HR strategies that work for one company in an industry will work just as well for
another company in the same industry, since business environments tend to be similar
within industries.
Downsizing is a type of organizational restructuring.
Since passage of the Equal Pay Act, the earnings gap between females and males has
widened, contrary to the intent of the law.
The percentage of women in the workforce is increasing, while the number of men in
the workforce is decreasing.
The manufacturing sector is now growing more rapidly than the service sector in the
U.S. economy.
Changes in job design may include: job sharing, rings of defense, bumping, and job
relocation.
Job rotation is a form of career development.
All cultures have five basic dimensions, according to Hofstede, including their degree
of uncertainty avoidance.
The Internal Revenue Code affects how benefits are treated for tax purposes.
In many states, employers can lose their business license for knowingly hiring illegal
immigrants.
Work adjustment theory suggests that employees’ motivational levels and job
satisfaction depend on clearly defined objectives.
The most advanced stage of internationalization is when a firm’s operations are highly
decentralized, each business unit makes its own personnel decisions, and each branch
has weak ties to any given country, including its country of origin.
Approximately 55% of employed women earn at least half of their total household
income.
The most important aspect of group mentoring is the educational content.
An applicant-centered approach to recruitment would most likely involve connecting
with potential applicants on LinkedIn.
Off-the-job training is more costly for companies than on-the-job training.
The Family and Medical Leave Act applies to businesses that have 25 or more
employees.
The four-fifths rule claims that a practice has an adverse impact if the hiring rate of a
protected class is greater than four-fifths that of a majority group.
An individual-centered compensation system:
A) focuses on employees’ contribution and increases compensation based on the
employee’s ability to perform more duties successfully.
B) assumes that the tasks being performed, and the contribution of those tasks to the
company, provide the best criteria for setting the wage pay system.
C) pays based on the number of hours during which the employees perform their
assigned job.
D) stresses the value and prestige of the job being performed.
Job-based compensation plans focus on the key component of:
A) openness.
B) equity.
C) motivation.
D) job knowledge.
Dual-career couples are:
A) less likely to return early from an international assignment than single-career
couples.
B) less likely to have family difficulties during an international assignment.
C) more likely to be considered for international assignments.
D) more likely to face dissatisfaction with foreign assignments.
Additional Case 13.1
The HR department at Devlin Enterprises has a variety of communication tasks it has
been assigned to handle. First, Isabelle, the HR benefits specialist, needs to
communicate recent benefits policy changes to all employees at Devlin. Second,
Randall, an operations manager, wants to provide feedback to his subordinates about
their performance in his TQM program. Randall also wants to let other managers and
employees at Devlin know how well his TQM teams are performing each day. Finally,
David, a customer service manager, requests low-cost training for some of his customer
service representatives who work from off-site telemarketing centers.
Refer to Additional Case 13.1. Which of the following would most likely solve David’s
problem?
A) Creating a company newsletter
B) Using multimedia technology
C) Offering telecommuting
D) Scheduling a teleconference
The three psychological states central to the job characteristics theory include:
A) meaningfulness of the job.
B) control of job outcomes.
C) task significance.
D) task identity.
Unlike individual-based incentive plans, gainsharing:
A) accepts people’s intrinsic motivations.
B) often leads to decreases in productivity.
C) accepts that people are externally motivated.
D) supports the idea that pay incentives motivate production.
The number of people over age 55 in the United States will grow by approximately
________ over the next decade.
A) 5%
B) 25%
C) 45%
D) 65%
Cody is a middle manager with Corwell Corporation. When on a business trip with
other middle managers, Cody is required to fly coach while the other middle managers
fly first class. Cody is Hispanic, while his boss and the other managers are
African-American. This is most likely an example of:
A) adverse impact.
B) disparate impact.
C) disparate treatment.
D) affirmative action.
All of the following are disadvantages associated with team-based pay-for-performance
plans EXCEPT:
A) difficulties identifying meaningful groups.
B) diminishing quality goals.
C) the free-riding effect.
D) intergroup competition.
Elise focuses her time on having hard discussions with people that she often does not
see eye-to-eye. Which of the following best describes how Elise is approaching
advancement?
A) Understand business trends
B) Resolve problems
C) Improve communication skills
D) Market yourself
Keith owns a small marketing firm and has 15 employees. Keith needs to implement a
performance appraisal system. Which of the following is most important for Keith?
A) Developing broad job dimensions
B) Using quantitative measurement tools
C) Assessing employees on a monthly basis
D) Ranking performance levels within work teams
A manager is in the process of deciding how effective or ineffective an employee’s
behavior has been. This manager is in the ________ stage of the performance appraisal
model.
A) identification
B) measurement
C) management
D) design
Kegan and Corazon often take coffee breaks together in the mid-morning and chat
about the happenings in their lives and their respective departments. This is an example
of:
A) an employee retreat.
B) informal communication.
C) management by walking around.
D) multimedia communication.
Additional Case 12.1
The HR Director of The Camera Center is leading the executive team through a review
of the company’s benefits plan. He begins by explaining how the firm funds the benefits
plan. After a few questions on that matter, he moves on to clarify what they must offer
by law and what benefits the firm would like to provide.
A highly entrepreneurial, performance-driven company, The Camera Center provides an
excellent profit-sharing plan and one of the best retirement packages in the industry.
The firm commits a high portion of compensation funds to the benefits plan. The
workforce tends to be college-educated, young professionals who are just starting their
families.
The CEO wants the total benefits plan reviewed and repackaged, if necessary, to align it
with The Camera Center’s business culture and strategy. He also wants to contain costs
as much as possible and simplify benefits
administration.
Refer to Additional Case 12.1. The HR Director suggests establishing a wellness pay
incentive program at The Camera Center. Which of the following, if true, best supports
this idea?
A) Employees frequently use sick days to handle personal business.
B) Many employees at the firm are nearing retirement age.
C) The firm needs additional tax advantages to offset benefits costs.
D) Cost containment at the firm is a significant issue.
Which of the following has aided decentralization in many companies?
A) Cost-cutting
B) Federal support
C) Internet technology
D) Corporate orientation
Individual-based pay-for-performance is most likely to:
A) provide employees with a broader understanding of an organization.
B) significantly enhance trust between management and labor.
C) give organizations compensation flexibility.
D) work against TQM at an organization.
It is best to use an expatriate when:
A) the international and domestic units are highly independent.
B) the political situation is unstable.
C) there are minimal cultural differences between the host and home countries.
D) a shared corporate identity is not important.
A strategy intended to achieve fair employment by urging employers to hire certain
groups of people who were discriminated against in the past is referred to as ________.
Realistic information about the demands of the job, the organization’s expectations of
the job holder, and the work environment is called a(n) ________.
________ is the inability to adjust to a different cultural environment.
A(n) ________ is a formal, anonymous survey designed to measure employee likes and
dislikes of various aspects of their jobs.
The ability to engage in conduct that is protected by law or social sanction, free from
interference by another party is referred to as a(n) ________.
A(n) ________ is a performance appraisal system in which workers at the same level in
the organization rate one another.
As with any other minority, Hispanic-Americans face a number of misperceptions and
problems in the workplace. Discuss.