Management, 13e (Robbins)
Chapter 12 Managing Human Resources
1) Which of the following is true of high-performance work practices?
A) It is easier to implement in organizations with centralized structures.
B) It involves well-structured job responsibilities as opposed to flexible assignments.
C) In spite of its many benefits, research indicates that there is no direct link between high-
performance work practices and a firm’s market value.
D) It encourages extensive employee involvement and greater employee control on decision
making.
2) Which of the following is an example of a high-performance work practice?
A) clearly defined job assignments
B) centralized decision making
C) skill-based compensation
D) self-managed teams
3) John received a raise as a result of his last performance appraisal. He is active on three teams
and is given authority to make decisions regarding his job responsibilities. John’s employer is
using ________.
A) realistic job previews
B) human resource planning
C) high performance recruiting practices
D) high-performance work practices
4) ________ is an example of a high-performance work practice.
A) Increasing employee access to information
B) Selective decruitment
C) Skill-based compensation
D) Detailed job descriptions
5) Steve introduces in-house technical training programs for employees, as well as a provision to
reimburse the tuition fees for employees who take college courses that benefit both the employee
and the organization. Steve is using ________ to motivate and retain employees.
A) performance appraisal methods
B) high-performance work practices
C) mentoring
D) affirmative action
6) The first three activities of the human resource management process involve ________.
A) providing employees with flexible job assignments
B) identifying and selecting competent employees
C) providing employees with up-to-date knowledge and skills
D) retaining competent and high-performing employees
7) The final three activities of the human resource management process ensure ________.
A) that the organization retains competent and high-performing employees
B) that the organization selects and trains competent employees
C) the best compensation packages for the new hires
D) that employees are continuously provided with up-to-date knowledge and skills
8) Which of the following steps in the human resource management process identifies and selects
competent employees?
A) orientation and training
B) human resource planning and recruitment
C) compensation and benefits
D) planning and performance management
9) Which of the following steps in human resource management helps retain competent and
high-performing employees?
A) orientation
B) selecting
C) performance management
D) training
10) During an economic recession, ________.
A) human resources managers find it more difficult to replace employees
B) more qualified candidates are available to fill fewer open positions
C) candidates face less competition for open positions
D) candidates expect better benefits and pensions
11) Labor unions use ________ to protect the rights of their members.
A) work stops
B) commercial arbitration
C) collective bargaining
D) labor disputes
12) The essence of affirmative action is to ________.
A) provide positive reinforcements to encourage desirable behavior
B) prevent employees from behaving unethically
C) prevent discrimination and enhance the status of members from protected groups
D) provide experiential exercises and on-the-job coaching for employees
13) Which of the following Acts prohibits discrimination on the basis of physical or mental
disabilities?
A) Vocational Rehabilitation Act
B) Civil Rights Act, Title VII
C) Equal Pay Act
D) Occupational Safety and Health Act
14) Which of the following Acts gives employees the legal right to examine personnel files and
letters of reference?
A) Civil Rights Act, Title VII
B) Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
C) Privacy Act
D) Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act
15) Which of the following Acts requires continued health coverage following termination of an
employee?
A) Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
B) Occupational Safety and Health Act
C) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
D) Family and Medical Leave Act
16) When Fletcher lost his job as a result of a downsizing, his health coverage was discontinued
even though he was willing to pay for it. Which of the following Acts can Fletcher cite in his
efforts to have his health coverage benefits restored?
A) Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)
B) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
C) Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
D) Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
17) Which of the following is true of the government legislations related to human resource
management in different countries?
A) Canadian laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of language in all parts of the country
except Quebec.
B) Australian anti-discrimination laws were passed before those in the United States.
C) Under Mexican law, managers must review new employees’ performance after 60 days.
D) Unlike the rest of Europe, legislation in Germany does not require companies to practice
representative participation.
18) The two most common forms of representative participation are ________.
A) board representatives and cross-functional teams
B) task forces and cross-functional teams
C) work councils and board representatives
D) work councils and cross-functional teams
19) ________ are groups of nominated or elected employees who must be consulted when
management makes decisions involving personnel.
A) Labor unions
B) Advisory boards
C) Work councils
D) Board representatives
20) Helmut works for an optical engineering company. He is one of several employees that
management must consult when it is considering a major layoff. Helmut is a member of
________.
A) an employee council
B) a work council
C) a labor union
D) a bargaining committee
21) Which of the following is a trend that will affect HRM practices in the future?
A) Asians will represent 24% of the workforce.
B) Working women will represent a shrinking segment of the workforce.
C) Baby boomers will represent the largest segment of the workforce.
D) Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment of the workforce.
22) High-performance work practices are those that lead to both high individual and high
organizational performance.
23) High-performance work practices involve a commitment by management to improve the
knowledge, skills, and abilities of the organization’s employees, increasing employee motivation,
and enhancing the retention of quality employees.
24) An organization that wants to have high-performance work practices should discourage self-
managed teams and decentralized decision making.
25) A labor union is an organization that represents workers and seeks to protect their interests.
26) In the United States, labor unions represent the most significant environmental constraint.
27) Affirmative action programs help ensure that decisions and practices enhance the
employment, upgrading, and retention of members from protected groups such as minorities and
females.
28) The Civil Rights Act, Title VII, prohibits discrimination of employees who are above 40
years of age.
29) Explain why human resource management (HRM) is important to organizational success.
