Compensation Midterm
procedural justice
James says "I don't trust the way the company determines pay rates in my department." If James feels this way despite being happy with his current salary, he is most likely concerned about _____.
point
The _______ mathod of job evaluation is the most commonly used method in the United States and Europe.
external market value
The exchange value of a job is its _____.
manufacturing industries
The majority of applications of skill-based pay have been in:
compensable factors
The process of identifying competencies in person-based structures resembles identifying _____ as part of job evaluation in job-based structures.
team dynamics
The scheme used in the text for classifying competencies consists of three groups. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
more hierarchical structures
_____ are related to greater performance when the work-flow depends on individual contributors.
job evaluation
_____ is the process of systematically determining the relative worth of jobs for the purpose of creating an organizations job structure.
competency sets
_____ translate each core competency into action.
transparency
______ refers to the openness and communication about pay.
prominence
_______ is the measure of how important total compensation is in the overall HR stratgey
internal alignemnt
____refers to comparisons among jobs or skills inside a single organization
job-based
a _____ approach controls costs by paying only as much as the work performed is worth, regardless of any greater skills the employee may possess.
does not want to rotate jobs
a camper is an employee who ____ in a skill-based pay system.
Cost-cutter
a compensation system that focuses on competitor's labor costs is most closely associated with a _____ strategy
innovator
a compensation system using market-based pay is most likely to be part of an _____ strategy
do not increase the base wage, whereas merit increases the base wage
a difference between incentives and merit increases is that incentives:
classification
a job description is compared to class descriptions in the ____ of job evaluation.
Objectives: efficiency (performance, quality, customer and stockholder, cost), fairness, compliance, ethics
which of the following is a fundamental objective, and not a policy, in the pay model?
1. Establishing the purpose of the plan; 2. Decide on single vs. multiple plans; 3. Choose among alternative methods; 4. Obtain involvement of relevant stakeholders; 5. Evaluate the usefulness of the results
which of the following is a major decision in job evaluation?
policies: internal alignment, competitiveness, contributions, and management
which of the following is a policy, and not an objective, in the pay model?
merit pay
which of the following is given as an increment to the base pay in recognition of past work behavior
college degree
which of the following is least likely to be used in establishing skill-based certification methods?
was the research conducted by Ph.D. researchers
which of the following is not a question to ask for determining if research has value?
HR Alignment
which of the following is not included in a strategy map?
stock options
which of the following is often the largest component in an executive pay package?
the pay employees for the highest level of skill they have achieved regardless of the work they perform
which of the following is the reason why skill-based pay plans have maximum flexibility
content has intrinsic value outside external market
which of the following is the underlying assumption in the assessment of job content?
hiring consultants to develop the pay structure
which of the following pay structure procedures would NOT increase perceptions on pay fairness?
employee
which of the following policy decisions directly affects employees attitudes and work behaviors?
Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)
which of the following programs introduced by congress includes restrictions on executive pay that are designed to discourage executives from taking "unnecessary and excessive risks"?
vagueness and subjectivity
which of the following reasons makes competencies a risky foundation for pay system?
training costs are the lowest in comparison to all other pay plans
which of the following sentences regarding skill-based structure is FALSE?
focusing only on one dimension of pay strategy is a best practice
which of the following statements is NOT true?
Internal Alignment
whole foods shared-fate philosophy of limiting executive salaries to no more than 19 times the average pay of full-time employees is an example of which strategic pay decision?
competency indicators
_____ are the observable behaviors that indicate the level of competency.
work performed in a job and how it gets done
content refers to the:
by acquiring new knowledge
employees in a multi-skill system earn pay increases:
determine the compensable factors
in the point method, the second step in designing a plan is to:
incentives
variable pay may also be called ______
it is developed using benchmark jobs and then applied to non-benchmark jobs.
which of the following statements is true of a job evaluation plan?
Allowing employees their choice is easy for competitor companies to imitate
which of the following statements regarding allowing employees a choice in their pay mix is NOT true?
alignment is the easiest test to pass
which of the following tests of competitive advantage is probably the easiest test to pass?
tournament theory
which theory predicts that individual performance will be maximized when the pay differentials between job levels is large?
a person who is measuring the degree to which the job evaluation plan matches an agreed-upon pay structure for benchmark jobs
who among the following is examining the validity of a job evaluation?
Carlos, who focuses on obtaining certifications in her field to get a pay increase
who among the following is most likely to be working for a company that uses a competency-based pay plan?
monetary incentives
you are an HR manager, and your boss has told you to find the best way to raise job performance. After some research, you find that ____ have the greatest instrumental value
cost-cutter
A compensation system focusing on system control and work specifications is most closely associated with an _____ strategy
job description > job evaluation > job structure
In the context of internal alignment, which of the following is the correct sequence?
M
In the formula predicting performance, the component most closely related to compensation is _______
tacit work
In today's organizations, in order to increase competitiveness and success, work is analyzed by separating transactional work from:
organization specific
Leadership, customer orientation, and functional expertise are examples of which group of competencies?
loosely coupled
Organizations in a turbulent and unpredictable environment requiring flexibility in jobs and work processes are likely to be more successful with a(n) _____ internal pay structure.
cost-cutter
Skill-based plans tend to work best in organizations using a(n) _____ strategy.
They aid in deploying workers in a way that better matches the work flow.
Which of the following is an advantage of skill-based pay plans?
They are expensive in the long run as the majority of employees become certified at the highest pay levels.
Which of the following is most likely to be a disadvantage of skill-based pay plans?
the design of the certification process
____ is a crucial factor that affects the perception of fairness of a skill-based plan.
Establishing the purpose of the plan; 2. Decide on single vs. multiple plans; 3. Choose among alternative methods; 4. Obtain involvement of relevant stakeholders; 5. Evaluate the usefulness of the results
a major decision in job evaluation is to:
correlation coefficient
a measure of how changes in one variable are related to changes in another variable is the:
market data had a substantially larger effect on pay decisions than job evaluation data
a study of 400 compensation specialist revealed that:
market pricing
according to a World atWork survey, the primary method of job evaluation is ______.
more money
according to the Hudson survey, ______ is the single thing that wold make 41 percent of the U.S. workers happier.
external competitiveness and employee contribution decisions
according to the text, which of the following decisions should be made jointly?
customer satisfaction incentives
all of the following EXCEPT ____ are compensation systems associated with a cost-cutter strategy.
rankings are easy to defend and justify
all of the following are advantages of the ranking method of job evaluation EXCEPT that:
$16,000
among employers that provide health insurance, the cost to provide family coverage per year per employee is approximately _____
a more flexible work schedule
based on the opinions of 10,000 U.S. workers, Hudson found that when given their choice of unconventional benefits, most employees would select _______.
internal alignment
career growth, hierarchy, and flexible design are most closely associated with the ______ aspect of mapping a total compensation strategy.
The extent of external competitiveness and equity
common bases for modern pay structures include all but which of the following
benchmark factor classes
common characteristics of the point method include all of the following EXCEPT:
external competitiveness
comparisons on the forms of compensation used by other companies are part of ____.
determining what to value
compensable factors, skill blocks, and competency sets are used for:
external competitiveness
compensation policy choices that affect the pay level relative to other companies are most closely associated with the ____ aspect of the pay model
executive leadership
competencies are derived from the _____ beliefs about the organization and its strategic intent.
prefer individual performance over team performance
egalitarian pay structure have all BUT which of the following characteristics?
-recognition and status -employment security -challenging work -learning opportunities
examples of relational returns:
hiring graduates
external factors are dominant influences on jobs filled via:
innovator
flexible-generic job descriptions would most likely be used with an _______ strategy
prefer team performance over individual performance
hierarchical pay structures have all BUT which of the following characteristics?
germany
hourly compensation costs for production workers in manufacturing are higher in _____ than in the United States
egalitarian
in firefighting and rescue squads and global software design teams, a(n) ____ structure is most closely associated with higher performance.
objectives
in mapping a total compensation strategy, the question of how important compensation is in the overall HR strategy is part of ______.
