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1. Forecasting the future supply of human resources does not require an analysis of internal company records.
a. True
b. False
2. An organization that implements a reduction strategy will provide training programs to upgrade the skills of current
employees to make them more valuable to the organization.
a. True
b. False
3. The average age of the U.S. workforce is gradually decreasing.
a. True
b. False
4. If an organization anticipates retrenchment, then it will most likely need to hire additional human resources in the
future.
a. True
b. False
5. An important element in the human resource planning (HR) process for most organizations is the effective use of the
organization’s human resource information system.
a. True
b. False
6. Individuals can differentiate themselves by making human capital investments, just as a firm can differentiate itself by
paying higher wages.
a. True
b. False
7. Immigration patterns are important inputs for forecasting the supply of labor.
a. True
b. False
8. A narrative job analysis is the most common form of job analysis used in the U.S. military.
a. True
b. False
9. The differences in salaries and wage rates are partly caused by different levels of competitiveness for talent in the
market.
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a. True
b. False
10. The local unemployment rate is more closely linked to the national unemployment rate than to an individual’s choices.
a. True
b. False
11. A(n) _____ is an individual presumed to be highly knowledgeable about a particular job and who provides data for job
analysis.
a. free rider
b. ancillary worker
c. blue-collar worker
d. subject matter expert
12. Which of the following statements is true of the narrative job-analysis technique?
a. A panel of job incumbents is required to complete a narrative job analysis.
b. The narratives are typically individualistic, making it difficult to compare the tasks of one job with another.
c. Job analysts who use narrative job analysis require extensive training to write accurate job descriptions.
d. It focuses on the critical behaviors that distinguish effective from ineffective performers.
13. Which of the following is a similarity between functional job analysis and the Position Analysis Questionnaire?
a. The items that make up both these methods are organized into ten sections.
b. Both instruments are relatively simple and easy to use.
c. The dimensions measured by both these methods are believed to underlie all jobs.
d. Both provide information on 187 separate job-related items.
14. Wayth, a large mobile manufacturing company, is experiencing losses in its domestic operations. As a result, it closes
two underperforming facilities and downsizes its workforce. The management is also offering early retirement benefits to
its high-performing employees to make them resign voluntarily. In the given scenario, Wayth is using a _____.
a. stability strategy
b. reduction strategy
c. diversification strategy
d. growth strategy
15. Which of the following statements is true of the functional job-analysis technique?
a. It provides information on 187 separate job-related items, allowing a rich picture of what happens on a job.
b. It focuses on the critical behaviors that distinguish effective from ineffective performers.
c. It states that all jobs can be described in terms of the level of involvement with people, data, and things.
d. It is the most common form of job analysis used in the U.S. military.
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16. A company that implements a growth strategy is likely to:
a. reduce its recruiting efforts.
b. downsize its workforce.
c. roll out early retirement offers and packages.
d. hire employees readily without additional work.
17. Which of the following statements is true of the Management Position Description Questionnaire (MPDQ)?
a. It is the most popular standardized job-analysis instrument available.
b. It is the first attempt to develop a single instrument that can describe all jobs in common terms.
c. It is a standardized job-analysis instrument consisting of 194 items.
d. It is used to classify administrative positions and estimate reasonable compensation for them.
18. Which of the following is a step in the task-analysis inventory method of job analysis?
a. Job analysts evaluate a taxonomy of fifty-two abilities that account for differences in employee performance.
b. Subject matter experts generate a list of tasks, and job incumbents evaluate each task on several dimensions.
c. Employees complete a questionnaire reflecting work behavior, working conditions, and job characteristics.
d. Supervisors generate examples of effective and ineffective performance of employees when they were assigned
particular tasks.
19. Which of the following statements is true of efficiency wages?
a. They lead to a decrease in the average market wage rate.
b. They are offered to attract the best employees.
c. They are higher for jobs with low demand.
d. They result in an increase in employee turnover.
