Human Resources Management Final

Beginning in 2014, firms with _____ full-time employees will be required to automatically enroll new full-time employees in their health care plans.

50

One of the limitations of the Family and Medical Leave Act is that it only applies to companies that have ______ or more employees during 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding year.

50

It is estimated that ___ of employees in the United States work without benefit of an employment contract.

80%

By some estimates _____ of employee learning occurs via on the job training.

80-90%

In 1908, the Supreme Court upheld the employment at will doctrine in

Adair v. United States

An interview in which an applicant is given a hypothetical incident and is asked how he or she would respond to it is a:

Behavioral Description Interview

A manager who provides a continuing flow of instructions, comments, and suggestions to the subordinate is engaging in what type of on-the-job training? .

Coaching

Which is the most direct and the least complicated type of validity to assess?

Content validity

Encompasses employee wages and salaries, incentives, bonuses, and commissions.

Direct compensation

Private pensions are subject to federal legislation under

Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

The benefits of providing job applicants with a balanced, honest, and realistic portrayal of a job position include all of the following EXCEPT:

Enhanced expectations and aspirations.

Which of the following is NOT an example of how an implied contract may become binding?

Failing to create an employee handbook or conducting performance appraisals on a routine basis

The major provisions of which act are concerned with minimum wage rates and overtime payments, child labor, and equal rights?

Fair Labor Standards Act

A point manual can be used to determine the external equity of a job.

False

A pre-employment test is a subjective measure of behavior.

False

Because personnel files are the employer's property, an employee may be barred from seeing his or her file.

False

Behavior modeling is based on the principle that behavior which is rewarded will be exhibited more frequently in the future, whereas behavior which is unrewarded will decrease in frequency.

False

E-learning encompasses two techniques: computer-assisted instruction, and computer-based program design.

False

Employees do not actually buy shares in an employee stock exchange plan.

False

Encouragement is most effective when it is given after a long period of time after a trainee successfully accomplishes a certain task so that the employee knows that management has not forgotten his/her contributions.

False

Expectancy theory predicts that people expect to be paid as much or more than individuals in a similar job class.

False

Federal courts have significantly expanded the areas of questioning permitted during an interview.

False

Gainsharing plans are designed to increase employee job satisfaction and improve customer awareness.

False

Having appraisals reviewed by a supervisor's supervisor creates unnecessary redundancy and may actually result in greater legal liability.

False

In order to qualify for Social Security benefits, all individuals must be at least 65 years of age.

False

Most online benefits systems are adaptable and transfer information with full security.

False

Pay-for-performance programs have little, if any, effect on employee productivity.

False

Realistic job previews not only reduce turnover but also reduce job satisfaction.

False

Rewarding an employee's past performance is not a goal of a strategic compensation policy.

False

Severance pay plans grant employees weekly benefits in addition to state unemployment compensation.

False

Stock options have become popular in service organizations but have lost favor in manufacturing firms.

False

T/F: Managers need to constantly engage in a dialogue with their subordinates.

False

The fair representation doctrine settles disputes over the meaning of contract terms.

False

Unions that represent various groups of professional and white-collar workers are called industrial unions.

False

While most managers agree that pay should be linked to performance, employees do not.

False

_____ organizational structures in firms means that there are fewer promotion possibilities.

Flatter

The Social Security Administration administers the ______ program.

Medicare

To which phase of the system model do organization analysis, task analysis, and person analysis belong?

Needs assessment phase.

Groups of physicians that contract with an employer to provide medical resources on a more cost-efficient basis in exchange for a greater share of patients are known as:

Preferred Provider Organizations

_____ is the process of keeping track and maintaining relationships with former employees who would be willing to return to the firm

Re-recruiting

Alternative dispute resolution procedures, such as arbitration:

Settling disputes without litigation.

A plan that enables an employee who is laid off to draw, in addition to state unemployment compensation, benefits from the employer that are paid from a fund created for this purpose is referred to as:

Supplemental Unemployment Benefits

Instructional objectives are the key components in designing a training program.

TRue

States are permitted to enact legislation prohibiting compulsory union membership as a condition of employment under the.

Taft Hartley Act.

Which of the following is an internal factor that can influence the rates at which employees are paid?

The employer's ability to pay.

According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study, people who send text messages while driving are _____ times more likely to crash than other drivers.

Three

A common childcare benefit offered by employers is the dependent care spending account.

True

A distributional rating error occurs when a single rating is skewed toward an entire group of employees.

True

A grievance procedure is a formal representation process that is often considered the heart of a bargaining agreement.

True

A need for a new benefit should be established through consultation with employees before it is introduced.

True

A spot bonus is usually given for some employee effort that is not directly tied to an established performance standard.

True

An employee's immediate supervisor is the logical person to apply the company's disciplinary procedure.

True

An employer's bargaining strategy must include a contingency plan in the event of a strike.

True

Equity theory is also referred to as distributive fairness.

True

In an attempt to increase unionism, unions are now targeting low-wage service workers.

True

In law, negligence is the failure to use a reasonable amount of care when such failure results in injury to another person.

True

In the clinical approach to selection, different evaluators assign different weights to an applicant's strengths and weaknesses.

True

It is not uncommon for firms to attempt to gain secrets from their competitors by hiring away their employees.

True

It is not uncommon for larger companies to cut the health care plans they once provided their retirees.

True

Managers group similar jobs into a pay grade in order to help with the setting of wages for all jobs.

True

Most legal experts suggest employers use antipiracy agreements rather than noncompete agreements.

True

One of the major criticisms of job-based compensation systems is that they often fail to reward employees for their skills or the knowledge they possess.

True

Pay secrecy seems to be an accepted practice in many organizations.

True

Professional employer organizations lease employees to firms and perform all the HR duties including hiring, payroll, performance appraisal, and benefits administration.

True

Straight commission plans may induce salespeople to grant price concessions.

True

Strategic compensation is the compensation of employees in ways that enhance motivation and growth while concurrently aligning their efforts with the goals of the organization.

True

Studies have shown that employees who earn performance-based pay are more satisfied.

True

T/F: An employer's bargaining power may rest on its ability to continue its operations despite a strike by its workers.

True

The collective bargaining process may include activities such as strikes and boycotts.

True

The expectancy theory of motivation predicts that one's level of motivation depends on the attractiveness of the rewards sought by employees and the probability of obtaining those rewards.

True

The significance of wrongful discharge suits is that they challenge an employer's right under the employment-at-will doctrine to unilaterally discharge employees.

True

Today, most companies conduct drug tests only when reasonable suspicion or probable cause exists.

True

Under a straight commission plan, sales people may be allowed a salary draw.

True

Unionization may restrict the freedom of management in many areas.

True

____________ represent the interests of union members in their relations with their immediate supervisor and other members of management.

Union stewards

An employee's relative worth can be determined by:

an effective performance appraisal service.

For real wages to increase, which of the following must be true?

an employees wage increase must be greater than the increase in the cpi

In recent years, several companies have banded together to provide elder care in a cooperative arrangement referred to as a:

consortium

When cost-of-living pay increases are given routinely, employees may view them as .

entitlements

A method of rating performance in which the rater chooses from statements that appear equally favorable or equally unfavorable is known as the:

forced-choice method.

The amount of survivors' insurance benefits paid by Social Security is:

is based on the worker's lifetime earnings covered by Social Security

Before firing an employee, employers should apply the:

principles of just cause.

Regardless of the selection methods used, it is essential that the selection procedure be:

reliable and valid

Instrumentality refers to:

successful performance results in some outcomes.

Retirees often return to their old employers because:

the employers request them.

The strategic relevance of performance appraisals refers to

the extent to which standards relate to the overall objectives of the organization.

Piecework is appropriate when:

the job is fairly standardized

Compensation committees justify large executive compensation packages in the following ways EXCEPT

the pay gap between the CEO and the employees builds credibility

The states that grant employees the privilege to see their personnel files generally does not provide:

the right to copy of one's personnel file.

People experience a life plateau when

they let work become the priority in their lives

Noncash incentive rewards are most effective as motivators

when the award is combined with a meaningful employee recognition program.

A term applied to the goals of U.S. labor organizations, which collectively bargain for improvements in wages, hours, job security, and working conditions is known as:

business unionism

The lines of advancement for an individual within an organization are known as

career paths.

As an appraiser, one should try to do all of the following EXCEPT:

change the person, not the behavior.

Workplace violence warning signs include all of the following EXCEPT: .

chronic

In the _________ to decision making, those making the selection decision review all the data on the applicants.

clinical approach

The ____________ collects and displays the results for all the measures that a company uses to monitor and compare compensation among internal departments or units.

compensation scorecard

Injuries that result from workers using the same motions again and again are known as

cumulative trauma disorders

Companies with award-winning ergonomics programs list all the following as common elements of success EXCEPT:

not bothering to involve one's employees in ergonomics.

Special benefits given to executive employees, such as assigned chauffeurs, country club memberships, special vacation policies, are known as:

perquisites