Paying on the basis of one's age, gender, religion, natural origin, and disability
in the context of pay relationships, which of the following is illegal in the United States?
compensable factors
in the context of the point method of job evaluation, _______ are those characteristics in the work that an organization values; that help it pursue its strategy and achieve its objectives.
second
in the strategic approach to pay, internal alignment is the ____ issue to be decided.
employee contributions
incentives and merit guidelines are techniques of the _____ policy of the pay model
they are one-time payments
incentives do not permanently increase labor costs because:
management
issues of transparency, technology, and choices are most closely associated with the ____ aspects of mapping a total compensation strategy.
paying on the basis of similarities among jobs
managers seek internal alignment within their organization by:
job-based
managers whose employers use ____ plans focus on placing the right people in the right job.
use value
marginal productivity theory argues that employers pay _____.
both person- and job-based structures
most job structures are best described as:
.85 & .96
most studies report that when different people rank-order jobs, the correlations are between:
small pay differences among jobs and seniority based promotions
most unions prefer which of the following?
Many small employers are much less likely than larger employers to offer health insurance to their employees
one of the reasons why 8 in 10 of the uninsured in the United States are from working families is that _____
1 Assess 2 Map 3 Implement 4 Reassess
order and steps of developing a total compensation strategy:
Cultures and customs Economic pressures
organization factors that shape internal pay structure include all BUT which of the following?
the internal structures of their home employer
pay for temporary workers is based upon:
4.4% 2.8%
recent surveys show that, on average, an outstanding performer receives a ____ merit increase, an average performer a _____ merit increase, and a poor performer a .4% merit increase.
determining if different evaluators produce the same results
reliability of job evaluation techniques is measured by:
improves attitudes and behaviors
research investigating high-performance workplaces found that performance-based pay ____ when combines with other high-performance practices.
it is unclear what compensation practices
research shows that _____ will effectively shift an organization in a downward performance spiral to an upward one.
point
the ____ method of job evaluation uses compensable factors.
helps ensure passing the differentiation test
the alignment test
causation
the best way to establish ______ is to account for competing explanations, either statistically or through control groups.
Factor degrees and weights
the certification processes in skill-based pay is analogous to the _____ in a job-based analysis.
employee contributions
the decisions to implement pay for performance, flat rate pay, and profit sharing are examples of ____ policy decisions
incentive effect
the degree to which pay influences individual and aggregate motivation among employees at any point in time is referred to as an
classification
the job evaluation method that most resembles a bookcase with many shelves is:
work content and its value
the most common bases for determining internal structures are:
the difficulty in external recruitment
the problem that is most likely to be faced by organizations using an egalitarian pay structure is _____.
ownership
the role non-HR managers play in making pay decisions is called ____.
Frederick Taylor
the roots of job-based pay structures is traced to _____.
closely tailored
the well -defined jobs at McDonald's and their small difference in pay are an example of a(n) ____ internal pay structure.
people are human capital, similar to other factors of production
trying to measure an ROI for any compensation strategy implies that
assessing
union preferences are a major factor in ____ a total compensation strategy.
an egalitarian pay structure
when cooperation is important for successful organization performance, which of the following pay structures is most suitable?
performance-based pay palns do not pay off
when organizations performance declines
incentive
which form of pay does not permanently increase labor costs?
they are designed to increase the turnover rate
which of the following is NOT a characteristic of aligned pay structures?
equal experience
which of the following is NOT a factor in defining equal work according to the Equal Pay Act
cost-effectiveness test
which of the following is NOT a test of whether a pay strategy is a source of competitive advantage?
the number of times the pay structure has been changed
which of the following is NOT one of the factors that define an internal pay structure?
a single universal plan is acceptable to employees if the work covered is highly diverse
which of the following is NOT true of the usage of multiple plans versus single job evaluation plans?
large raises with a promotion decreases effort and increases absenteeism.
which of the following is NOT true?