HR final exam
In 2010 PBGC paid about _____ in benefits owed to retirees and the surviving beneficiaries because their pension plans could not.
$5.5 billion
Currently, _____ percent of states have workers' compensation laws.
100%
Under federal law, how much time does a union have as an exclusive representative to reach a contract for the newly organized workers?
12 months
Under COBRA, employers with at least how many employees must comply:
20
The average retiree gets about _____ percent of his/her retirement income from Social Security.
40
There should be a balance in pay relationships between supervisors and the highest paid subordinates reporting to them. This differential typically varies from:
5 to 30 percent.
Among employees who see management as unwilling to share power, more than _____ percent say they would vote for a union.
70
The _______________ was organized in 1886 as a group of national craft unions:
American Federation of Labor
Title VII of the _____________ Act states that top executives in companies receiving government support can retract bonuses, retention awards, or incentives paid to the top five senior executive officers or the next 20 most highly compensated employees based on corporate information that is later found to be inaccurate.
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Graphic rating scales that use critical incidents to anchor various points along the scale are known as _____.
BARS
Merit pay systems often fail for all but which of the following reasons?
Link between performance and rewards is too strong.
If objective performance data is available, which of the following is the best strategy to use?
MBO
_____ is a process of managing that relies on goal-setting to establish objectives for the organization as a whole, for each department, for each manager within each department, and for each employee.
MBO
The first overt union activity in the United States took place in 1794 when the _____ attempted to raise their wages, in reaction to a wage cut by their employers.
Philadelphia shoemakers
Which act states executives cannot retain bonuses or profits from selling company stock if they mislead the public about the financial health of the company?
Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Which law offers full coverage for retirees, dependent survivors, and disabled persons insured by 40 quarters of payroll taxes on their past earnings or earnings of heads of households?
Social Security Act
Under the _____, professional employees cannot be forced into a bargaining unit with nonprofessionals without their majority consent.
Taft-Harley Act
Gain sharing plans consists of all of the following except which of the following elements?
an internal equity
_______ incentive plans encourage the efficient use of existing assets.
annual or short-term
Whenever an organizing drive begins, employees are asked to sign _____ that designate the union as the employees' exclusive representation in bargaining with management.
authorization cards
A _____ occurs when parties are unable to move further toward settlement.
bargaining impasse
The group of employees eligible to vote in the representation election is termed a(n):
bargaining unit
_________ focus on employee behaviors, either by comparing the performance of employees to that of other employees or by evaluating each employee in terms of performance standards without reference to others.
behavior oriented rating systems
The term BARS stands for:
behaviorally anchored rating scales
If a rater is asked to assess an employee's performance over a 6- to 12-month period, _____ ratings may result, especially if information has been stored in a rater's memory according to irrelevant, oversimplistic, or otherwise faulty categories.
biased
The type of pension plan that offers all employees the same, steady annual credit toward an eventual pension is a(n):
cash-balance plan
Several unions left the AFL-CIO in 2005 to form:
change to win
The Japanese value _____ and tend to resolve conflict by emphasizing status differences between the parties.
collectivism
The NLRB defines a bargaining unit that reflects the shared interests of the employees involved in a concept called:
community of interest
Common job characteristics that an organization is willing to pay for, such as skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions are termed:
compensable factors
Management's objective is to get labor costs per unit of output to a point below that of the _____ at the product-line level.
competition
Failure of organization to address _______ may cause long-serving employees to rethink their commitment to a company they think does not value or reward loyalty.
compression issues
The doctrine of _____ holds that an individual must pay taxes on benefits with monetary value when he/she receives them.
constructive receipt
When _____ fail, the union may strike, management may shut down operations, or both parties may appeal for third-party involvement.
contract negotiations
Which of the following is NOT another name for gain sharing?
control-based compensation
In determining the competitiveness of benefits, senior management tends to focus mainly on:
cost
The process of encouraging performance is concerned with all of the following except:
cost of rewards
Limiting medi-care payments to what Medicare would have paid for in the absences of a group health plan is another example of what is referred to as:
cost-shifting
_______ are brief anecdotal reports by supervisors of things employees do that are particularly effective or ineffective in accomplishing parts of their jobs
critical incidents
Because _____ is most likely to occur the first year or so after certification, unions will often insist on multiyear contracts.
