MGT 306

What is the primary concern about physicians receiving incentives from pharmaceutical firms and state governments?

Doctors placing financial gain ahead of patient care.

Which of the following is a basic standard of discipline?

Documentation of the facts leading to the disciplinary action

All of the following are most likely results of establishing a complaint resolution process EXCEPT:

Documenting performance appraisals

If managers increase employee involvement in the design of an incentive compensation system, which of the following will most likely occur?

Employees will be more committed to the plan.

Which of the following is the primary problem associated with workers' compensation?

Employer and employee fraud

Ed, the operations manager at Ballston Flooring, has scheduled a meeting with an employee who is habitually late for work. During the meeting, which of the following would be most effective for Ed to do?

Ending the meeting with positive comments

Which of the following is an example of job enrichment?

Expanding the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the job by giving an employee responsibility for the whole production

Based on studies mentioned in the text, which of the following is true?

Firms that invest in employee training are typically profitable.

Which of the following is a characteristic exclusive to training?

Focuses on correcting current skill deficiencies

Which of the following would most likely improve the effectiveness of a diversity training program?

Forming a diversity council that represents a cross-section of employees.

In the employment relationship, HR should help define the rights of employees and employers in all of the following ways EXCEPT by:

eliminating the need for lawyers.

The best training to ensure maximum transfer of learning to the job is:

on-the-job-training.

If supervisors want to help employees gain insight into their performance problems and have input into the performance appraisal, they should most likely use:

self reviews.

The Equal Pay Act prohibits compensation discrimination between men and women doing substantially the same job, except when:

seniority or productivity are the basis for the differential.

When an employer shuts down a business before a labor dispute gets to a strike, the employer is:

using a lockout as a bargaining strategy.

To determine whether a training program will be worth its cost, a business should most likely:

weigh the cost of the problem against the cost of eliminating it.

An employee who holds his employer accountable for improper conduct by informing the proper authorities is involved in:

whistleblowing.

Workers' compensation laws vary by state, but all are built on the theory that:

work-related accidents are costs of doing business and should be paid for by employers.

The tendency to rate similarly across dimensions is best known as ________ error.

halo

Profit-sharing and ESOP-type compensation plans feature some significant drawbacks, such as:

having only a limited effect on organizational productivity.

Effective employee benefits packages:

help firms recruit and retrain employees.

Companies most likely attempt to manage their turnover rates because of:

high employee replacement costs.

Firms are increasingly introducing family-friendly programs to:

hire and retain the best workers.

One way to guarantee managers' buy-in and reinforcement of diversity efforts is to:

hold mangers accountable for fulfilling diversity objectives.

African-Americans, as a group, tend to face two major problems in organizations. The first is intentional racism. The second is:

inadequate educational preparation for the workplace.

The practice of openness in a compensation system generally leads to:

increased fairness in managerial pay decisions.

Many profitable American companies eliminate jobs every year. This trend can most likely be attributed to which of the following factors?

increasing corporate competition

Workforce diversity can most likely enhance organizational effectiveness by:

increasing creativity and improving problem solving.

Cross-functional training has a number of advantages for most companies, including:

increasing employee versatility.

When managers use performance appraisals to communicate a message to an employee rather than to measure actual performance, the performance appraisal is most likely being influenced by:

organizational politics.

Expectancy theory claims that:

people tend to perform activities that will be rewarded.

While diversity programs offer companies a number of benefits, some potential pitfalls also arise, such as:

promoting stereotypes.

Which of the following is the LEAST effective predictor of job performance?

recommendation letters

In the hiring process, generating a pool of qualified candidates for a job constitutes the ________ phase.

recruitment

Flextime and telecommuting are most likely examples of corporate efforts to:

reduce female employee turnover rates.

When management is discussing whether to lead, lag, or pay the "going rate" for a job, they are deciding:

their company's pay policy.

