Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 4e (Dessler)
Chapter 5 Personnel Planning and Recruiting
1) ________ is the process of deciding what positions the firm will have to fill and how to fill
them.
A) Employee selection
B) Talent management
C) Personnel planning
D) Trend analysis
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
2) What is the purpose of recruiting?
A) forecasting the supply of candidates
B) developing an applicant pool
C) establishing a strategic plan
D) developing qualifications inventories
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
3) Steve, an HR manager for IBM, must decide what positions the firm should fill in the next 6
months, which means Steve is currently working on ________.
A) candidate screening
B) workforce planning
C) employee contracting
D) department training
AACSB: Application of knowledge
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Application
1
4) A firm’s ________ should guide employment planning and determine the types of skills and
competencies the firm needs.
A) organizational chart
B) recruitment process
C) marketing plan
D) strategic plan
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
5) Which of the following is LEAST likely to be considered by employers during the process of
workforce planning?
A) personnel needs
B) organizational culture
C) supply of inside candidates
D) supply of outside candidates
AACSB: Application of knowledge
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Application
6) Which of the following refers to studying variations in a firm’s past employment levels to
predict future needs?
A) ratio analysis
B) trend analysis
C) job analysis
D) graphical analysis
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
2
7) The process of making forecasts based on the relationship between some causal factor like
sales volume and the number of employees required is called ________.
A) ratio analysis
B) trend analysis
C) graphical analysis
D) computer analysis
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
8) Newton Building Supplies hopes to generate an extra $4 million in sales next year. A
salesperson traditionally generates $800,000 in sales each year. Using ratio analysis, how many
new salespeople should Newton hire?
A) 2
B) 5
C) 10
D) 12
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Application
9) A ________ shows graphically how two variables are related.
A) trend analysis
B) ratio analysis
C) scatter plot
D) correlation analysis
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
3
10) Marie Boyd has been hired by Barnum Hotels to manage staffing for the regional hotel chain.
Barnum intends to open two new hotels within the next 3 years and will have many job positions
to fill. Historically, employee turnover is high at Barnum, as employees usually remain with the
company for less than 2 years before quitting. Marie realizes that Barnum needs to make
significant changes in its personnel strategy in order to meet the company’s goals for the future
and to improve employee retention rates.
Which of the following, if true, best supports the argument that a scatter plot is the most
appropriate tool for Marie to use in estimating future personnel needs?
A) Productivity levels for Barnum employees typically vary from month to month.
B) The size of the two new Barnum hotels will be similar to the chain’s other hotels.
C) Barnum requires HR to maintain qualifications inventories for all current employees.
D) Barnum’s marketing department will develop a new promotional campaign for the new hotels.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Critical Thinking
11) ________ contain data on employees’ performance records, educational backgrounds, and
promotion recommendations.
A) Computerized forecasting tools
B) Replacement charts
C) Qualifications inventories
D) HR scorecards
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
4
12) When managers need to determine which employees are available for promotion or transfer,
they will most likely use ________.
A) position replacement charts
B) qualifications inventories
C) personnel trend records
D) succession plans
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
13) Marie Boyd has been hired by Barnum Hotels to manage staffing for the regional hotel chain.
Barnum intends to open two new hotels within the next 3 years and will have many job positions
to fill. Historically, employee turnover is high at Barnum, as employees remain with the
company for less than 2 years before quitting. Marie realizes that Barnum needs to make
significant changes in its personnel strategy in order to meet the company’s goals for the future
and improve employee retention rates.
Which of the following, if true, best supports the argument that Marie should use a computerized
skills inventory database?
A) Barnum executives would like to transfer the firm’s most qualified employees to the new
hotels to fill supervisory positions.
B) Barnum primarily recruits for management trainee positions at college campuses and through
online job boards.
C) Barnum’s HR managers frequently receive discrimination complaints that must be
investigated by the EEOC.
D) Barnum offers its employees many opportunities to participate in job rotation and job
expansion experiences.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Critical Thinking
5
14) All of the following terms refer to the process of deciding how to fill positions at an
organization EXCEPT ________ planning.
A) succession
B) workforce
C) personnel
D) employment
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
15) What is the primary goal of the recruitment and selection process?
A) filling top executive positions
B) forecasting future personnel needs
C) hiring the best candidates for positions
D) increasing the retention of key employees
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
16) What is the first step in the recruitment and selection process?
A) assessing training requirements
B) forecasting employment needs
C) developing job applications
D) building an applicant pool
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
6
17) Theresa, an HR manager, works for a firm that is planning to expand overseas. Theresa is in
the process of workforce planning and has already forecasted the firm’s labor demand. What
should Theresa do next?
A) create a job competencies matrix of all positions
B) establish training and development plans
C) identify labor supply-demand gaps
D) determine recruitment methods
AACSB: Application of knowledge
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Application
18) Which of the following refers to company records that show the present performance and
promotability of inside candidates for the most important positions?
A) employee ratio analysis
B) qualifications inventory
C) employee replacement card
D) personnel replacement chart
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
19) Which of the following is created for each position in a company to show possible
replacement candidates and their qualifications?
A) computerized forecast
B) skills inventory record
C) position replacement card
D) personnel replacement matrix
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
7
20) Which of the following factors is LEAST relevant to forecasting personnel needs?
A) productivity changes
B) marketing methods
C) projected turnover
D) financial resources
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
21) Which law includes a provision that protects the privacy of employee medical records?
A) ADA
B) Title VII
C) ADEA
D) HIPAA
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
22) Which of the following would most likely improve the security of employee data?
A) ensuring that all files are read-only and write-only
B) minimizing the use of qualifications inventories
C) performing random background checks
D) reducing the number of firewalls
AACSB: Application of knowledge
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
8
23) A manager who needs to forecast the external labor supply will most likely use all of the
following resources EXCEPT ________.
A) O*NET
B) Bloomberg Businessweek
C) Bureau of Labor Statistics
D) The New York Times
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
24) Which term refers to paying continuous attention to workforce planning issues?
A) talent management and development
B) predictive workforce monitoring
C) strategic personnel planning
D) external labor forecasting
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
25) What was a result of Valero Energy implementing a labor supply chain to monitor
recruitment and hiring?
A) reduced hiring costs
B) increased internal hires
C) reduced need for recruiting yield pyramids
D) increased use of organizational development
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
9
26) Employment planning should be an integral part of a firm’s strategic and HR planning
process.
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
27) Ratio analysis and trend analysis are rarely used to forecast personnel needs because they are
complicated methods that produce historically unreliable results.
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
28) The assumption shared by both trend analysis and ratio analysis is that productivity remains
about the same from year to year.
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
29) A scatter plot is a personnel forecasting method that analyzes a firm’s past employment needs
to predict future needs.
Chapter: 5
LO: 5.1: Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting.
Skill: Concept
10