What type of team would work best in a situation where you expect only a part-time
commitment from each member, where each member will work in a different city or
state, and where rapid communication is important?
A) A virtual team
B) A problem-solving team
C) A special-purpose team
D) A self-managing all-purpose team
Dan, Laura, and Chuck are preparing a poster presentation for an upcoming business
conference. Laura and Chuck have each dedicated over 10 hours to the task. Dan has
contributed about 2 hours to the project, but he will receive equal credit with Laura and
Chuck for the project’s completion. In HR terms, Dan is:
A) a free-rider.
B) experience deficient.
C) a lesser-contributor.
D) negligent.
Which of the following is the best example of the hot-stove rule?
A) Ella has been leaving work early for the past week and plans on continuing this
action since no supervisor has approached her about it.
B) Tanya was disciplined for Web-surfing on business time. A couple of weeks later,
Ashton received the same discipline for the same reason.
C) Aaron does not tell his employees what actions will be disciplined, nor what kind of
discipline may be anticipated.
D) Charlie received a two-day paid suspension for using sick days to lengthen his
vacation. Dave did the same thing and received a verbal warning.
Additional Case 16.1
Greenway Enterprises is a medium-sized manufacturer of electrical components.
Recently, the company has experienced a number of workplace accidents. OSHA
standards have not been violated in any of the accidents. One of the injured employees,
Floyd, files a workers’ compensation claim, which is upheld by the state. Doctors
indicate that Floyd requires 8 weeks of vocational training before he can return to
work.Refer to Additional Case 16.1. Doctors determine that Floyd has a temporary
partial disability and cannot return to work for at least 8 more weeks. What type of
benefits would Floyd most likely receive as a result of this decision?
A) Total disability benefits
B) Impairment benefits
C) Survivor benefits
D) Rehabilitation benefits
Roth IRAs differ from traditional IRAs in what way?
A) An employee is allowed to contribute more annually to a traditional IRA than to a
Roth IRA.
B) An employee is allowed to contribute more annually to a Roth IRA than to a
traditional IRA.
C) Traditional IRAs are restricted to people with adjusted gross incomes of less that
$120,000 as a single person or $177,000 for married people filing joint returns. Roth
IRAs are not restricted in this way.
D) Roth IRAs are restricted to people with adjusted gross incomes of less than
$120,000 as a single person or $177,000 for married people filing joint returns.
Traditional IRAs are not restricted in this way.
A summary statement of the essential job duties and responsibilities of a job is called a:
A) work flow analysis.
B) job analysis.
C) job description.
D) task identification summary.
Additional Case 9.1
Ron, the CEO at CableNet, wants to invest in career development because he is
concerned that the firm is not prepared to meet future needs and challenges. Rudy, the
operations manager, states that CableNet has already invested significantly in employee
training, and a career development program would be a costly duplication. Rudy
produces a recent productivity and quality study that shows significant improvement
among employees to support his assertion that a development program is unnecessary.
Charles, an IT manager, states that most supervisors currently discuss career options
with their subordinates as part of the management process. Charles asserts that
managers are taking care of their employees well enough and that nothing else is
necessary. Tanya, the HR director, suggests that assigning employees to various jobs
would give them a wider base of skills at a minimal expense. She asserts that an active
career development program would help the company with EEO-related matters, which
are a concern to her. The workforce is about 30% female and 45% minority, but upper
management is 100% Asian-American male.
Refer to Additional Case 9.1. Charles’ comments suggest that the company’s career
development efforts are primarily based on:
A) job rotation.
B) mentoring.
C) coaching.
D) training.
Additional Case 17.1
Hollar, Inc. is a U.S.-based, international car manufacturer with assembly facilities in
12 countries. Currently, expatriate managers and local national managers are hired and
promoted according to the direction of the home office. Hollar has a strategic alliance
with a large African ship building company in order to move into that market. Hollar
recently purchased Tyro, a firm based in France that makes automobile components.
Tyro’s production facilities are located in France, but the firm has dealerships and
customers throughout Europe.
Hollar plans to open a new plant in India within the next four years. Some of Hollar’s
top executives advocate using expatriates to oversee the construction of the new facility.
Another group of Hollar executives assert that host-country nationals should manage
the project.
Refer to Additional Case 17.1. Which of the following best supports the decision to fill
management positions in India with host-country nationals?
A) Hollar wants to exhibit trust in the local citizenry.
B) Hollar wants to maintain significant control from headquarters.
C) Hollar anticipates extensive government intervention.
D) Hollar’s domestic and foreign operations are highly interdependent.
For career paths to be helpful, they need to contain information about:
A) pay and benefits at each level.
B) employee interests, education, and abilities.
C) qualifications and time between steps.
D) criteria for selecting applicants.
Studies show a number of internal barriers to firms’ exporting, such as:
A) a lack of foreign language ability among management.
B) insufficient infrastructure in the host country.
C) an inability to connect with a third party export facilitator.
D) a lack of knowledge of international markets.
