113. Refer to Trends in Hiring Practices. When an Amy’s job applicant returns with whatever he or she
decided to make from the brown paper bag, the store manager conducts a brief __________ interview.
The questions asked by the manager are based on what applicants did with the bag.
a.
structured
b.
needs assessment
c.
semistructured
d.
unstructured
e.
semicontrolled
114. Refer to Trends in Hiring Practices. Both Central Market and Amy’s try to find a cultural fit between
job applicants and their organizational cultures. According to the Academy of Management Executive
magazine, this recruitment and selection method decreases the number of employees who voluntarily
leave the company. In other words, both Central Market and Amy’s should find their recruitment
method reduces:
a.
dependence on cultural assessments
b.
functional turnover
c.
uncontrolled downsizing
d.
controlled termination
e.
the need for ERIPs
Domino’s Pizza
At Domino’s Pizza, company-wide turnover is 158 percent. That means Domino’s must recruit,
hire, and train 180,000 people a year just to fill its company’s 114,000 jobs. And, with that much
turnover, you can’t consistently produce a quality product. Making and delivering pizza may seem
simple, but up the ante to making and delivering one million pizzas each night, as Domino’s does, and
all of a sudden it’s not quite so easy, especially if you’re always working with inexperienced workers.
For instance, even a simple job like order taking has a learning curve when you’re taking 45 to 50
orders an hour. In fact, a new order taker usually requires 80 hours to become as reliable as an
experienced one. Until they learn their jobs, new workers make lots of mistakes, such as getting orders
wrong, giving out the wrong change, and showing up at customers’ homes with the wrong pizza. And
those mistakes are costly in two ways.
First, if the order is wrong, or late, or missing, customers get angry and may not do business with
you again. Indeed, according to the University of Michigan’s American consumer satisfaction index,
Domino’s ranks in the bottom half of fast–food companies. Second, to right those wrongs, Domino’s
often says the pizza is free—“Our fault, no charge.”—and that hurts profits. So much turnover is costly
in other ways as well. For one thing, it costs time and money to find and hire new workers. Domino’s
estimates that it costs $2,500 to replace each hourly worker who leaves and $20,000 to replace a store
manager. Then, all those new workers must be trained, and that takes time and money. At Domino’s,
each new worker spends the first 30 days in training, learning take orders, handle the cash register,
make pizza dough, and, ultimately, how to make a pizza in less than a minute. When everything is
considered, turnover is costing the company several hundred million dollars a year, or an astonishing
15 percent to 20 percent of revenues. The question, of course, is what to do about it.
Robert Chabot, who owns RAM Pizza, a series of Domino’s franchise stores, says, “This business
is all about who you hire. It’s about people: those who want to do it (good work) and those who don’t.”
Consequently, Chabot relies heavily on employee referrals to first identify good job applicants. Chabot
assumes that if current employees are satisfied with their jobs, they’ll tell their family and friends
about their positive work experiences, and those people will in turn want to work for him and RAM
pizza (i.e., Domino’s). He also pays employees $25 for each person they recommend who gets hired
and then stays for 90 days.
Domino’s is also doing a much better job of screening and selecting potential managers. Anyone
who wants to manage a Domino’s store has to pass a 30-minute online test of their financial and
management skills. If you’re not familiar with financial concepts such as “break–even” and “cash
flow,” and you’re not sure how to handle poorly performing employees (hint: yelling and screaming
isn’t the preferred answer), then you’re unlikely to pass the test.
115. Refer to Domino’s. Robert Chabot relies heavily on employee referrals to first identify good job
applicants. In other words, Chabot uses:
a.
a reliable selection process
b.
internal recruiting
c.
functional recruiting
d.
functional selection
e.
external recruiting
116. Refer to Domino’s. Which of the following selection methods could Robert Chabot use to determine
that prospective employees do not have a criminal record?
a.
assessment center
b.
cognitive ability tests
c.
structured interviews
d.
background checks
e.
personality tests
117. Refer to Domino’s. Anyone who wants to manage a Domino’s store has to pass a 30–minute online test
of their financial and management skills. Domino’s uses:
a.
work performance testing
b.
aptitude testing
c.
personality testing
d.
affective skills testing
e.
cognitive ability testing
118. Refer to Domino’s. One new pay method Domino’s implemented to combat its problems is a
store-profitability bonus. On average, the store-profitability bonuses add 30 percent, or about $10,000,
to the $32,000 base pay for the managers of Domino’s good performing stores. These bonuses are a
form of:
a.
piecework pay
b.
hierarchical pay
c.
sales commission
d.
payroll deductions
e.
profit sharing
Callidus Software
Robert Youngjohns has a problem that most CEOs would envy. His company, California-based
Callidus Software, is expanding so fast he can’t find enough workers to fill all the job openings.
Callidus, which sells software that manages bonus and salary formulas for large corporations, earned
$76 million in revenue last year while adding 70 people to its payroll of 300. This year Youngjohns
wants to hire 100 more engineers, project managers, and compensation consultants. This is a problem
because resurgent Silicon Valley start-ups and giants like Google and Yahoo are stealing away the top
talent and stalling Callidus’s recruitment drive. As of April 1, 2007, the company had 40 openings that
had gone unfilled for more than two months. “Our biggest single issue is lack of people,” Youngjohns
says.
119. Refer to Callidus Software. Which of the following processes best describes what Callidus Software
does as it searches for new personnel?
a.
functional resource planning
b.
human resource management
c.
workforce forecasting
d.
the employer-employee paradigm
e.
human resource implementation
120. Refer to Callidus Software. What is the first step Callidus should take in order to find, develop, and
keep the right people to form the work force it needs?
a.
keep qualified employees
b.
determine human resource needs
c.
develop qualified employees
d.
attract qualified employees
e.
create an employee-needs forecast
121. Refer to Callidus Software. Since the company‘s need for 100 more engineers, project managers, and
compensation consultants was made as a result of Youngjohns’s intuition on how internal and external
factors will affect employees, Callidus obviously uses which of the following workforce forecasting
methods?
a.
organizational charting
b.
resource-needs assessment
c.
employee mapping
d.
functional needs auditing
e.
best guess forecasting
122. Refer to Callidus Software. In which of the following documents would you find information about
Callidus Software’s work activities, the tools and equipment used in its jobs, the context in which the
job is performed, and the personnel requirements for performing the job?
a.
job analysis
b.
task evaluation
c.
job specification
d.
job validation
e.
job description
123. Refer to Callidus Software. Which of the following is an example of an external recruiting method that
Callidus is likely to have used?
a.
employee referrals
b.
career paths
c.
job posting
d.
needs-assessment implementations
e.
all of these
124. Refer to Callidus Software. What is the first thing Youngjohns should do when he receives a job
application?
a.
administer a cognitive analysis test
b.
determine the structured interview questions
c.
verify the information collected via the resume and application form
d.
do a background check
e.
ask for a medical examination
125. Refer to Callidus Software. Why should Youngjohns conduct background checks on all job
applicants?
a.
to maintain privacy standards
b.
to meet federal legislation
c.
to create benchmarks
d.
to avoid negligent hiring lawsuits
e.
to avoid employee laddering
126. Refer to Callidus Software. Why would Youngjohns administer work sample tests to job applicants?
a.
to make sure that applicants can perform tasks done on the job
b.
to gather personality-related job data
c.
to determine the ethical value system of applicants
d.
to test whether the applicant will fit into the Callidus organizational culture
e.
to measure the validity of the job analysis
Radio Shack
When Radio Shack needed to lay off 400 employees, it sent them the following e-mail: The work force
reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been
eliminated. Recipients had 30 minutes to take care of their affairs before they had to meet with senior
leaders. In a Washington Post article, psychologist Ken Siegel said, “[this] represents a stupefying new
low in the annals of management practice.”
This was not the first beating that Radio Shack’s reputation had taken either. CEO David
Edmondson was fired after a newspaper investigation discovered that he had not received degrees in
theology and psychology from Heartland Baptist Bible College as he had claimed in his application.
