Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
1. Providing employees with overtime opportunities is especially beneficial when the increased need for human resources
is short term.
a. True
b. False
2. In the context of downsizing, employees with survivor syndrome feel extremely proud of keeping their jobs, and their
morale and commitment to the organization increase dramatically.
a. True
b. False
3. Ethics and law always coincide precisely.
a. True
b. False
4. As part of a progressive disciplinary program, a verbal warning given to an employee is documented by the supervisor
and added to the employee’s permanent record.
a. True
b. False
5. Distributive justice is insignificant in determining an employee’s reactions to pay decisions.
a. True
b. False
6. Employees involved in mergers and acquisitions must retain their existing self-identity instead of developing a new
one.
a. True
b. False
7. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires that employers give at least 60 days’ notice
for a mass layoff.
a. True
b. False
8. Employee leasing involves an organization paying a fee to a company that provides a pool of employees to the
organization on a temporary basis.
a. True
b. False
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
9. A large contingent workforce is the most desirable alternative to recruitment.
a. True
b. False
10. Interactional justice refers to perceptions that the process used to determine the outcomes that an employee faces was
fair.
a. True
b. False
11. An advantage of retaining highly performing employees is that:
a. it helps in fostering normative commitment in the workplace.
b. it helps in increasing job embeddedness at the workplace.
c. it helps in reducing functional turnover.
d. it helps in avoiding expenses involved in replacing them.
12. Voluntary turnover occurs when:
a. employees choose to leave the organization for a variety of reasons.
b. a facility is closed and all of its workers are put out of work.
c. an underperforming employee is laid off.
d. managers choose to leave job vacancies unfilled.
13. In the context of downsizing, _____ describes employees who feel guilty over keeping their jobs when others lost their
jobs.
a. the glass delusion
b. the hero syndrome
c. survivor syndrome
d. golden fantasy
14. Which of the following can be used by an organization to plan systematically for a gradual decrease in the workforce?
a. Contingent workers
b. Early retirements
c. Involuntary terminations
d. Employee leasing
15. _____ is the degree to which an employee identifies with a firm and is willing to exert effort on behalf of the firm.
a. Organizational commitment
b. Organizational citizenship behavior
c. Contextual performance
d. Job embeddedness
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
16. A progressive disciplinary plan is an organizational disciplinary program where:
a. the primary goal is to terminate employees.
b. employees are given incentives to engage in desired behavior.
c. verbal warnings are directly followed by employee suspension.
d. the severity of punishment increases across the seriousness of the problem.
17. According to a study of the effects of rightsizing conducted in 1990s, _____ were firms where the decline in
recruitment was more than 5 percent from 1980 to 1994 and the decline in plant and equipment was less than 5 percent
during the same period.
a. asset upsizers
b. employment downsizers
c. asset downsizers
d. employment upsizers
18. Which of the following is a difference between suspension and termination?
a. Suspension is part of a progressive disciplinary program, whereas termination is not part of a progressive
disciplinary program.
b. Suspension lasts for a day or for a few weeks, whereas termination marks the end of the employment relationship.
c. Suspension is the first step in most progressive disciplinary programs, whereas termination is the last step in most
progressive disciplinary programs.
d. Suspension invariably leads to legal problems for an employer, whereas termination rarely leads to legal problems
for an employer.
19. Adelint Inc., a retail store chain, had been incurring high costs and hence downsized its workforce to increase its
profits. However, the company’s business grew over the next six months, and it had to recruit many new employees. The
company hence ended up incurring the usual high infrastructure costs as well as the cost for recruiting the new employees.
Instead of downsizing its workforce, Adelint Inc. could have _____
a. rightsized its workforce.
b. outsourced its work.
c. invested in plant and machinery.
d. reduced its fixed assets.
20. _____ is a dimension of interactional justice that deals with the extent to which an individual is treated with respect
and dignity when he or she is told about the decision of layoff.
a. Interpersonal justice
b. Informational justice
c. Procedural justice
d. Distributive justice
21. Which of the following is a major cause for involuntary turnover in an organization?
a. Lack of job complexity
b. Poor performance of an individual
c. High job embeddedness
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
d. Poor rapport of an individual with co-workers
22. _____ is often used with new employees as a means of socializing them in their new job roles and is effective in
reducing turnover.
a. A stock-option plan
b. Job enrichment
c. A realistic job preview
d. Internal equity
23. John, an executive at a top investment firm, often gets into heated arguments with his boss over differences in work
ethics. In this scenario, John is most likely to be dissatisfied with his job because of:
a. his affective commitment to the firm.
b. the challenging nature of his job.
c. his relationship with his supervisor.
d. job enrichment.
24. _____ states that an organization can terminate any worker, at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all.
a. Procedural justice
b. A psychological contract
c. Employment at will
d. A stock-option plan
25. In the context of the different models of the turnover process, _____ is an event that can be either positive or negative
but is so profound that it causes an employee to think about the organization, the job, and how he or she fits with both.
a. a shock
b. a realistic job preview
c. organizational alienation
d. functional turnover
26. Daniel was employed by a software company to work in the print media section of its public relations department. The
management of the company recently laid off the entire print media section to cut costs, and hence, Daniel was also laid
off. However, Daniel was not frustrated about the company’s decision because he felt that the decision of the company
was objective and unbiased as all the employees in the print section were terminated. This scenario illustrates _____.
a. interactional justice
b. procedural justice
c. informational justice
d. restorative justice
27. Organizational citizenship behaviors include employee behaviors:
a. that are formally required as part of an employee’s job.
b. that are beneficial to the organization.
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
c. that are recognized by the job descriptive index.
d. that increase job embeddedness.
28. Beth, a new assistant manager at one of the branches of Scroll Bank, is unhappy with her job because she was not told
during her job interview that she would be responsible for answering phone calls. Moreover, she claims that many of the
workplace facilities mentioned during her interview are not really present. As a result, she is resigning from her job. In the
context of employee retention strategies, Scroll Bank can use _____ to avoid similar situations in the future.
a. employee assistance programs
b. realistic job previews
c. stock options
d. cafeteria-style benefits plans
29. Cinergy Inc., a Midwestern gas and electric utility company, needs to reduce its workforce over the next two years.
The company is offering the employees who leave the firm before the age of 65 a bonus equivalent to two weeks’ pay for
every year of employment with Cinergy Inc. In the given scenario, Cinergy Inc. is:
a. increasing job embeddedness.
b. encouraging voluntary early retirement.
c. providing stock options to employees.
d. carrying out an involuntary turnover strategy.
30. Which of the following is most likely to be an effective retention strategy for a high-tech software company to retain
executive engineers for an extended period of time?
a. Regularly administering job satisfaction surveys
b. Increasing job embeddedness
c. Giving stock options that cannot be exercised for the first five years of employment
d. Reducing the job requirements to make the jobs simpler and easier to do
31. An organization engages in job enrichment by making employees’ work more challenging and by granting them more
autonomy. These most likely reduce:
a. the organizational citizenship behaviors of the employees.
b. the affective commitment of the employees toward the organization.
c. the turnover rates of the company.
d. the contextual performance of the employees.
32. _____ refers to the fact that some people stay on their jobs, even when they decide they are unhappy and should leave.
a. Job embeddedness
b. Voluntary turnover
c. Affective commitment
d. Job enrichment
33. Which of the following factors could most likely be a reason for the failure of a merger or acquisition?
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
a. The size of the workforce of the acquiring firm was bigger than that of the acquired firm.
b. The new business was too far from the areas of expertise of the acquiring firm.
c. The accounting systems of both firms were different.
d. The parent firm incurred high levels of research-and-development expenditure.
34. In the context of layoffs, _____ refers to the quality of the interpersonal treatment people receive when a decision is
implemented.
a. distributive justice
b. procedural justice
c. interactional justice
d. restorative justice
35. Voice, a critical dimension of procedural justice, refers to the perception that:
a. the rules used to make a decision were applied the same way to everyone involved.
b. the person applying the rules to make a decision had no vested interest in the outcome of the decision.
c. the rules used to make a decision conform to prevailing standards of ethics and morality.
d. the person affected by a decision had some control over the outcome in the decision.
36. In the context of a study of the effects of downsizing conducted in 1990s, _____ were defined as those firms where
changes in employment from 1980 to 1994 fell between plus and minus 5 percent.
a. stable employers
b. employment downsizers
c. asset downsizers
d. combination upsizers
37. According to a study of the effects of rightsizing conducted in 1990s, _____ were firms where the decline in
employment was less than 5 percent from 1980 to 1994, but the decline in plant and assets during the same period was at
least 5 percent greater than the decline in employment.
a. stable employers
b. employment downsizers
c. asset downsizers
d. combination upsizers
38. _____ is a dimension of interactional justice that refers to the extent to which the decision maker of a layoff decision
provides details about the rules used to make the decision and how they were applied.
a. Interpersonal justice
b. Informational justice
c. Procedural justice
d. Distributive justice
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
39. Antony, a content analyst, is dissatisfied with the salary he is paid in his present firm. Although he finds other jobs
with better compensation packages, he does not take up any of them. This is because taking up a new job would require
him to move to a new neighborhood, which would mean that he would have to move away from his friends. The given
scenario exemplifies _____.
a. functional turnover
b. affective commitment
c. job embeddedness
d. organizational alienation
40. In the context of progressive discipline, _____ refers to following unacceptable behavior with some type of negative
consequences.
a. extinction
b. procedural justice
c. punishment
d. interpersonal justice
41. _____ refers to the system of rules and procedures for how and when punishment is administered and how severe the
punishment should be.
a. Procedural justice
b. Distributive justice
c. Discipline
d. Ethicality
42. Which of the following statements is true of stock options?
a. Employees who are given stock options are legally bound to sign a non-compete clause.
b. The stock-option price for employees is higher than the selling price of the stock when the option is issued.
c. They give employees the right to purchase a certain number of shares of stock at a given price.
d. They give employees the opportunity to be part of the company’s inventory management.
