107. Garrett works in his firm’s human resources department. He is responsible for designing
a new job application form for his firm. The questions Garrett includes on the new form should
avoid broad questions about the applicant’s beliefs, culture and family background, and should
focus instead on factors such as the applicant’s work experience, education, and career
objectives.
108. HR manager Rob Ryan is very concerned about the high cost of labor turnover at his firm.
A good way for his firm to eliminate high turnover costs is to establish a policy of hiring workers
for trial periods.
109. An HR manager at a large company interviewed several candidates for a position opening
at her firm. Based on her interviews, she assesses that one candidate looks particularly
promising. She will recommend a second interview between this candidate and the manager who
will supervise the new employee.
110. Tri-Cities Printing wants to expand its services into new markets, but to remain
competitive it needs to keep its costs low. If it is like most firms, one way Tri-Cities can save a lot
of money is by reducing the time and effort it devotes to the selection of employees.
111. Sun Valley Produce finds it needs more workers during harvest times than at other times
of the year. Hiring contingent workers could be an efficient way for Sun Valley to meet its
temporary employment needs.
112. Employee training focuses on short-term skills, while employee development focuses on
long-term abilities.
113. Besides increasing productivity, a good training program can increase a firm’s retention
rates.
114. A recent study has shown that the most effective way for most firms to improve worker
productivity is to increase expenditures on machinery and equipment.
115. One purpose of employee orientation programs is to initiate new workers to the
organization’s policies, practices and objectives.
116. Vestibule training is the most fundamental type of training available.
117. New technologies are assisting off–the-job training and creating more cost-effective
methods for on-the-job training, when the job requires learning more intricate skills.
118. On-the-job training is best suited for jobs that are easily learned or require the employee
to perform repetitive physical tasks.
119. Over the next ten to fifteen years, most firms will discontinue apprenticeship programs as
changes in technology make this type of training obsolete.
120. In recent years, firms have expanded off-the-job training to include personal development
subjects such as time management, health and nutrition, and language.
121. Online training gives employers the ability to provide consistent content that is tailored to
specific employee training needs.
122. Vestibule training attempts to precisely duplicate both the methods and conditions of a
real world job.
123. Job simulation is used to train astronauts, airline pilots, and ship captains.
124. The strategy of giving managers assignments in a variety of departments in order to
expose them to different functions is called apprenticeship training.
125. The process of training and educating employees to become good managers, and then
monitoring the progress of their managerial skills over time, is called management simulation.
126. Most management training programs include methods such as on–the-job coaching,
understudy positions, and off–the-job courses and training.
127. Networking is the process of establishing and maintaining contacts and using those
contacts to develop strong relationships that serve as informal development systems.
128. A mentor is a manager who supervises, coaches, and guides selected lower-level
employees, and generally acts as their organizational sponsor.
129. Students can benefit from networking in college even before they take their first full-time
job.
130. Women usually find it easier than men to obtain mentors and engage in networking.
131. Minority groups have made great strides in creating networking associations. For example,
Black Enterprise Magazine
sponsors networking forums.
132. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that women cannot be barred from “men only” clubs,
where business contacts are often made and business activity occurs.
133. Grooming women and minorities for management positions creates fewer hiring
opportunities for white men.
134. Firms spend time and money to train new employees so that they will work productively
over the short term. Development activities such as assigning mentors and creating networks
have long-term implications for employees and firms.
135. Distance learning training is gaining in popularity among all firms because employees can
log-on to company tutorials at a time convenient to them and acquire the same training
information as everyone else.
136. While efforts to train and develop women and minority managers appeal to many firms on
the basis of legal and moral considerations, from an economic standpoint, they are rarely cost
effective.
137. Keep on Truckin’ School for Truck Drivers is proud of its training methods. Before its
students are ever allowed on the road with a big rig, they are taught safe driving techniques with
the help of sophisticated, computerized equipment that comes as close as possible to duplicating
real driving conditions, right down to the sights, sounds, bumps and vibrations experienced on
the road. Keep on Truckin’ is using a training method known as job replication.
138. Reggie is learning to be a carpenter by working alongside experienced carpenters. After
one more year of successful training, his union will classify Reggie as a
journeyman
. Reggie is
participating in an apprenticeship program.
139. Hector is receiving training in maintaining and repairing assembly line robots at a school
that uses equipment very similar to that used on his new job at Blast Off Technologies. His
classroom training is called
vestibule training
.
140. Iris Bloom accepted a management position at the Sustainable Plant Life Corporation. In
order to give her an appreciation of the different functional areas of her new company, she is
required to spend six weeks in each of five different functional areas of the company, including
production, research and development, accounting, marketing, and the HR management
department. This type of training is known as contingency employment.
141. Jim currently holds the position of assistant manager in his firm’s credit department. He
works closely with a more experienced manager to learn how to perform all of the functions
involved in credit management. Jim believes he will soon be experienced enough to take over a
senior position in his department. Jim has the benefit of serving as an understudy.
142. When Sally Miller was hired to a lower-level management position at Zinwick and
Associates, she was introduced to Wendy Hopper, and told that Wendy would be her mentor. As
a mentor, Wendy will coach and guide Sally, introduce her to the right people, and be her
organizational sponsor.
143. Several years ago, Drew’s company sent him to Massachusetts Institute of Technology
for an intensive program of leadership and business communication training. Although expensive,
the firm was committed to investing in the development of key employees for the purpose of
retention and promotion. This type of managerial development is known as
off–the-job courses
and training
.
144. A performance appraisal is an evaluation in which the performance level of employees is
measured against established standards to make decisions about promotions, compensation,
additional training, or firing.
145. The primary reason that companies do performance appraisals is to improve worker
performance.
146. Establishing performance standards is a crucial step in the performance evaluation
process.
147. Most experienced workers have a clear idea of what is expected of them even if managers
do not communicate their expectations explicitly.
148. Because of legal implications, managers should not use the results of performance
appraisals to make decisions about promotions and compensation.
149. Performance standards should be understandable, measurable, and reasonable.
150. A performance appraisal provides an opportunity for employees to make suggestions
about how a particular task could be better performed.
151. The last step in the performance appraisal process is to discuss the results with the
employee.
152. Performance appraisals are very useful for new, inexperienced workers and first-line
managers, but have little value for top management.
153. Top-level managers can benefit from having their performance evaluated by subordinates.
154. An employment appraisal may include a
360-degree review,
which is an appraisal that
includes job-related and non-job-related comments from a range of employees.
155. A 360-degree review will include the opinions of an employee’s subordinates, as well as
those above him/her in the organization structure, and those who work alongside the employee
in comparable positions.
156. The main reason firms conduct performance appraisals is to establish a formal record of
job performance that will protect them from lawsuits filed by unhappy workers.
157. One drawback of performance appraisals is that they cannot be completed for top
management because there is no one above this level of management to carry out and evaluate
the results.
158. Even employees who work on a busy production floor need performance appraisals. If the
manager cannot conduct a closed-door appraisal session, the supervisor should conduct these
wherever he/she can find room.