Racially discriminatory hiring practices had also put Radio Shack in the news. Radio Shack’s “Fix
1,500 Initiative”, a performance appraisal system, compares store managers to each other. After
ranking mangers, the company gave the bottom 1,500 managers 90 days to improve. In the end, 1,734
managers were demoted to sales associates or terminated. Radio Shack also eliminated its
stock-purchasing plan for employees while keeping the one for managers, creating a lot of ill feelings
among employees. In the meantime, total sales have fallen by 12 percent, 530 stores have closed, and
same-store sales have fallen 6.8 percent.
127. Refer to Radio Shack. Radio Shack can use _____ to determine its human resource needs based on the
retailer’s goals and strategies.
a.
human resource planning
b.
proactive resource management
c.
retail forecasting
d.
an employee-needs assessment
e.
an organizational job analysis
128. Refer to Radio Shack. Which of the following is a method Radio Shack can use to predict the number
and kind of workers with specific skills and abilities the retailer will need in the future?
a.
retail forecasting
b.
organizational job analyses
c.
environmental forecasting
d.
statistical/historical ratios
e.
performance needs analyses
129. Refer to Radio Shack. What type of internal recruitment can Radio Shack use to attract the best
possible employees?
a.
job posting
b.
employment services
c.
job fairs
d.
employee referrals
e.
all of these
130. Refer to Radio Shack. In addition to background checks, Radio Shack management should use _____
to determine the most qualified job candidates.
a.
employee trend analysis
b.
statistical/historical ratios
c.
statistical validation
d.
selection tests
e.
the Delphi technique
131. Refer to Radio Shack. To accurately measure job performance of its employees, Radio Shack should
use:
a.
subjective performance measures
b.
job specification conformity
c.
objective performance measures
d.
distributive performance appraisals
e.
qualitative performance evaluations
SHORT ANSWER
1. Identify the employee characteristics that are protected by federal employment anti-discrimination
laws (i.e., the characteristics upon which employers are not legally allowed to discriminate). Specify
which human resource management decisions these laws affect.
2. What are human resource information systems? Identify three ways they can be used by
organizations.
ANS:
3. Differentiate between types of workforce forecasts and types of workforce forecasting methods.
4. Briefly identify the EEOC’s definition of sexual harassment. Also identify and describe the two kinds
of sexual harassment that can be specified from a legal perspective.
5. Explain how job analysis is related to recruiting. Be sure to specify how it helps an organization to
meet a basic legal requirement for human resource management.
ANS:
6. Differentiate between internal and external recruiting. Provide two examples of each.
7. Explain how a human resources department defines selection. List the four common categories of
selection procedures used by companies. Specify which of these four generally does the best job of
predicting applicants’ future job performance.
8. Identify and describe the three kinds of job interviews. Which type works best as a selection tool?
9. Identify two common problems that occur during the performance appraisal process. Recommend one
approach for avoiding each of these problems.
10. List and briefly define the four basic kinds of compensation decisions.
11. Identify three things that managers can do to minimize the problems inherent in terminating
employees.
ESSAY
1. Explain the nature and intent of federal employment law. Identify the circumstances under which
protected characteristics such as sex, age, or religion can be used as the basis for employment
decisions as well as the circumstances under which a company may be found guilty of illegal
discrimination.
2. What is sexual harassment? Identify the two kinds of sexual harassment from a legal perspective.
Describe some frequent misunderstandings about sexual harassment, and specify steps that companies
can take to make sure that sexual harassment laws are followed and not violated. Give one example of
possible sexual harassment that you have heard or read about, and explain which of the steps just
described could have averted or resolved that situation more effectively.
ANS:
3. What makes an effective selection process? What are the steps in the common selection procedures
used by companies? Which of these procedures would you recommend that a company use to hire
managers? Explain the reasons for your recommendations.
4. What is a performance appraisal? How does it influence organizational success? Explain why it poses
a particular challenge to managers.
5. List and explain the four basic kinds of compensation decisions. Give two examples of what is
involved in making each kind of compensation decision. What is a job evaluation? Which kind(s) of
compensation decisions are job evaluations directly related to?