MGMT 374
Manager's Hot Seat: Work-Life Balance If Quantum Gaming continues to regularly require employees to work overtime (e.g., weekends, nights) and under such high pressure and high stress conditions, they may find an even greater negative impact on employees' health. One effort to curtail, and even preempt, some of these issues would be to start which of the following types of programs?
Employee wellness program
Show Me the Money Which of the following compensation programs would likely NOT be acceptable to the WMS managers?
Incentive pay
Which Benefits to Offer? Which of the following is NOT true about the tax treatment of benefits programs?
It is less favorable than taxes on wages and salaries.
The Ownership Society Because Andrew's contribution to the stock's performance is less than it would be at a smaller company, what effect will stock options have on employee motiviation?
It likely will decrease
Manager's Hot Seat: Negotiations According to equity theory, when Alisa compares her union members' wages to the executives receiving bonuses, she perceives there to be which type of inequity from the perspective of the union members?
Underreward inequity
Which Benefits to Offer? Which of the following types of insurance is mandated by the U.S. government?
Unemployment
Setting Up a Pay Structure According to efficiency wage theory, what should WMS do when determining what to pay its employees?
WMS should offer an above-market pay rate to ensure its employees have the incentive to put forth maximum effort.
Executive Pay: Make the Link One of the primary issues with executive pay that Super Mega Corp needs to avoid is executive pay that is
always high, regardless of performance.
Setting Up a Pay Structure When designing a pay structure, Tom should keep in mind that all of the following are benefits of developing a pay structure within an organization EXCEPT
attaching pay structure to specific jobs makes compensation less equitable
Manager's Hot Seat: Work-Life Balance Quantum Gaming has been losing employees at an alarming rate, with four recently quitting. Two in particular, Linda and Doug, cited one reason for leaving as "pathetic recompense." In order to become more competitive by providing better compensation and benefits to employees, Quantum Gaming should partake in the process of __________ so that they know what competition is providing employees.
benchmarking
Setting Up a Pay Structure In order to be competitive in his industry, Tom may want to compare his company's pay structure to those of its competition. This is called
benchmarking.
The Ownership Society The fact that Andrew cannot sell his shares until he leaves the organization is likely to
decrease the motivation potential of the program for him
Setting Up a Pay Structure When designing a pay structure, Tom needs to consider the total compensation for his employees. Total compensation consists of all of the following EXCEPT
development opportunities.
The Cost of Benefits The hospital insurance rates were much lower than those employees could find on their own because of
economies of scale.
The Ownership Society When growth is high, extending stock options to lower levels of the organization is likely to
enable employees at all levels to share in the organization's growth, increasing attachment to the organization
Manager's Hot Seat: Cyberloafing During his meeting with Bryan, Davy admits that his recent decrease in performance is in response to not having received a raise after a strong performance appraisal. In describing the reason for Davy's unproductive behavior, Davy's perceptions of __________ led to him becoming less productive as a way to restore __________.
inequity; equity
Manager's Hot Seat: Negotiations Alisa and the union employees are comparing their compensation to that of their executives. This exemplifies a(n) _________ equity perspective.
internal
Executive Pay: Make the Link Separating the role of CEO and chair of the board, as Super Mega Corp wants to do
is a way to assert board independence
Communicating Executive Pay A large gap between executive and employee pay, as seen here, can lead to
low customer satisfaction.
Communicating Executive Pay A key role in explaining JBL's new bonus system will be played by
managers.
Manager's Hot Seat: Cyberloafing Davy should rightfully ask for his strong performance appraisal to yield a bonus if Sarga Inc. operates on a(n)
merit pay program.
I'm with the Band A major advantage of the delayering approach at North-West will be
more discretion to reward top performers.
Family-Friendly Benefits Providing information on financial and college planning falls under SAS's ____________ provisions.
most popular
The Ownership Society One reason why Titan might be less likely to grant employees like Andrew stock options in the future is that
new accounting standards require companies to expense those options, reducing net income.
Show Me the Money Tom Werner wants to provide his employees with a compensation plan that is foremost
outcome-oriented.
Manager's Hot Seat: Negotiations Alisa, on behalf of her union members, is hoping to restore equity, at least to some extent, between them and the JBL executives. To do this, she is attempting to ________ the _________ for the union employees.
increase; outcome
Manager's Hot Seat: Work-Life Balance During the meeting, Samantha's team expresses frustration and demands a variety of compensation-related perks if they are going to consider working on the current, very time-consuming project (e.g., overtime, flexible schedule, paid vacation). Samantha could consider using a __________ if she wants to appease each person's unique request.
flexible benefits plan
Executive Pay: Make the Link One of the primary reasons for putting significant executive compensation "at risk" in the form of incentive pay is to
provide an incentive to pursue both short-term and long-term performance goals.
Executive Pay: Make the Link Mary wants to use a balanced scorecard to set pay because it
sets pays in accordance with achieving key organizational objectives.
Executive Pay: Make the Link Mary's function in this case is to represent
shareholders.
The Cost of Benefits Weber uses benefits as a means to recruit and attract employees. This type of strategy led to the tremendous growth of benefits in this country and was first implemented due to
wage controls.
