Human Resource practice quizzes ch1-ch4

What is one reason for creating high-performance work systems?

Customers are demanding high-quality and customized products.

Identify the correct statement regarding the composition of the U.S. labor force during the projected 2018-2028 period.

Despite a small increase in the number of young workers, the overall workforce will be aging.

Identify the step that can be taken by an organization to enrich manufacturing jobs for its employees.

Give employees more authority to vary the production process

Which statement about human resources is true?

Human resources have no good substitutes.

Identify the correct statement regarding the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).

If an OSHA violation results in citations, an employer must post each citation in a prominent place near the location of the violation.

What would be an outcome to a company if it applies industrial engineering to existing jobs?

Industrial engineering will provide measurable and practical benefits.

Which statement characterizes the Civil Rights Act of 1991?

It limits the maximum punitive damages allowed depending on the size of an organization.

Which statement characterizes the Age Discrimination in Employment Act?

It outlaws making employment decisions based on age in people over 40.

Which statement about quid pro quo harassment is true?

It refers to an individual gaining benefit in return for a sexual favor.

What is a disadvantage of using the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)?

It results in abstract reports that are of limited use.

Which statement about work flow analysis is true?

Outputs may be tangible or intangible products of the work processes.

Which statement about telework is true?

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, almost half of U.S. workers worked remotely with some frequency.

What is one consequence of teamwork?

Team members contribute to quality and assume many activities traditionally reserved for managers.

__________ granted all persons the same property rights as white citizens, as well as the right to enter into and enforce contracts.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866

Which statement about Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is true?

The act applies to organizations with 15 or more employees.

What is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission?

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Parul, the human resource manager at Triant Inc., has a clear understanding of the firm's business. This enables her to understand the various needs of the business and help the company meet its goals for attracting, keeping, and developing employees with the required skills. This scenario indicates Parul's responsibility of

providing business partner services.

When an individual is promised a positive outcome for submission to sexual advances, or threatened with a negative outcome for failure to submit to sexual activities, this is referred to as

quid pro quo harassment.

Which technology can be used to provide employees access to information about HR issues?

self-service

Which federal organization has focused on encouraging ergonomic job design?

the Occupational Safety and Health Administration

What is the name of the agency that is responsible for enforcing the executive orders that cover companies doing business with the federal government?

the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

The specific ways in which human resource professionals support an organization's strategy vary according to

their level of involvement and the nature of the strategy.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects only those workers who are over the age of

40

A human resource professional of a company exhibits the competency of business acumen when he or she

applies knowledge of how the functions of HR contribute to business success.

Which responsibility is specifically associated with the HR function of employee relations?

conducting attitude surveys

A __________ refers to an agreement between the EEOC and an organization that the organization will cease certain discriminatory practices and possibly institute additional affirmative-action practices to rectify its history of discrimination.

consent decree

Which action associated with an OSHA inspection can result in criminal charges?

falsifying records subject to the inspection

What is one way in which the executive branch helps create the legal environment for human resource management?

filing suit against violators of equal opportunity laws

Given the increasing use of computers to do routine tasks, which employee skill is most likely to be actively sought by U.S. employers today?

interpersonal skills

A list of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities that a job entails is called a

job description.

In the context of work flow design, which best illustrates a position?

Alice's job is to provide health and safety guidelines to all employees, and to regularly check people to make sure they have followed the guidelines.

An HR manager observes that the number of employees quitting their jobs has been steadily increasing over the last six months. On closer inspection, he finds that a majority of the employees who quit were unhappy with the pay structures. The manager assesses the significance of each job to the organization, giving each job a dollar value. This helps him set up fair pay structures and retain valuable employees. What most likely relates to the task undertaken by this manager?

job evaluation

Identify the method that breaks down jobs into basic elements to rate them for their potential for harm or injury.

job hazard analysis technique

The HRM function during downsizing is to terminate the workers who are

less valuable in their performance.