An unsuccessful job applicant has filed suit against your company, alleging that a test she was given does not measure performance required on the actual job. Her suit is about the ________ of the test.

validity

Which term refers to the process of examining how work creates or adds value to the ongoing processes in a business?

work flow analysis

A proactive human resource management approach to labor relations is also known as:

union substitution.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act applies to labor unions, employment agencies, and employers who have at least ______ employees.

15

Latinos are expected to account for ________ % growth of the U.S. labor force between now and 2020.

50

What is the primary HR challenge of outsourcing?

A firm is still accountable for the actions of its subcontractors, but it exercises less control over them.

A work group differs from a team in what way?

A work group depends on an outside supervisor for direction, while a team self-directs.

Which of the following is the most important question that must be answered prior to establishing a training program?

Are the training goals clear and realistic?

Which of the following is an appropriate interview question?

Are you at least 18 years old?

HR is most likely to be responsible for which of the following means of corporate communication?

Company newsletter

Which of the following is a comprehensive list of the functions in a performance appraisal?

Identifying, measuring, and managing

Transferring and relocating employees are both ways to reduce employee costs through which function?

Job design methods

Which term refers to reconfiguring one job into two part-time jobs?

Job sharing

Which of the following accounts for the largest portion of indirect compensation paid by most employers?

Legally required benefits

Merit pay differs from bonus programs in what way?

Merit pay raises the employee's base pay permanently; bonuses do not.

Formal or informal relationships between people in an organization are known by which term?

Organizational structure

Which of the following best explains why women frequently quit corporations in their late 20s and mid-30s?

Organizations fail to be flexible enough to meet the family needs of working women.

Which of the following is a long-term pay policy that can protect jobs and control labor costs by linking compensation to production?

Profit sharing

Which of the following is NOT a goal of most employee feedback programs?

Providing mediation between two or more employees with interpersonal problems

Which of the following requires employers to provide employees with information about hazardous substances in the workplace?

Right-to-know regulations

In most cases, what role in employee discipline is typically played by HR staff?

Settling manager-employee disputes

Connor wants to develop interpersonal trust between himself and his subordinates. Which of the following would most likely help Connor do this?

Sharing credit with employees for successful projects

OSHA's highest inspection priority would be which of the following?

Situations involving "imminent danger" in the workplace

Tom is the HR manager of a publishing company. The firm needs to hire several new employees, and Tom's assistant suggests that the new employees be telecommuters. Tom likes the idea but is not sure about the best way to manage telecommuters. Which of the following is the best suggestion for Tom?

The contract for the telecommuters should include performance expectations with measurable results.

An employee's expectation of fair and ethical treatment, in return for providing fair and reasonable amounts of work with a certain degree of quality, is called:

a psychological contract.

A strategy to improve diversity management in a company which can be implemented before an individual becomes a permanent employee is:

apprenticeships.

Many employers are accused of using non-job-related criteria in hiring decisions. The best management practice for an employer to use in refuting this type of allegation would most likely be:

appropriately documenting the decision.

The benefits portion of a compensation package most likely plays an important role in:

attracting and retaining employees.

The ability to get the other party to agree to the bargaining party's terms is:

bargaining power.

The best way for managers to encourage effective performance is to:

be specific about desired outcomes.

Courtland Corporation recently reduced its number of management levels and decentralized its entire managerial approach. Prior to this, the corporation maintained a pyramid-shaped management structure and was based on a functional division of labor. Courtland evolved from a ________ organization to a ________ organization.

bureaucratic / flat

Stress often results in ________, a syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment.

burnout

An employer can defend an employment practice that might otherwise be discriminatory if the employer:

can demonstrate the job-relatedness of the criteria governing the job.

Determining the characteristics necessary for good job performance is most likely difficult because of the:

changing nature of most jobs.

Under a ________, unions and management negotiate with each other in good faith to develop work rules for union members for a specific period of time.

collective bargaining system

Employers can most likely avoid charges of negligent hiring by:

conducting background checks.

Generally speaking, in many organizations, Asian-Americans are:

considered an advantaged group and therefore not eligible for special consideration.

When creating an affirmative action plan, the central concern is:

determining how much preference to give members of the underutilized protected class.

For a disabled employee to be protected by the ADA, the:

disability must impair a major life activity.

Firms that use nonmonetary rewards are most likely trying to:

emphasize customer service and loyalty.

Childcare, health club memberships, and company credit unions are examples of:

employee services benefits.

The most difficult problem managers have with e-mail is that:

employees assume that e-mail is their private property.

A common-law rule that allows employers the right to terminate employees at any time for any cause is best known as:

employment at will.

To be the most effective, recognition awards should:

encourage all employees toward the firm's goals.

The Taft-Hartley Act was created to:

ensure a level playing field for labor unions and management.

The Equal Pay Act permits pay distinctions based on certain factors. Which of the following is NOT one of those factors?

gender

Companies use flexible benefits programs in order to:

give employees options to select the benefits most meaningful to them.

Which of the following has increased the need for union-management cooperation?

globalization

The EEOC primarily uses alternative dispute resolution systems to:

handle cases more quickly.

Wellness programs are primarily designed to:

help companies lower health-care costs by proactively working to prevent health problems.

If a woman has been subjected to undesirable and offensive sexual behavior by customers in the workplace, she has most likely been a victim of:

hostile work environment sexual harassment.

The primary purpose of a probationary employment period is to:

identify incompetent employees.

The need for skilled employees in the United States has:

intensified in the service sector due to technology advancements.

When considering the legal consequences of a job analysis, HR managers must remember that:

job analysis should focus on the purpose of the analysis, not the worker.

In the U.S., workers' economic benefits have historically been established by:

labor contract negotiation.

The Immigration Act of 1990 served the purpose of:

making it easier for skilled immigrants to enter the United States.

An informal communication tool available to managers that helps them build rapport with employees is:

management by walking around.

Unions are formed to represent employees' interests to:

management.

The person who bears the most responsibility for daily labor-management relations in an organization is the:

manager.

In order to be the most effective, a company's safety committee should consist of:

managers and employees who evaluate safety procedures and review accidents

In most cases involving employee discipline:

managers have difficulty confronting employees.

According to the text, the most important training opportunity for an employee is:

orientation.

All of the following are legally required benefits EXCEPT:

paid time off.

The Family and Medical Leave Act requires most employers to:

permit unpaid leave up to 12 weeks for certain family medical issues.

To avoid cumulative trauma disorder, it is most important that workers:

place tools within easy reach.

The best way companies can avoid a number of EEO problems is by:

providing training.

The primary difference between progressive discipline and positive discipline is that:

punishment is replaced with counseling by the manager.

All of the following are HR responsibilities EXCEPT:

rendering official legal options

When handling a sexual harassment investigation, managers should most likely do all of the following to minimize liability EXCEPT:

responding within three to five days of the complaint.

When James was fired by Robertson, Inc., he retaliated by infecting the computer system with a serious virus. James has committed:

sabotage.

In a unionized company, managers would most likely need to:

serve on committees that hear grievances brought by union members against the company.

When conducting a job interview, an interviewer:

should only ask questions that are clearly related to job performance.

Ray wants to gather input from all operations managers at the firm. The managers are located in four different states. Ray needs a low-cost way to bring them together and permit immediate interaction. Ray's best choice would be:

teleconferencing.

The most important source of information that HR can provide employees is:

the employee handbook, which outlines the company's entire employee relations philosophy.

A key assumption behind pay-for-performance compensation is that:

the organization's performance depends on individuals' performance.

The training process can be broken into:

three phases: assessment, training, and evaluation.

Improving diversity management must begin with:

top management's commitment to diversity.

An HRIS has a number of applications for HRM professionals, such as:

tracking employee skills.

For a company to have good employee relations, it should most likely:

treat all employees fairly and consistently.

Which of the following would most likely help minimize offenses to female and minority employees?

Clear communication standards

Which of the following is the most significant separation cost for employers?

Compensation

Which term refers to observable characteristics that are associated with successful job performance?

Competencies

Employees' total compensation consists of which of the following?

Base compensation, pay incentives, indirect compensation

Which of the following is primarily associated with hiring external candidates?

Provides new ideas and perspectives

According to research, why do firms experience lower turnover rates when they fill positions with current and former employees?

Realistic job expectations of workers

Job analysis is helpful to HR professionals in performing which of the following tasks?

Recruiting employees

An employer's best defense against liability in a negligent hiring lawsuit is to use which of the following selection tools?

Reference checks

Which recruitment source has been linked to the most loyal and satisfied hires?

Referrals from current employees

Which of the following is most likely true about employee separations?

Salary savings often outweigh other separation costs.

According to your text, which mechanism determines the overall quality of a firm's human resources?

Selection

Which of the following is a disadvantage of an absolute judgment performance appraisal system?

Standards vary among managers

Marquis is examining the knowledge, skills, and abilities used in performing certain tasks. His process begins with interviews of the incumbents and their managers. He then constructs and administers a survey, and finally creates a matrix for rating the task. Marquis is most likely using which job analysis technique?

Task inventory analysis

What should be included in the minimum qualifications section of a job description?

The basic standards a job applicant must have to be considered for the job

According to the text, what is the best strategy to handle the various challenges of managing a diverse workforce?

Treat employees as individuals rather than as members of a group.

Which of the following suggests that employee motivation depends on the fit between personal abilities and job requirements?

Work adjustment theory

The primary difference between a layoff and a discharge is:

a layoff occurs when the company's strategy forces it to reduce its workforce and a discharge occurs when there is a poor fit between the employee and the organization.

You have been asked to determine what kinds of problems should be addressed in an upcoming training session. You will be performing:

a needs assessment.

The work adjustment theory suggests that employee motivation depends on the:

fit between employee needs and the job characteristics.

Employee performance on the job is primarily a function of the employee's:

ability, motivation, and situational factors.

Employee earnings:

affect employees economically and psychologically.

Diversity is best defined as:

all the human characteristics that make people different from each other.

Which organizational challenge has the most significant impact on a firm's competitive advantage?

controlling costs

Organizational restructuring over the past two decades has primarily led to firms with:

fewer people between the CEO and the lowest-ranking worker.

Which term refers to transferring responsibility and decision-making authority from a central office to people closer to the situation that demands attention?

decentralization

Which term refers to the activities involved in integrating nontraditional employees into the workforce and using their diversity as a competitive advantage?

diversity management

The major difference between downsizing and rightsizing is that:

downsizing reduces the size and scope of a business, while rightsizing reorganizes the business.

Empowerment is best defined as:

emphasizing the decision-making power of workers.

What is the primary reason for the rising importance of HR at firms over the last four decades?

employment laws

Management can most likely minimize problems with the remaining workforce after a layoff by:

explaining the financial reasons for the layoff.

A pitfall of using relative judgments for performance appraisal is that they:

fail to clarify how great or small the performance differences are between employees.

The process by which work is organized into the separate tasks required to perform a specific job is called:

job design.

Juanita is writing a job description. She specifies that job applicants must have a college degree in computer science and mastery of multiple programming languages. Which element of a job description is Juanita most likely writing?

job specifications

A compensation system that assumes that employees should be compensated based upon their abilities, potential, and flexibility to perform multiple tasks is a(n) ________ compensation system.

knowledge-based

Outcome-based performance appraisal systems are more likely to:

lead to a "results at any cost" mentality.

The decision to terminate an employee is management's role. HR's primary role is to:

make certain the employee receives due process.

Which of the following is an environmental challenge faced by modern HR managers?

marketplace globalization

Retraining is often necessary when job requirements change and employees must learn how to perform new duties. With the change to automation in many businesses:

more highly skilled workers are needed by businesses.

Recent studies of MBA graduates have found that the early career success of these graduates seems to be a function of:

motivation and ability.

Public and nonpublic praise, honorary titles, and expanded job responsibilities are all examples of:

nonfinancial rewards.

A company is involved in business process reengineering when it is:

rethinking and redesigning its work processes to improve quality.