Communicating Executive Pay If top executive bonuses seem unrelated to organization performance, JBL employees
will wonder why they don't get increases.
Which Benefits to Offer? What type of issue continues to be a common reason for employee work stoppages?
Benefits
Communicating Executive Pay How might Katherine have provided an adequate explanation to employees regarding the bonuses to executives?
By explaining why the pay structure is designed the way it is, and be open to listening to their concerns
Family-Friendly Benefits How did SAS discover that medical coverage for retirees was a family-friendly benefit desired by employees?
By listening to employee needs
Manager's Hot Seat: Negotiations As seen is in other companies around the globe, a large disparity in pay between JBL's executive and nonexecutive employees could create what is known as a "trust gap." Which of the following does NOT represent elements of a trust gap?
Executives' help themselves in order to eventually give back to nonexecutive employees
The Cost of Benefits Which of the following factors has NOT influenced the increase in the scope of employee benefits?
Global expansion of business
I'm with the Band How will broad-banding help Ray with the fact that his employees are reluctant to step outside their roles?
Having fewer, broader job descriptions and less emphasis on jobs makes the roles more flexible
I'm with the Band Why might having broader bands help Ray attract better talent?
He will have more flexibility to meet market pay demands
A Meritorious Plan? What will happen to the cost of a merit pay plan if Compu-Globo's business suffers?
He will still have to increase salaries if individual performance is good
The Ownership Society Under what circumstances will Andrew's stock options generate any gain for him?
If the stock price goes above $22
A Meritorious Plan? Which of these is a reason that Compu-Globo's employees might not be motivated by a profit-sharing plan?
If they feel that they have no impact on the overall results
Family-Friendly Benefits Which of the following is NOT an example of how SAS allows employees to have a full life away from work?
Job transfers
A Meritorious Plan? Which of these is most amenable to incentive pay, if Nick decides to go that route?
Jobs in which performance can be measured as individual output, productivity, and sales
The Cost of Benefits Which of the following is an optional benefit Weber can offer employees in his hospital?
Life insurance
Family-Friendly Benefits What is SAS's secret to success?
Listening to what is important to its employees, and adapting policies and programs to meet these needs
Developing a Pay Structure What would be an advantage of emphasizing the internal evaluation?
Logistics professionals would probably feel that they are being treated more fairly
The Cost of Benefits Tax treatments of benefits is often more favorable to the employee than tax treatment of wages because of which of the following?
Marginal tax rate
A Meritorious Plan? Which of these policies is most likely to lead to individual competition among Compu-Globo's new hires?
Merit pay
A Meritorious Plan? Why is it important for Nick to have a well-developed performance appraisal system if merit pay is a substantial component of compensation?
Merit pay increases are based on assessments of individual performance; the stakes of the appraisal are high with this system
Developing a Pay Structure All other things being equal, which of these positions should be paid more?
Positions that are central to the organization's goals
Setting Up a Pay Structure What are the two important competitive market challenges WMS will face when deciding what to pay its employees?
Product market competition and labor market competition
Family-Friendly Benefits Which of the following does SAS do at the highest level of child care provision?
Provide subsidized on-site care
I'm with the Band If Ray decided to delayer his organization, what would he be doing?
Reducing the number of job levels to achieve flexibility in assignments
Manager's Hot Seat: Cyberloafing Davy receives a strong performance appraisal, but it is not followed by him experiencing any type of monetary compensation. According to __________, without experiencing such a reward, high performance is unlikely to follow.
Reinforcement Theory
Developing a Pay Structure What is the most likely consequence of emphasizing the internal evaluation?
Salespeople salaries likely would be reduced
Which Benefits to Offer? Which of the following is true when it comes to employee benefits?
Some are required by law; others are discretionary.
Which Benefits to Offer? Although the amount of Social Security benefits depends on one's earnings history, which of the following is true?
The monthly benefits do not go up after a certain level.
Developing a Pay Structure Which of the following statements is most likely true about this case?
The pay structures suggested by the internal and external comparisons do not necessarily converge.
Developing a Pay Structure What is the most likely reason that people in logistics are paid less for similar work than salespeople?
The supply of trained logistics professionals is comparatively high
Show Me the Money Which of the following statements is true when it comes to shareholders and managers?
Their goals are usually not the same.
Communicating Executive Pay According to equity theory, when would executive bonuses be a problem for JBL employees?
When comparing their salaries with executives' pay
I'm with the Band If Ray decides to implement less-defined job responsibilities, what challenge will he have to manage carefully with regard to performance evaluation?
With less defined responsibilities, he will have to make sure that everyone understands what's expected of them
Manager's Hot Seat: Work-Life Balance If Quantum Gaming keeps up with their current treatment of employees, more are going to end up like the employee who had a substance abuse problem. He finally went over the edge and into rehab as the result of stress from a large work project. If this trend continues, they will end up spending more money on which type of employee benefits to cover employee needs, such as rehab?
Worker compensation
Manager's Hot Seat: Cyberloafing Davy mentions that he would like more pay to match his recent, strong performance appraisal and also would like more challenging tasks to work on. These two requests represent Davy's __________ and __________ motivation, respectively.
extrinsic; intrinsic