Chapter 14—Managing Human Resources in Organizations Key
1. Labor relations is the set of organizational activities directed at attracting, developing, and maintaining an
effective workforce.
2. The effectiveness of the HR function does not have a substantial impact on the bottom-line performance of a
firm.
3. Responsibility for HR activities is shared between the HR department and line managers.
4. The intent of Title VII is to ensure that employment decisions are made on the basis of an individual’s
qualifications rather than on the basis of personal biases.
5. Executive orders require all organizations to actively pursue affirmative action.
6. The Labor-Management Relations Act prohibits the President of the United States from preventing or ending
a strike, even if it endangers national security.
7. The Americans with Disabilities Act applies to alcoholics, drug addicts, and AIDS patients.
8. Although employment-at-will has legal implications, its emergence as an issue is socially and politically
driven.
9. Job descriptions contain duties, working conditions, tools, materials, and equipment used to perform the job.
10. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems generally include capabilities for measuring and managing the
internal supply of labor in ways that best fit the needs of the organization.
11. One advantage of internal recruiting is its ripple effect because more people get promoted.
12. Assessment center procedures for selecting employees typically demonstrate low-content validity.
13. Predictive validation uses logic and job analysis data to establish that the selection device measures the
exact skills needed for successful job performance.
14. Drug tests are becomingly increasingly popular as a selection technique.
15. Most organizations provide regular training and development programs for managers and employees.
16. As training programs are being developed, the manager should set specific and measurable goals specifying
what participants are to learn.
17. Ranking differs from rating in that it compares each employee with a fixed standard rather than comparison
with other employees.
18. Miguel recently gave a great presentation. His boss is filling out her evaluation of Miguel; she keeps
remembering the presentation. She is committing recency error.
19. When managers decide to pay the firm’s administrative assistants above-average wages for the city in which
the firm is located, they have made a wage-structure decision.
20. Salaries represent special compensation opportunities that are usually tied to performance.
21. A good compensation system can stimulate high performance at a cost reasonable for one’s industry.
22. Fifty percent of the firm’s employees must sign authorization cards before the National Labor Relations
Board will conduct a union certification election.
23. A union can represent wage earners, but not salaried employees.
24. The best way to avoid having your employees vote to have a union is to treat them so that they do not feel
25. The purpose of grievance procedures is to administer and enforce the labor agreement reached during
collective bargaining.
26. The increasing use of knowledge workers has made human resources even more important.
27. Consultants, part-time workers, and temporary employees are all contingent workers.
28. Ed contracts with various engineering companies to work on specific jobs. When the jobs are concluded, he
may begin work for another company or for the same company on a different job. Ed is an example of a
contingent worker.
29. Those activities directed at attracting, developing, and maintaining an effective workforce are called
30. Given the environment in which organizations must function today, which of the following statements about
human resource management (HRM) is FALSE?
workforce.
31. Which of the following labor regulations could have potentially prevented a 2006 mine accident in West
Virginia that killed 11 miners?
32. A law proposed in Maine planned to deny the minimum wage to welfare recipients in jobs that they take as
part of their work requirements. This proposal was in defiance of the
33. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act did NOT prohibit discrimination on the basis of ____. A later act
prohibited it.
34. Which of the following federal laws does NOT have a direct impact on human resource management?
35. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act is enforced by
36. An employment test is judged to have a(n) ____ on minority applicants if the pass rate for the minority
group is less than about 80 percent of the pass rate for the majority group members.
37. Employment tests that have been determined to have an adverse impact can be used as selection devices
ONLY if they
38. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
39. Passive nondiscrimination requires employers to
40. Organizations holding federal contracts exceeding a certain dollar value must have affirmative action plans
according to
41. An African American surgeon on a Chicago hospital staff was admitted to the internship program because
of his race, even though he had lower grades and test scores than other applicants. This acceptance, which was
mandated by the government, indicates that the hospital used
42. Legislation that places constraints on the selection of employees includes
43. If you are required by the courts or other directives to have an affirmative action plan, which of the
following actions must you take?
44. The ____ requires payment of overtime to employees who work more than 40 hours per week.
45. Which of the following actions would violate the intent of the Equal Pay Act?
46. Marty works at a call center. Last week he worked 48 hours. According to the ____, he should receive
overtime for the time he worked in addition to his regular 40-hour shift.
47. Harriet has a drinking problem. After a drinking-related incident at work, she sought treatment. Courts are
increasingly ruling that her condition is covered under the
48. Darin, the human resources manager of a local firm, makes sure that the firm is paying men and women the
same if they are doing the same job. The legal constraint that he is abiding by is the
49. Howard has a six month old son. Howard is thankful for the ____ every time he pushes a stroller down a
ramp or has more space in a store. The act has helped a broad range of people.
50. On which basis does current employment law permit an employer to pay different amounts to workers on
the same job?
51. Eduardo developed brain cancer. His wife accompanied him to Boston where he received experimental
surgery. The ability to leave her job and know that it would be hers when she returned was made possible by
the
52. Which of the following labor laws increases management’s rights during union organizing campaigns?
53. Which of the following laws gives the president the authority to seek a court injunction to force striking
unions to go back to work for 80 days when, in the president’s opinion, the strike endangers the health and
safety of the nation?
54. Which of the following laws requires management to bargain in good faith with the designated employee
representatives?
55. While some employers are upset by regulations that set the legal limit on how far apart the risers on a ladder
can be, OSHA safety standards are intended to
56. A company that requires everyone working on a computer to use a gel hand rest would be in accordance
with the
57. A beer company used ____ to fire an employee for drinking a competitor’s beer in public. Courts are
increasingly ruling against such a justification for firing an employee.
58. You are reading a document with the following information: “Workers will work in an office environment
using a computer. Some lifting will be involved but will not exceed five pounds.” You are reading part of a job
59. The systematic collection and recording of information about jobs in the organization is known as
60. Which of the following information is included in a job description?
61. You are reading a document that says that a job applicant must have a valid driver’s license, be a citizen of
the United States, and be available evenings and weekends. You are reading a
62. All of the following are steps in human resource planning EXCEPT
63. A commonly used technique for planning specific human resource requirements in higher-level positions is
the
64. Sprint maintains a computerized spreadsheet of education, skills, experience, and career aspirations of its
current employees. This is a
65. Cole, Inc. has determined that its forecast demand for middle managers is greater than its forecast supply.
All of the following would be appropriate actions EXCEPT
66. If overstaffing is expected, the main options are all EXCEPT which of the following?
67. Which of the following is a potential area of concern for managers when they use internal sources to fill a
vacant position?
68. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs resigned as CEO for health reasons. Tim Cook took over. Cook had been with
Apple for 13 years. This promotion resulted in
69. In unionized firms, internal recruitment methods are
70. Identifying current employees who would like to change jobs is accomplished by
71. The Hewlett Packard board discussed replacing the CEO with a board member. This is an example of
72. An advantage of ____ is that they reach a wide audience and this allows minorities equal opportunity.
73. Recruiters need to keep in mind the employment decision goes both ways, and the perspective employee is
selecting a job. One of the best tools for getting a good match between the job and the person filling the job is
to
74. Many college students work as interns over the summers. Some are offered employment upon graduation.
Internships can be a(n)
75. Once the firm has developed a pool of applicants, the next step is
76. The two basic approaches to validation are
77. A preemployment test that requires applicants to perform the same kinds of tasks as they will actually do on
78. If you give a paper-and-pencil test to job applicants in your organization and then later do a correlation
analysis to determine the relationship between success on the testing device and success on some measure of
performance, you are determining
79. Which of the following is a selection technique?
80. A recent survey found false or inflated information in which of the following?
81. Interviews are sometimes poor predictors of success because of
82. Selecting managerial employees sometimes involves a specially designed technique called
83. The California Highway Patrol Academy has all of its candidates for promotion attend a multiple-day
evaluation session during which they undergo a battery of tests, interviews, and simulated work experiences.
This is an example of
84. Which of the following would probably have the highest content validity?
85. Perhaps the most important consideration in developing a training plan is to
86. The most appropriate training technique for PepsiCo to teach its employees to make ethical decisions would
be
87. When a swimmer does kicking drills to focus on a specific technique, rather than on the overall swimming
speed, it is similar to ____ training, which allows employees to focus on safety rather than productivity.
88. Ken is a newly hired police officer. He has been assigned to ride along with a more experienced officer to
learn about paperwork, how to handle accident scenes, how to deal with domestic disputes, and other duties that
he will be expected to perform. The police department that hired Ken is using ____ training.
89. Total sales, budget expenditure, and the number of claims processed are all examples of
90. Steve sells traffic signs and tape to municipalities. In his region he has a few affluent communities that order
the best items. Carla has even more communities in her region that are affluent, and she sells even more items.
If their supervisor does not use some adjustment factor to account for the differences in regions when evaluating
the performance of the two workers, the evaluations will exhibit
91. Which of the following is NOT an objective measure of performance appraisal?
92. GE requires managers to fire the bottom 10% of employees each year. GE is using