To ensure success with an outsourcing strategy, companies should outsource work that
requires tight security.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 encourages the use of sex norming as a selection tool.
The Fourteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.
A country’s political system does not usually affect human resource management.
Recruitment sources affect both the characteristics of vacancies and potential job
applicants.
In a nondirective interview, the interviewer always asks questions from an established
set of questions.
While training expatriates, trainers are expected to be authoritarian and controlling of
session in cultures low in power distance.
Apprenticeship programs can only be sponsored by government agencies.
The temporary cross-functional move is the least common way to use downward moves
for employee development.
The critical-incident method requires managers to keep a record of specific examples of
the employee acting in ways that are either effective or ineffective.
Jim, a sales manager at Elexon Inc., finds that Bill, a salesman, lacks motivation to
perform well in his job. In the context of finding solutions to performance problems,
which of the following is the right way to deal with this situation?
A. Jim must reduce Bill’s pay to punish him.
B. Jim must warn Bill that he will be demoted if his performance continues to be poor.
C. Jim must ask Bill to learn from salespeople who perform better than he does.
D. Jim must counsel Bill to help him understand the factors that are affecting his
motivation.
E. Jim must ask Bill to take a vacation to think about what is causing his lack of
motivation.
_____ refers to the ways an organization’s people encourage training.
A. Situational constraint
B. Employee orientation
C. Benchmarking
D. Social support
E. Experiential program
Errol, a manager at a large toy store, is expecting increased sales during the holiday
season. He knows that he will experience a labor shortage during this time. Which of
the following options is most suitable for Errol’s situation to avoid a labor shortage?
A. Errol must hire new employees because he will most likely need additional workers
after the holiday season to deal with the increased sales trend.
B. Errol must consider increasing workers’ pay during the holiday season so that his
employees work harder to achieve sales targets.
C. Errol must keep his store closed during non-peak hours to compensate for labor
shortages. This will ensure his employees work harder during peak hours.
D. Errol must hire temporary employees because he can let them go once the holiday
season is over.
E. Errol must consider increasing the prices of toys so that he can make higher profits
with fewer sales, thereby reducing the number of customers and consequently solving
the labor shortage issue.
Anne, a business researcher, believes that organizations will have to spend a lot of
money on employee health care in the future. Her colleague Nick argues that
organizations will not have to increase their spending on employee health care benefits.
Which of the following statements weakens Nick’s argument?
A. The labor force is expected to grow at a greater rate by 2015 than at any other time
in U.S. history.
B. The largest proportion of the labor force is expected to be in the 16- to 25-year age
group.
C. The number of workers under 40 years of age will exceed the number of workers 40
years of age or older.
D. By 2022, all baby boomers will be at least 55 years old, increasing the ranks of
workers nearing retirement.
E. The total cost of labor in the United States will decrease considerably in the near
future.
Rashid is an employee at a chemical company called HCD Inc. He notices that several
of the security personnel at HCD allow tankers to be filled with highly inflammable
gases over the acceptable limit for personal gain. Rashid gathers ample evidence of
such instances and presents it to senior management. A few days later, however, these
allegations are dismissed, and Rashid gets fired from his job. Which of the following
best depicts the reason why Rashid was wrongfully discharged?
A. For doing what the law requires
B. For violating public policy
C. For publicized information-gathering policies
D. For not requesting consent before gathering information
E. For conducting searches discreetly
A system in which employees have online access to information about human resource
issues and go online to enroll themselves in programs and provide feedback through
surveys is termed as:
A. social facilitation.
B. payroll automation.
C. cloud computing.
D. data mining.
E. self-service.
Which of the following assessment center exercises is being used when a team of five
to seven employees is assigned a problem and must work together to solve it within a
certain time period?
A. Interview session
B. Leaderless group discussion
C. Role playing
D. In-basket exercise
E. Personality test
Which of the following is true of electronic human resource management (e-HRM)
applications?
A. They let employees enroll in and participate in training programs online.
B. They provide insight into business trends and help businesses improve decisions.
C. They have the potential to eliminate traditional HRM functions.
D. They only let employees look up answers to HR-related questions and read company
news.
E. They are only accessible to specific geographical locations.
Which of the following is a factor that has been associated with the decline in union
membership?
A. High regulation in such areas as workplace safety and equal employment
opportunity
B. Low competition between companies for scarce human resources
C. High job growth in the manufacturing sector of the economy
D. Low costs of unionized labor
E. Low prospects for growth in the service industry
If a person who is a reference gives negative information about a job candidate, there is
a chance the candidate will claim _____, meaning the person damaged the applicant’s
reputation by making statements that cannot be proved truthful.
A. defamation
B. misappropriation
C. fraud
D. misrepresentation
E. negligence
Which of the following is a component of a basic career management system?
A. Sabbatical
B. Goal setting
C. Externship
D. Team building
E. Workplace ethics
Janet, an HR manager at SensNet Inc., hires employees who have a specific set of skills
that will give her company advantage over its competitors. In the context of strategic
planning, Janet is:
A. outsourcing a broad set of services.
B. using propensity analysis.
C. seeking leading indicators.
D. hiring individuals with a core competency.
E. using trend analysis.
Which of the following best describes profit sharing?
A. A gainsharing program in which employees receive a bonus if the ratio of labor costs
to the sales value of production is below a set standard
B. An incentive pay in which payments are a percentage of the organization’s profits
and do not become part of the employees’ base salary
C. A group incentive program that measures improvements in productivity and
effectiveness and distributes a portion of profit to employees
D. A combination of performance measures directed toward the company’s profit and
used as the basis for awarding incentive pay
E. An incentive plan where a percentage of the previous year’s profits is provided to the
employees as a part of their salary
Carla, a student at Cardinal College, is pursuing a degree in international business
management. As part of her program at Cardinal College, she is required to work at
Wong Consulting for a period of six months, where she will gain experience related to
her field. Carla’s employment at Wong Consulting is an example of a(n) _____.
A. internship
B. coordination training
C. apprenticeship
D. experiential training program
E. simulation training program
At the most basic level, HR managers fulfilling the role of a(n) _____, carry out
particular HR functions such as handling the selection, training, or compensation of
employees.
A. business ally
B. cultural steward
C. talent managers or organizational designer
D. operational executor
E. credible activist
Betty, a production manager at Renton Inc., needs to avoid a labor surplus in the
company in a fast and effective way. She wishes to do so with minimal suffering to the
employees in terms of lay-offs and salary. Which of the following strategies will help
Betty accomplish her goal?
A. Pay reductions
B. Transfers
C. Demotions
D. Early retirement
E. Retraining
Small Leaf Resort and Cresgrove Resort are established hotels in the hospitality
industry. However, Small Leaf Resort has a larger net profit than that of Cresgrove
Resort. In order to remain financially viable in the hospitality market, Cresgrove Resort
decides to charge more for their rooms and other services. In this scenario, which of the
following best explains the reason behind Cresgrove Resort incurring losses?
A. Cresgrove Resort has high labor-related expenses.
B. Cresgrove Resort hires employees belonging to the age group of 15 to 20.
C. Cresgrove Resort has better quality and customer service than Small Leaf Resort.
D. Cresgrove Resort considers its employees as resources.
E. Cresgrove Resort’s compa-ratio is less than 1.
Which of the following is true about content validity?
A. It is usually measured on the basis of expert judgment.
B. It indicates how free a measurement is from random errors.
C. It is most suitable for tests that measure abstract qualities.
D. A test that scores high on content validity tends to score low on generalizability.
E. It is useful for tests that measure intelligence and leadership quality.
Explain the impact of knowledge workers on the requirements for creating a
high-performance work system.
What should managers do to support training?
What is the second step in human resource planning? Explain the significance of this
step.
Martha’s boss, Bill, constantly uses sexually explicit language while communicating
with his female subordinates. Though many female employees were bothered with this
behavior, no one ever complained for fear of negative repercussions. However, Martha
files a complaint against Bill with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC). Will this be considered as discriminatory behavior? Why or why not? Explain
the prohibitions under Title VII for related behavior with examples.
Discuss the burden placed on people or organizations contacted as references for job
candidates. How do organizations cope with this burden?
Briefly describe the three levels of decisions involved in labor relations.
Discuss the following approaches to discipline: hot-stove rule and progressive
discipline.
Describe the union organizing process.
Define forecasting. Describe one method each for forecasting labor demand and supply.
Suggest the different means by which an employee’s unsatisfactory performance can be
improved.