20. Hernandez, a large clothing retail firm, maintains a database that contains all necessary work-related details of its
employees. The information includes each employee’s date of hire, job history, education, and performance and
compensation history. The database allows the management to forecast the labor demands within the firm. In the given
scenario, Hernandez is using _____.
a. a human resource information system
b. management by objectives
c. the Occupational Information Network
d. human capital investment
21. Seventh Heaven, a mattress manufacturer and distributor, is a large profitable organization. It has decided to stay in its
current business. The firm has a normal rate of attrition, and it takes steps to retain its existing employees. The company
provides the employees with training programs and additional benefits, such as flexible work timings, to make sure they
are satisfied with their jobs. In the given scenario, Seventh Heaven is using a _____.
a. diversification strategy
b. reduction strategy
c. stability strategy
d. growth strategy
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22. The _____ is a standardized job-analysis instrument whose focus is on administrative jobs, and the analysis is done in
terms of 13 essential components of all administrative jobs.
a. Position Analysis Questionnaire
b. Management Position Description Questionnaire
c. Fleishman job-analysis system
d. critical incidents approach
23. An advantage of the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) is that:
a. it provides information on 197 job-related items.
b. it is extremely useful for high-level managerial jobs and for describing white-collar jobs.
c. a considerable database of information exists that attests to its validity and reliability.
d. the PAQ instrument is relatively simple and easy to use.
24. Job-analysis methods used for establishing compensation rates are often referred to as _____.
a. job evaluation
b. job enrichment
c. job specification
d. job enlargement
25. Mirage Inc., a management consulting firm, plans to increase its profits by expanding its services to target new
customers. It wants to hire more employees to maintain the quality of its services and hence launches an intense
recruitment drive. It also collaborates with colleges to tap potential employees. In the given scenario, Mirage Inc. is
implementing a _____.
a. growth strategy
b. stability strategy
c. reduction strategy
d. retrenchment strategy
26. Which of the following statements is true of a narrative job analysis?
a. It is relatively inexpensive.
b. It is the least commonly used approach to job analysis.
c. It requires extensive training.
d. It focuses on the critical behaviors that distinguish effective from ineffective performers.
27. Which of the following job-analysis techniques focuses on the important behaviors that distinguish effective from
ineffective performers?
a. The critical incidents approach
b. The Position Analysis Questionnaire
c. The Fleishman job-analysis system
d. The task-analysis inventory
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28. The management of Jadex, a mobile phone manufacturer, decides to manufacture tablet computers. However, before
beginning the production, the management wants to analyze the jobs that will have to be performed and the tasks involved
in each of these jobs. It wants to use a simple and relatively inexpensive technique for this. Furthermore, it does not want
to spend too much on training an analyst to analyze the jobs. Which of the following job-analysis techniques will best suit
Jadex’s requirements?
a. The Fleishman job-analysis system
b. The narrative job-analysis technique
c. The task-analysis inventory
d. The Position Analysis Questionnaire
29. Swanz, a cosmetics manufacturing company, plans to stay in the cosmetics business and become the market leader in
the cosmetics industry. However, the company is facing natural attrition and hence directs the human resource department
(HR) to develop ways to reduce the turnover rate. The department decides to provide training to the company’s current
employees to increase their skills so that they become more valuable to the organization. In the given scenario, the HR
department wants to implement a _____.
a. growth strategy
b. stability strategy
c. reduction strategy
d. retrenchment strategy
30. The management of Finny, a small-scale food delivery company, uses a highly integrated, automated system that
allows the management to maintain a database of all the details of its employees. This system helps the company to keep a
record of the date of hire, educational background, and job history of the employees. It also helps to keep track of every
employee’s job performance. The given scenario illustrates the use of _____.
a. the management-by-objectives system
b. a human resource information system
c. human capital investment
d. the Occupational Information Network
31. Experts generally view _____ as characteristics of employees, or teams of employees, that lead to success on the job.
a. obligations
b. folkways
c. competencies
d. mores
32. Which of the following statements is true of market wage rates?
a. They remain the same across various regions in a country.
b. They change according to the demand for and supply of labor.
c. They are the same as the living wage that a person receives.
d. They are solely influenced by the local unemployment rate.
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33. A company’s strategy is an important source of information for making human resource decisions because:
a. it provides a comprehensive picture of labor force trends and issues.
b. it determines whether employee turnover should be reduced or encouraged.
c. it generates an accurate description of the tasks performed in the company.
d. it helps the company comply with laws and government regulations.
34. _____ is a complicated process because it is often critical that exactly the right type of person is selected for a top
position, the development costs to groom this person are very high, and the actual decision may severely impact the future
of the firm.
a. Executive succession
b. Retrenchment
c. Utility analysis
d. Open-book management
35. Jenna is part of the human resource department of her company. She gathers a panel of subject matter experts (SMEs)
to perform a job analysis. She asks the SMEs to analyze the jobs in the company based on a taxonomy of fifty-two
abilities that represent all the dimensions of the jobs. The SMEs are required to indicate the importance of various abilities
for each job. In the context of job-analysis techniques, the given scenario illustrates the use of the _____.
a. Fleishman job-analysis system
b. Position Analysis Questionnaire
c. functional job-analysis technique
d. critical incidents approach
36. Glenda, a line manager, is asked to perform a job analysis of the new jobs that have emerged as part of her company’s
expansion process. She decides to pick the most common approach to job analysis and prepares a text description of all
the new jobs. She writes detailed explanations of the jobs and the effort involved in completing them. In the given
scenario, Glenda is using _____.
a. a narrative job analysis
b. the Fleishman job-analysis system
c. the task-analysis inventory
d. functional job analysis
37. Which of the following statements is true of human capital investments?
a. They do not include on-the-job training.
b. The availability of people who have made human capital investments can affect a firm’s location strategies.
c. The decision of a person to enter the labor market is not affected by the human capital investments that he or she
has made.
d. They lead to a decrease in the wages of individuals.
38. The first step in the job-analysis process of an organization involves determining:
a. who is responsible for collecting data.
b. the precise information needs of the organization.
c. the methods for obtaining the information that the organization requires.
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d. the subject matter experts within the organization.
39. In the context of job-analysis techniques, the Fleishman job-analysis system:
a. relies on the taxonomy of abilities that presumably represents all the dimensions relevant to work.
b. is the most common approach to job analysis.
c. does not require a great deal of training for someone to complete.
d. focuses on the critical behaviors that differentiate effective performers from ineffective performers.
40. Klebo and Philly is a growing pharmaceutical company. As part of its expansion process, the company has to hire
many new employees. It hires job analysts to list the knowledge, skills, and abilities that all future employees must have to
perform the jobs that will emerge as a result of the expansion plan. In the given scenario, the job analysts hired by Klebo
and Philly will most likely be creating a _____.
a. job description
b. job specification
c. job role
d. job title
41. In the context of job-analysis techniques, _____ is a family of job-analysis methods, each with unique characteristics,
and each focusing on analyzing all the work performed in the focal job.
a. a narrative job analysis
b. the task-analysis inventory
c. functional job analysis
d. the critical incidents approach
42. The _____ is a computerized database system that contains continually updated information regarding the knowledge,
skills, and abilities required for virtually every job in the U.S. economy.
a. task-analysis inventory system
b. Occupational Information Network
c. Fleishman job-analysis system
d. Society for Human Resource Management
43. Which of the following statements is true of the task-analysis inventory?
a. The information generated by this method is often detailed and useful for setting training needs.
b. The task-analysis inventory is complex and relatively difficult to use.
c. It is easy to make comparisons across job families using this method.
d. Jobs are described in terms of the level of involvement with people, data, and things.
44. Green Acres is a large real estate firm that operates in several states. The top-level employees of the firm are required
to let the management know two years in advance if they are preparing to step down from their positions. This is done so
that the management can find, hire, and train a suitable candidate to take up the vacant position. The firm wants to bring in
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as much order as possible to its planning processes for future promotions. Which of the following concepts does the given
scenario illustrate?
a. Utility analysis
b. Homesourcing
c. Open-book management
d. Executive succession
45. Freego, an automobile manufacturing firm, wants to understand the processes by which the jobs within the firm can be
performed more effectively. It hence asks its engineers and technicians with expert knowledge to prepare text descriptions
of all the jobs in the company. The quality and length of these descriptions vary according to each manager’s writing
skills. In the given scenario, Freego is using _____.
a. the Fleishman job-analysis system
b. a narrative job analysis
c. the task-analysis inventory
d. functional job analysis
46. The vice president of Oreon Inc., an international hotel chain, has announced that he will retire from his post after two
years. Following this, the top management of Oreon Inc. makes use of its employee database and elects the current
general manager of operations as the next vice president. The manager is then given regular training and practical
experience to make the transition smooth. The given scenario illustrates the concept of _____.
a. homesourcing
b. utility analysis
c. executive succession
d. open-book management
47. A company that implements a stability strategy is most likely to:
a. downsize its workforce through terminations and layoffs.
b. offer early retirement offers and packages to its employees.
c. increase the value of the existing employees through additional training.
d. intensify recruitment efforts and design attractive salary packages.
48. Which of the following statements is true of the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)?
a. It is the most common form of job analysis used in the U.S. military.
b. It is a standardized job-analysis instrument consisting of 197 items.
c. It represents the first attempt to develop a single instrument that can describe all jobs in common terms.
d. It is relatively complex, and an employee must have the reading level of a college graduate to be able to complete
it.
49. Which of the following organizational strategies may be the easiest for a human resource manager to implement?
a. A stability strategy
b. A reduction strategy
c. A growth strategy
d. A diversification strategy
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50. A _____ lists the tasks, duties, and responsibilities that a particular job entails.
a. job application blank
b. job title
c. job specification
d. job description
51. Groups of jobs that have task and KSA (knowledge, skills, and abilities) requirements that are quite similar are known
as _____.
a. job descriptions
b. job specifications
c. job evaluations
d. job families
52. Which of the following companies is implementing a growth strategy?
a. Gilligan, a cosmetic products manufacturing firm that offers additional benefits to employees who choose to retire
early
b. Bennigan, a chain of supermarkets that plans to reduce its recruiting efforts
c. Marcus, Gold, & Partners, an accounting firm that has a normal rate of attrition but does not hire more people to
replace the employees who leave
d. Exgenn, a technology services provider that conducts training programs in colleges to find future employees
53. _____ is the process of forecasting the supply and demand for workforce within an organization and developing action
plans for aligning the two.
a. Benchmarking
b. Open-book management
c. Utility analysis
d. Human resource planning
54. Which of the following is a drawback of the task-analysis inventory?
a. The information generated by this method is very vague and imprecise.
b. It is difficult to make comparisons across job families using a single task inventory.
c. The task-analysis inventory is complex and relatively difficult to use.
d. Training needs cannot be established using this method.
55. Genysys, a technology services provider, has been experiencing losses in some of its regional offices for the past few
months. As a result, it closes some offices and downsizes its workforce. It is also offering early retirement packages to its
senior employees so that they may consider retiring at an early age. In the given scenario, Genysys is using a _____.
a. growth strategy
b. stability strategy
c. reduction strategy
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d. diversification strategy
56. Which of the following statements is true of the critical incidents approach?
a. It represents the first attempt to develop a single instrument that can describe all jobs in common terms.
b. It proposes that all jobs be described in terms of the level of involvement with people, data, and things.
c. It is a standardized job-analysis instrument consisting of 194 items.
d. It is most widely used in connection with the development of appraisal instruments.
57. In the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), the section on information inputs:
a. includes the physical activities, tools, and devices used by a worker to perform his or her job.
b. includes where and how a worker gets data needed to perform his or her job.
c. includes the relationships with other people that are required in performing a job.
d. represents the reasoning and information-processing activities involved in performing a job.
58. Which of the following statements is true of job specifications?
a. They may include general educational requirements.
b. They focus more on jobs than on the individuals required to perform those jobs.
c. They provide some indication of the relative importance of specific tasks in the effective conduct of jobs.
d. They may specify major job elements.
59. Which of the following statements is true of the Fleishman job-analysis system?
a. It is the most standardized job-analysis instrument available and consists of 194 items.
b. It relies on a panel of subject matter experts to indicate how important an ability is for a job.
c. It requires little or no training.
d. It is the most common form of job analysis used in the U.S. military.
60. In the context of the six sections of the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), _____ represent the reasoning,
decision-making, planning, and information-processing activities involved in performing a job.
a. job contexts
b. information inputs
c. mental processes
d. special codes
61. What are human resource information systems? How do they help in the human resource planning process?
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62. What are the implications of a reduction strategy for an organization?
63. Explain the legal issues involved in job analysis.
64. Explain market wage rates as a source of information for forecasting the supply of human resources.
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65. Explain the concept of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) in relation to job families.