What is the most common reason why U.S. organizations hire employees in foreign countries?

low cost of labor in foreign countries

Which HR function includes preparing and distributing employee handbooks that detail company policies?

maintaining positive employee relations

Which term refers to the process of ensuring employees' activities and outputs match an organization's goals

performance management

In an attempt to motivate its current employees and to attract skilled professionals, Integrated Inc. decides to increase salaries as well as year-end bonuses for its best performers. Which HR function is demonstrated in this scenario?

planning and administering pay and benefits

By keeping employees' personal records confidential, an employer respects their right of

privacy.

The relationship between an employer and an employee can be thought of in terms of a(n) __________, a description of what an employee expects to contribute in an employment relationship and what the employer will provide the employee in exchange for those contributions.

psychological contract

Identify the process through which an organization seeks applicants for potential employment.

recruitment

Cindy is a human resource manager at Charles & Sons Corp. She skillfully handles personal interactions with her staff and the other department managers. She is highly admired by others in the organization because she treats others with respect and builds trust. This scenario indicates Cindy has strengths in the HR success competency of

relationship management.

The concept of "human resource management" implies that employees are

resources of the employer.

Herzberg identified five factors he associated with motivating jobs. Which of these was one of the factors?

responsibility

The process by which an organization attempts to identify applicants with the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that will help the organization achieve its goals is referred to as

selection.

According to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, men and women performing the same job cannot have differences in pay on the basis of

sex.

In the context of HRM functions, the activities of performance management include

specifying the tasks and outcomes of a job that contribute to an organization's success.

To gather information about worker requirements, the Fleishman Job Analysis System typically asks __________ to evaluate a job in terms of the abilities required to perform the job.

subject-matter experts

An organization's ability to profit without depleting its resources, including employees, natural resources, and the support of the surrounding community, is called

sustainability.

What clusters of competencies are necessary for success in human resource management?

technical, interpersonal, business, and leadership

Which act represents participation in a proceeding?

testifying in an investigation

The new production manager at a toy manufacturing company, Carl, notices that the production unit has been underperforming. In an attempt to streamline the existing work flow, Carl brings in an HR specialist to help him conduct a work flow analysis. Carl describes to the specialist the outputs required. What will the HR specialist have Carl define next?

the work processes used to make the toys

What is the objective of job enlargement?

to make jobs less repetitive and more interesting

What term describes a planned effort to enable employees to learn job-related knowledge, skills, and behavior?

training

Which process involves analyzing the tasks necessary for the production of a product or service?

work flow design

Which HR activity is similar to analyzing a job that does not yet exist?

work redesign

An advertising firm is hiring employees who specialize in analyzing large volumes of data about consumer behavior. The manager to whom these analysts report does not share their knowledge of quantitative methods but wants them to develop recommendations for better decision making. Jamal, who works in the HR department, is developing a form the manager will follow in measuring the analysts' performance. What kinds of performance measures should Jamal focus on?

The form should measure outcomes, such as timely and useful recommendations, because the manager will not be able to evaluate specific technical behaviors.

What istrue of early retirement programs that are used as a method of downsizing?

They are a humane way to downsize.

Which statement is correct regarding skilled knowledge workers?

They are not easily replaced because they own the knowledge that the company requires to produce its products.

Which statement about competency models is true?

They help HR professionals ensure that all aspects of talent management are aligned with an organization's strategy.

What is a key advantage of human resource information systems?

They help HR professionals think strategically.

How do human resources professionals provide an organization with a sustainable competitive advantage?

They hire high-quality employees who provide a needed service as they perform many critical functions.

Companies today are finding that to survive, they must compete in international markets and fend off foreign competitors' attempts to gain ground in the United States. What would help businesses in the United States meet these challenges?

They must prepare employees for global assignments.

The __________ is the set of guidelines issued by the EEOC and other agencies to identify how an organization should establish a recruitment process that is free and fair.

Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures

A downsizing strategy implemented at Finder Corp. has resulted in negative stock returns and lower profitability following the layoffs. Which statementbest explains the reason for these negative results at Finder Corp.?

When labor costs fall after a downsizing, sales per employee also tend to fall.

__________ refers to the use of quantitative tools and scientific methods to analyze data from human resource databases and other sources to make evidence-based decisions that support business goals.

