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Chapter 11 - Human Resource Management: Finding and Keeping the Best Employees
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197. In a compressed workweek, employees work more hours each day, but work fewer
days each week.
198. Almost 10 million U.S. workers now telecommute, working several days each month,
at home.
199. Telecommuting can actually save employers money by reducing their need for office
space.
200. Job sharing has received a great deal of attention in recent years as more women with
small children have entered the labor force.
201.
Chapter 11 - Human Resource Management: Finding and Keeping the Best Employees
Job sharing tends to increase absenteeism and tardiness, because part-time workers are not
as dedicated and loyal as full-time workers.
202. A disadvantage of job sharing is that it requires a firm to hire, train, motivate, and
supervise more employees.
203. Most companies that have tried job sharing have concluded that the extra cost of
hiring and training additional workers outweigh its benefits.
204. "Hot desking" means sharing a desk with another employee.
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208. Melville Bank is about to implement a job sharing plan. The bank is likely to find that
scheduling workers for peak periods will become easier as the result of this policy.
Feedback: In most cases, job sharing gives firms more flexibility to schedule employees into
peak demand periods.
209. Managers at a local bank are discussing the absentee problems they are experiencing
at their west side location. Although the workers do a good job and serve customers well
when they are on the job, they tend to report to work late at least two days each week, and
often want to leave early. Job sharing might be a good staffing arrangement for the
managers to consider.
Feedback: People involved in job sharing work fewer hours than full-time employees. This
gives them more time away from the job to handle personal chores and problems, so they miss
less work and are less stressed out about the need to take care of personal business while at
work.
210.
Chapter 11 - Human Resource Management: Finding and Keeping the Best Employees
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The Hottie Potatee potato bar franchise chain does not permit employees at corporate
headquarters to work flextime schedules. The CEO communicated with employees and
explained that shift workers at the corporate owned potato bars cannot reasonably work
that way and in order to keep things fair, he prefers that the corporate employees work
regular hours from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. or from 1:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., which is the
other regular shift where they need staff. Workers at fast food operations do not have the
opportunity for flextime schedules because they must be at work prior to the store's
serving hours and usually after the store closes. They cannot plan their own schedule, but
must comply with the hours that management needs help.
Feedback: Flextime does not meet the needs of all businesses. Particularly shift work, fast-
food operations, and assembly line work is not conducive to flextime scheduling.
211. Central Communications, a company that provides land line, cell phone, Internet, and
television services for residential customers experienced poor customer call care ratings
with its overseas call center service. As a recent Introduction to Business student, you
would suggest that Central implement home-based call agents. This will cost them a little
more in office space and benefits, but it will certainly increase its customers' perception of
their service.
Feedback: Many companies are turning to home-based call agents because it not only
improves the communication and service, but it saves operational costs because the company
does not provide office space, nor does it provide benefits for these employees.
212.
Chapter 11 - Human Resource Management: Finding and Keeping the Best Employees
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Internal promotions (from within the company) are a cost effective way of filling positions
within a firm because the employees filling the position are already familiar with the
organization's culture and procedures.
213. Transferring an experienced worker to a new position at the same level within an
organization can be an effective way to motivate the worker to remain with the company.
214. The "employment at will" doctrine maintained that a firm could only fire a worker if it
could demonstrate "just cause."
215. In recent years, many companies have avoided hiring permanent workers during
periods of growth by using temporary employees and outsourcing some of their
functions.
216.
Chapter 11 - Human Resource Management: Finding and Keeping the Best Employees
A golden handshake refers to the severance pay that is offered to a worker that is laid off
when the firm downsizes.
217. Exit interviews by a third party can be an effective way for a firm to prevent future
losses of valuable employees.
218. Recent court cases include drug-addicted employees who claim their addiction is an
illness, and therefore, they are protected from wrongful discharge under the American
with Disabilities Act.
219. The prevalence of flatter corporate structures in recent years has increased the number
of workers that firms promote.
Feedback: In a flat organization there are fewer levels of management and thus fewer
positions available for promotions. Therefore, it is more common to transfer workers to new
positions at the same level than it is to promote them to a higher level.
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223. Marketing manager Sam Woodall has worked for Family Care Pharmaceuticals for 36
years. He fondly remembers the "good old days" when he could fire a worker for just
about any reason. He feels that today's laws and regulations limiting his ability to fire
workers undermines his authority and forces him to keep employees that don't measure up
to his standards. Sam's views suggest he would favor working in a state that implements
the policy of "employment at will."
Feedback: The "employment at will" doctrine said that managers had as much freedom to fire
workers as the workers had to leave voluntarily.
224. Top managers at Unifaze Corporation have decided that the company must downsize,
but are concerned about the effect the reduction in employment will have on the morale of
the remaining employees. One way top management could keep morale from suffering
would be to establish an early retirement program.
Feedback: An advantage of early retirement programs is that they tend to increase the morale
of remaining employees. The retirement of older workers also increases promotion
opportunities for younger employees.
225.
Chapter 11 - Human Resource Management: Finding and Keeping the Best Employees
Liz hired Max Maxwell right out of college! Max had brought a lot to the plate at the
Brooklyn Sporting Goods firm where Liz served as Marketing Director over the baseball,
basketball, and hockey lines. Yesterday, Max submitted his resignation after only one year
on the job, and disclosed that he is leaving sporting goods and taking a job in Canada
where he will be marketing a hockey arena. Liz is beside herself and has decided to
personally conduct an exit interview. In evaluating this situation, you agree that Liz is
probably the best person to conduct this interview.
Feedback: It is best to use an outside agency to conduct exit interviews. Outsiders provide
anonymity and usually gain honest feedback from those who are leaving the organization.
226. Barney's company creates promotional campaigns for other businesses. He just
learned that the firm lost the Lisle Account, a long-standing customer. On the short-term,
this will significantly reduce the need for several creative writers and web content
developers the company has on staff. As he prepares to call each employee in for
dismissal, Barney reviews the best way to approach this inevitable task. He decides that it
is best not to tarnish the image of the company so rather than tell each that they lost an
important account, he will blame the need to reduce the workforce on new technology the
firm is implementing and his personal evaluation of their work. He also plans to offer a
two-month severance, as long as each signs a no-compete agreement good for one year. In
that way, he may be able to call them back if new accounts emerge. All of these strategies
are considered good procedures that would surely avoid "wrongful discharge lawsuits."
Feedback: According to Figure 11.9, "How to avoid wrongful discharge lawsuits", Barney
should be honest about the business reason that the employees are being dismissed.
Employees should be given the true reasons they are being fired.
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227. _____________ is the process of evaluating human resource needs and then
recruiting, selecting, developing, motivating, evaluating, compensating, and scheduling
employees to achieve organizational goals.
A. Staffing
B. Performance evaluation and response
C. Human resource management
D. Job analysis
228. The ultimate resource of a firm is its:
A. business plan.
B. marketing mix.
C. capital budget.
D. employees.
229. One of the key functions of human resource management is:
A. departmentalizing.
B. recruiting.
C. budgeting.
D. auditing.
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247. An important U.S. government organization charged with setting human resource
management guidelines is:
A. the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).
B. the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration).
C. the WPA (Work Progress Administration).
D. the MPDA (Manpower Development Administration).
248. According to U.S. business law, accommodation means:
A. treating all employees fairly.
B. making certain that if one employee gets medical leave during a fiscal year, that all
other employees get an equal amount of leave during the year.
C. careful consideration before firing someone and hiring two younger persons to replace
him/her.
D. providing services for employees according to their special needs.
249.
Chapter 11 - Human Resource Management: Finding and Keeping the Best Employees
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.
A. affirmative control
B. affirmative action
C. forward discrimination
D. reverse discrimination
Feedback: Reverse discrimination occurs when a dominant group such as white males are not
hired due to the fact that there is a qualified minority. Sometimes a member of the dominant
group is better qualified, but is not hired due to the need to fill a minority quota.
250. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act gave the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission the authority to:
A. prevent firms from firing workers based on union affiliation.
B. issue guidelines for employer conduct in administering equal employment opportunity
programs.
C. set salary schedules for protected groups.
D. require firms to pay women and minority workers more than white males for the same
work.
Feedback: The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 gave the EEOC the power to
establish guidelines for acceptable employer conduct in administering equal employment
opportunity, to establish specific record-keeping procedures, and to enforce its mandates.