43. _____ is a critical dimension of procedural justice that refers to the perception that a person applying the rules to a
decision had no vested interest in the outcome of the decision.
a. Consistency
b. Free from bias
c. Voice
d. Information accuracy
44. Which of the following statements is true of employing part-time workers in an organization?
a. Part-time workers are available round the clock and on all days to provide technical support.
b. Part-time workers increase the labor costs of the organization.
c. Part-time workers are routinely expected to work less than 20 hours a week.
d. Part-time workers provide considerable scheduling flexibility to the organization.
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
45. The key to successful termination of an employee is _____.
a. public–policy exception
b. realistic job previews
c. documentation
d. verbal warnings
46. Saint Mary City Hospital is facing a severe shortage of nurses in some of its departments. Many nurses quit their jobs
the last month as they were asked to do tasks that were not mentioned in their job profile. The administration is now hiring
new nursing staff. Which of the following would be the most effective in retaining the new nurses that are hired?
a. Conducting realistic job previews
b. Reducing job enrichment
c. Increasing normative commitment of the nurses
d. Increasing job embeddedness
47. In the context of dealing with increased demand for workers, _____ involves an organization paying a fee to a
company that provides a pool of workers who are available on a temporary basis.
a. rightsizing
b. an internship
c. employee leasing
d. a part-time contract
48. Which of the following statements is true of the job descriptive index?
a. It is the most commonly used method to assess procedural justice.
b. It has a single overall measure of job satisfaction.
c. It assesses satisfaction with specific job aspects such as pay, the work itself, and supervision.
d. It assesses the contextual performance of employees.
49. Which of the following exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine protects whistle-blowers?
a. The Taft-Hartley Act exception
b. The due process exception
c. Public–policy exception
d. Breach-of-good-faith exception
50. In the context of the employment-at-will doctrine, an employee who is discharged can sue for wrongful termination if:
a. the termination is because of union activity.
b. the employee has a civil right to his or her job.
c. the employee is terminated for having an ethnocentric attitude.
d. the termination comes as part of the progressive disciplinary program.
51. Exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine are inapplicable when:
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
a. an individual is terminated because of union activity.
b. an employee is an objectively documented poor performer.
c. an employee is discharged for refusing to commit a crime.
d. an individual has an implied contract guaranteeing employment.
52. _____ refers to hours worked above the normal 40-hour workweek, for which there is usually a pay premium.
a. Voluntary turnover
b. Overtime
c. Expatriation
d. Functional turnover
53. Which of the following is a job-related factor that may lead to job dissatisfaction?
a. Job complexity
b. Ties in the community
c. Individual genetic disposition toward being satisfied or dissatisfied
d. Affective commitment to a job
54. In the context of the progressive disciplinary program of an organization, _____ is a temporary layoff, usually with
pay, when there is an ongoing investigation.
a. termination
b. suspension
c. disbanding
d. rightsizing
55. In the context of the dimensions of procedural justice, _____ is the perception that the rules used to make a decision
conform to personal or prevailing standards of morality.
a. consistency
b. representativeness
c. voice
d. ethicality
56. Which of the following statements is true of the contingent workforce of an organization?
a. It refers to the employees who feel guilty over keeping their jobs when others are laid off as part of the rightsizing
process of the organization.
b. It includes employees who work more than 50 hours a week.
c. It includes all part-time employees who are employed by the organization to fill in for permanent employees
during peak demand.
d. It refers to the permanent employees of an organization.
57. Wisnet Corp. recently replaced its accounting software with another accounting application provided by a software
development firm. The software development firm provides lifelong services for the new software, so Wisnet Corp. has
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
laid off those employees whose job profile had been limited to providing technical support for the old software. In the
given scenario, Wisnet Corp. is engaging in _____.
a. involuntary turnover
b. a progressive disciplinary plan
c. employee leasing
d. a job enrichment program
58. _____ refers to the decisions about how many employees should be on the payroll at any time.
a. Distributive justice
b. Procedural justice
c. The job-enlargement process
d. The headcount
59. Which of the following indicators can be used to assess the success or failure of a merger or acquisition?
a. Research-and-development expenditures
b. HR policies of the newly formed organization
c. Ethics and values of the newly formed organization
d. Previous acquisitions of the acquiring firm
60. Which of the following is a difference between leased employees and part-time employees?
a. Unlike leased employees, part-time employees are usually covered by benefits from the organization.
b. Unlike part-time employees, leased employees provide considerable scheduling flexibility to the organization that
hires them.
c. Unlike leased employees, part-time employees reduce the labor costs of an organization.
d. Unlike part-time employees, leased employees are regularly expected to work less than 40 hours a week.
61. Describe some of the models of the turnover process.
62. Explain the role of effective human resource management (HRM) during mergers and acquisitions.
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations
63. How do retention strategies address the causes of job dissatisfaction?
64. Briefly explain the three types of justice that influence an employee’s reaction to layoff.
65. Briefly explain the steps in a typical progressive disciplinary program.
Name:
Class:
Date:
Chapter 6 – Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations