Research shows that one quarter to one third of employees question the fairness of their
pay frequently.
Answer:
Many contracts specify a premium be paid above the worker’s base wage for working
nonstandard shifts.
Answer:
A fast and efficient worker would earn more money under a Rowan plan than under a
Halsey 50-50.
Answer:
If a man’s wife died while driving a truck for her employer, and if she was responsible
for the accident, the husband is not eligible to receive compensation for the loss.
Answer:
Management and HR research has conclusively shown that goal setting and job
enrichment produce the largest and most reliable increases in job performance.
Answer:
Eligibility refers to who in the organization may participate in an incentive pay
program.
Answer:
The objective of compliance suggests the way a pay decision is made may be as
important to employees as the results of that decision.
Answer:
Each compensable factor degree should be equidistant from the adjacent degrees.
Answer:
Unions respond relatively rapidly to wage increases during inflationary periods.
Answer:
A recommended practice for appraisal interviews is to have the employee complete a
self-appraisal form prior to the appraisal interview.
Answer:
Security in terms of compensation refers to the predictability of one’s paycheck from
one time to another.
Answer:
Minimum wage jobs are very rare in the software, chemical, oil, and pharmaceutical
industries.
Answer:
Line of sight means that employees believe they can influence performance targets.
Answer:
Research on person-based pay systems has focused on the reliability and validity of the
systems.
Answer:
Since HR research contains information useful to managers, most managers read
research in HR, management and compensation journals.
Answer:
Complex work is likely best supported by person-based pay systems.
Answer:
Compensable factors should reflect an organization’s sources of competitive advantage.
Answer:
The CPI measures the cost of living.
Answer:
The “bandwagon” effect is when an employer offers a new benefit offered by a
competitor without careful consideration.
Answer:
A study found that there is only a very small amount of change in CEO pay is related to
changes in company performance.
Answer:
Paying employees who are frequently moved from one job to another each day is less
complex in a job-based pay than a person-based structure.
Answer:
After factor weights have been assigned, factors can be scaled.
Answer:
There is evidence that an increase in the percent of imports reduces the union wage
differential.
Answer:
Tying changes in pensions, social security payments, and labor agreements to changes
in the CPI is called indexing.
Answer:
For most benefits, providing a level of coverage is more costly to employers than
providing a benefit at a specific cost level.
Answer:
If an objective is to increase customer satisfaction, then incentive programs and merit
pay might be used to pay for performance.
Answer:
A pay structure refers to the array of pay rates for different work or skills within a
single organization.
Answer:
Challenging work and employment security are examples of total compensation.
Answer:
Managerial and supervisory analysis provide the data for skill-based pay systems.
Answer:
Worker’s compensation costs have been declining since 2005 due in part to employer
safety programs.
Answer:
Employee benefits may be accurately described as a costly entitlement of the American
workforce.
Answer:
Job analysis procedure recommendations call for performing the first interviews with
job incumbents.
Answer:
The two generic types of pension plans are contributory plans and noncontributory
plans.
Answer:
The traditional performance component of the balanced scorecard is__________
A. customer satisfaction,
B. employee internal growth and commitment,
C. operational efficiency in internal processes, and
D. financial
Answer:
If the business goal is to increase sales growth, an organization might use a _____.
A.percentage account erosion
B.gross margin on sales or price per unit
C.customer satisfaction index
D.volume measure
Answer:
Examination of employee and union needs and the social and political context is a part
of _____ step in formulating a total compensation strategy.
A.assess total compensation implications
B.implement strategy
C.mapping strategy
D.assessing business needs
Answer:
In Japanese companies, the concept of teate is consistent with which of the following?
A.Sophisticated performance appraisal systems
B.A strong emphasis on performance pay
C.Family, housing and commuting allowances
D.Rapid promotions
Answer:
Employees who want to be sure their good performance will be rewarded will prefer
A.merit pay.
B.team incentives.
C.individual incentives.
D.across-the-board pay increases
Answer:
For which of the following types of HR decisions would the least detailed job
information be required?
A.Legal compliance
B.Career paths
C.Compensation
D.Staffing
Answer:
Experts attribute the decline in dollar cost of workers’ compensation cost after 2005 to:
A.increased variable component.
B.devaluation of the dollar.
C.employer safety programs.
D.relaxed federal regulations.
Answer:
Desired employee behaviors are influenced by ________
A.motivation.
B. ability.
C. environment.
D. ability, motivation and environment.
Answer:
Pay-for-knowledge plans do all of the following except _____.
A.allow employees to be less expendable
B.increase the probability that work can be subcontracted
C.make each individual employee more valuable
D.pay employees more for learning a variety of different jobs or skills
Answer:
Engineering, sales, maintenance are examples of ___________
A. occupations
B. job families
C. job dimensions
D. job groups
Answer:
_____ refers to comparisons among jobs or skills inside a single organization.
A.External competitiveness
B.Internal alignment
C.Pay structure
D.Equitable contributions
Answer:
If you had repair work done on your car, the compensation system the shop uses to pay
the mechanics is most likely the ________ plan.
A. Bedeaux
B. standard hour
C. Halsey 50-50
D. straight piece-work
Answer:
The best single compensable factor for creating a job structure, is:
A.problem solving.
B.accountability.
C.responsibility.
D.skill.
Answer:
In a _____ plan an employer agrees to provide a specific level of retirement pension,
which is expressed as either a fixed dollar or a percentage-of-earnings amount that may
vary (increase) with years of seniority in the company.
A.defined benefit
B.noncontributory benefit
C.401 (k)
D.shared-benefit
Answer:
Experience, training, education, and ability as measured by the performance
requirements of a particular job are the Department of Labor’s definition of _____.
A.effort
B.skill
C.responsibility
D.working conditions
Answer:
The scheme used in the text for classifying competencies consists of three groups.
Which of the following is not one of them?
A.Personal characteristics
B.Team dynamics
C.Visionary
D.Organization specific
Answer:
The _____ theory argues that executive pay rises to maintain the same relationship to
the salaries of lower-level employees.
A.economic approach
B.team production
C.social comparison
D.agency
Answer:
_____ is the best appraisal format across the five criteria for evaluating rating formats.
A.Ranking
B.MBO
C.BARS
D.Standard rating scales
Answer:
A major advantage of a _____ is that it reduces benefits costs, something that the other
options ordinarily do not achieve.
A.reduction in hours
B.furlough
C.pay cut
D.reduction in force
Answer:
Which of the following would not be used as a criterion pay structure?
A.Market rates for current jobs.
B.Union-negotiated rates.
C.Rates for job held predominately by males.
D.Federal government rates based on the minimum wages.
Answer:
It is observed that _____ is/are commanding a larger share of the total compensation for
all employee groups.
A.merit pay
B.health benefits
C.retirement benefits
D.variable pay
Answer:
The primary responsibility for conducting a pay survey is _____.
A.top management
B.the facility or plant manager
C.outside consultants
D.the compensation manager
Answer:
Which form of pay is likely to be least expensive for employers?
A.Incentive
B.Merit pay
C.Cost-of-living adjustments
D.Base pay
Answer:
Most unions insist on group-based performance measures with equal payouts to
members because it _____.
A.enables employees to learn to new skills
B.cuts down on strife and internal quarrels
C.encourages individual differences
D.causes a spillover effect
Answer:
Which of the following statements is true regarding rater training?
A.Training programs lasting over two hours are as effective as shorter ones.
B.Rater-error training is more effective than performance-standard or
performance-dimension.
C.Lectures on how to improve ratings are ineffective.
D.Training to reduce halo and improve accuracy have been most successful.
Answer:
You are an HR manager and your boss has told you to find the best way to raise job
performance. After some research you find that _____ produce(s) the largest and most
reliable performance increases.
A.high base pay
B.great benefits that attract and retain workers
C.a combination of goal setting and job enrichment
D.monetary incentives
Answer:
If financially troubled employers have not been able to maintain competitive market
positions, the conventional response has been to _____.
A.increase the rate of reduction in average pay by controlling adjustments in base pay
B.decrease employees’ copays and deductibles for benefits
C.increase base wages but not variable pay
D.reduce employment
Answer:
Employees view compensation as all but which of the following?
A.A return
B.An entitlement
C.A reward
D.An investment
Answer:
The salary for expatriates is usually determined by _____.
A.job evaluation
B.market pay
C.competitors’ pay level in the host country
D.international pay schedules
Answer:
Inclusion of essential elements in job descriptions is required by the
A.Americans With Disabilities Act
B.Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
C.Fair Labor Standards Act
D.Equal Pay Act
Answer:
An inappropriate way to assess the acceptability of a job evaluation plan and its
resulting job structure is to:
A.examine the number of formal appeals.
B.examine the number of requests for reanalysis.
C.conduct employee attitude surveys.
D.examine the number of job offers not accepted.
Answer: