective equipment currently being used. The employee indicates that the equipment is damaged upon reporting to the supervisor, the concerns have not been addressed. Compliance with industry safety standards is reported publicly on an ongoing basis. During the conversation, the spouse of the employee can be heard speaking loudly in the background expressing dissatisfaction and posts comments on social media. The HR manager and the public relations department have been notified of the postings. The HR manager contacts the employee to request the posts be removed which further incites the spouse and additional comments are posted. The spouse requests to meet with the leadership of the firm to discuss. What action can the HR manager take to demonstrate that the employee's concerns are being taken seriously?
Coordinate an inspection of the equipment and inform the employee that any immediate safety issues will be addressed.
A department manager contacts HR to discuss a situation involving a schedule change that was initiated for an employee three months ago. The employee has a medical condition and possibly needs surgery, and he requested the a change to his schedule until a decision can be made by his health-care provider. HR was not involved in the initial request. Other staff members are now becoming upset as this accommodation is causing an issue in the department. With no end date set, the manager is not certain of the status of the medical condition. The manager does not believe that the employee has a plan and therefore wants to reassign or terminate the employee. HR has been contacted for guidance on how to handle this situation. How can HR best manage future requests for modified schedules due to medical needs?
Coordinate an interactive meeting with HR, the manager, and the employee to review the request.
Which factors provide the best basis for determining future global staffing requirements?
Corporate and HR strategic plans
An international discount supermarket chain's competitive strategy is to provide the lowest-price products by minimizing operational overhead. Which generic competitive strategy is it using?
Cost leadership
A manager uses his skill with people to smooth over problems and to make his employees feel secure in their positions. According to the Blake-Mouton theory, what leadership style is the manager using?
Country club management
To attract talented university students, a public accounting firm offers an internship program to students who have completed 75% of their coursework. If a student is successful during the internship, the firm offers the student a position after graduation and provides opportunities for the student to study for the industry licensure exam. The firm pays for the exam and provides additional compensation once the student successfully completes the exam. For the past several years, the firm has seen an increasing rate of turnover among newly licensed employees. While it is common in the industry for employees to leave public accounting after they are licensed, the firm is losing many of its licensed employees to competitors. The high rate of turnover is negatively affecting the firm's performance. The HR manager has been charged with reducing the number of employees leaving for competitive firms as quickly and efficiently as possible. What should the HR manager do to get buy-in from the accounting firm's leadership team to implement employee retention initiatives?
Create a business case that supports how the retention initiatives will reduce turnover.
A company has an outdated applicant tracking system, which upper management has been reluctant to replace. The HR department has had great difficulty managing the large number of applicants with this system. Many hiring-related tasks that the system is incapable of handling have been carried out manually. This has led to administrative errors, delay in application processing, and miscommunication for internal applicants. One day, the HR manager receives a call from an internal applicant who had applied for a position a month ago. This applicant immediately received an email from the HR department about scheduling next steps in the selection process but has not heard back since. During the phone call, the HR manager looks into the tracking system to find that this applicant had been screened out due to not being a good fit with the position, and the initial email had been sent due to an administrative error. The HR manager communicates this to the applicant. The HR manager wants to ensure that employees understand the application process and timeline. Which should the HR manager do?
Create a standardized response email for inquiries that outlines the application timeline from when internal applications are submitted.
In his initial meeting with the HR team, a newly hired HR director hears several concerns relating to the organization's talent acquisition process including inconsistent questions, different decision-making criteria, and a lack of diversity across departments. The HR director believes these concerns, as he experienced several questionable actions during his own hiring. The HR team is not confident that the organization is hiring the best people, but each department believes its hiring approach is effective and show no interest in trying a new approach. Which is the best immediate course of action the HR director could take to address organizations talent acquisition issues?
Create a structured interview process that standardizes the questions asked and the criteria for grading.
What is the best way to deliver negative feedback to a subordinate?
Create a work environment fostering open and honest communication in which employees feel valued even when negative feedback is necessary.
The CEO of a sales company hires an HR consultant to assess the company's organizational structure, operating model, and culture due to declining sales, increasing expenses, and workforce environment challenges. The CEO asks the consultant to share the results with key stakeholders to gain support for the recommended changes. Because the company has little market competition, the CEO thinks the company's poor results stem from company-based issues and its inability to leverage its robust IT infrastructure. The HR consultant analyzes the company's financial statements and business processes and confidentially interviews every employee in the company to determine why the company is struggling. The consultant also works as an employee in every department in order to get a realistic understanding of how the company operates. The consultant's analysis reveals that the company has no mission statement, no company-wide or departmental goals, and no individual goals to hold employees accountable. Additionally, no formal recruitment, onboarding, or training procedures exist. The consultant thinks the poor results are caused by poorly trained sales representatives. Customer loyalty is strong; however, it is because of the low-cost products not easily found elsewhere. What course of action should the HR business consultant recommend that the CEO take when creating new goals for the company's employees?
Create detailed annual goals that are relevant to the company's mission and that can be aligned with the company's performance management system.
An HR business partner for a mid-sized company has been asked to investigate root causes of high employee turnover. The CEO thinks that the turnover is the result of HR failing to set clear expectations for managers and has stated that there is a disparity in how managers lead their employees versus what employees think their managers should be doing. The CEO believes that this inconsistency in expectations is the reason for attrition. HR currently conducts annual employee engagement and morale surveys and presents the results to management. However, most of the management team has been with the company for many years and are resistant to change. Past efforts to guide the management team have been unsuccessful due to limited participation. For example, leadership skills training has been held in the past, but most of the management team have declined to attend. The CEO has requested that the HR manager provide a detailed plan to address the turnover by next quarter. Which action should the HR manager take to ensure the success of an initiative to improve employee engagement and retention?
Create employee-led committees to develop ideas and provide support for the initiative.
An organization with multiple locations across the United States and parts of western Europe wants to increase the diversity of its sales force to better reflect its customer base, which is diverse in terms of its racial, gender, and ethnic demographics. Their goal of promoting diversity has been moderately successful. However, senior leaders and the board of directors are becoming increasingly concerned about whether they are in the best position to compete for top talent. The organization also wants to better understand employee satisfaction from a diversity perspective and is analyzing its employee engagement survey results. The VP of HR considers engaging an external diversity consultant to assist in devising a new diversity strategy that will be different from the organization's traditional approach to diversity. The primary goal is to integrate this diversity and inclusion strategy with the human resources component of the organization's strategic plan in order to become an employer of choice. The secondary goal is to clearly articulate the role of the employees and managers and how they assist in implementing the strategy. Which action should the VP of HR take to develop performance metrics to measure the effectiveness of the diversity and inclusion strategy?
Create performance metrics based on internal company data and external benchmarks.
What challenge to effective cross-cultural communication is faced by an organization that believes that its way is the best way and that lacks interest in other ways of reaching a goal?
Cultural ethnocentrism
What guidance from HR is useful to an organization that has decided to pursue a greenfield operation?
Demographic characteristics of the new location
Why is it important for an HR director to establish internal partnerships with the managers of each business unit?
Demonstrate how HR can provide business unit value
A nonprofit social services organization has experienced rapid employee growth and is expanding services into new markets. Performance and service quality assessments, however, are showing quality regression as the organization expands. The CEO and the executive committee are worried about the decline in performance and service quality levels, and suspect the quality of their new hires and/or lack of incentive among employees are to blame. Leadership decided to hire an experienced HR manager to oversee the current HR team of two, in hopes to reverse the downward trend of performance and quality. The HR manager conducts an internal analysis to diagnose the root causes of the service quality decline. The analysis uncovers several critical problem areas to be addressed, including vague job descriptions, a lack of formal orientation, low base pay, an ineffective performance review program, and the lack of a recognition and awards program. The changes will require additional resources and significant financial investment. A member of the executive committee proposes to terminate all current employees and start over with ones who are better qualified, believing that starting from scratch would be cheaper than fixing the identified problems. How should the HR manager respond to the executive who proposes to terminate current employees and start over by hiring new employees?
Demonstrate the projected costs related to building a new workforce vs. training the existing workforce
Which obstacles may a diverse team have to initially overcome, if not managed properly?
Demonstrating fragmented, nonproductive, and indecisive behavior.
An HR manager discovers a discrepancy between the organization's current compensation policy and the laws of the location the organization operates in. Which is the best first step the HR manager should take to address this?
Determine which regulation most benefits the employee.
An organization with multiple locations across the United States and parts of western Europe wants to increase the diversity of its sales force to better reflect its customer base, which is diverse in terms of its racial, gender, and ethnic demographics. Their goal of promoting diversity has been moderately successful. However, senior leaders and the board of directors are becoming increasingly concerned about whether they are in the best position to compete for top talent. The organization also wants to better understand employee satisfaction from a diversity perspective and is analyzing its employee engagement survey results. The VP of HR considers engaging an external diversity consultant to assist in devising a new diversity strategy that will be different from the organization's traditional approach to diversity. The primary goal is to integrate this diversity and inclusion strategy with the human resources component of the organization's strategic plan in order to become an employer of choice. The secondary goal is to clearly articulate the role of the employees and managers and how they assist in implementing the strategy. Which action should the VP of HR take to begin advancing the diversity and inclusion strategy for the organization?
Develop a comprehensive business case to elicit support from senior leadership and other key stakeholders.
A new HR manager joins a manufacturing organization that is experiencing an increase in workplace safety incidents. These incidents are resulting in higher insurance costs, increased absences, reduced productivity, and lower-quality products. A review of compliance functions and key performance indicators shows an excessive increase in the last 12 months. This timeline coincides with the retirement of the compliance manager and the transfer of the duties related to managing workplace safety to the HR department. The manager also compares the number of incidents in the organization with industry standards and determines that the organization's incident rates are 50% greater than the industry average. The HR manager recognizes that changes need to be made immediately in the HR department to improve safety and protect employees from future incidents and injuries. The CEO tasks the HR manager with finding solutions to increase safety knowledge and decrease incidents in the organization. Several department managers approach the HR manager and state their concerns over the amount of safety incidents. What should the HR manager do to address their concerns?
Develop a joint management-employee committee that discusses safety concerns.
A call center needs to hire more than 1,000 employees over the next three months to meet its hiring needs for a new health-care contract. The terms of the contract require that all employees have clear background screenings and at least half be multilingual. Currently, 25 managers and 10 employees meet all the requirements. Senior management has offered to actively participate in the hiring process and has made many suggestions, including group interviews, mass training, and virtual hiring and training. The CEO has asked HR to take the lead in putting together a comprehensive project plan within the next week to be presented to the management team. Which should be the first step HR includes in the project plan to meet hiring needs and contract requirements?
Develop a recruiting strategy to reach as many potential applicants as possible.
A nonprofit social services organization has experienced rapid employee growth and is expanding services into new markets. Performance and service quality assessments, however, are showing quality regression as the organization expands. The CEO and the executive committee are worried about the decline in performance and service quality levels, and suspect the quality of their new hires and/or lack of incentive among employees are to blame. Leadership decided to hire an experienced HR manager to oversee the current HR team of two, in hopes to reverse the downward trend of performance and quality. The HR manager conducts an internal analysis to diagnose the root causes of the service quality decline. The analysis uncovers several critical problem areas to be addressed, including vague job descriptions, a lack of formal orientation, low base pay, an ineffective performance review program, and the lack of a recognition and awards program. The changes will require additional resources and significant financial investment. A member of the executive committee proposes to terminate all current employees and start over with ones who are better qualified, believing that starting from scratch would be cheaper than fixing the identified problems. The HR manager has identified several problems that need to be solved, which should they do first?
Develop a talent management strategy to hire and train qualified staff, establish performance expectations, and reward high-performing employees
A company has experienced a high degree of turnover during the past year. Senior leadership is concerned about the amount of turnover and worried that HR is not moving fast enough to fill these positions. The hiring managers say that the applicant pools have been weak lately and they have had trouble finding qualified applicants to hire from within the pools HR provides. HR has relied heavily on recruiting by word of mouth, which in the past has generated applicants that fit the company's culture. The award for referrals that result in hiring has also been popular with employees. What would be the most effective step to avoid unwanted turnover in the future?
Develop and administer an employee satisfaction survey that solicits candid feedback about employee perceptions.
Talent management
Development and integration of HR processes that attract, develop, engage, and retain the knowledge, skills, and abilities of employees that will meet current and future organizational needs.
Which of the following initiatives best promotes diversity and inclusion in organizations?
Development of a diversity council
HR is asked to advise on ways to help a development team become fully functional as quickly as possible. The team is dispersed geographically and faces very short deadlines. What team-building solution would you prioritize?
Development of a roles and responsibilities chart
Which best describes the type of activities aimed at preparing for long-term, future job responsibilities as well as increasing skills for performing the current job?
Developmental
Diversity
Differences in people's characteristics (such as socioeconomic status, beliefs, personality, thought processes, work style, race, age, ethnicity, gender, religion, education, job function, etc.).
Which is a potential challenge in trying to build a strong global employment brand?
Different value that countries and cultures may place on different things
A mid-sized company has a strict attendance policy stating that any absence of three days or more without contact from the employee is considered job abandonment and the employee is subject to termination. The organization has experienced significant growth over the years, and the increase in the employee population has prompted stricter policies, which some staff view as unnecessarily controlling. One manager's best employee has been absent without contact for four days and calls in. The employee indicates he had some unexpected personal problems involving his teenage child. The employee did not call earlier due to being distraught, occupied with the situation, and also a bit embarrassed. According to the policy, the employee must be terminated, but the manager is reluctant to do so because this is the department's best employee. This is the first violation, and the serious family issues could escalate if the employee is terminated. Senior leadership has recently taken a tough stance on consistently adhering to company policies and practices due to complaints of favoritism. The manager is hesitant to go to HR for fear they will recommend termination. Instead the manager seeks counsel from a member of the senior leadership team who is a relative and who supports the decision to not terminate the employee. When the employee is not terminated, an anonymous complaint is filed via the employee hotline system. It alleges discrimination and favoritism; there is also a comment about too many new policies. The employee is named, and the complainant demands that other employees terminated under the no-call, no-show policy be reinstated. The protocol requires that HR review all discrimination complaints. Which next step should HR take to address the allegations that a member of senior leadership advised against following a company policy?
Discuss the claim directly with the President and provide an overview of the incident, with a recommendation for holding both the manager and the senior leader accountable.
The director of the HR department is taking personal leave for three weeks and assigns an HR employee to work with a consulting firm to conduct a strategic planning process for the company. The consulting firm conducts interviews with 10% of the employees, but none of the interviews is with line staff. The HR employee feels that the consulting firm's approach did not fully capture the information required to support the strategic planning process, so the HR employee decides to conduct a separate data collection. The HR employee develops a company-wide survey, gains buy-in from key leaders, and presents the survey to the executive team. Once approved by the executive team, the employee administers the survey and achieves a 77% response rate. The company's CEO shares the survey results with the consulting firm so it can implement the next phase of the strategic planning process. The representative for the consulting company that was hired to perform the work has found out about the survey initiated by the HR employee. The representative is unhappy about the consulting company's work being disregarded and demands an explanation from the HR employee. How should the HR employee handle this?
Discuss with the consulting firm employees which areas were missed to help them complete the strategic planning process.
How should an HR director advise a supervisor to engage a typically high-performing employee whose performance has declined the past two quarters?
