People - Learning & Development
Which is the best way to gather training needs info about customer service problems in an onshoring location? A) Conduct a series of focus groups with customer service representatives. B) Have customer service representatives complete training questionnaires. C) Review employee records to define past customer service problems. D) Form an advisory committee consisting of training & operations managers.
A) Conduct a series of focus groups with customer service representatives. Having voluntary candidates from the customer service department participate in focus groups will provide real-time opportunities to discuss concerns & brainstorm solutions.
What is true regarding global leadership development? A) Leadership theories developed in 1 culture cannot be applied indiscriminately to other cultures. B) The 70-20-10 model has universal applicability & utility. C) All countries share at least 1 leadership learning source: mistakes. D) A strong org culture of leadership development is required to be successful at developing leaders.
A) Leadership theories developed in 1 culture cannot be applied indiscriminately to other cultures. Leadership theories are not universally applicable & cannot be indiscriminately applied from 1 nation or culture to another.
An org is designing a leader development program. Which would be the most important experience to include? A) Project assignment that is difficult & has some risk of failure B) Attending a week-long leadership boot camp C) Well-defined task to be completed as a solo assignment D) Spending a week shadowing someone in a more senior position
A) Project assignment that is difficult & has some risk of failure Challenging assignments with a risk of failure are more important to developing leaders than opp to develop relationships or attend training. These assignments take the individuals outside their usual competencies & challenge them to develop teamwork & resilience.
What are 3 characteristics of formal mentoring that distinguish it from informal mentoring? A) Unlimited employee access to the program, mix of individual & large-group sessions, unspecified outcomes B) Deliberate pairing of mentors & mentees, established goals, expert training & support C) Connection to organizational strategies, self-selection of mentors & mentees, long-term engagements D) Self-selection of mentors & mentees, unspecified goals, no training & support
B) Deliberate pairing of mentors & mentees, established goals, expert training & support Formal mentoring includes strategic selection & matching of mentors & mentees, goal setting with measurable objectives, & support for participants.
An HR VP is looking to implement a program to enhance career development in the org's employee base. Feedback in a recent employee survey indicated that employees don't know very much about the function of other positions within the company, which limits the ability of employees to explore career paths that are not immediately related to their current position. Which program should the HR VP implement? A) Apprenticeships B) Job rotation C) Job enlargement D) Job enrichment
B) Job rotation Job rotation is a career development method that rotates employees between different positions within the org on a regular basis. It enhances career development opp's while addressing the employee feedback about lack of awareness of other positions in the company, & it allows employees to better explore career paths that may interest them within the company.
In Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline, which discipline discusses our deeply ingrained assumptions that influence how we understand the world & how we take action? A) Systems thinking B) Mental models C) Personal mastery D) Shared vision
B) Mental models Of the 5 disciplines, mental models are our deeply ingrained assumptions that influence how we understand the world & how we take action.
The HR director of a relatively small org is looking into the possibility of implementing a dual career ladder in order to enhance the internal mobility of employees. Which disadvantage of dual career ladders should the HR director consider before deciding whether or not to implement the program? A) Resistance from employees over added management responsibilities B) Potential effectiveness of the program due to the org's size C) Resentment from employees who are not chosen for the program D) Low-performing managers being sheltered by the program
B) Potential effectiveness of the program due to the org's size While each option may be a drawback that occurs with dual career ladders, the program may be entirely ineffective if the org is too small or too revenue-restricted to successfully implement it. Resistance, resentment, & sheltering of low-performing managers can all be addressed & mitigated when rolling out the program.
Which leadership assessment tool offers the highest usefulness & validity at the lowest cost? A) Psychological inventories B) Situation judgment tests C) Simulations D) Leaderless group discussions
B) Situation judgment tests Work sample tests, (SJTs), & other tools that require demonstrations of leadership exhibit high validity. However, these also have the highest development costs & , except for SJTs, the highest administration costs.
Which is a primary advantage of using local training experts to help in designing & developing new programs? A) Translation into local languages will be more accurate. B) Development costs are significantly decreased for the org. C) Activities & delivery can be adjusted to local preferences. D) Local audiences will have more input into program content.
C) Activities & delivery can be adjusted to local preferences. Countries have different dominant learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) & prefer certain types of learning activities. Using local experts to consult on design & development will help align programs with their audiences.
An org has been analyzing annual employee surveys to understand how to better retain workers given career development trends showing that more & more employees expect to change careers multiple times. Which would be the best program to incentivize employees interested in future career changes to stay with the org for a longer period of time? A) Dual career ladders B) Apprenticeships C) Job rotation D) Job enrichment
C) Job rotation By using a job rotation program, an org could allow employees to explore different career paths without leaving the org. Apprenticeships are more geared toward training technical skills, which may not work to expose employees to new career opp. Dual career ladders can provide a meaningful career path for employees uninterested in becoming a supervisor or manager but would likely keep employees within the same general career field without giving them the opp to explore other possibilities. Job enrichment adds planning & management duties to employees' current positions; it does not necessarily give them the ability to explore other opp.
A global org invests heavily in learning & development. It has country-specific learning & development departments, each creating its own programs, all of which seem highly successful. However, the HR VP notices that training issues common to certain countries do not appear to affect other countries. Which of the following likely represents the cause of the discrepancy? A) Key decision makers within the org failing to think & act globally, creating discrepancies in resource allocations between divisions B) The org failing to make learning & development a cornerstone strategy & failing to regularly reinvent itself C) The org focusing on each individual part of the learning & development system instead of the global system D) The org failing to make learning & development a core competency across all of its global channels
C) The org focusing on each individual part of the learning & development system instead of the global system By focusing on the parts of the global system instead of the whole system, the org is susceptible to divisional silos preventing the sharing of info. A global focus would help ensure consistency between the learning & development efforts from country to country, helping to prevent issues that have already been solved & addressed in 1 location from occurring in other locations.
Which type of learning program would best suit an org where employees at all levels expect to be able to access training anywhere & anytime, across varied formats? A) 70-20-10 model B) "Push" learning model C) Developmental activities model D) "Pull" learning model
D) "Pull" learning model A "pull" training model allows employees to access training anywhere & may feature content in various formats, accessible from work computers, personal computers, & mobile devices. A "push" training model is more rigid & works well for required training, such as compliance training, but wouldn't be broadly suitable for the org. The 70-20-10 model refers to manager development, & although it may be applied to employees generally, it features a relatively small % of learning that is accessible on demand (10% coursework & training compared to 70% challenging assignments & 20% developmental relationships). Developmental activities have a long-term focus on preparing for future responsibilities, but the term does do not refer to the method by which employees access or consume the materials.
A company is interested in enhancing organizational knowledge retention while providing an opportunity for "boomerang" employees to reconnect with the company following amicable departures. Which knowledge retention system would best fit the needs of the company? A) Learning management system B) Communities of practice C) Mentoring D) Alumni network
D) Alumni network An alumni network is an example of a softer system that will assist with knowledge retention & provide networking opp. to keep departed employees engaged with the org, setting up the potential for the return of those former employees. While both mentoring & communities of practice are also examples of softer systems for org's knowledge retention, they would not be as effective at generating opportunities & interest for "boomerang" employees to rejoin the org. Learning management systems are primarily designed to deliver needed training to current employees, which may be distinct from the goal of org's knowledge retention.
How should an HR director start a leader development needs assessment for the org? A) Develop a list of leader competencies & technical skills needed. B) Conduct competency-based interviews with leaders & note gaps. C) Conduct a 360-degree assessment & identify gaps for development. D) Assess current leaders in relation to organizational strategy & goals.
D) Assess current leaders in relation to organizational strategy & goals. For a needs assessment, the HR professional must start with assessing current leaders in relation to strategic goals & objectives. Competency development is addressed after the initial assessment is completed & used for comparison to determine gaps. 360-degree assessments & interviews are common types of competency assessments that support developing competencies in identified gaps.
Which tool uses in-basket tests, role plays, & psychological inventories to asses the abilities of a company's leadership team? A) Situation judgment tests B) Leader career battery C) Work samples D) Assessment centers
D) Assessment centers Only assessment centers are integrations of in-basket tests, role plays, & psychological inventories.
An HR VP is looking to drive the org to improve as a learning org. How can the HR VP help create a culture that supports organizational learning? A) Create a program to set aside a week per year for all organizational learning to take place, separate from typical work activities. B) Reward group learning & minimize individual learning, so that there are not disparate levels of learning among employees. C) Focus on constraining creativity & channeling it toward strongly defined organizational learning goals. D) Focus on instituting quality & continuous improvement to drive the org moving forward.
D) Focus on instituting quality & continuous improvement to drive the org moving forward. A culture that supports organizational learning will inherently focus on quality & continuous improvement as organizational needs & training methods change over time. Organizational learning should embrace creativity & reward both group & individual learning. Learning should be seen as something that happens concurrently with work activities, not separate from them.
The director of HR has created a training program that allows learners to participate in a live crisis management simulation. Which adult learning style does this support? A) Gustatory B) Visual C) Auditory D) Kinesthetic
D) Kinesthetic Participation in a live simulation provides the hands-on approach that is preferred by kinesthetic learners. Auditory learners prefer hearing or reading info about the crisis, & visual learners would be best suited to seeing pictures or observing a video of the crisis. Gustatory perception or learning occurs through the sense of taste & is not related to this example.
Which option is an example of what leaders should do to establish a culture that fosters career development? A) View career development as an aspect of employee engagement & retention & fund it accordingly. B) Publicize their own individual development plan to show employees how important career development is. C) Incentivize hiring from internal sources regardless of whether internal candidates are the most qualified for the job. D) Place value on & reward managers & supervisors who help employees with career planning.
D) Place value on & reward managers & supervisors who help employees with career planning. By placing value on & rewarding managers who help employees with career planning, leaders can help encourage a positive outlook & create importance around career development. While career development can assist with retention, it is a separate aspect of the business & should be treated separately. Hiring solely from internal sources, regardless of qualifications, may damage organizational performance. Leaders' own individual development plans wouldn't necessarily illustrate the importance of regular employees creating 1 & may contain personal or confidential info unfit for sharing with the larger audience.
HR has created instant feedback surveys to gauge employees' responses to a set of diversity awareness training sessions. Which type of measure do these represent? A) Behavior B) Results C) Learning D) Reaction
D) Reaction Reaction measures indicate how participants felt about the program.
Which type of needs analysis should a training director undertake to identify gaps between actual & desired transactional output in a customer service call center? A) Individual B) Organization C) Department D) Task
D) Task A task-level needs analysis compares job duty & task requirements to employee knowledge & skills to identify areas requiring improvement.