Workforce analytics

What is an HR dashboard?

a display of how the company is performing on specific HR metrics

The process of getting detailed information about jobs is referred to as

a job analysis.

Which scenario reflects a job lacking the characteristic of task significance?

a job that has minimal impact on the lives of other people

What is the term for two companies joining forces to become one entity?

a merger

Which technology simulates human thinking?

artificial intelligence

Which situation may involve disparate impact?

Carly wants to be part of her local police force. Both men and women are encouraged to apply, but Carly discovers the force has a minimum height requirement of 5'8''. She is 5'6''.

Which statement accurately represents the Americans with Disabilities Act?

It goes beyond prohibiting discrimination to require that employers take steps to accommodate individuals covered under the legislation.

How has the use of employee empowerment affected the recruitment process in the United States.?

It has shifted the focus away from technical skills to general cognitive and interpersonal skills.

What is the legal basis for considering sexual harassment to be illegal discrimination?

It is a form of sexual discrimination.

Which statement about a bona fide occupational qualification is true?

It is a necessary qualification for a job.

Which statement istrue of an intranet?

It is a network that uses Internet tools but limits access to authorized users in the organization.

What is a basic difference between job specifications and job descriptions?

Job descriptions look at a job's activities, and job specifications look at the qualities needed to do the job.

Which statement istrue of employee empowerment?

Jobs must be designed to give employees the necessary latitude for making a variety of decisions.

What istrue according to the core values of total quality management?

Managers should measure progress with feedback based on data.

Which observation about reengineering istrue?

Rapidly changing customer needs and technologies necessitate reengineering.

A human resource manager at a manufacturing company recommends that the company use the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) for conducting job analysis. Which statement best supports this recommendation?

The PAQ considers the whole work process, from inputs through outputs

How can an HR department that is considered its company's strategic partner help the company gain a competitive advantage?

by understanding the existing human resources and providing new ones

The right of privacy is the right to

control what a person reveals about their private life.

Which HR function involves offering programs through which employees acquire knowledge, skills, and behavior that improve their ability to meet the challenges of a variety of new or existing jobs, including the client and customer demands of those jobs?

development

What is responsible for the shift in the job trend towards the use of broadly defined jobs instead of the use of narrowly defined jobs in organizations?

emphasis on innovation and quality

What is a characteristic of current-day high-performance work systems?

employee empowerment in decision making

Job enrichment differs from job rotation in that job enrichment

empowers workers by adding more decision-making authority to their jobs.

What is a core value of the total quality management process?

encouraging cooperation with vendors, suppliers, and customers to improve quality

Which strategy is used by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to increase ergonomic job design?

enforcing violations of its requirement that employers have a general duty to protect workers from hazards, including ergonomic hazards

Which action could be an example of how the Occupational Safety and Health Administration plays a role in the legal environment for human resource management?

filing lawsuits against alleged violators of the Occupational Safety and Health Act

What is one of the four principles that guides how ethical companies act?

have a sense of purpose or vision that employees value and use

Organizations that have the best possible fit between their social system and their technical system are referred to as

high-performance work systems.

What term describes the employees of an organization in terms of their training, experience, judgment, intelligence, relationships, and insight?

human capital

The external labor market consists of

individuals who are actively seeking employment.

Which action by employers can result in reverse discrimination?

affirmative action

A firm that develops software applications for other companies moved into a new office space. Most of the employees complained about the lack of comfortable seating arrangements. Following up on the complaint, the HR department advised management to invest in studying the ergonomics of the new office space. What would serve as an incentive for the company to invest in the study of ergonomics?

Ergonomics reduces the physical strain on employees performing a job.

Which job analysis method requires subject-matter experts to evaluate a job in terms of abilities required to perform the job?

Fleishman Job Analysis System

What is a standard that human resource managers must satisfy for HRM practices to be ethical?

Human resource practices must result in the greatest good for the largest number of people.

A middle manager is of the opinion that organizations should empower employees, and suggests this should be done by designing work to be done by self-managing teams. Which statement would validate her argument?

Self-managing work teams may perform duties traditionally handled by management.

Which term refers to an organization's active effort to find opportunities to hire or promote people in a particular group?

affirmative action