Discuss with the employee his overall goals and objectives as they relate to the particular role the employee occupies.
A company sends a team of employees and one field supervisor to a customer's location for a week. Employees stay in hotel rooms, two employees per room, and receive a daily meal allowance that allows the purchase of one alcoholic beverage. At dinner one evening, the employees have a few alcoholic beverages, and then they return to the hotel, where one employee passes out in the parking lot. The other employees call an ambulance, and emergency personnel ask if the unconscious employee takes any medication. The employee who shares a room with the unconscious employee goes to the room and finds the employee's medication bottles. No one rides in the ambulance or follows it to the hospital. The field supervisor calls HR to report the incident. The HR manager asks if the employee's spouse has been called and which hospital the employee was admitted to. No one knows where the employee has been taken, nor has the employee been in contact with anyone. The field supervisor locates the employee, who is in serious condition. The employee remains unconscious; it is unknown if the employee will recover from the incident. Management wants to end the employment relationship with the employee. What can HR do to ensure that all employees understand the company's daily meal allowance policy?
Distribute the policy to employees and provide a venue to review it and answer questions.
Job description
Document that describes a job and its essential functions and requirements (including tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities, responsibilities, and reporting structure).
A company conducts a sexual harassment training program for first-line supervisors and managers due to the unacceptable level of complaints. Which action should HR take to best show the effectiveness of the training?
Document the number of complaints before and after training.
Which is a characteristic of alternative dispute resolution (ADR)?
Does not preclude litigation
Which program gives technical workers the ability to earn as much as they would in a management position?
Dual career ladder
Which best describes the benefit of using an employee resource group (ERG) for an organization looking to expand global market share?
ERGs provide valuable insights into the needs of the organization's diverse markets.
A hiring manager is concerned with the number of resumes received compared to the number of qualified candidates selected for interviews. What area should the hiring manager discuss with the recruiter?
Effectiveness of recruiting methods
A new HR leader would like to assess the level of employee engagement in the organization. His focus will be on behavioral engagement. Which of the following characteristics should the HR leader look for?
Effort employees put into their jobs
Which reward could create job dissatisfaction rather than job satisfaction?
Employee A can go to a training event, but only if Employee B succeeds in getting all of her people certified.
Exempt employees
Employees who are excluded from U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage and overtime pay requirements.
Assignees
Employees who work outside their home countries.
What positive outcome will result from coaching high-potential employees?
Employees will contribute more effectively to the organization.
Employee engagement
Employees' emotional commitment to an organization, demonstrated by their willingness to put in discretionary effort to promote the organization's effective functioning.
How should an organization's value proposition be effectively communicated using deliberate messages about the organization to describe working conditions, culture, and the emotional connection employees have with the organization?
Employment brand
How can HR utilize technology to support a culture of compliance?
Enabling secure and scalable databases to store employment documents
During a team meeting, one member is dominating the discussion while others are quietly listening. What should the manager leading the meeting do?
Encourage participation from less active team members by asking questions of those team members.
To reduce security concerns with increased internet use, which practice should HR enact?
Encrypting employee computers and network communications
A long-time employee of a small, rural branch of a national bank dies unexpectedly. This employee held a position requiring extensive institutional knowledge. Fellow employees are deeply saddened by the loss of their colleague, but bank policy allows bereavement leave for only members of the immediate family. The branch was already understaffed in several mid-level positions due to a limited pool of qualified applicants. The loss leads to increased workloads for the other employees, who are struggling to complete tasks on time. Which action should the HR manager take to address the emotional well-being of employees?
Engage a grief counselor to discuss coping mechanisms with employees as a group.
A company's rapid growth is resulting in demand to hire new team members. Recognizing the need to ensure that the right talent is brought into the company, a newly hired HR director implements a more structured hiring process to assess applicants' skills, compensation needs, and culture fit. However, many managers do not support the new hiring process, claiming it slows down the hiring cycle. In addition, the managers believe that the initial salary and bonus recommendations resulting from HR's recently updated compensation structures are not reflective of market demand. The managers claim this situation is causing candidates to decline their offers of employment. Which action should the HR director take to best ensure that the company's compensation structures are competitive?
Engage a third-party consulting firm to do a full analysis of job types and associated compensation structures.
In addition to improving knowledge and skills and building social capital, what are global employee development programs aimed at achieving?
Enhancing global understanding, awareness, and mindset
A new HR manager begins work for an organization whose business model is to be a low-cost provider. On the first day of work, the HR manager learns that the conditions are far different than those described in the interview, with a severe lack of employee training and an 80% turnover rate. Salary ranges are outdated and appear to be 35% below current market rates. The employee handbook is incomplete, outdated, and not in current use. The accounting department handles payroll and benefits; however, views communication with employees as the job of HR. While conducting introductory interviews with department directors who operate independently, the HR manager learns that the expectation of HR is to only prescreen applicants and take care of employee complaints. While everyone has been trained on a new HRIS, it is not being used. Senior management was accustomed to an HR department that completed transactional processes and was seen as representing employees when discussions of benefits or compensation were held. Which of the following should the new HR manager do to get buy-in for organizational change in the way it manages its employees?
Ensure alignment between the proposed HR strategies and the organizational business strategy.
Which approach should help the change process go more smoothly?
Ensuring that employees have input into change alternatives
Which best demonstrates due process in disciplining an employee for a dischargeable offense?
Ensuring that the employee is afforded an opportunity to present a defense
Which is the best first step when conducting a preemployment background check?
Ensuring that there is a signed release from the candidate
For an organization to be considered sustainable, what areas of practice are examined?
Environmental, economic, social
What is the role of HR when it comes to whistleblowing?
Establishing a communication process that allows direct access to upper-level decision makers and protecting whistleblowers from retaliation
Which activity is considered a strategic HR responsibility?
Establishing common goals of an organization's core business functions
Which describes the most critical role of a diversity council?
Establishing goals and programs for the diversity and inclusion initiative
Which of Perlmutter's orientations allows HR to standardize its practices globally without the need for adaptation?
Ethnocentric
To meet a safety goal, an organization provided training to employees. The number of injuries, however, has not decreased over the last three years. What should the HR training manager do?
Evaluate and adjust the training.
An HR business partner for a mid-sized company has been asked to investigate root causes of high employee turnover. The CEO thinks that the turnover is the result of HR failing to set clear expectations for managers and has stated that there is a disparity in how managers lead their employees versus what employees think their managers should be doing. The CEO believes that this inconsistency in expectations is the reason for attrition. HR currently conducts annual employee engagement and morale surveys and presents the results to management. However, most of the management team has been with the company for many years and are resistant to change. Past efforts to guide the management team have been unsuccessful due to limited participation. For example, leadership skills training has been held in the past, but most of the management team have declined to attend. The CEO has requested that the HR manager provide a detailed plan to address the turnover by next quarter. Which step should the HR manager take to identify the root causes of turnover?
Examine employee exit interview documentation for trends.
Which factors contribute to the cost of diversity and inclusion initiatives?
Expanded training
An HR manager derives his authority from his extensive background in HRM. What type of power is he using?
Expert
An employee at a large health-care company takes an extended leave of absence from work due to a personal matter. The company's policy states that the employee must re-apply for the position within a specified time period to be re-hired without having to go through the full external hiring process. The employee fails to meet the deadline for re-applying, and the position is filled with an external candidate. After finding out that the position was filled, the employee reports to the office. The employee begins yelling at the supervisor, demanding to have the employee's job back. The HR manager overhears the conversation and must respond to the situation. The HR manager must inform the employee that the employee will have to go through the external hiring process. Which action should the HR manager take when communicating this information to the employee?
Explain the details of the policy and the process for re-applying as an external applicant.
In the past year, a mid-sized company has decided to strengthen its global operations. As an initiative to achieve this goal, there has been an increase in hiring in offices across countries. Employees have also been transferred to work in offices in different countries. However, this has caused some difficulties for supervisors at the local headquarters who must manage personnel transferred from foreign countries. In particular, supervisors have found it difficult to conduct performance ratings. Specifically, they have mentioned the difficulty in interpreting how employees transferred from abroad interact with locally hired coworkers, because some behaviors that are considered polite in some cultures may be seen as inappropriate in others. The supervisors have also expressed concerns that they may be seen as intolerant if they happen to rate employees from other countries lower than employees who share the same background as the supervisor. Because of these issues, many supervisors have missed the deadline for submitting the past quarter's performance ratings, which was a week ago. This delay has slowed down other corporate operations. An HR manager at the headquarters has been appointed to help the supervisors manage personnel from various backgrounds. Upper management wants the HR manager to instruct the supervisors to submit the past quarter's ratings immediately. How should the HR manager respond to this?
Explain the value of providing additional time to supervisors to make more accurate ratings for the organization's operations.
In his initial meeting with the HR team, a newly hired HR director hears several concerns relating to the organization's talent acquisition process including inconsistent questions, different decision-making criteria, and a lack of diversity across departments. The HR director believes these concerns, as he experienced several questionable actions during his own hiring. The HR team is not confident that the organization is hiring the best people, but each department believes its hiring approach is effective and show no interest in trying a new approach. After confirming that an absence of diversity is an issue in certain departments, which next step should the HR director take?
Explain to interviewers and managers why diversity among employees is good for business.
An HR manager works for a large university. One day, an adult student comes in to claim sexual harassment by a married professor. A week later, another student comes in with a similar claim. Both students are currently in classes taught by the professor. University policy prohibits relationships between employees and students who they teach. Punishment for violation of the policy is determined by the dean of the academic division. While talking to the second student, the HR manager discovers that the students have coordinated their stories. The second student admits that both relationships were consensual and no sexual harassment occurred. Once it was discovered the professor was having multiple affairs, both of the students felt betrayed. The professor's spouse contacts the HR manager and requests that no adverse action be taken against the professor because the professor is in the country on a work visa sponsored by the university. How should the HR manager respond?
Explain to the spouse that the HR manager is not at liberty to disclose information.
A company of office workers has an informal culture of maintaining the status quo in that many employees adequately perform job tasks to satisfy the bare minimum requirements. If employees complete their tasks early, they often stay at their desks to give the impression of working but are actually engaging in non-work-related activities. Instead of collaborating across departments to improve the quality of work and increase knowledge sharing, employees focus on completing their own tasks. Some supervisors are aware of this behavior, but most supervisors do not work in close proximity to their employees and are primarily focused on results. One day, the HR manager notices the administrative assistant using a craft machine to work on a personal project during work hours. The HR manager learns that the administrative assistant comes from a cultural background that differs from that of most other employees. Which step is most effective for the HR manager to take in conveying performance expectations to the administrative assistant?
Explain why the administrative assistant should not be working on a personal project during work hours.
What type of analytical task would be best served by online analytical processing (OLAP)?
Exploring the types of variables that may be affecting attendance rates
Extraterritoriality
Extension of the power of a country's laws over its citizens outside that country's sovereign national boundaries.
Validity
Extent to which a measurement instrument measures what it is intended to measure.
Transparency
Extent to which an organization's agreements, dealings, information, practices, and transactions are open to disclosure and review by relevant persons.
Identity alignment
Extent to which diversity is embraced in management of people, products/services, and branding.
Inclusion
Extent to which each person in an organization feels welcomed, respected, supported, and valued as a team member.
Internal equity
Extent to which employees perceive that monetary and other rewards are distributed equitably, based on effort, skill and/or relevant outcomes.
Process alignment
Extent to which underlying operations such as IT, finance, or HR integrate across locations.
What form of equity is an HR function assuring when it conducts annual surveys of compensation practices in its labor markets?
External
Marketing and IT are collaborating on a new system that will allow customer service representatives to access and change customer accounts directly. Which action should HR take to create value for this effort?
Facilitating process training for all users
Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)
Factor (such as religion, gender, national origin, etc.) that is reasonably necessary, in the normal operations of an organization, to carry out a particular job function.
Motivation
Factors that initiate, direct, and sustain human behavior over time.
Which action during the termination process might violate an employee's due process?
Failing to offer the employee an opportunity to explain
According to international labor standards, which offering is most fundamental to the employment relationship?
Fair wages
An engineering company aspires to have a culture that supports a family-friendly environment. What work/life program would support such a culture?
Family assistance program
Assets
Financial, physical, and sometimes intangible properties an organization owns.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
First comprehensive U.S. law making it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
For which position and in which situation would a stress interview be most appropriate?
For emergency room nurses, where behaviors can have life or death consequences
Codetermination
Form of corporate governance that requires a typical management board and a supervisory board and that allows management and employees to participate in strategic decision making.
The HR manager detected a higher number of employees leaving within the first 30 days. After conducting exit surveys, the HR manager determined that new hires weren't receiving sufficient training and did not feel part of the team. What action should the HR manager and supervisor take to improve retention?
Formal onboarding
What stage of the strategic planning process is a SWOT analysis performed?
Formulation
A recently promoted HR manager is transferred to a remote facility, due to several complaints of inappropriate behavior and favoritism between the plant manager and the former HR manager. The complaints range from allegations of an affair between the two to poor performance and stealing company property. The head office leaders are highly sensitive to creating an ethical culture and have asked that the new HR manager report back on any discovered issues with the plant manager. This makes the HR manager uncomfortable, because she is trying her best to balance developing a relationship with the plant manager with trying to complete the investigation. The new HR manager begins an investigation and learns that the plant manager believes two female employees in the accounting department reported the theft and the affair. When the HR manager speaks with these employees, they share the belief that they are being retaliated against. Although they were rated as above-average performers, they have been given only minimal wage increases. The investigation identified theft of a number of items by the plant manager. The items are not expensive, but their value is not minor. Additionally, it was learned that the plant manager is actively undermining the new HR manager's authority by telling all managers to ignore any HR recommendations. What steps should the HR manager take to address the direction by the plant manager to ignore HR's recommendations?
Further investigate the statements to determine the full context of the situation before taking action.
HR has been charged with benchmarking the organization's sustainability performance against that of its global competitors. Which resource will best help HR accomplish this?
GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards
Which action should HR take in order to fully realize the benefits of workplace data analytics?
Gather good-quality data to make relevant decisions.
Which is an example of a demographic factor is examined during an environmental scan?
Generational differences
Local responsiveness (LR)
Globalization strategy that emphasizes adapting to the needs of local markets and allows subsidiaries to develop unique products, structures, and systems.
Global integration (GI)
Globalization strategy that emphasizes consistency of approach, standardization of processes, and a common corporate culture across global operations.
A cosmetics company that denounces animal testing as a primary part of its branding was recently reported to be working with suppliers that routinely test on animals. Which aspect of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy is misaligned?
Governance
What type of system does HR help develop that puts rules and processes in place for the organization to go by?
Governance
Which term describes a system of rules and processes put in place to ensure adherence to laws, rules, norms, and social codes of conduct?
Governance
HR has defined key groups of employees who possess certain characteristics and abilities that are closely aligned with the organization's strategy. What effect will this have on the organization's staffing and compensation strategies?
Greater clarity in compensation decisions
Which is considered a "pull" factor in attracting organizations toward globalization?
Greater strategic control
A business partner is leading an employee committee tasked with developing a program of employee appreciation events. Two of the committee members are embroiled in what has become personal antagonism. The two committee members interrupt each other during meetings and are rude in front of the others. How could the business partner have best avoided this situation?
Ground rules for behavior in meetings should have been established at the first meeting.
Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)
Group decision-making tool in which the group defines the characteristics of a successful decision and then scores each alternative against those criteria.
What undergoes a systematic and comprehensive evaluation during an HR audit?
HR policies, practices, procedures, and strategies
A mid-sized company has a strict attendance policy stating that any absence of three days or more without contact from the employee is considered job abandonment and the employee is subject to termination. The organization has experienced significant growth over the years, and the increase in the employee population has prompted stricter policies, which some staff view as unnecessarily controlling. One manager's best employee has been absent without contact for four days and calls in. The employee indicates he had some unexpected personal problems involving his teenage child. The employee did not call earlier due to being distraught, occupied with the situation, and also a bit embarrassed. According to the policy, the employee must be terminated, but the manager is reluctant to do so because this is the department's best employee. This is the first violation, and the serious family issues could escalate if the employee is terminated. Senior leadership has recently taken a tough stance on consistently adhering to company policies and practices due to complaints of favoritism. The manager is hesitant to go to HR for fear they will recommend termination. Instead the manager seeks counsel from a member of the senior leadership team who is a relative and who supports the decision to not terminate the employee. When the employee is not terminated, an anonymous complaint is filed via the employee hotline system. It alleges discrimination and favoritism; there is also a comment about too many new policies. The employee is named, and the complainant demands that other employees terminated under the no-call, no-show policy be reinstated. The protocol requires that HR review all discrimination complaints. Which is the first course of action HR should take?
HR should inform the president of the issue and partner with her on the next steps for corrective action.
Functional HR
HR structural alternative in which headquarters HR specialists craft policies and HR generalists located within divisions or other locales implement the policies, adapt them as needed, and interact with employees.
An analyst predicts a total number of voluntary and involuntary separations over the next year and gives the report a statistical rating of P50. What does this mean?
Half of the forecasts will be above the reported number and half will be below.
Which is an example of a job specification for a line supervisor?
Has five years of experience
Engagement drivers differ from country to country, making it important to understand cultural differences that may influence survey results. In a multinational organization, in which type of culture may employee surveys be less acceptable?
Hierarchical
A new HR manager wants to assess whether corporate communications, including those regularly issued by HR, have been effective. What metric would be useful?
High levels of engagement throughout the organization
During the yearly performance and sales review at an organization, an HR manager realizes that the sales goal and bonus structure could potentially incentivize individuals to move closings from one quarter to the next as needed to meet quarterly sales goals. Leadership, mid-level management, and the salespeople have different bonus structures-annually for leadership, quarterly for mid-level managers, and monthly for salespeople. This has created a disconnect between the different groups and created different motivations. The HR manager presents an analysis of the data to the CEO. The CEO determines that, while this bonus structure may have worked in the past, it needs to be changed and the bonus structure of the different groups needs to be aligned. She tasks the HR manager with crafting a new bonus structure and implementing it after she has approved it. What should the HR manager do first to create a bonus structure that is compatible with organizational goals and drives employee performance?
Hire an outside organization to conduct a remuneration survey of competitors and their bonus structure.
A large clothing company has a bad reputation because of its hiring practices, its treatment of employees, and its lack of support to the communities it operates in. The CEO and senior managers are known to make decisions based solely on revenue potential, without regard for the impact it may have on society. In fact, the CEO has commented several times that investing money in anything other than operations is a bad business strategy and unethical in terms of the company's obligation to its investors. Recently, major suppliers for the company, located outside the company's home country, were accused of unethical labor practices, unsafe workplace conditions, and possible human rights violations. This has become a public relations nightmare. Several groups have called for boycotts against the company. At the last shareholders' phone conference, several institutional investors expressed their displeasure with management's failure to respond strongly to the problems with suppliers. The CEO expressed his belief that critics were being unrealistic about their expectations for the suppliers. In fact, they were themselves insensitive to business practices and local norms in these countries. Concerned with the negative publicity and lacking confidence in the CEO's response to it, the company's board of directors requests that the CHRO immediately be given the task of formulating a committee to audit the company's operating practices, its employer branding, and its attitude on social issues. This action would at least show that the company has heard the criticisms. While the company's leadership is struggling with this issue, the CHRO receives an urgent call from the global head of recruiting. Recruiters report that their appearance at job fairs has been met with what seems to be organized demonstrations. The fairs have produced very few prospective candidates. The recruiting head asks what the CHRO wants them to do. How should the CHRO respond?
Hold off on appearances at job fairs for now and focus on using recruiting firms.
An HR manager works for a large university. One day, an adult student comes in to claim sexual harassment by a married professor. A week later, another student comes in with a similar claim. Both students are currently in classes taught by the professor. University policy prohibits relationships between employees and students who they teach. Punishment for violation of the policy is determined by the dean of the academic division. While talking to the second student, the HR manager discovers that the students have coordinated their stories. The second student admits that both relationships were consensual and no sexual harassment occurred. Once it was discovered the professor was having multiple affairs, both of the students felt betrayed. Which action should the HR manager take to discourage inappropriate professor-student relationships in the future?
Hold regular faculty and staff training on sexual harassment and university policies.
An HR manager works for a large university. One day, an adult student comes in to claim sexual harassment by a married professor. A week later, another student comes in with a similar claim. Both students are currently in classes taught by the professor. University policy prohibits relationships between employees and students who they teach. Punishment for violation of the policy is determined by the dean of the academic division. While talking to the second student, the HR manager discovers that the students have coordinated their stories. The second student admits that both relationships were consensual and no sexual harassment occurred. Once it was discovered the professor was having multiple affairs, both of the students felt betrayed. Which action should the HR manager take to convince the students that claiming sexual harassment is inappropriate?
Host one-on-one discussions with each student explaining sexual harassment and answering their questions.
An organization has hired a new HR director. Which action should the director take first after meeting and getting to know the HR staff?
Identify and understand internal and external stakeholders
At a staffing agency, recruiters are facing a challenge in finding high-quality candidates. Additionally, the recruiters adhere to an unwritten rule that they should not contact candidates who have already worked with other recruiters within the agency. A new recruiter corresponds with a candidate who was previously in communication with a veteran recruiter. The two recruiters get into an argument, and the recruitment manager tries to intervene. The new recruiter claims not knowing about this unwritten rule and challenges the rule's efficacy. The veteran recruiter says that the unwritten rule is explained during the onboarding process. The agency implements a new initiative to increase the quality of candidates. How should the HR manager evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative?
Identify the number of successful placements before and after the initiative.
The vice president of operations has asked the chief human resources officer (CHRO) to determine the risk levels across the organization's three offices. With the help of the HR team, the CHRO conducts surveys, interviews, and focus groups to collect data. During which phase of the risk management process are these activities occurring?
Identifying risks
What activity is necessary for successfully implementing a knowledge management system?
Identifying situations in which knowledge is lost or underused
The annual loss ratio for a company's health plan is 158%. The CHRO has been asked by the CEO to propose changes to the plan that will lower costs while retaining as many of the current benefits as possible. A review reveals that the dental and prescription drug coverage account for 84% of the plan's claims and that 3 of their 91 employees account for 73% of the claims. After reviewing a series of benefit options, the CHRO decides that the best option is a plan that doubles the deductibles on the dental and prescription benefits while also lowering the maximum reimbursement coverage by 25%. The CHRO makes a presentation outlining this suggestion to the company's executive committee. After a brief discussion of the rationale and the merits, the COO mentions that the company should announce the plan's changes to employees immediately. The CHRO responds that doing so would defeat the purpose of the changes. Without further discussion, the executive committee proceeds to vote and accept the changes to become effective upon plan renewal the following month. Two months after the introduction of the new plan, it is discovered that two employees made bulk prescription purchases (a six-month supply) one week prior to the changes in the benefit plan going into effect. The CHRO suspects a leak of the confidential information. Which is the best reason the company should remain with the benefit provider?
If benefit entitlements remain similar, finding and using a new benefit provider would not address the root cause as measured by the loss ratio.
During what phase of the strategic planning process does motivating employees to work toward organizational goals take place?
Implementation
An organization has implemented a recruitment and hiring program to increase the diversity of its workforce, but the retention rate for new hires is low. What step would offer the most help in correcting this problem?
Implementation of employee resource groups
Social engineering
In a computer context, tricking a user into sharing information that can then be used to access systems.
Noise
In communication, any factor that can disrupt the sending and receipt of a message?Çöfor example, physical factors such as loud environments, cultural factors such as a distinctive accent, or cognitive factors such as the use of unfamiliar jargon.
The annual loss ratio for a company's health plan is 158%. The CHRO has been asked by the CEO to propose changes to the plan that will lower costs while retaining as many of the current benefits as possible. A review reveals that the dental and prescription drug coverage account for 84% of the plan's claims and that 3 of their 91 employees account for 73% of the claims. After reviewing a series of benefit options, the CHRO decides that the best option is a plan that doubles the deductibles on the dental and prescription benefits while also lowering the maximum reimbursement coverage by 25%. The CHRO makes a presentation outlining this suggestion to the company's executive committee. After a brief discussion of the rationale and the merits, the COO mentions that the company should announce the plan's changes to employees immediately. The CHRO responds that doing so would defeat the purpose of the changes. Without further discussion, the executive committee proceeds to vote and accept the changes to become effective upon plan renewal the following month. Two months after the introduction of the new plan, it is discovered that two employees made bulk prescription purchases (a six-month supply) one week prior to the changes in the benefit plan going into effect. The CHRO suspects a leak of the confidential information. Why would announcing plan changes to employees in this way be problematic?
Incentivizing use just prior to a change could increase the loss ratio even further, requiring even more funding adjustments to make the plan sustainable
A global company with a dedicated HR structure has locations on several continents. A new labor law in one of these locations impacts the company's overtime rules. What should HR in that location do first to address this change?
Inform corporate HR of the new law.
A manufacturing company has signed a large contract with a prominent retailer. The contract lists steps that are to be included in the manufacturing process that the company has agreed to follow. A group of employees from the manufacturing department have learned that by skipping some of the steps outlined, they can improve productivity without actually causing a material change to the final product, so they begin to skip steps in the process. Their practices soon spread to other manufacturing teams, but leadership ignores it as unfounded rumors. The HR Manager learns of the practice after conducting an exit interview with a member of the manufacturing team. In a subsequent discussion, the HR Manager learns that only one supervisor and the supervisor's team are actively utilizing the incorrect manufacturing process. The employee further states the reason other employees have not come forward is because the division manager has an ownership interest in the retailer. After ruling out any conflict of interest by the division manager, what is the next step the HR Manager should take to respond to the information received in the exit interview?
Inform the division manager of the shortcut so the division manager can determine the next course of action.
A manufacturing company has signed a large contract with a prominent retailer. The contract lists steps that are to be included in the manufacturing process that the company has agreed to follow. A group of employees from the manufacturing department have learned that by skipping some of the steps outlined, they can improve productivity without actually causing a material change to the final product, so they begin to skip steps in the process. Their practices soon spread to other manufacturing teams, but leadership ignores it as unfounded rumors. The HR Manager learns of the practice after conducting an exit interview with a member of the manufacturing team. In a subsequent discussion, the HR Manager learns that only one supervisor and the supervisor's team are actively utilizing the incorrect manufacturing process. The employee further states the reason other employees have not come forward is because the division manager has an ownership interest in the retailer. What action should the HR manager take to address the potential conflict of interest on the part of the division manager?
Inform the division manager's direct manager and the legal department of both the shortcut and the potential conflict of interest.
A mid-sized company has a strict attendance policy stating that any absence of three days or more without contact from the employee is considered job abandonment and the employee is subject to termination. The organization has experienced significant growth over the years, and the increase in the employee population has prompted stricter policies, which some staff view as unnecessarily controlling. One manager's best employee has been absent without contact for four days and calls in. The employee indicates he had some unexpected personal problems involving his teenage child. The employee did not call earlier due to being distraught, occupied with the situation, and also a bit embarrassed. According to the policy, the employee must be terminated, but the manager is reluctant to do so because this is the department's best employee. This is the first violation, and the serious family issues could escalate if the employee is terminated. Senior leadership has recently taken a tough stance on consistently adhering to company policies and practices due to complaints of favoritism. The manager is hesitant to go to HR for fear they will recommend termination. Instead the manager seeks counsel from a member of the senior leadership team who is a relative and who supports the decision to not terminate the employee. When the employee is not terminated, an anonymous complaint is filed via the employee hotline system. It alleges discrimination and favoritism; there is also a comment about too many new policies. The employee is named, and the complainant demands that other employees terminated under the no-call, no-show policy be reinstated. The protocol requires that HR review all discrimination complaints. Which would be the best way for HR to address the anonymous complaint?
Inform the employee and the manager that a complaint has been lodged and that there will be an internal investigation.
Occupational injury
Injury that results from a work-related accident or exposure involving a single incident in the work environment.
ADDIE model
Instructional systems design framework consisting of five steps that guide the design and development of learning programs.
Employee surveys
Instruments that collect and assess information on employees' attitudes on and perceptions of the work environment or employment conditions.
Remuneration surveys
Instruments that collect information on prevailing market compensation and benefits practices (including starting wage rates, base pay, pay ranges, statutory and market cash payments, variable compensation, and paid time off).
How can HR minimize the risk of failure of an organization's diversity initiative?
Integrating diversity into the business culture
In an attempt to create employee participation teams that balance membership, an organization attempts to create teams, in part, by age. What dimension of diversity is being addressed?
Internal
An HR manager works for a large university. One day, an adult student comes in to claim sexual harassment by a married professor. A week later, another student comes in with a similar claim. Both students are currently in classes taught by the professor. University policy prohibits relationships between employees and students who they teach. Punishment for violation of the policy is determined by the dean of the academic division. While talking to the second student, the HR manager discovers that the students have coordinated their stories. The second student admits that both relationships were consensual and no sexual harassment occurred. Once it was discovered the professor was having multiple affairs, both of the students felt betrayed. Which action should the HR manager take first based on the information provided by the students?
Interview the professor about the allegations.
A manufacturing organization's office employees are arriving late to work on a consistent basis. A focus group is conducted, and it is discovered that the employees' morning commute has changed significantly due to highway construction. Which of the following should HR recommend the organization implement to support the temporary needs of employees?
Introduce a flextime policy with bandwidth hours.
Why is it important that employees understand how day-to-day activities support the strategic goals of the organization?
It drives employee behavior, as the connection to how they are able to contribute is evident.
What is the implication of an organization using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards to create an enhanced and comprehensive sustainability strategy?
It is easier to evaluate performance and progress against industry and global benchmarks.
What is the result of a geocentric approach to compensation and benefits strategy within a global organization?
It provides a single cohesive approach that allows leaders to look at benefit offerings on a broader scale
A supervisor wants to improve job satisfaction and motivate employees by giving them more independence in their work and the opportunity to self-review and evaluate. Which is the best tactic to use for this?
Job enrichment
Job classification
Job evaluation method in which descriptions are written for each class of jobs; individual jobs are then put into the grade that best matches their class description.
Market-based job evaluation
Job evaluation method in which the relative worth and pay structure of different jobs are based on their market value or the going rate in the marketplace.
Factory workers from the assembly department are assigned to the shipping department every other week. Which type of career development program are these workers participating in?
Job rotation
A recruiter recently posted an opening for a mid-level manager. After reviewing the candidate applicant pool, it is determined that the candidates do not have the desired experience. What should the recruiter focus on in order to attract candidates who have the desired experience?
Job specifications
What job evaluation method assesses the responsibilities and requirements of each job and its relationship to other jobs in the organization?
Job-content-based
After meetings with different departments dealing with downsizing, the HR professional authors a document identifying affected individuals based on each departments recommendations. A longtime friend of the HR professional will be impacted. How should the HR professional handle this situation?
Keep the workforce reduction information confidential.
Pilot programs
Learning/development programs offered initially in a controlled environment with a segment of the target audience.
Vicarious liability
Legal doctrine under which a party can be held liable for the wrongful actions of another party.
Common law
Legal system in which each case is considered in terms of how it relates to legal decisions that have already been made; evolves through judicial decisions over time.
Which component of a total rewards system should an organization consider as an indirect benefit to employees?
Life insurance
HR works with IT to develop policies and procedures for Internet use and social media posts on the organization's network. Which best describes the impact of this policy?
Limiting legal liability and ensuring data security
Which best demonstrates chain of command?
Line of authority within an organization
Chain of command
Line of authority within an organization.
An HR manager is new at an organization and wants to start networking. Which is the best way to get this process going?
Listen to the needs of anyone the manager comes into contact with and offer to help if they can.
What describes a culture that prefers training activities that spell out details and use direct and logical communication?
Low-context
What is the primary function of executive management?
Manage core business functions and their effect on the organization's performance
A sales organization's leadership team has just announced a very aggressive five-year sales plan. Which performance management method should HR suggest to support the plan's achievement?
Management by objectives method to measure goals and objectives
Which statement best describes how management differs from leadership?
Management maintains order, while leadership produces and manages change.
A hospital director wants to identify the best candidate for head nurse among currently employed nurses. Which type of assessment would be most effective in evaluating candidates?
Manager assessment
An elder care service organization is challenged with retention of staff. Recently the service director left the organization with little notice. HR wants to prepare for future unplanned vacancies to avoid any disruption in client services. What is the best way for HR to mitigate this risk?
Managers can cross-train a subordinate.
Benefits
Mandatory or voluntary payments or services provided to employees, typically covering retirement, health care, sick pay/disability, life insurance, and paid time off.
Which statement best describes the status of diversity and inclusion in a global context?
Many countries have laws that encourage diversity and inclusion.
What core business function is best suited in identifying competitive threats and revenue producing opportunities for a SWOT analysis?
Marketing and Sales
During the yearly performance and sales review at an organization, an HR manager realizes that the sales goal and bonus structure could potentially incentivize individuals to move closings from one quarter to the next as needed to meet quarterly sales goals. Leadership, mid-level management, and the salespeople have different bonus structures-annually for leadership, quarterly for mid-level managers, and monthly for salespeople. This has created a disconnect between the different groups and created different motivations. The HR manager presents an analysis of the data to the CEO. The CEO determines that, while this bonus structure may have worked in the past, it needs to be changed and the bonus structure of the different groups needs to be aligned. She tasks the HR manager with crafting a new bonus structure and implementing it after she has approved it. Which would be the most effective way to communicate the new plan?
Meet first with managers and then with individual teams to discuss the new plan and its benefits.
Over the past 12 months, a global hotel franchise has been experiencing steady, significant growth, and needs to hire more employees at all levels. The leadership team asks the HR department to transition into a strategic business partner role to ensure that the franchise can meet current and future demands. However, some senior managers in the franchise believe that HR should focus only on administration of traditional HR activities such as recruiting, payroll, benefits, and these managers refuse to include HR in business conversations. As a result, many HR staff have adopted a strict policy enforcement role that has only made it more difficult for the HR department to make the transition. An HR manager is tasked with identifying ways to expand the role of the HR function in the organization and aligning it with business strategy. The HR manager is also charged with presenting an HR transformation plan to the executive leadership team. Which action should the HR manager take to identify opportunities for the HR department to expand its role in the company?
Meet with senior managers to discuss ways the HR department can improve its services.
The CEO of a small local company has decided that the organization needs to embrace a model of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Despite a formal strategy not being in place, the organization has been using the principles of CSR in certain circumstances. The CEO wants the HR manager to help lead the corporate change. This change involves mindset, planning, and helping everyone embrace the change. HR is not viewed as a true partner to the organization currently, so this will be a challenge. The CEO is seeking to create a company known for treating people well, operating in a sustainable manner, and giving to worthy causes. This change will be more noticeable in some departments than in others. Because of this, the CEO would like to start with a word-of-mouth campaign prior to a large company-wide announcement. The CEO wants the HR manager to put together a plan within two to four weeks that creates this low-key way to work toward the CSR culture for the organization. HR and the CEO discuss that it will be a long-term process for change to be fully implemented. The CEO understands this but wants a plan no later than one month from the meeting. What action should the HR manager take to influence the CEO about the difficulty in meeting the timeline?
Meet with the CEO to review essential portions of the project and the time line challenges.
The HR business partner (HRBP) of a large retail chain has compiled an annual report on turnover and shared it with the director of sales (DOS) and the district manager (DM) for one of the chain's retail districts. The DOS and the DM are pleased with the results, since the overall retention rate meets the requirement for them to be eligible for a bonus. However, the HRBP looks more deeply into the data and determines that several stores are extreme outliers and have high turnover rates. The HRBP informs the DOS and the DM. They tell the HRBP to not worry about it, as the overall number is fine. They have enough to deal with; it is not necessary to go looking for problems. The HRBP believes that the results that have been uncovered are a cause for concern in these stores. What is the best way for the HRBP to persuade the DOS and the DM that the outlier stores need further attention?
Meet with the DOS and the DM to explain the costs of turnover and the need to investigate causes in these locations.
A company has an outdated applicant tracking system, which upper management has been reluctant to replace. The HR department has had great difficulty managing the large number of applicants with this system. Many hiring-related tasks that the system is incapable of handling have been carried out manually. This has led to administrative errors, delay in application processing, and miscommunication for internal applicants. One day, the HR manager receives a call from an internal applicant who had applied for a position a month ago. This applicant immediately received an email from the HR department about scheduling next steps in the selection process but has not heard back since. During the phone call, the HR manager looks into the tracking system to find that this applicant had been screened out due to not being a good fit with the position, and the initial email had been sent due to an administrative error. The HR manager communicates this to the applicant. The HR manager discovers that the administrative error was caused by one of the company's HR specialists. What should the HR manager do to motivate the HR specialist to be more attentive when processing hiring-related tasks to prevent similar mistakes in the future?
Meet with the HR specialist to determine the root cause of the administrative error.
The largest customer of a small consulting firm demands that the project manager terminate an employee for poor performance or the customer will terminate its contract immediately. The account project manager has documented the employee's performance as meeting expectations, there is no documentation to support a termination, and there is no place to transfer the employee to. The HR manager conducts a comprehensive investigation and learns that the employee and the customer had a verbal disagreement about how the employee had classified specific expenses and how it affects the customer's budget. The confrontation was significant but did not involve any unacceptable language. In addition, the employee's classification was technically correct; however, a reclassification was also acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles. The project manager was unaware of this conflict. The HR manager concludes that the employee did not follow the policy that requires an employee to advise the supervisor of a client issue. Because such a conflict could significantly harm the company's business, the policy states that an employee can be disciplined up to and including termination for this violation. What steps can HR implement to ensure that this type of event does not recur with the company's current employees?
Meet with the entire project manager group to review policies, their job descriptions, and how to handle issues faced in day-to-day supervision.
A company with a specialty product that has gained rapid popularity with hospitals has grown quickly from 15 employees to 300 in a one-year period. The organization expects to grow by several hundred employees per year for the foreseeable future. The president's secretary has been handling all human resources matters, and the accounting department has been handling payroll. The supervisors have been making their own human resources decisions regarding recruitment, employee relations, discipline, and rewards, with varying levels of success. The president pays little attention to the day-to-day operations of the business and focuses his attention on marketing and publicity. He decides that it is now necessary to hire an HR director to lead and manage the HR function. The supervisors are resistant to having a formal HR function in the company, believing that it will create unnecessary work and affect their ability to effectively manage the organization. During the interview process, the president indicates that there are a number of areas in need of focused attention, as the organization does not have job descriptions or a formal compensation structure and benefits are the same as when the company started. On the HR director's first day, there is no formal onboarding process. The president suggests that a good starting point for the HR director is to create a plan and catch up on the recruiting requests for the company. He then walks the HR director to her new office, offers to help with any questions, and walks away In order for the HR director to effectively develop relationships, which action should she take first?
Meeting colleagues by proactively walking around to introduce herself and her role within the company
A manager has come to HR because an employee cannot meet production standards. After further investigation, it is discovered that several other employees cannot meet production standards. Records show that all employees have been properly trained and certified. Which action should HR recommend to resolve the issue?
Meeting with each employee to determine the obstacles to production
Offshoring
Method by which an organization relocates its processes or production to an international location through subsidiaries or third-party affiliates.
SWOT analysis
Method for assessment of an organization's strategic capabilities through use of the environmental scanning process, by which internal and external factors affecting achievement of organizational goals are identified and considered.
Arbitration
Method of dispute resolution by which disputing parties agree to be bound by the decision of one or more impartial persons to whom they submit their dispute for final determination.
Mediation
Method of nonbinding dispute resolution by which a neutral third party tries to help disputing parties reach a mutually agreeable decision; also called conciliation.
Conciliation
Method of nonbinding dispute resolution by which a neutral third party tries to help disputing parties reach a mutually agreeable decision; also called mediation
Key risk indicators (KRIs)
Metrics that provide an early signal of increasing risk exposures for an enterprise.
Reasonable accommodation
Modifying job application process, work environment, or circumstances under which job is performed to enable a qualified individual with a disability to be considered for the job and perform its essential functions.
Accounts receivable
Money an organization's customers owe the organization.
An organization is experiencing low morale and decreased performance due to recent budget cuts and staff shortages. Which offering should HR recommend to most notably boost morale and performance among employees?
More communication and feedback
Job rotation
Movement between different jobs.
Which best identifies the reason why many organizational effectiveness and development (OED) programs begin with data collection?
Multiple perspectives that allow for a deeper understanding of the issue are provided
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 differences. Which outsourcing arrangement does this describe?
Near-shoring
The administrative assistant to the VP of operations confides in the HR manager that the administrative assistant's supervisor has been making inappropriate advances that have been getting progressively more forward and aggressive. As long-time personal friends, this information is shared outside of the work environment, on personal time. While the HR manager informs the administrative assistant that she should bring a formal complaint, the administrative assistant is very clear that she is sharing this information as a friend and does not want to do so out of fear of retaliation. Instead, the administrative assistant asks the HR manager to help her find a new role so that she can quietly leave her current position. On the next workday, the HR manager receives a letter from the attorney of a different employee that charges the same VP and the organization with unlawful harassment. On the next workday, the HR manager receives a letter from the attorney of a different employee that charges the same VP and the organization with unlawful harassment. Which is the best first course of action the VP of HR should take?
Notify the CEO and the organization's attorney, asking to meet to determine appropriate next steps.
The administrative assistant to the VP of operations confides in the HR manager that the administrative assistant's supervisor has been making inappropriate advances that have been getting progressively more forward and aggressive. As long-time personal friends, this information is shared outside of the work environment, on personal time. While the HR manager informs the administrative assistant that she should bring a formal complaint, the administrative assistant is very clear that she is sharing this information as a friend and does not want to do so out of fear of retaliation. Instead, the administrative assistant asks the HR manager to help her find a new role so that she can quietly leave her current position. On the next workday, the HR manager receives a letter from the attorney of a different employee that charges the same VP and the organization with unlawful harassment. What action should the HR manager take in response to hearing about this harassment?
Notify the VP of HR of the allegations so that a formal investigation can begin of these allegations of harassment.
Head count
Number of people on an organization's payroll at a particular moment in time.
Hostile environment harassment
Occurs when sexual or other discriminatory conduct is so severe and pervasive that it interferes with an individual's performance; creates an intimidating, threatening, or humiliating work environment; or perpetuates a situation that affects the employee's psychological well-being.
Pay compression
Occurs when there is only a small difference in pay between employees regardless of their experience, skills, level, or seniority; also known as salary compression.
In the past year, a mid-sized company has decided to strengthen its global operations. As an initiative to achieve this goal, there has been an increase in hiring in offices across countries. Employees have also been transferred to work in offices in different countries. However, this has caused some difficulties for supervisors at the local headquarters who must manage personnel transferred from foreign countries. In particular, supervisors have found it difficult to conduct performance ratings. Specifically, they have mentioned the difficulty in interpreting how employees transferred from abroad interact with locally hired coworkers, because some behaviors that are considered polite in some cultures may be seen as inappropriate in others. The supervisors have also expressed concerns that they may be seen as intolerant if they happen to rate employees from other countries lower than employees who share the same background as the supervisor. Because of these issues, many supervisors have missed the deadline for submitting the past quarter's performance ratings, which was a week ago. This delay has slowed down other corporate operations. An HR manager at the headquarters has been appointed to help the supervisors manage personnel from various backgrounds. What should the HR manager do to address supervisors' concerns that they may be seen as insensitive if they rate expatriates (i.e., employees transferred from abroad) lower than local employees?
Offer cross-cultural training to supervisors that could be applied toward conducting performance reviews.
Which HR manager is demonstrating emotional intelligence?
One who sees herself getting angry and takes a time-out
Performance bonus
One-time payment made to an employee; also called a lump-sum increase (LSI).
Lump-sum increase (LSI)
One-time payment made to an employee; also called performance bonus.
Social networks
Online clustering of individuals in groups with common or shared interests.
To capitalize on innovation and collaboration, HR must balance certain issues. Which are the most challenging?
Openness and security
Learning organization
Organization characterized by a capability to adapt to changes in environment.
Liabilities
Organization's debts and other financial obligations.
Risk position
Organization's desired gain or acceptable loss in value.
Management decides that training supervisors to identify and prevent bullying is not necessary, and they do not fund a program budget. What does this illustrate?
Organization's risk tolerance
Which type of OD intervention would best address an assessment that determined a need to increase the performance capability across all levels and departments?
Organizational
HR acts to develop a team in order to improve customer service, efficiency, and processes. What activity does this illustrate?
Organizational development
Functional structure
Organizational structure in which departments are defined by the services they contribute to the organization's overall mission, such as marketing and sales, operations, and HR.
Product structure
Organizational structure in which functional departments are grouped under major product divisions.
Matrix structure
Organizational structure that combines departmentalization by division and function to gain the benefits of both; results in some employees reporting to two managers rather than one, with neither manager assuming a superior role.
Multinational enterprises (MNEs)
Organizations that own or control production or service facilities in one or more countries other than the home country.
A company with a history of tolerating low-performing employees has recently gained new leadership. The new executive team has brought in an HR director with a mandate to resolve multiple issues. The new HR director is well aware of the history of the company. In addition to the low-performance issue, the HR director has uncovered a poor record of compliance with the ADA, the FMLA, and workers' compensation. This lack of compliance has allowed several employees to take advantage of the system to their own benefit. The HR director has been tasked with correcting these issues with a new performance management system. Additionally, the HR director will need to improve the HR department's understanding and compliance with legal requirements so that the company is less likely to be taken advantage of in the future. Which method should the HR director use to educate the HR staff on legal requirements?
Organize training for HR staff related to legal requirements, compliance, and performance management.
In addition to salary, health benefits, and welfare benefits, which item should be included in an individualized total compensation statement?
Paid time off
A company's rapid growth is resulting in demand to hire new team members. Recognizing the need to ensure that the right talent is brought into the company, a newly hired HR director implements a more structured hiring process to assess applicants' skills, compensation needs, and culture fit. However, many managers do not support the new hiring process, claiming it slows down the hiring cycle. In addition, the managers believe that the initial salary and bonus recommendations resulting from HR's recently updated compensation structures are not reflective of market demand. The managers claim this situation is causing candidates to decline their offers of employment. As the business continues to expand in support of the company's strategic direction, how should the HR director address longer-term hiring needs?
Participate in strategic planning sessions to help align HR talent practices with the future business direction.
An organization's restructuring caused numerous positions to be eliminated. The HR team met with senior leaders and devised a plan where all impacted employees interview for existing openings. An e-mail communication went out to department managers, and everyone agreed with the plan. How would this organization's culture be defined?
Participative
Which primary role does HR play in supporting global strategic management?
Partner to create the organization's global strategy
The CEO of a small local company has decided that the organization needs to embrace a model of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Despite a formal strategy not being in place, the organization has been using the principles of CSR in certain circumstances. The CEO wants the HR manager to help lead the corporate change. This change involves mindset, planning, and helping everyone embrace the change. HR is not viewed as a true partner to the organization currently, so this will be a challenge. The CEO is seeking to create a company known for treating people well, operating in a sustainable manner, and giving to worthy causes. This change will be more noticeable in some departments than in others. Because of this, the CEO would like to start with a word-of-mouth campaign prior to a large company-wide announcement. The CEO wants the HR manager to put together a plan within two to four weeks that creates this low-key way to work toward the CSR culture for the organization. HR and the CEO discuss that it will be a long-term process for change to be fully implemented. The CEO understands this but wants a plan no later than one month from the meeting. What action should the HR manager take first to begin creating a culture that embraces CSR?
Partner with the heads of each department of the organization to review their current practices around CSR.
Productivity-based pay
Pay based on the quantity of work and outputs that can be accurately measured.
An organization has been forced to hire new employees at higher pay rates than usual due to a tight labor supply. Employees who have been with the organization for one to three years are earning the same or only slightly more than the new hires they have to train. What is the organization experiencing?
Pay compression
Compa-ratio
Pay rate divided by the midpoint of the pay range.
Person-based pay
Pay systems in which employee characteristics, rather than the job, determine pay.
Premiums
Payments in return for the achievement of specific, time-limited, targeted objectives.
Which is a common shared service center process?
Pension administration
Protected class
People who are covered under a particular federal or state antidiscrimination law.
Kinesthetic learners
People who learn best through a hands-on approach; also called tactile learners.
What is the primary distinguishing characteristic of an enterprise risk management framework?
Perception of risk as an integrated organizational issue
A newly hired HR director of a small nonprofit organization notices that the organization is lacking a comprehensive compensation philosophy and salary rate structure. New hires routinely receive higher pay than more-senior employees. The organization does not have a performance management process, and not all employees receive yearly salary increases. The CEO is concerned that the organization will lose quality staff without a strategic focus on its employees, and she tasks the HR director with designing and implementing a performance management model for the organization. What should the HR director do to ensure that the organization's job descriptions are accurate?
Perform a job analysis to identify the activities, tasks, and responsibilities of each position in the organization.
An hourly employee is at the maximum level of a pay range. There are no job openings in the next pay range. Which is the best approach to reward the employee for exceptional performance without adjusting the base wage rate?
Performance bonus
Staff have been reluctant to share on-the-job experiences with coworkers. HR wants to update all job descriptions to reflect the expectation that this should take place. How can HR assess that this change has been successfully implemented?
Performance evaluations
Balanced scorecard
Performance management tool that depicts an organization's overall performance, as measured against goals, lagging indicators, and leading indicators.
Which should be the first step in solving an organization's problems with a sharp increase in back orders of shipments?
Performing a process analysis
Which U.S. Supreme Court case found the practice of hiring a male with preschool-aged children over a woman with preschool-aged children to be in violation of Title VII?
Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation
Disability
Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one's major life activities.
What is a broad statement that reflects an organization's philosophy, objectives, or standards?
Policy
Picketing
Positioning of employees at a place of work targeted for the action for the purpose of protest.
A company has experienced a high degree of turnover during the past year. Senior leadership is concerned about the amount of turnover and worried that HR is not moving fast enough to fill these positions. The hiring managers say that the applicant pools have been weak lately and they have had trouble finding qualified applicants to hire from within the pools HR provides. HR has relied heavily on recruiting by word of mouth, which in the past has generated applicants that fit the company's culture. The award for referrals that result in hiring has also been popular with employees. What would be the best way for HR to bring in more qualified applicants?
Post job openings on Internet job sites and examine the effect on the applicant pool.
Hazard
Potential for harm, often associated with a condition or activity that, if left uncontrolled, can result in injury or illness.
Near-shoring
Practice of contracting a part of business processes or production to an external company in a country that is relatively close (e.g., within the same own region).
Career management
Preparing, implementing, and monitoring employees' career paths, with a primary focus on the goals and needs of the organization.
An HR business partner for a mid-sized company has been asked to investigate root causes of high employee turnover. The CEO thinks that the turnover is the result of HR failing to set clear expectations for managers and has stated that there is a disparity in how managers lead their employees versus what employees think their managers should be doing. The CEO believes that this inconsistency in expectations is the reason for attrition. HR currently conducts annual employee engagement and morale surveys and presents the results to management. However, most of the management team has been with the company for many years and are resistant to change. Past efforts to guide the management team have been unsuccessful due to limited participation. For example, leadership skills training has been held in the past, but most of the management team have declined to attend. The CEO has requested that the HR manager provide a detailed plan to address the turnover by next quarter. Which step should the HR manager take to ensure buy-in from the managers when implementing an initiative to address the turnover?
Present data to managers that shows how the high turnover has affected the company's profit.
A company has an outdated applicant tracking system, which upper management has been reluctant to replace. The HR department has had great difficulty managing the large number of applicants with this system. Many hiring-related tasks that the system is incapable of handling have been carried out manually. This has led to administrative errors, delay in application processing, and miscommunication for internal applicants. One day, the HR manager receives a call from an internal applicant who had applied for a position a month ago. This applicant immediately received an email from the HR department about scheduling next steps in the selection process but has not heard back since. During the phone call, the HR manager looks into the tracking system to find that this applicant had been screened out due to not being a good fit with the position, and the initial email had been sent due to an administrative error. The HR manager communicates this to the applicant. What should the HR manager do to convince management to replace the applicant tracking system?
Present to management a comparison of the capabilities of the company's current applicant tracking system to alternatives.
Business case
Presentation to management that establishes that a specific problem exists and argues for a proposed solution.
Which situation that leads to workplace violence can be controlled by an organization?
Pressure for increased productivity
Essential functions
Primary job duties that a qualified individual must be able to perform, either with or without accommodation.
Duty of care
Principle that organizations should take all steps that are reasonably possible to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of employees and protect them from foreseeable injury.
The management team has stated that new projects cannot be funded now. The HR department wants to implement an employee engagement survey. HR presents how the organization benefits from a survey. Interested, the management team tells HR that if HR can find a portion of the funding in its budget, management will find the rest. What negotiation style is this?
Principled
Code of conduct
Principles that guide decision making and behavior in an organization.
What are three key reasons why diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives require full-fledged, organization-wide efforts?
Priority, complexity, resistance
HR has been tasked with examining structures and processes to make the organization more agile and quick to respond to threats and opportunities. What type of intervention is this?
Proactive
When an organization has a strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) orientation, which is it likely to see as a primary outcome?
Proactive and ongoing interaction with all stakeholders
What factors does the risk equation use to determine level of risk?
Probability of occurrence and magnitude of impact
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures
Procedural document designed to assist employers in complying with federal regulations prohibiting discrimination.
Outsourcing
Process by which an organization contracts with third-party vendors to provide selected services/activities instead of hiring new employees.
Benchmarking
Process by which an organization identifies performance gaps and sets goals for performance improvement by comparing its data, performance levels, and/or processes against those of other organizations.
Redeployment
Process by which an organization moves an employee out of an international assignment; can involve moving back to the home country, moving to a different global location, or moving to a new location or position in the current host country.
Training
Process by which employees are provided with the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) specific to a task or job.
Repatriation
Process by which employees returning from international assignments reintegrate into their home country's culture, conditions, and employment.
Systems thinking
Process for understanding how seemingly independent units within a larger entity interact with and influence one another.
Principled negotiation
Process in which negotiators aim for mutual gain, emphasizing the need to focus on the problem instead of personal differences and on mutually beneficial outcomes.
Distance learning
Process of delivering educational or instructional programs to locations away from a classroom or site.
Organizational development
Process of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization and the well-being of its members through planned interventions.
Selection
Process of evaluating the most suitable candidates for a position.
Performance appraisal
Process of measuring and evaluating an employee's adherence to performance standards and providing feedback to the employee.
Employment branding
Process of positioning an organization as an "employer of choice" in the labor market.
Environmental scanning
Process that involves a systematic survey and interpretation of relevant data to identify external opportunities and threats and to assess how these factors affect the organization currently and how they are likely to affect the organization in the future.
A recently promoted HR manager is transferred to a remote facility, due to several complaints of inappropriate behavior and favoritism between the plant manager and the former HR manager. The complaints range from allegations of an affair between the two to poor performance and stealing company property. The head office leaders are highly sensitive to creating an ethical culture and have asked that the new HR manager report back on any discovered issues with the plant manager. This makes the HR manager uncomfortable, because she is trying her best to balance developing a relationship with the plant manager with trying to complete the investigation. The new HR manager begins an investigation and learns that the plant manager believes two female employees in the accounting department reported the theft and the affair. When the HR manager speaks with these employees, they share the belief that they are being retaliated against. Although they were rated as above-average performers, they have been given only minimal wage increases. The investigation identified theft of a number of items by the plant manager. The items are not expensive, but their value is not minor. Additionally, it was learned that the plant manager is actively undermining the new HR manager's authority by telling all managers to ignore any HR recommendations. How should the HR manager handle the evidence of theft by the plant manager?
Provide a summary of the investigation including the evidence collected back to headquarters.
An executive team in the middle of refining an organization's strategic plan is in the implementation phase. Which activity should occur during this phase?
Provide clear communication of objectives to teams and coordinating their efforts
A nonprofit institution partners with 20 countries and several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide medical and educational services to refugees. For the past year, the institution has failed to deliver adequate services for its three largest service locations, and now some partners are threatening to cancel their contracts. One of the primary challenges is that there is a critical shortage of service location managers, who are typically recruited from the local population. The institution's HR team is centralized in the home-country headquarters and has no direct contact with the service location managers. The service location managers report to the VP of operations, who rarely travels and often seems more interested in pursuing career advancement opportunities than in addressing the institution's operational challenges. The VP of operations is aware of the shortage of service location managers but has not been able to influence other members of the senior leadership team to take action. What should the HR manager do to support the VP of operations?
Provide the VP of operations with guidance on communicating effectively with senior leaders.
The HR manager at a hospital is tasked with reviewing hospital job requisition records. Upon doing so, they observe a trend where job applicants who are from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds are not progressing past interviews during the selection process. After observing this trend, the HR manager interviews current hospital employees to seek out why this trend is occurring. The HR manager learns that these applicants typically have language barriers. Additionally, these job applicants have often immigrated to the country after pursuing and completing higher education in their home country. As a result, their medical practice licenses are not always equivalent to the country's requirements. The HR manager views these job candidates as an opportunity to create a more diverse workforce. How should the HR manager leverage that opportunity?
Provide the candidates with information about professional development resources offered by the hospital for meeting licensing requirements.
A nonprofit institution partners with 20 countries and several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide medical and educational services to refugees. For the past year, the institution has failed to deliver adequate services for its three largest service locations, and now some partners are threatening to cancel their contracts. One of the primary challenges is that there is a critical shortage of service location managers, who are typically recruited from the local population. The institution's HR team is centralized in the home-country headquarters and has no direct contact with the service location managers. The service location managers report to the VP of operations, who rarely travels and often seems more interested in pursuing career advancement opportunities than in addressing the institution's operational challenges. The VP of operations shows little interest in resolving the shortage of service location managers. What should the HR manager do to change the VP of operations' mindset?
Provide the results of an analysis of the business impact of the contract cancellations to the VP of operations.
The CEO of a small local company has decided that the organization needs to embrace a model of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Despite a formal strategy not being in place, the organization has been using the principles of CSR in certain circumstances. The CEO wants the HR manager to help lead the corporate change. This change involves mindset, planning, and helping everyone embrace the change. HR is not viewed as a true partner to the organization currently, so this will be a challenge. The CEO is seeking to create a company known for treating people well, operating in a sustainable manner, and giving to worthy causes. This change will be more noticeable in some departments than in others. Because of this, the CEO would like to start with a word-of-mouth campaign prior to a large company-wide announcement. The CEO wants the HR manager to put together a plan within two to four weeks that creates this low-key way to work toward the CSR culture for the organization. HR and the CEO discuss that it will be a long-term process for change to be fully implemented. The CEO understands this but wants a plan no later than one month from the meeting. What action should the HR manager take to encourage employees to embrace this cultural change?
Provide values-based change management workshops that actively involve employees.
Flat-rate pay
Provides each incumbent of a job with the same rate of pay, regardless of performance or seniority; also known as single-rate pay.
What is the usefulness of a key risk indicator (KRI)?
Provides early warning of organizational risk emergence
Which will be one of the most interesting applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in HR?
Providing more valuable observations about online job candidates
In the balanced scorecard approach to strategic management, which action does the customer value most?
Providing quality goods and services
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?
Pulse
A nonprofit social services organization has experienced rapid employee growth and is expanding services into new markets. Performance and service quality assessments, however, are showing quality regression as the organization expands. The CEO and the executive committee are worried about the decline in performance and service quality levels, and suspect the quality of their new hires and/or lack of incentive among employees are to blame. Leadership decided to hire an experienced HR manager to oversee the current HR team of two, in hopes to reverse the downward trend of performance and quality. The HR manager conducts an internal analysis to diagnose the root causes of the service quality decline. The analysis uncovers several critical problem areas to be addressed, including vague job descriptions, a lack of formal orientation, low base pay, an ineffective performance review program, and the lack of a recognition and awards program. The changes will require additional resources and significant financial investment. A member of the executive committee proposes to terminate all current employees and start over with ones who are better qualified, believing that starting from scratch would be cheaper than fixing the identified problems. The HR manager needs to define key metrics to show the return on investment for the proposed HR solutions. Which of the following would be the most critical indicator?
Quality of service
Net profit margin
Ratio of net income (gross sales minus expenses and taxes) to net sales.
Unweighted mean
Raw average of data that gives equal weight to all values, with no regard for other factors.
How has big data revolutionized the way HR adds value to the organization?
Real-time processing provides up-to-date information.
At a staffing agency, recruiters are facing a challenge in finding high-quality candidates. Additionally, the recruiters adhere to an unwritten rule that they should not contact candidates who have already worked with other recruiters within the agency. A new recruiter corresponds with a candidate who was previously in communication with a veteran recruiter. The two recruiters get into an argument, and the recruitment manager tries to intervene. The new recruiter claims not knowing about this unwritten rule and challenges the rule's efficacy. The veteran recruiter says that the unwritten rule is explained during the onboarding process. The recruitment manager approaches the HR manager for help with attracting high-quality candidates. What guidance should the HR manager provide?
Recommend evaluating the effectiveness of the agency's recruitment processes and tools.
A company of office workers has an informal culture of maintaining the status quo in that many employees adequately perform job tasks to satisfy the bare minimum requirements. If employees complete their tasks early, they often stay at their desks to give the impression of working but are actually engaging in non-work-related activities. Instead of collaborating across departments to improve the quality of work and increase knowledge sharing, employees focus on completing their own tasks. Some supervisors are aware of this behavior, but most supervisors do not work in close proximity to their employees and are primarily focused on results. One day, the HR manager notices the administrative assistant using a craft machine to work on a personal project during work hours. Some supervisors approach the HR manager to request help with cultivating a culture of proactivity in their employees. What guidance should the HR manager provide?
Recommend that supervisors engage more frequently with their employees.
A company of office workers has an informal culture of maintaining the status quo in that many employees adequately perform job tasks to satisfy the bare minimum requirements. If employees complete their tasks early, they often stay at their desks to give the impression of working but are actually engaging in non-work-related activities. Instead of collaborating across departments to improve the quality of work and increase knowledge sharing, employees focus on completing their own tasks. Some supervisors are aware of this behavior, but most supervisors do not work in close proximity to their employees and are primarily focused on results. One day, the HR manager notices the administrative assistant using a craft machine to work on a personal project during work hours. The administrative assistant's supervisor tells the HR manager that there is no problem as long as job tasks are completed on time. How should the HR manager respond to the supervisor?
Recommend that the supervisor meet with the administrative assistant to identify career goals and create a job enrichment plan.
Over the past 12 months, a global hotel franchise has been experiencing steady, significant growth, and needs to hire more employees at all levels. The leadership team asks the HR department to transition into a strategic business partner role to ensure that the franchise can meet current and future demands. However, some senior managers in the franchise believe that HR should focus only on administration of traditional HR activities such as recruiting, payroll, benefits, and these managers refuse to include HR in business conversations. As a result, many HR staff have adopted a strict policy enforcement role that has only made it more difficult for the HR department to make the transition. An HR manager is tasked with identifying ways to expand the role of the HR function in the organization and aligning it with business strategy. The HR manager is also charged with presenting an HR transformation plan to the executive leadership team. Which action should the HR manager take to align the HR department's function with the organization's strategy?
Recommend to executive leadership that they invite HR staff to strategic planning meetings.
Which administrative task should an HR manager delegate to an HR assistant?
Reconciling benefits
Which of the following is a notable provision of the Department of Labor's electronic guidelines for data storage?
Records must be convertible into readable paper copy to satisfy obligations under Title I of ERISA.
A call center needs to hire more than 1,000 employees over the next three months to meet its hiring needs for a new health-care contract. The terms of the contract require that all employees have clear background screenings and at least half be multilingual. Currently, 25 managers and 10 employees meet all the requirements. Senior management has offered to actively participate in the hiring process and has made many suggestions, including group interviews, mass training, and virtual hiring and training. The CEO has asked HR to take the lead in putting together a comprehensive project plan within the next week to be presented to the management team. Which stakeholders are the most critical for HR to include in the initial project planning process?
Recruiting manager, talent development manager, and employee relations manager.
Which identifies a direct cost of turnover?
Recruitment cost
Which change might a corporation make in the way it does business to create a sustainability sweet spot?
Redesigning products so that components are made locally from recycled materials, thereby reducing production costs
A large clothing company has a bad reputation because of its hiring practices, its treatment of employees, and its lack of support to the communities it operates in. The CEO and senior managers are known to make decisions based solely on revenue potential, without regard for the impact it may have on society. In fact, the CEO has commented several times that investing money in anything other than operations is a bad business strategy and unethical in terms of the company's obligation to its investors. Recently, major suppliers for the company, located outside the company's home country, were accused of unethical labor practices, unsafe workplace conditions, and possible human rights violations. This has become a public relations nightmare. Several groups have called for boycotts against the company. At the last shareholders' phone conference, several institutional investors expressed their displeasure with management's failure to respond strongly to the problems with suppliers. The CEO expressed his belief that critics were being unrealistic about their expectations for the suppliers. In fact, they were themselves insensitive to business practices and local norms in these countries. Concerned with the negative publicity and lacking confidence in the CEO's response to it, the company's board of directors requests that the CHRO immediately be given the task of formulating a committee to audit the company's operating practices, its employer branding, and its attitude on social issues. This action would at least show that the company has heard the criticisms. What would be the most effective tactic in persuading the CEO to accept the audit?
Refer to examples of competitors who have met both financial and corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives.
National origin
Refers to the country (including those that no longer exist) of one's birth or of one's ancestors' birth.
Formalization
Refers to the extent to which rules, policies, and procedures govern the behavior of employees in an organization.
Span of control
Refers to the number of individuals who report to a supervisor.
Sit-down strike
Refusal by workers to work; also refusal by workers to leave their workstations, making it impossible for the employer to use replacement workers.
Which action would be considered an unfair labor practice (ULP)?
Refusing to bargain with a legally recognized union
Which would be the best way for HR to increase employee willingness to participate in pulse surveys to gauge improvement in comprehensive surveys?
Relate any employment practice changes made and their effectiveness to input provided on the last survey.
Apprenticeship
Related to technical skills training; often a partnership between employers and unions.
Mentoring
Relationship in which one person helps guide another's development.
Onshoring
Relocation of business processes or production to a lower-cost location inside the same country as the business.
What best describes the difference between replacement planning and succession planning?
Replacement planning focuses on short-term needs; succession planning focuses on long-term needs.
Whistleblowing
Reporting of an organization's violations of policies and processes by employees.
Simulations
Representations of real situations; give organizations the opportunity to speculate as to what would happen if certain courses of action were pursued.
Who are the members of a works council?
Representatives of workers and management
Which is an employee right identified under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act?
Requesting an OSHA inspection
Overtime pay
Required for nonexempt workers under U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act at 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek.
A nonprofit institution partners with 20 countries and several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide medical and educational services to refugees. For the past year, the institution has failed to deliver adequate services for its three largest service locations, and now some partners are threatening to cancel their contracts. One of the primary challenges is that there is a critical shortage of service location managers, who are typically recruited from the local population. The institution's HR team is centralized in the home-country headquarters and has no direct contact with the service location managers. The service location managers report to the VP of operations, who rarely travels and often seems more interested in pursuing career advancement opportunities than in addressing the institution's operational challenges. Which action should the HR manager take to address the shortage of service location managers?
Research political, economic, and social trends that impact the workforce in the service locations.
A company sends a team of employees and one field supervisor to a customer's location for a week. Employees stay in hotel rooms, two employees per room, and receive a daily meal allowance that allows the purchase of one alcoholic beverage. At dinner one evening, the employees have a few alcoholic beverages, and then they return to the hotel, where one employee passes out in the parking lot. The other employees call an ambulance, and emergency personnel ask if the unconscious employee takes any medication. The employee who shares a room with the unconscious employee goes to the room and finds the employee's medication bottles. No one rides in the ambulance or follows it to the hospital. The field supervisor calls HR to report the incident. The HR manager asks if the employee's spouse has been called and which hospital the employee was admitted to. No one knows where the employee has been taken, nor has the employee been in contact with anyone. The field supervisor locates the employee, who is in serious condition. The employee remains unconscious; it is unknown if the employee will recover from the incident. Management wants to end the employment relationship with the employee. Which action should the HR manager take first to ensure that field supervisors are prepared to handle emergency situations in the field?
Review company emergency protocols and conduct a needs assessment to identify gaps.
To attract talented university students, a public accounting firm offers an internship program to students who have completed 75% of their coursework. If a student is successful during the internship, the firm offers the student a position after graduation and provides opportunities for the student to study for the industry licensure exam. The firm pays for the exam and provides additional compensation once the student successfully completes the exam. For the past several years, the firm has seen an increasing rate of turnover among newly licensed employees. While it is common in the industry for employees to leave public accounting after they are licensed, the firm is losing many of its licensed employees to competitors. The high rate of turnover is negatively affecting the firm's performance. The HR manager has been charged with reducing the number of employees leaving for competitive firms as quickly and efficiently as possible. Which action should the HR manager take to identify the reasons employees are leaving for the competition?
Review exit interview feedback from employees who left to work for competitors.
A new HR manager joins a manufacturing organization that is experiencing an increase in workplace safety incidents. These incidents are resulting in higher insurance costs, increased absences, reduced productivity, and lower-quality products. A review of compliance functions and key performance indicators shows an excessive increase in the last 12 months. This timeline coincides with the retirement of the compliance manager and the transfer of the duties related to managing workplace safety to the HR department. The manager also compares the number of incidents in the organization with industry standards and determines that the organization's incident rates are 50% greater than the industry average. The HR manager recognizes that changes need to be made immediately in the HR department to improve safety and protect employees from future incidents and injuries. The CEO tasks the HR manager with finding solutions to increase safety knowledge and decrease incidents in the organization. Which approach should the HR manager take to identify the reasons for the excessive number of safety incidents?
Review incident reports for the last 12 months to determine if there are patterns.
A new HR manager joins a manufacturing organization that is experiencing an increase in workplace safety incidents. These incidents are resulting in higher insurance costs, increased absences, reduced productivity, and lower-quality products. A review of compliance functions and key performance indicators shows an excessive increase in the last 12 months. This timeline coincides with the retirement of the compliance manager and the transfer of the duties related to managing workplace safety to the HR department. The manager also compares the number of incidents in the organization with industry standards and determines that the organization's incident rates are 50% greater than the industry average. The HR manager recognizes that changes need to be made immediately in the HR department to improve safety and protect employees from future incidents and injuries. The CEO tasks the HR manager with finding solutions to increase safety knowledge and decrease incidents in the organization. What should the HR manager do to increase his own knowledge of safety practices and outcomes in the organization?
Review incident reports from the past five years to identify themes and common problems.
A recently promoted HR manager is transferred to a remote facility, due to several complaints of inappropriate behavior and favoritism between the plant manager and the former HR manager. The complaints range from allegations of an affair between the two to poor performance and stealing company property. The head office leaders are highly sensitive to creating an ethical culture and have asked that the new HR manager report back on any discovered issues with the plant manager. This makes the HR manager uncomfortable, because she is trying her best to balance developing a relationship with the plant manager with trying to complete the investigation. The new HR manager begins an investigation and learns that the plant manager believes two female employees in the accounting department reported the theft and the affair. When the HR manager speaks with these employees, they share the belief that they are being retaliated against. Although they were rated as above-average performers, they have been given only minimal wage increases. The investigation identified theft of a number of items by the plant manager. The items are not expensive, but their value is not minor. Additionally, it was learned that the plant manager is actively undermining the new HR manager's authority by telling all managers to ignore any HR recommendations. The HR manager studies the performance reviews and wage increases for all employees and finds inconsistencies that support the accounting employees' claims of retaliation. Given the HR manager's knowledge of the plant manager's behavior, what is the appropriate next step for the HR manager to take?
Review the process for setting wage increases for the accounting department with the company's controller.
An HR manager conducts a market salary survey to make sure that team members are being adequately compensated and do not seek other employment. Which level of needs in Maslow's hierarchy is she attempting to address?
Safety and security
A company sends an employee engagement survey to a randomized group of employees. Upon viewing the demographic data, the HR manager notices that a disproportionate number of the employees surveyed were male. What bias should the HR manager be concerned about?
Sampling
Which tool would be best for analyzing and presenting data about the relationship between years of education and amount of income?
Scatter diagram
The director of the HR department is taking personal leave for three weeks and assigns an HR employee to work with a consulting firm to conduct a strategic planning process for the company. The consulting firm conducts interviews with 10% of the employees, but none of the interviews is with line staff. The HR employee feels that the consulting firm's approach did not fully capture the information required to support the strategic planning process, so the HR employee decides to conduct a separate data collection. The HR employee develops a company-wide survey, gains buy-in from key leaders, and presents the survey to the executive team. Once approved by the executive team, the employee administers the survey and achieves a 77% response rate. The company's CEO shares the survey results with the consulting firm so it can implement the next phase of the strategic planning process. The HR employee has noticed that the HR director has started treating the HR employee differently since returning from leave. Communication between the HR director and the HR employee is less frequent and disengaged. What should the HR employee do?
Schedule a meeting with the director to discuss the situation.
A company sends a team of employees and one field supervisor to a customer's location for a week. Employees stay in hotel rooms, two employees per room, and receive a daily meal allowance that allows the purchase of one alcoholic beverage. At dinner one evening, the employees have a few alcoholic beverages, and then they return to the hotel, where one employee passes out in the parking lot. The other employees call an ambulance, and emergency personnel ask if the unconscious employee takes any medication. The employee who shares a room with the unconscious employee goes to the room and finds the employee's medication bottles. No one rides in the ambulance or follows it to the hospital. The field supervisor calls HR to report the incident. The HR manager asks if the employee's spouse has been called and which hospital the employee was admitted to. No one knows where the employee has been taken, nor has the employee been in contact with anyone. The field supervisor locates the employee, who is in serious condition. The employee remains unconscious; it is unknown if the employee will recover from the incident. Management wants to end the employment relationship with the employee. The leadership team wants to implement a policy that prohibits sending employees who have medical conditions out of town on business. How should HR handle this request?
Schedule a meeting with the leadership team to address their request and offer other options that are focused on the best interests of the business.
A company with a specialty product that has gained rapid popularity with hospitals has grown quickly from 15 employees to 300 in a one-year period. The organization expects to grow by several hundred employees per year for the foreseeable future. The president's secretary has been handling all human resources matters, and the accounting department has been handling payroll. The supervisors have been making their own human resources decisions regarding recruitment, employee relations, discipline, and rewards, with varying levels of success. The president pays little attention to the day-to-day operations of the business and focuses his attention on marketing and publicity. He decides that it is now necessary to hire an HR director to lead and manage the HR function. The supervisors are resistant to having a formal HR function in the company, believing that it will create unnecessary work and affect their ability to effectively manage the organization. During the interview process, the president indicates that there are a number of areas in need of focused attention, as the organization does not have job descriptions or a formal compensation structure and benefits are the same as when the company started. On the HR director's first day, there is no formal onboarding process. The president suggests that a good starting point for the HR director is to create a plan and catch up on the recruiting requests for the company. He then walks the HR director to her new office, offers to help with any questions, and walks away Building integrity with the management team is going to be vital in implementing HR policies and procedures. Which action should the HR director take to build credibility with the managers?
Scheduling one-on-one meetings with each department head to understand his or her business priorities and obstacles
Which is considered a flexible staffing strategy?
Seasonal contracting
Which is the best option to help an international assignee rapidly acclimate to the new country's culture?
Secure a specialized third-party vendor to provide the assignee with a customized settling-in program.
Which should be a primary concern for employers regarding the "bring your own device" (BYOD) technology approach?
Security and data integrity threats
At a staffing agency, recruiters are facing a challenge in finding high-quality candidates. Additionally, the recruiters adhere to an unwritten rule that they should not contact candidates who have already worked with other recruiters within the agency. A new recruiter corresponds with a candidate who was previously in communication with a veteran recruiter. The two recruiters get into an argument, and the recruitment manager tries to intervene. The new recruiter claims not knowing about this unwritten rule and challenges the rule's efficacy. The veteran recruiter says that the unwritten rule is explained during the onboarding process. The HR manager wants to evaluate the benefits of the unwritten rule about contacting candidates. Which step is most effective for the HR manager to take to obtain feedback?
Send an anonymous survey to all recruiters in the company to obtain feedback on the benefits of the unwritten rule.
Which scenario illustrates a geocentric global orientation as described by Perlmutter?
Senior management from all countries are considered to be part of a single global resource pool
An HR manager is contacted via telephone by an employee concerned about the need for the replacement of protective equipment currently being used. The employee indicates that the equipment is damaged upon reporting to the supervisor, the concerns have not been addressed. Compliance with industry safety standards is reported publicly on an ongoing basis. During the conversation, the spouse of the employee can be heard speaking loudly in the background expressing dissatisfaction and posts comments on social media. The HR manager and the public relations department have been notified of the postings. The HR manager contacts the employee to request the posts be removed which further incites the spouse and additional comments are posted. The spouse requests to meet with the leadership of the firm to discuss. What is the best route for the HR manager to take to decrease the current level of anxiety for the employee and the spouse?
Set the employee's expectation as to what the immediate next steps will be and provide a preliminary idea of the timing of the process.
Sexual orientation
Sexual, romantic, or emotional/spiritual attraction that one feels for persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or both sexes and more than one gender.
Which alternative dispute resolution (ADR) option allows an organization to determine who will resolve disputes?
Single designated officer
Conflict of interest
Situation in which a person or organization may benefit from undue influence due to involvement in outside activities, relationships, or investments that conflict with or have an impact on the employment relationship or its outcomes.
Principal-agent problem
Situation in which an agent (e.g., an employee) makes decisions for a principal (e.g., an employer) potentially on the basis of personal incentives that may not be aligned with the principal's incentives.
Joint employment
Situation in which an organization shares responsibility and liability for their alternative workers with an alternative staffing supplier; also known as co-employment.
Co-employment
Situation in which an organization shares responsibility and liability for their alternative workers with an alternative staffing supplier; also known as joint employment.
External equity
Situation in which an organization's compensation levels and benefits are similar to those of other organizations that are in the same labor market and compete for the same employees.
Work-to-rule
Situation in which workers slow processes by performing tasks exactly to specifications or according to job or task descriptions.
Applicant tracking system (ATS)
Software application that automates organizations' management of the recruiting process (such as accepting application materials, screening applicants, etc.).
Strategic fit
State in which an organization's strategy is consistent with its external opportunities and circumstances and its internal structure, resources, and capabilities.
General Duty Clause
Statement in U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act that requires employers subject to OSHA to provide employees with a safe and healthy work environment.
Cash flow statement
Statement of an organization's ability to meet its current and short-term obligations, showing incoming and outgoing cash and cash reserves in operations, investments, and financing.
Balance sheet
Statement of an organization's financial position at a specific point in time, showing assets, liabilities, and shareholder equity.
Income statement
Statement that reports revenues, expenses, and profits for a specified period of time, for example, quarterly or annually.
Variance analysis
Statistical method for identifying the degree of difference between planned and actual performance or outcomes.
A new HR manager begins work for an organization whose business model is to be a low-cost provider. On the first day of work, the HR manager learns that the conditions are far different than those described in the interview, with a severe lack of employee training and an 80% turnover rate. Salary ranges are outdated and appear to be 35% below current market rates. The employee handbook is incomplete, outdated, and not in current use. The accounting department handles payroll and benefits; however, views communication with employees as the job of HR. While conducting introductory interviews with department directors who operate independently, the HR manager learns that the expectation of HR is to only prescreen applicants and take care of employee complaints. While everyone has been trained on a new HRIS, it is not being used. Which is the best first step for the HR manager to take?
Step back and take in the big picture before deciding how HR activities can be aligned to support the organization's strategy.
A new CEO is selected to lead an organization that has grown over time but has not reviewed its staffing structure or responded to industry changes and trends. What may be hindering the organizational strategy?
Strategic drift
An organization hires experienced people who tend to stay with the organization for at least five years. Where would this be identified in a SWOT analysis?
Strength
Which is a benefit of a localization strategy?
Strong customer ties and responsiveness
Stay interviews
Structured conversations with employees for the purpose of determining which aspects of a job encourage employee retention or may be improved to do so.
Cloud computing
Style of computing in which scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service using Internet technologies.
A three-year-old company has achieved excellent results through perceptive market timing and aggressive marketing. Which type of strategy is the company following?
Successful differentiation strategy
A company of office workers has an informal culture of maintaining the status quo in that many employees adequately perform job tasks to satisfy the bare minimum requirements. If employees complete their tasks early, they often stay at their desks to give the impression of working but are actually engaging in non-work-related activities. Instead of collaborating across departments to improve the quality of work and increase knowledge sharing, employees focus on completing their own tasks. Some supervisors are aware of this behavior, but most supervisors do not work in close proximity to their employees and are primarily focused on results. One day, the HR manager notices the administrative assistant using a craft machine to work on a personal project during work hours. How should the HR manager increase collaboration and knowledge sharing across departments?
Suggest a job rotation program so employees become familiar with other departments.
Under the system of codetermination, whose approval is required by management prior to implementing strategic plans?
Supervisory board
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
As part of a software company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, during non-working hours employees volunteer time and expertise helping low-income people build their own small businesses. Participation has been consistent but at a very low level. What recommendation should HR make to assist the company in increasing employee involvement?
Support employee participation with paid time off.
In order to further its diversity and inclusion initiative, an organization wants to help its employee resource groups (ERGs) succeed. Which role should HR take?
Supporting the establishment of ERG-focused programs
Governance
System of rules and processes set up by an organization to ensure its compliance with local and international laws, accounting rules, ethical norms, internal codes of conduct, and other standards.
Workforce analysis
Systematic approach to anticipate human capital needs and data HR professionals can use to ensure that appropriate knowledge, skills, or abilities will be available when needed to accomplish organizational goals and objectives.
An organization's job descriptions have not been reviewed and revised for the past five years. What part of the organizational model can this negatively impact?
Systems
A company with a specialty product that has gained rapid popularity with hospitals has grown quickly from 15 employees to 300 in a one-year period. The organization expects to grow by several hundred employees per year for the foreseeable future. The president's secretary has been handling all human resources matters, and the accounting department has been handling payroll. The supervisors have been making their own human resources decisions regarding recruitment, employee relations, discipline, and rewards, with varying levels of success. The president pays little attention to the day-to-day operations of the business and focuses his attention on marketing and publicity. He decides that it is now necessary to hire an HR director to lead and manage the HR function. The supervisors are resistant to having a formal HR function in the company, believing that it will create unnecessary work and affect their ability to effectively manage the organization. During the interview process, the president indicates that there are a number of areas in need of focused attention, as the organization does not have job descriptions or a formal compensation structure and benefits are the same as when the company started. On the HR director's first day, there is no formal onboarding process. The president suggests that a good starting point for the HR director is to create a plan and catch up on the recruiting requests for the company. He then walks the HR director to her new office, offers to help with any questions, and walks away The HR director understands the need to develop and implement an effective strategic plan. What should be her first step in developing the plan?
Talking to senior leaders, long-time managers, and other key stakeholders to get an overall understanding of the company
A company has experienced a high degree of turnover during the past year. Senior leadership is concerned about the amount of turnover and worried that HR is not moving fast enough to fill these positions. The hiring managers say that the applicant pools have been weak lately and they have had trouble finding qualified applicants to hire from within the pools HR provides. HR has relied heavily on recruiting by word of mouth, which in the past has generated applicants that fit the company's culture. The award for referrals that result in hiring has also been popular with employees. What would be the best way for HR to address the senior leaders' concerns about turnover?
Tell senior management that HR will do an analysis of the current turnover rate across fiscal years to determine if the turnover rate has changed drastically.
A company has an outdated applicant tracking system, which upper management has been reluctant to replace. The HR department has had great difficulty managing the large number of applicants with this system. Many hiring-related tasks that the system is incapable of handling have been carried out manually. This has led to administrative errors, delay in application processing, and miscommunication for internal applicants. One day, the HR manager receives a call from an internal applicant who had applied for a position a month ago. This applicant immediately received an email from the HR department about scheduling next steps in the selection process but has not heard back since. During the phone call, the HR manager looks into the tracking system to find that this applicant had been screened out due to not being a good fit with the position, and the initial email had been sent due to an administrative error. The HR manager communicates this to the applicant. The applicant becomes furious about being misinformed and starts swearing at the HR manager over the phone. How should the HR manager respond?
Tell the applicant that HR understands why the applicant is upset about the error.
According to the Hersey-Blanchard theory, which is generally the most suitable situational leadership approach for entry-level employees?
Telling
The largest customer of a small consulting firm demands that the project manager terminate an employee for poor performance or the customer will terminate its contract immediately. The account project manager has documented the employee's performance as meeting expectations, there is no documentation to support a termination, and there is no place to transfer the employee to. The HR manager conducts a comprehensive investigation and learns that the employee and the customer had a verbal disagreement about how the employee had classified specific expenses and how it affects the customer's budget. The confrontation was significant but did not involve any unacceptable language. In addition, the employee's classification was technically correct; however, a reclassification was also acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles. The project manager was unaware of this conflict. The HR manager concludes that the employee did not follow the policy that requires an employee to advise the supervisor of a client issue. Because such a conflict could significantly harm the company's business, the policy states that an employee can be disciplined up to and including termination for this violation. The HR manager and the project manager prepare to meet with the employee. They consider their options. Which is the most effective option that will honor the company's policy, yet maintain the relationship with the company's customer?
Terminate the employee for violation of the company policy.
Reduction in force (RIF)
Termination of employment of individual employees or groups of employees for reasons other than performance, for example, economic necessity or restructuring; also known as downsizing.
An HR manager receives a memo from a department director for termination of a groundskeeping employee. The company's recreational vehicle resort is at the same location as company headquarters. The terminated employee works and lives at the resort, and has no prior record of performance issues in his 10 year career. The memo states that the director terminated the employee yesterday for gross misconduct. The groundskeeper was working in the heat all morning and then informed the director he was going home for lunch. 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 is concerned about the director's actions. Had the director contacted HR first before terminating the groundskeeper's employment, which recommended action would the HR manager have suggested?
Thank the student worker for raising her 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 foreign national. To use the BFOQ defense, what must employers prove?
That local employees cannot perform the key duties required by the job
The largest customer of a small consulting firm demands that the project manager terminate an employee for poor performance or the customer will terminate its contract immediately. The account project manager has documented the employee's performance as meeting expectations, there is no documentation to support a termination, and there is no place to transfer the employee to. The HR manager conducts a comprehensive investigation and learns that the employee and the customer had a verbal disagreement about how the employee had classified specific expenses and how it affects the customer's budget. The confrontation was significant but did not involve any unacceptable language. In addition, the employee's classification was technically correct; however, a reclassification was also acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles. The project manager was unaware of this conflict. The HR manager concludes that the employee did not follow the policy that requires an employee to advise the supervisor of a client issue. Because such a conflict could significantly harm the company's business, the policy states that an employee can be disciplined up to and including termination for this violation. What steps should the company take with the customer to improve communication and ensure that all employees are aligned with how information should be communicated going forward?
The HR manager and the project manager should meet with the customer to define what effective communication should be, and they then should share the new communication plan during an all-employee meeting.
Which factor is most important to consider when an organization is seeking to globalize its leadership development program?
The culture in each country as it affects how leaders emerge
Which is a trend in career development that an HR team leader must consider before engaging in career planning with team members?
The employee is expected to assume greater individual responsibility for career development.
A new employee gives birth after 10 months of employment. Under Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations, how much unpaid time off is the employee eligible for?
The employee is not eligible for FMLA leave
A company with 100 employees has a remote full-time employee who lives across the country and is about to give birth. What is she entitled to under the FMLA?
The employee is not entitled to any leave.
An employer, a university performing grant work for a department of the U.S. federal government, discovers through random testing that an employee has been using a controlled substance, but not in the workplace. How should HR advise the employee's manager?
The employee should be directed into a counseling program.
A mid-sized company has a strict attendance policy stating that any absence of three days or more without contact from the employee is considered job abandonment and the employee is subject to termination. The organization has experienced significant growth over the years, and the increase in the employee population has prompted stricter policies, which some staff view as unnecessarily controlling. One manager's best employee has been absent without contact for four days and calls in. The employee indicates he had some unexpected personal problems involving his teenage child. The employee did not call earlier due to being distraught, occupied with the situation, and also a bit embarrassed. According to the policy, the employee must be terminated, but the manager is reluctant to do so because this is the department's best employee. This is the first violation, and the serious family issues could escalate if the employee is terminated. Senior leadership has recently taken a tough stance on consistently adhering to company policies and practices due to complaints of favoritism. The manager is hesitant to go to HR for fear they will recommend termination. Instead the manager seeks counsel from a member of the senior leadership team who is a relative and who supports the decision to not terminate the employee. When the employee is not terminated, an anonymous complaint is filed via the employee hotline system. It alleges discrimination and favoritism; there is also a comment about too many new policies. The employee is named, and the complainant demands that other employees terminated under the no-call, no-show policy be reinstated. The protocol requires that HR review all discrimination complaints. Which is the appropriate outcome for the attendance policy violation?
The employee should be terminated per the company policy, to reinforce a consistent focus on policies that have been adopted and put in place.
A family-owned business with 100 employees wants to set up a retirement plan. If the organization implements a qualified defined contribution plan, what restrictions does the Employee Retirement Income Security Act impose on the investment of the assets?
The employer has a fiduciary responsibility to invest the funds as any prudent person would.
A federal contractor receives an attorney statement claiming discrimination against an employee working in counterintelligence. The employee complains of unlawful termination for refusal to submit a polygraph test following an incident. What exclusion protects the employer under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)?
The federal contractor was involved in national security.
Which of the following is considered a criterion for effective employee resource groups (ERGs) as established by DiversityInc.?
The group has a formal charter.
Key contributors to a recently completed project received bonuses. A male employee received $4,000. A female employee in another state received $10,000. The male employee files a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC does not find reasonable cause for the complaint. What may happen next?
The male employee may file a lawsuit against the employer.
The largest customer of a small consulting firm demands that the project manager terminate an employee for poor performance or the customer will terminate its contract immediately. The account project manager has documented the employee's performance as meeting expectations, there is no documentation to support a termination, and there is no place to transfer the employee to. The HR manager conducts a comprehensive investigation and learns that the employee and the customer had a verbal disagreement about how the employee had classified specific expenses and how it affects the customer's budget. The confrontation was significant but did not involve any unacceptable language. In addition, the employee's classification was technically correct; however, a reclassification was also acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles. The project manager was unaware of this conflict. The HR manager concludes that the employee did not follow the policy that requires an employee to advise the supervisor of a client issue. Because such a conflict could significantly harm the company's business, the policy states that an employee can be disciplined up to and including termination for this violation. What can management do to improve the communication between the project manager and the project manager's employees so that this type of event does not recur?
The manager's supervisor should meet with the project manager for coaching on the responsibilities of day-to-day supervision and communication with employees and the customer.
Which indicates that an organization is using strategic planning and management?
The organization's structure, resources, and policies are aligned to meet the agreed-upon goals
Which is a primary reason that organizations may not excel at performance management?
The organizational systems, strategies, and philosophies are not aligned.
Value chain
The process by which an organization creates the product or service it offers to the customer.
An HR professional is analyzing retention rates across all the functions and divisions in a large organization. There is a high standard deviation (SD) for the dataset. What does this indicate?
There is a considerable spread in the data from high to low rates.
A business providing cloud computing services intends to distribute its server centers in different time zones to protect against risks of local outages and to save energy by moving the bulk of processing to centers operating at night. Which best describes the impact to the organization's human capital planning?
There will be an increased need for diversity training.
Which is the primary reason why work councils are prohibited in the United States?
They are considered company-dominated unions.
An organization has become dysfunctional: Morale is low, reports of discipline-worthy offenses and conflicts with supervisors are increasing, and productivity is down. Which initial step would HR take to gain more information about possible causes?
Third-party-administered survey
A new HR manager begins work for an organization whose business model is to be a low-cost provider. On the first day of work, the HR manager learns that the conditions are far different than those described in the interview, with a severe lack of employee training and an 80% turnover rate. Salary ranges are outdated and appear to be 35% below current market rates. The employee handbook is incomplete, outdated, and not in current use. The accounting department handles payroll and benefits; however, views communication with employees as the job of HR. While conducting introductory interviews with department directors who operate independently, the HR manager learns that the expectation of HR is to only prescreen applicants and take care of employee complaints. While everyone has been trained on a new HRIS, it is not being used. What priority should the HR manager give to the unused HRIS?
This should be a priority after maintaining services to the other departments.
An HR business partner is conducting a focus group to examine possible causes for recent low engagement survey scores. What is the business partner's primary role in this meeting?
To encourage full discussion and participation
What is the role of an HR professional attending a meeting in a work unit that is struggling to implement recent changes?
To engage the group in solving issues that have arisen
How should an HR professional use trend analysis?
To plan possible responses to changes in labor supply
Which is a primary goal during supply analysis?
To provide a snapshot of an organization's current pool of talent
Which is the primary purpose of creating and communicating training program objectives?
To support measurement of the acquisition of learning
Performance management
Tools, activities, and processes that an organization uses to manage, maintain, and/or improve the job performance of employees.
A call center needs to hire more than 1,000 employees over the next three months to meet its hiring needs for a new health-care contract. The terms of the contract require that all employees have clear background screenings and at least half be multilingual. Currently, 25 managers and 10 employees meet all the requirements. Senior management has offered to actively participate in the hiring process and has made many suggestions, including group interviews, mass training, and virtual hiring and training. The CEO has asked HR to take the lead in putting together a comprehensive project plan within the next week to be presented to the management team. The HR team decides to implement a structured interview as part of the hiring phase. What should the HR director do to ensure that the interviews provide the same quality and quantity of information on each candidate?
Train a group of HR team members and call center managers to conduct the interviews.
A long-time employee of a small, rural branch of a national bank dies unexpectedly. This employee held a position requiring extensive institutional knowledge. Fellow employees are deeply saddened by the loss of their colleague, but bank policy allows bereavement leave for only members of the immediate family. The branch was already understaffed in several mid-level positions due to a limited pool of qualified applicants. The loss leads to increased workloads for the other employees, who are struggling to complete tasks on time. Which action should the HR manager take to address the hiring needs of the branch?
Train current employees to promote from within so less-skilled positions can be filled more easily.
A company with a history of tolerating low-performing employees has recently gained new leadership. The new executive team has brought in an HR director with a mandate to resolve multiple issues. The new HR director is well aware of the history of the company. In addition to the low-performance issue, the HR director has uncovered a poor record of compliance with the ADA, the FMLA, and workers' compensation. This lack of compliance has allowed several employees to take advantage of the system to their own benefit. The HR director has been tasked with correcting these issues with a new performance management system. Additionally, the HR director will need to improve the HR department's understanding and compliance with legal requirements so that the company is less likely to be taken advantage of in the future. The HR director has been tasked by the executive team to address the low performance of employees. Which is the best way for the HR director to handle this situation?
Train employees and supervisors on the new performance management process and expectations.
Leader development
Training and professional development programs targeted at assisting management- and executive-level employees in developing the skills, abilities, and flexibility required to deal with a variety of situations.
In which way has globalization impacted how domestic organizations train managers?
Training includes cross-cultural sensitivity and adaptability.
Which action can HR take to assist in creating an ethical organization?
Training leaders in ethical practices
On-the-job training (OJT)
Training provided to employees at the work site utilizing demonstration and performance of job tasks.
An organization has redefined its brand to demonstrate a commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Which phase of the CSR maturity curve is the organization in?
Transformation
Confidentiality
Treatment of personal information that has been disclosed to another person or organization.
Disparate treatment
Type of discrimination that occurs when an applicant or employee is treated differently because of his or her membership in a protected class.
Disparate impact
Type of discrimination that results when a policy that appears to be neutral has a discriminatory effect; also known as adverse impact.
Adverse impact
Type of discrimination that results when a policy that appears to be neutral has a discriminatory effect; also known as disparate impact.
Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI)
Type of liability insurance covering an organization against claims by employees, former employees, and employment candidates alleging that their legal rights in the employment relationship have been violated.
Quid pro quo harassment
Type of sexual harassment that occurs when an employee is forced to choose between giving in to a superior's sexual demands and forfeiting an economic benefit such as a pay increase, a promotion, or continued employment.
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
U.S act that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, youth employment, and record-keeping standards affecting full- and part-time workers in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments.
Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act)
U.S act that frees employers who use third parties to conduct workplace investigations from the consent and disclosure requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act in certain cases.
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)
U.S act that prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of their genetic information in both employment and health insurance.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
U.S act that protects privacy of background information and ensures that information supplied is accurate.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
U.S act that provides employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for family members or because of a serious health condition of the employee.
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius
U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requirement that individuals purchase health insurance was constitutional but requirement that states expand Medicaid was not.
Portal-to-Portal Act
U.S. act that defines what is included as hours worked and is therefore compensable and a factor in calculating overtime.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
U.S. act that established uniform minimum standards to ensure that employee benefit and pension plans are set up and maintained in a fair and financially sound manner.
Civil Rights Act of 1991
U.S. act that expands the possible damage awards available to victims of intentional discrimination to include compensatory and punitive damages; gives plaintiffs in cases of alleged discrimination the right to a jury trial.
Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA)
U.S. act that imposed several restrictions and requirements on unions.
Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)
U.S. act that prevents private employers from requiring applicants or employees to take a polygraph test for preemployment screening or during the course of employment, with certain exemptions.
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against job applicants on the basis of national origin or citizenship and establishes penalties for hiring undocumented workers.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of age.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
Equal Pay Act (EPA)
U.S. act that prohibits wage discrimination by requiring equal pay for equal or "substantially equal" work performed by men and women.
National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
U.S. act that protected and encouraged the growth of the union movement; established workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively with employers.
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
U.S. act that protects the employment, reemployment, and retention rights of persons who serve or have served in the uniformed services.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)
U.S. act that provides individuals and dependents who may lose health-care coverage with opportunity to pay to continue coverage.
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act
U.S. act that requires some employers to give a minimum of 60 days' notice if a plant is to close or if mass layoffs will occur.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
U.S. act that requires that all publicly held companies establish internal controls and procedures for financial reporting to reduce the possibility of corporate fraud.
Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth
U.S. court ruling that distinguished between supervisor harassment that results in tangible employment action and supervisor harassment that does not.
Drug-Free Workplace Act
U.S. law that requires federal contractors with contracts of $100,000 or more as well as recipients of grants from federal government to certify that they are maintaining a drug-free workplace.
Which is critical when considering forces for globalization?
Understand which forces are significant to the organization
What procedural document outlines the requirements that an employer needs to follow in order to show that it does not discriminate in its hiring process?
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures
Weingarten rights
Union employees' right in U.S. to have a union representative or coworker present during an investigatory interview.
A company sends a team of employees and one field supervisor to a customer's location for a week. Employees stay in hotel rooms, two employees per room, and receive a daily meal allowance that allows the purchase of one alcoholic beverage. At dinner one evening, the employees have a few alcoholic beverages, and then they return to the hotel, where one employee passes out in the parking lot. The other employees call an ambulance, and emergency personnel ask if the unconscious employee takes any medication. The employee who shares a room with the unconscious employee goes to the room and finds the employee's medication bottles. No one rides in the ambulance or follows it to the hospital. The field supervisor calls HR to report the incident. The HR manager asks if the employee's spouse has been called and which hospital the employee was admitted to. No one knows where the employee has been taken, nor has the employee been in contact with anyone. The field supervisor locates the employee, who is in serious condition. The employee remains unconscious; it is unknown if the employee will recover from the incident. Management wants to end the employment relationship with the employee. Which action should HR take to ensure that supervisors act appropriately in emergency situations without fear of violating employee privacy?
Use a collaborative approach with leaders to create and communicate a company-wide protocol that outlines steps to take in an emergency situation.
The CEO of a small local company has decided that the organization needs to embrace a model of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Despite a formal strategy not being in place, the organization has been using the principles of CSR in certain circumstances. The CEO wants the HR manager to help lead the corporate change. This change involves mindset, planning, and helping everyone embrace the change. HR is not viewed as a true partner to the organization currently, so this will be a challenge. The CEO is seeking to create a company known for treating people well, operating in a sustainable manner, and giving to worthy causes. This change will be more noticeable in some departments than in others. Because of this, the CEO would like to start with a word-of-mouth campaign prior to a large company-wide announcement. The CEO wants the HR manager to put together a plan within two to four weeks that creates this low-key way to work toward the CSR culture for the organization. HR and the CEO discuss that it will be a long-term process for change to be fully implemented. The CEO understands this but wants a plan no later than one month from the meeting. What action should the HR manager recommend to measure the acceptance of the new culture after it's announced and implemented?
Use both process and outcomes evaluations to determine the effectiveness of the program.
Pay grades
Used to group jobs that have approximately the same relative internal or external worth and are paid at the same rate or within the same pay range.
Webconferencing
Using the Internet to conduct meetings and give presentations to an audience who has joined the meeting remotely.
How are the concepts of value and the value chain related to strategy?
Value chain analysis identifies areas critical to strategic success.
How have corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies evolved in corporations?
Values and goals have been redefined based on CSR principles.
Industrial actions
Various forms of collective employee actions taken to protest work conditions or employer actions.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Varying ways an organization can create value, looking beyond traditional profit measures of revenue and expenses; includes such areas as philanthropy, volunteerism, corporate-sponsored community programs, social change, sustainability, corporate governance, employee rights, and workplace safety.
Which attribute is considered part of implicit culture?
Views toward power
What is an unfair labor practice?
Violation of a labor law by an employer or a union
Employee resource group (ERG)
Voluntary group for employees who share a particular diversity dimension (race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.); also known as affinity group or network group.
HR is looking for ways to increase the organization's brand while developing the employees. How can this be achieved?
Volunteering
The annual loss ratio for a company's health plan is 158%. The CHRO has been asked by the CEO to propose changes to the plan that will lower costs while retaining as many of the current benefits as possible. A review reveals that the dental and prescription drug coverage account for 84% of the plan's claims and that 3 of their 91 employees account for 73% of the claims. After reviewing a series of benefit options, the CHRO decides that the best option is a plan that doubles the deductibles on the dental and prescription benefits while also lowering the maximum reimbursement coverage by 25%. The CHRO makes a presentation outlining this suggestion to the company's executive committee. After a brief discussion of the rationale and the merits, the COO mentions that the company should announce the plan's changes to employees immediately. The CHRO responds that doing so would defeat the purpose of the changes. Without further discussion, the executive committee proceeds to vote and accept the changes to become effective upon plan renewal the following month. Two months after the introduction of the new plan, it is discovered that two employees made bulk prescription purchases (a six-month supply) one week prior to the changes in the benefit plan going into effect. The CHRO suspects a leak of the confidential information. How should the company react to the employees who are using the benefits excessively?
Wait until the plan changes are in effect and then hold a company-wide meeting using aggregated data to explain why the changes are necessary
When creating a benefits program, which key legal factor does the HR benefits leader need to keep in mind?
What government-regulated programs are provided
An organization finds that, without consciously meaning to, it is rewarding behaviors that violate its values. As it returns to the beginning of the total rewards strategy process, what factor should the organization be sure to include in its assessment of its total rewards needs?
What leaders are willing to tolerate in high performers
A differential piece-rate pay system works best in which type of environment?
When a link between the attainment of goals or achievement and the level of desired pay is needed
Staff units
Work groups that assist line units by providing specialized services, such as HR.
Line units
Work groups that conduct the major business of an organization.
What document legally authorizes a person to take employment in another country?
Work permit
Wildcat strike
Work stoppages at union contract operations that have not been sanctioned by the union.
A new HR manager begins work for an organization whose business model is to be a low-cost provider. On the first day of work, the HR manager learns that the conditions are far different than those described in the interview, with a severe lack of employee training and an 80% turnover rate. Salary ranges are outdated and appear to be 35% below current market rates. The employee handbook is incomplete, outdated, and not in current use. The accounting department handles payroll and benefits; however, views communication with employees as the job of HR. While conducting introductory interviews with department directors who operate independently, the HR manager learns that the expectation of HR is to only prescreen applicants and take care of employee complaints. While everyone has been trained on a new HRIS, it is not being used. Which communication approach should the HR manager apply to address the problem of turnover?
Work with leadership and employees to develop an employment brand that will carry consistent messages from job postings, through the application process and orientation, and continuing through employment.
The director of the HR department is taking personal leave for three weeks and assigns an HR employee to work with a consulting firm to conduct a strategic planning process for the company. The consulting firm conducts interviews with 10% of the employees, but none of the interviews is with line staff. The HR employee feels that the consulting firm's approach did not fully capture the information required to support the strategic planning process, so the HR employee decides to conduct a separate data collection. The HR employee develops a company-wide survey, gains buy-in from key leaders, and presents the survey to the executive team. Once approved by the executive team, the employee administers the survey and achieves a 77% response rate. The company's CEO shares the survey results with the consulting firm so it can implement the next phase of the strategic planning process. The employee wants to be recognized for doing a good job solving the data collection issue, but did not communicate the survey to the HR director in a reasonable time frame. How should the HR employee approach this situation?
Work with the HR director to leverage the successful data collection as a win for the entire HR department.
HR professionals must anticipate future talent needs as well as plan for the future employee talent pool. Which key factor typically contributes to an anticipated shortage in the labor pool?
Workforce skewed toward older employees
Which is a challenge when following a best-of-breed HRIS purchasing strategy?
Working with multiple vendors
What is the name of the formal structure composed of management and non-management employees who are responsible for consultation and effective flow of information?
Works council
Which budgeting method is being used by a manager who begins with no allocated budget and must justify allocations based on how the function will contribute to the organization's strategic goals?
Zero-based budgeting