30) Explain high-performance work practices and list a few examples of such practices.
31) The first phase of the human resource management process involves ________.
A) human resource planning, compensation, and benefits
B) human resource planning, selection, and performance management
C) human resource planning, recruitment and decruitment, and selection
D) human resource planning, recruitment and decruitment, and orientation
32) The process by which managers ensure that they have the right number and kinds of capable
people in the right places and at the right times is known as ________.
A) human capital management
B) performance management
C) performance planning
D) human resource planning
33) Managers begin human resource planning by ________.
A) locating capable applicants
B) inventorying current employees
C) job analysis
D) forecasting sales
34) An assessment that defines jobs and the behaviors necessary to perform them is known as a
________.
A) job description
B) job specification
C) job preview
D) job analysis
35) Sam, a human resources manager, wants to let potential candidates know about the minimum
qualifications that they should possess in order to successfully perform the jobs they have
applied for. What should he do?
A) He should create a job description.
B) He should create a job specification.
C) He should perform a job analysis.
D) He should perform a job satisfaction survey.
36) A written statement that explains the job content, environment, and conditions of
employment is called a ________.
A) job specification
B) job preview
C) job manual
D) job description
37) A ________ states the minimum qualifications that a person must possess to successfully
perform a given job.
A) job description
B) job preview
C) job analysis
D) job specification
38) Recruitment is the process of ________.
A) moving employees laterally to reduce intra-organizational supply-demand imbalances
B) locating, identifying, and attracting capable applicants
C) screening job applicants to determine who is the best
D) selecting candidates to fill open positions
39) If human resource planning shows a surplus of employees, management can reduce the
organization’s workforce through ________.
A) recruitment
B) decruitment
C) increased workweeks
D) reduced job sharing
40) ________ as a source of recruitment is limited to entry-level positions.
A) Employee referrals
B) The Internet
C) College recruiting
D) Professional recruiting organizations
41) Gareth is in charge of recruiting at Eowin Systems, and is expected to enhance the diversity
of the workforce. Which of the following recruiting sources should Gareth avoid if he is to
achieve the stated aim of a more diverse workforce?
A) college recruiting
B) company Web site
C) employee referrals
D) professional recruiting organizations
42) A disadvantage of using professional recruiting organizations is ________.
A) that they generate many unqualified candidates
B) their limited commitment to specific companies
C) that they can only be used for entry-level positions
D) that they do not increase the diversity and mix of employees
43) ________ are a temporary involuntary termination that can last from a few weeks to several
years.
A) Layoffs
B) Attritions
C) Discharges
D) Retirements
44) In which of the following decruitment methods does an organization refrain from filling the
openings created by voluntary resignations or normal retirements of its employees?
A) firing
B) layoffs
C) attrition
D) transfers
45) In her next meeting with the senior management, Jane suggests that they should ignore the
openings created by voluntary resignations and not hire any more people now. This would avoid
much of the pain associated with workforce reduction in future. This implies that Jane favors
________.
A) transfers
B) attrition
C) layoffs
D) reduced workweeks
46) Joan needs to eliminate some employees for a short while. She and her managers identify
those employees who are not meeting performance expectations and explain that this termination
is temporary but they are encouraged to seek other positions elsewhere. How is Jane trying to
reduce the size of the workforce here?
A) firing
B) layoffs
C) reduced workweeks
D) early retirements
47) If Victoria asks some employees to share jobs or perform their jobs on a part-time basis, she
would be ________.
A) firing employees.
B) encouraging layoffs
C) reducing the workweeks
D) encouraging early retirements
48) ________ involves predicting which applicants will be successful if hired.
A) Selection
B) Recruitment
C) Orientation
D) Decruitment
49) Errors made by eliminating candidates who would have performed successfully on the job
are known as ________.
A) admission errors
B) reject errors
C) accept errors
D) omission errors
50) Elizabeth was hired as a customer care executive by a telecommunication provider during a
period when they were extremely short-staffed. Her employers soon realized that she was
impatient, easily irritated, and lacked motivation. They even began to receive complaints about
her behavior from angry customers. In hiring Elizabeth, her employers were guilty of a(n)
________.
A) admission error
B) reject error
C) accept error
D) omission error
51) A ________ selection device is characterized by a proven relationship between the selection
device and some relevant job selection criterion.
A) subjective
B) objective
C) reliable
D) valid
52) All candidates for entry level engineering positions are given the mechanical aptitude test.
Those who scored well and were hired later earned high scores on their performance evaluations.
Those who scored less well and were hired earned lower scores on performance evaluations.
This indicates that the test is ________.
A) valid
B) invalid
C) reliable
D) unreliable
53) A ________ selection device indicates that the device measures the same thing consistently.
A) subjective
B) potent
C) reliable
D) valid
54) When Beverly administers the math test to accounting clerk candidates, the average score is
65%. But when Carol administers the same test, the score average is 83%. What does this
indicate about the test?
A) The test is valid.
B) The test is unreliable.
C) The test is poorly constructed.
D) The test is reliable
55) Application forms ________.
A) are most useful for gathering information
B) include personality and interest forms
C) use actual job behaviors
D) are not used for managerial positions
56) Tim is a candidate for an automotive mechanic’s position. He is asked to deconstruct and
reconstruct part of an engine motor to demonstrate his skill. This is an example of a(n)
________.
A) aptitude test
B) performance-simulation test
C) intelligence test
D) psychometric test