decertification
The type of private pension plan in which an employer promises to pay a retiree a stated pension is a:
defined-benefit plan
In win-lose, or _____, the goals of the parties initially are irreconcilable, or at least they appear that way.
distributive bargaining
Actions by the union of withdrawing its labor in support of bargaining demands, including those for recognition or organization, are:
economic strikes
Alternatives to pay systems based on job evaluation include all of the following EXCEPT:
education-based pay
The U.S. health insurance system is based primarily on group coverage provided by:
employers
Appraisals provide legal and formal organizational justification for:
employment decisions
The Equal Pay Act requires:
equal pay for men and women doing substantially similar work.
Sarbanes-Oxley requires that:
executives cannot retain bonuses or profits from selling company stock if they mislead the public about the financial health of the company.
_____ programs typically provide a core of basic life coverage and then permit employees to choose greater coverage.
flexible benefits
Which ratings format is likely to cause a great deal of employee resentment?
forced distribution
Which of the following is an advantage of narrative essays?
good for individual feedback and development
A(n) _____ is an alleged violation of the rights of workers on the job.
grievance
Which of the following is used widely by management and labor to settle disputes arising out of and during the term of a labor contract?
grievance arbitration
This type of insurance is usually yearly renewable term insurance and typical coverage is one to two times the employee's annual salary:
group life
___ errors occur when ratings are assigned on the basis of a global impression of a ratee.
halo
In this type of managed care health insurance plan, there is no deductible, and the nominal fees generally range from $5 to $30 per visit depending on the service performed.
health maintenance organization (HMO)
The anti-discrimination rule holds that employers can obtain tax advantages only for those benefits that do not discriminate in favor of:
highly compensated employees
The broad objective in developing pay systems is to assign a monetary value to each job in the organization and an orderly procedure for ______ the base rate.
increasing
What strategy would American managers most likely use to negotiate conflict?
individualism
In win-win, or _____, the goals of the parties are not mutually exclusive.
integrative bargaining
_________ is used like fact finding but primarily in the public sector.
interest arbitration
Which of the following statements about performance appraisal is false?
it is an exact, human process.
The advantage of using a behavioral checklist is that:
it provides a direct link between job analysis and performance appraisal
The process of ranking jobs in terms of their relative worth to a firm is called:
job evaluation
Open pay systems tend to work best when:
job performance can be measured objectively
A recent MetLife survey showed that 73 percent of employees who were highly satisfied with their benefits are also satisfied with their ________?
jobs
Pay practices must be designed not only to attract and retain employees but also to ensure that _____ do not become excessive in relation to those of competing employers.
labor costs
One way to classify performance incentives is according to the ____ targeted.
level of performance
Which of the following is NOT a way in which to kick off an organizing campaign?
management steps in and provides relevant information to the employees
________ revenue theory in labor economics holds that unless an employee can produce a value equal to the value of received wages, it will not be worthwhile to hire that worker.
marginal
Which theory in labor economics holds that unless an employee can produce a value equal to the value received in wages, it will not be worthwhile to hire that worker?
marginal revenue theory.
Which type of pay structure is feasible if all jobs are benchmark jobs and direct matches can be found in the market?
market-based pay system
One solution to the problem of pay compression is to institute:
maximum rates of pay
Which of the following is a disadvantage of forced distribution?
may be inaccurate if a group of employees is either very effective or ineffective
All of the following are major changes in company philosophies concerning pay EXCEPT:
movement toward "salary entitlement" philosophy.
________ feedback utilizes input from a variety of sources including managers, subordinates, peers and customers to provide a perspective on performance from all angles.
multirater or 360-degree
The simplest type of absolute rating system is _____, in which a rater describes, in writing, an employee's strengths, weaknesses, and potential, together with suggestions for improvement.
narrative essay
This approach assumes that a candid statement from a rater who is knowledgeable about an employee's performance is just as valid as more formal and more complicated rating methods.
narrative essay
Which of the following is not an approach widely used to express the cost of employee benefits and services?
national salary index
A(n) ___________ includes anything an employee values and desires that an employer is able and willing to offer in exchange for employee contributions.
organizational reward system
At a broad level, a(n) _______ includes anything an employee values and desires that an employer is able and willing to offer in exchange for employee contributions.
organizational reward system
Team incentives provide opportunity for each team member to receive a bonus based on the:
output of the team as a whole
When using ________, each employee is compared with every other employee, usually in terms of an overall category such as "present value to the organization."
paired comparisions
This occurs when the difference in pay between newly hired or less qualified employees and more experienced ones is small
pay compression
Which of the following is NOT considered a permanent cutback?
pay freezes
The final step in attaching dollar values to jobs using the point method is to establish:
pay grades
________ must be designed not only to attract and retain employees but also to ensure labor costs do not become excessive in relation to those of competing employers.
pay practices
Which of the following is NOT an area of payment covered by workers' compensation?
payments to employers while injured workers are recovering
Friendship bias is most likely to be a problem when performance ratings are provided by:
peers
Money set aside by employers to cover _____ has become the nation's largest source of capital.
pension obligations
An administrative exercise that is typically done once a year to identify and discuss job-relevant strengths and weaknesses of individuals or work teams is:
performance appraisal
Defining performance requires all of the following except:
performance facilitation
This can be thought of as a kind of compass, one that indicates a person's actual direction as well as a person's desired direction.
performance management
______ translates job requirements into levels of acceptable or unacceptable employee behavior.
performance standards
Fundamentally, labor-management relations are about _____ - who has it and how they use it.
power
____ implies that appraisal systems are easy for managers and employees to understand and use.
practicality.
In this type of managed care health insurance plan, in-network care comes from a specified group of physicians and hospitals, patients can pay extra to get care from outside the network, and there generally is no gatekeeper.
preferred provider organization (PPO)
The "gatekeeper" in a "managed care" health insurance plan is the:
primary care physician
During a strike, _____ on streets and sidewalks may be a violation of state law or local ordinances.
profanity
What type of team is assembled for a specific purpose and expected to disband after their task is completed?
project
An individual or group health plan that provides or pays the cost of medical care may not use or disclose:
protected health information
Which of the following requires that health plans not disclose patient identifiers?
protected health information
_____ error results when a rater assigns his/her ratings on the basis of the employee's most recent performance, and is most likely to occur when appraisals are done only after long periods.
recency
One requirement of sound appraisal systems is ______, which refers to the consistency of judgement.
relability
Comparing the performance of employees to that of other employees is known as _____ rating system
relative
The answer to the question "What really makes the difference between success and failure on a particular job, and according to whom?" determines:
relevance
_________ implies that there are clear links between the performance standards for a particular job and organizational objectives, and between the critical job elements identified through a job analysis and the dimensions to be rated on an appraisal form.
relevance
One requirement of sound appraisal systems is _____, which refers to consistency of judgment.
reliability
According to a study, individuals who tend to be most lenient:
score high in agreeableness
A source of performance ratings that is probably more appropriate for counseling and development than for personal decisions is:
self
_____ implies that a performance-appraisal system is capable of distinguishing effective from ineffective performers.
sensitivity
Which of the following is not a supervisory activity that should be done before performance feedback interviews?
set goals that you feel the employee should strive for
_____ is not legally required, and, because of unemployment compensation, many firms do not offer it.
severance pay
_______ requires only that a rater order all employees from highest to lowest, from "best" employee to "worst" employee.
simple ranking
The _____ of the bargaining unit is critical for both the union and employer because it is strongly related to the outcome of the representation election.
size
_____ is when employers seek to avoid unionization by offering workers the wages, benefits, and working conditions that rival unionized firms do.
spillover effect
An employer awarding an employee's exceptional performance with a small, one-time bonus shortly after the noteworthy actions is a:
spot bonus
The right of employees to strike in support of their bargaining demands is protected by:
the Landrum-Griffin Act
In the fact that past merit payments are incorporated into an individual's base salary allowing formerly productive employees to slack off is known as:
the annuity problem
The role of the line manager in grievance procedures is to know and understand _____, as well as federal and state labor laws.
the collective bargaining contract
ESOP satisfaction tends to be highest in companies where:
the company makes relatively large annual contributions to the plan
All EXCEPT which factor made industrial unionization attractive in the 1930's?
the roaring 20's
The efficiency wage hypothesis holds that:
there is payment of wage premiums by some employers to attract the best talent available and to enhance productivity in order to offset any increase in labor costs.
Which of the following about graphic rating scales is false?
they are time-consuming to develop and administer
Which of the following steps will NOT help to avoid legal difficulties in regard to performance appraisals?
train supervisors to avoid documenting cases where subjective standards were applied unevenly to members of protected groups
To be effective, organizational reward systems should provide all of the following EXCEPT:
treatment of members of the organization in terms of organizational needs
Employees engaged in this type of strike are afforded the highest degree of protection, and under most circumstances they are entitled to reinstatement after the strike ends.
unfair labor practice strike
____ include work stoppages, both lawful and unlawful, such as sit-down strikes, strikes in violation of federal laws, slowdowns, wildcat strikes that occur while a contract is in force, and partial walkouts.
unprotected strikes
Which of the following practices by management is NOT prohibited by law?
using company time and premises to stress the disadvantages of unionization
In the United States, about 90 percent of large and medium-sized companies now offer some kind of _____ such as profit-sharing and bonus awards.
variable pay
At lower-levels, _______ systems almost always guarantee cost control.
variable-pay
In regard to pensions, employees who have not worked at a company long enough to be _____ are not entitled to any benefits.
vested
Many of the fastest-growing unions in the United States represent _____ (more than 51 percent of all union members).
white-collar professionals
Generally, employees of nonagricultural, private-sector firms are entitled to benefits for work-related accidents and illnesses leading to temporary or permanent disabilities under:
workers' compensation
Distinctive features of the U.S. system compared with other countries includes:
all of the above
The broad process of performance management requires that you do which things well:
all of the above
The methods for costing benefits include:
all of the above
Which of the following actions is management prohibited by law from participating in?
all of the above
Which of the following should be considered by firms when determining their overall benefit plan?
all of the above
The law requiring companies with at least 20 employees to make medical coverage available at group insurance rates for up to 18 months after an employee leaves the job is:
COBRA
Which of the following allows companies to make medical coverage available at group rates for as long as 18 months after the employee leaves?
COBRA
Federal-government employees are covered by the:
Civil Service Reform Act
Rebel leaders within the AFL who wanted to organize unskilled workers into industrial unions contributed to the emergence of the:
Congress of Industrial Organization
This law provides that, following a worker's death or divorce, the employee's family has the right to buy group-rate health insurance for as long as three years.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
Which act covers private-sector employees over age 21 enrolled in noncontributory (100% employer-paid) retirement plans who have one year's service?
ERISA
The proposed ____________ would make card check recognition of the union automatic.
Employee Free Choice Act
Which act was enacted to protect the interests of employee-benefit-plan participants and their beneficiaries by requiring the disclosure to them of financial and other information concerning the plan?
Employee Retirement Income Security Act
Which of the following laws established the first national minimum wage?
Fair Labor Standards Act
The benefits of this act are based on a percentage of average weekly earnings and are available for up to 26 weeks.
Federal Unemployment Tax Act
Which act extended the 1.45% Medicare payroll tax to all wages and self-employment income?
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
When given a choice, employees are moving toward _____, even though they are more expensive, showing that they are willing to pay more for freedom of choice.
PPOs
The 2010 plan intended to reform the U.S. healthcare system is called the:
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Which agency acts as an insurance company, collecting annual premiums from companies with defined-benefit plans that spell out specific payments upon retirement?
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
In the United States, salary discussions among employees are protected under:
The National Labor Relations Act
What Act created the National Labor Relations Board to supervise representation elections and to investigate charges of unfair labor practices by management?
The Wagner Act
In comparing the relative emphasis Chinese and American managers place on performance versus relationships, which of the following is true?
When making bonus decisions, Chinese managers tend to place less emphasis on employees' work performance than do American managers.
What is driving the increasing costs of healthcare?
aging population and an increase in obesity
All state workers' compensation laws share all of the following features EXCEPT:
a worker's loss is usually covered fully by the insurance program.
Legal and scientific requirements for a successful appraisal system include all of the following EXCEPT:
acceptability
If pay systems are to accomplish the objectives set for them, ultimately they must be perceived as:
adequate and equitable.
In a(n) _____, employees need not join the union that represents them, but, in lieu of dues, they must pay a service charge for representation.
agency shop