The use of seniority as a layoff criterion:
A) is not common among most modern organizations.
B) tends to impact women and minorities more than other groups.
C) tends to be the most difficult layoff criterion to implement.
D) is the only safe option in today’s HRM legal environment.
For a suggestion system to be effective, it should:
A) use a single manager to evaluate the suggestions for the sake of speed.
B) quickly implement accepted ideas and give credit to the originator.
C) provide only token awards to keep costs under control.
D) always provide monetary rewards to employees.
Which of the following is a characteristic of a boundaryless organization?
A) Many levels of management
B) Top-down management approach
C) Teams whose members cross organizational boundaries
D) Hierarchical career paths may exist within one function
Cross-functional training has a number of advantages for most companies, including:
A) being the least expensive training to conduct.
B) preparing employees for promotions.
C) increasing employee versatility.
D) enhancing team problem solving.
A charter bus company requires drug tests of all its drivers prior to every charter. As a
consequence of this testing, accident rates have fallen by 75%. This test seems to screen
out more young minority males than any other group or protected class. This drug test is
most likely:
A) an example of disparate treatment.
B) illegal because of adverse impact on a protected class.
C) a prima facie case of discrimination based on race.
D) legally defensible as a reasonable business necessity.
Which of the following is most likely true about individual-based compensation
systems?
A) They facilitate performance measurement.
B) They provide tax advantages to manufacturers.
C) They promote independence from supervision.
D) They match the individualistic culture of the U.S.
It is most likely true that the use of pay-for-performance systems is:
A) increasing rapidly around the world.
B) declining due to implementation problems.
C) failing to motivate employees as employers had expected.
D) increasing slowly among small businesses in the high-tech industry.
The work adjustment theory suggests that employee motivation depends on the:
A) essential job characteristics.
B) external and internal environments.
C) relationship between the employee and the manager.
D) fit between employee needs and the job characteristics.
The best way companies can avoid a number of EEO problems is by:
A) providing training.
B) employing effective legal departments.
C) referring all complaints to the EEOC immediately.
D) enlarging the HR department by creating an ombudsman position.
In 2010, what percentage of the total labor force in the United States consisted of
contingent workers?
A) 12%
B) 26%
C) 37%
D) 44%
Egalitarian compensation systems are:
A) problematic because of increased tensions between co-workers.
B) more common in older businesses with mature products.
C) important to developing a more stable work force.
D) becoming common in competitive environments.
The ________ concept of management asserts that management practices should be
molded to the different sets of values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors exhibited by a
diverse workforce.
A) universal
B) affirmative action
C) segmented
D) cultural relativity
Boden, the CEO of Dixon Paper, has filed for bankruptcy in order to reorganize his
company and get out from under several very tough union contracts he negotiated two
years ago during better times. Boden is most likely engaged in:
A) union avoidance.
B) union acceptance.
C) union suppression.
D) union substitution.
Additional Case 3.1
You have been hired as HR Director of a company with about 100 employees. As you
begin to learn about the company, you discover that female managers are paid about
20% less than their male counterparts. When you ask why, the CEO explains that men
have families to support and women are earning extra income. As you review personnel
files, it becomes apparent that protected-class employees are promoted less often and
have longer terms between promotions and raises than white employees. A test is used
as part of the promotion process, and protected-class candidates always do about 25%
worse on it than white candidates. Another test is used to screen job applicants. It
screens out about 25% of white male applicants and about 50% of protected-class
applicants.
The firm has a hazardous products division. Traditionally, women are not hired or
promoted into that division because the CEO is concerned that the toxic nature of the
production process will adversely affect the female employees’ reproductive processes.
Refer to Additional Case 3.1. For your company’s recruiting test to pass the four-fifths
rule, about ________ of employees would need to pass it.
A) 40%
B) 50%
C) 60%
D) 75%
The Immigration Act of 1990 served the purpose of:
A) reducing the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States.
B) requiring employers to verify I-9 documentation from workers.
C) making it easier for skilled immigrants to enter the United States.
D) requiring immigrants to have family members who are U.S. citizens.
Discrimination that occurs when the equal application of an employment standard has
an unequal effect on one or more protected classes is referred to as ________.
Identify the characteristics of companies in various stages of internationalization. How
should a firm’s HRM practices be adapted for each of the five stages of
internationalization?
________ is a union avoidance strategy in which management becomes so responsive
to employees’ needs that it removes the incentives for unionization.
________ provides workers with the skills and authority to make decisions that would
traditionally be made by managers.
The set of activities involved in integrating nontraditional employees into the workforce
and using their diversity to the firm’s competitive advantage is referred to as ________.
A(n) ________ is a group established by an employer to provide a nurturing climate for
employees who would otherwise feel isolated or alienated.
________ is a guarantee that accrued retirement benefits will be given to retirement
plan participants when they retire or leave the employer.
A company-sponsored program that focuses on preventing health problems in
employees is called a(n) ________.
A collection of career development materials such as workbooks, tapes, and texts is
referred to as a(n) ________.