Intro to Business Exam 4 Questions

Which of the following is a challenge that is facing the human resource managers of today?

A shift in employee attitudes toward work.

Which of the following strategies is used by a human resource manager to fill an open position from within the company?

Advertise the opportunity for a promotion to current employees.

A firm that wants to reduce its office costs, broaden its base of available talent and improve job satisfaction could achieve all of these goals by:

Allowing more workers to work from home.

Which of the following positions would be classified as a staff position?

An attorney in the legal department of a manufacturing corporation.

Economies of scale:

Are achieved when a firm reduces its average cost of production as it produces more.

In an inverted organization, the job of management is to:

Assist and support front-line people.

Companies place considerable amount of attention on compensation plans because:

Attracting the right employees with good compensation packages can translate into a competitive advantage.

When workers are a part of a team their compensation should be:

Based on team performance, with additional rewards for those workers who make outstanding individual contributions.

For an inverted organization to be effective, it requires:

Better educated, better trained, and better paid employees.

____________ organizations are characterized of many layers of management and function with well-defined rules and procedures.

Bureaucratic.

Organizations that require consistent production standards to help create a high-quality public image would tend to favor:

Centralized authority.

One of the most difficult management challenges today is managing change. This is because:

Change requires cooperation and an awareness of a need for change.

Which of the following statements best describes the evolution of organization design?

Companies are now part of a vast network of global businesses, and part of a larger system.

Jolie is a human resource manager who is currently involved in selecting employees. Which of the following activities is Jolie most likely to be working on in her present assignment?

Completing a background investigation.

The informal organization of a business is probably best suited to:

Create a feeling of camaraderie among employees and encourage teamwork.

A major advantage of a piecework pay system is that it:

Creates a powerful incentive to work efficiently.

Which of the following is true of cross-functional teams?

Cross-functional teams work best when the voice of the customer is brought into the organization.

Which of the following statements about how current HR laws views disabilities is accurate?

Disabilities include diseases such as epilepsy, cancer, and diabetes.

In a bureaucratic organization:

Employees follow strict rules and regulations.

One advantage of a bureaucratic organization is that:

Employees know they are expected to follow the rules and regulations.

A firm's formal organization would be better suited than its informal organization to:

Find answers to critical problems that require logical analysis.

The purpose of a performance appraisal is to:

Improve employee performance.

Fayol believed that decision-making authority should remain in the hands of top management:

In small organizations, but should be delegated to middle and first-line managers in large organizations.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Act gave the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission the authority to:

Issue guidelines for employer conduct in administering equal employment opportunity programs.

The proven success of job specialization lies in the fact that:

It adds efficiency to the business's operation by identifying tasks that some do better than others.

Although there are advantages and disadvantages to home-based workers for both the employer and employee the disadvantages to employer, employee, and society in general can be summarized as:

It decreases important social interaction between and among employees on a number of levels, resulting in a change in the social network and corporate culture.

Which of the following is an advantage of a matrix organization structure?

It provides for efficient use of organizational resources.

As Connor scanned the employment opportunities on the website of a well-known online recruiting company, he speculated that he might not qualify for some of the jobs. Connor was concerned that his educational credentials and skills might not be compatible with the ________ for many of today?s available jobs.

Job specifications.

Pre-employment physical examinations are:

Legal in some states, but only if given to everyone applying for the position.

The information contained in performance appraisals helps managers:

Make decisions about promotions, compensation, training, and firing.

If companies follow the theories of Fayol and Weber, which of the following scenarios is likely to result?

Organizations that grow will develop several layers of management and the time that it takes to make and carry out a decision will increase.

Unlike a traditional performance appraisal, a 360-degree review:

Provides feedback from all around the employee.

In today's competitive environment, cost containment is extremely important to survival. Which of the following increases efficiency in the production and distribution of goods?

Real-time data.

Which of the following is an example of a move to reorganize?

Reducing the labor force within your business.

Today's preference for flat rather than tall organization structures is mainly due to a flat organization's ability to:

Respond readily to customer demands.

Which of the following is an advantage of a line organization in a large business?

Responsibility and authority are clearly defined.

Recently, businesses have experienced debate over ___________, the practice of discriminating against a dominant or majority group of persons. This situation occurs when businesses must adhere to employment laws that were designed to correct previous discrimination against minority groups.

Reverse discrimination.

Employment testing:

Should be directly related to the job.

Max Weber favored which of the following?

Staffing and promotions based on qualifications.

One of the most important responsibilities fro professionals in the human resources field is:

Staying current with employment-related legislation.

As part of the HR planning process, the manager begins by assessing the current labor situation at his/her company. Essentially, this means:

Taking an inventory of current employees and their capabilities.

Within its production department, Sooner Manufacturing has shift leaders, supervisors, assistant plant managers, plant managers, product group managers, assistant division managers, division managers, an assistant vice president for production, and a vice president in charge of production. Given its multiple-layer management structure, Sooner Manufacturing is an example of a(n) ____________ organization.

Tall.

In the Making Ethical Decisions box titled "Would You Sacrifice Safety for Profit?" which of the following statements best expresses the theme of the discussion?

The corporate culture you create as you begin your service will last a long time. Your workers will adopt your values.

A human resource inventory is designed to reveal whether:

The firm's labor force is technically up-to-date and well trained.

Which of the following factors help determine a manager's span of control?

The level of standardization of the work to be done.

The main difference between a matrix-style organization model and a cross-functional team is:

The matrix model is a temporary arrangement, whereas the cross-functional team is a more permanent arrangement.

A reason workers tend to receive fewer promotions than in the past is that:

The movement toward flatter organizational structures provides fewer opportunities to move upward.

Which of the following statements most closely identifies the problem with adopting Fayol's principles of organization design for contemporary business?

The rule making that develops from these principles creates organizations that don't respond quickly to customer needs.

When creating a job description, the HR manager may include:

The specific responsibilities of the job.

Which of the following statements explains the unity of command principle of management?

Workers can become frustrated and confused if they have more than one boss.