If career development is over-emphasized, the organization may suffer when employees
become more concerned about their image than their actual performance.
Most managers consider career development counseling with their employees a top
priority.
Performance diaries typically improve the accuracy of performance appraisals but
cannot be used in court to justify the appraisal process.
To be eligible for Social Security, a person must have worked 40 quarter-year periods
(10 years total employment) and must have earned a minimum of $1,120 per quarter.
Communication skills and the ability to resolve problems are keys to career
advancement.
When implementing an employee attitude survey, it is important to tell employees what
managers plan to do with the information.
Qualitative forecasting techniques permit the firms to incorporate any factors or
conditions the forecaster wishes to consider.
Team-based pay plans normally reward team members individually based upon how
much they contributed to the team’s overall performance.
Effective mentoring must be formal, structured, and only at the upper levels of
management.
All employee discipline, regardless of cause or process, should be documented in
writing by managers.
Social Security normally replaces about 80% of an individual’s current earnings upon
retirement.
Memos are most appropriate for conveying:
A) employee health goals.
B) team performance data.
C) vacation policy changes.
D) corporate stock performance.
You are drafting a job description and have written a short statement that explains the
duties and responsibilities of the job and where the job fits in the organizational
structure. You have just written the:
A) job inventory.
B) job requirements.
C) job specifications.
D) job summary.
The experience of Century Telephone Company clearly showed that
pay-for-performance programs may promote:
A) problems linking group and individual incentives.
B) ethical violations that led to employee lawsuits.
C) increases in employee conflicts and stress.
D) excessive union involvement.
The process of making hire- or no-hire decisions describes the ________ step of the
hiring process.
A) recruitment
B) selection
C) socialization
D) interviewing
________ communication allows employees at lower levels to communicate their ideas
and feelings to higher-level decision makers.
A) Downward
B) Lateral
C) Two-way
D) Upward
Additional Case 12.2
Tri-State Shipping employs 45 workers. They ship commodities across the country.
Until recently, they had only legally required benefits, but business has become very
profitable and they can now offer their employees more benefits.
The average age of their employees is 50. Most employees have been there for more
than 20 years, and the company prides itself on keeping workers. The majority of the
jobs require heavy lifting or the operation of heavy equipment for loading and
unloading trucks, trains, etc. Their workers’ compensation tax has been running about
5% per year. They are in one of the lowest workers’ compensation tax rate states, but
TSS has had a lot of injuries. The lifting required and type of equipment used tends to
result in a lot of sprained backs, mashed fingers, or bruised muscles. When workers are
injured, they tend to heal quickly and return to work quickly.
Despite its reputation for keeping workers, the dock supervisor recently fired a 21-year
old employee who had been with TSS for 12 months. Even though everyone liked him,
the young man just couldn’t learn his job.
Refer to Additional Case 12.2. Which of the following would be the best way to lower
the firm’s workers’ compensation costs?
A) Auditing all employee claims
B) Mandating employee drug tests
C) Placing injured workers on modified duty
D) Emphasizing safe working procedures
Managers who follow a rational perspective when conducting performance appraisals:
A) value the employee’s performance relative to the manager’s goals.
B) seek to clearly define a worker’s performance and the criteria to evaluate that
performance.
C) decide who should get the highest rating in a group setting before completing the
evaluation.
D) use relatively ambiguous criteria or definitions in the appraisal process.
When conducting a person analysis, HR would most likely examine ________ to
discover patterns of employee deficiencies.
A) the task analysis
B) performance appraisals
C) industry job descriptions
D) customer survey reports
Which of the following is most likely a true statement about relative and absolute
judgment appraisal systems?
A) Relative judgments do not force raters to make distinctions between employees
where none exist, but absolute judgments do.
B) Absolute judgments allow for equal ratings among employees, but relative
judgments do not.
C) Absolute judgments tend to create conflict between employees, but relative
judgments do not.
D) Relative judgments are easy to defend in court, but absolute judgments are not.
Management by objectives assumes that:
A) a large power distance exists between employees and managers.
B) management and employees are unlikely to take risks.
C) managers and employees view performance and its related rewards as important.
D) management encourages rigidly stereotyped gender roles for employees.
A lengthy cross-cultural training that typically includes language training and field
experiences as well as training for the manager’s family is a(n):
A) affective approach.
B) information-giving approach.
C) real world approach.
D) impression approach.
Sanjay has a complaint about his work schedule. His company requires him to go
before a group of his peers and managers, other than his own boss, to explain his
complaint. This is an example of a(n):
A) speak-up program.
B) open door program.
C) grievance panel.
D) ombudsman program.
The extent to which a society places a high value on reducing risk and instability
describes Hofstede’s cultural dimension of:
A) power distance.
B) individualism.
C) long-term/short-term orientation.
D) uncertainty avoidance.
A group of employees are discussing a notice on the bulletin board. “This is great! They
finally recognize our need for childcare here. Boy, will this make life easier.” For the
employees, this is an example of:
A) factual communication.
B) communication of feelings.
C) upward communication.
D) noise.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the most hazardous profession is:
A) logging.
B) farming.
C) construction.
D) commercial fishing.
Which of the following is most likely a benefit to organizations that offer tuition
assistance programs?
A) Increased production and profitability
B) College recruitment opportunities
C) Federal and state tax assistance
D) Turnover reductions
The head of HR has asked you to gather information about the tasks, duties, and
responsibilities of specific jobs. He has most likely asked you to perform a(n):
A) job evaluation.
B) job analysis.
C) equity analysis.
D) comparable worth assessment.
Which of the following is most likely a true statement?
A) The glass ceiling is a problem exclusive to the United States.
B) Women and minorities tend to be excluded from informal career development
efforts.
C) Since the 1991 glass ceiling study, women have attained appropriate representation
in directorship positions.
D) Barriers to women and minorities in the workplace no longer exist as a result of
government intervention programs.
A(n) ________ is a citizen of one country living and working in another country.
A(n) ________ is a financial incentive that is given on a one-time basis and does not
raise the employee’s base pay permanently.
What roles do OSHA and the ADA play on AIDS/HIV in the workplace?
There are a number of compliance challenges HR faces. Identify and explain at least
four.
Your CEO asks you, as the director of HR, to lead a layoff planning session. What
layoff alternatives are available to the firm? If layoffs are necessary, what separation
costs would the firm most likely incur?