Additional Case 6.2
Terra Alta employs nearly 15,000 workers worldwide. The firm wants to reduce its
workforce through an early retirement program. The firm has hired you to organize and
implement the program.
Employees over age 58 are eligible, but managers don’t want to lose key older
employees. Program eligibility should be limited to a short period of time. Terra Alta
managers need a fairly accurate estimate of how many employees will participate in the
program.
Terra Alta expects a legal and humane program that avoids litigation issues. Employees
should have an accurate picture of their future if they decide to accept early retirement.
Refer to Additional Case 6.2. How could Terra Alta most likely prevent key, older
workers from leaving?
A) Restricting eligibility to areas with redundant employees
B) Establishing an immediate hiring freeze
C) Lowering the eligibility requirements
D) Shortening the eligibility time frame
Which of the following is a serious violation that would most likely lead to a shortening
of the discipline process?
A) Bonnie is about fifteen minutes late to work every day.
B) Mac is enrolled in night classes and regularly falls asleep at his desk during work
hours.
C) Bryce takes small items, such as calculators and printer cartridges, home for his
personal use.
D) Rihanna is caught about once a week smoking in the storage closet in a no-smoking
building.
Outcome-based appraisal tools have a tendency to:
A) use ambiguous criteria.
B) encourage employee conflicts.
C) provide a distorted view of worker performance levels.
D) force raters to make unnecessary distinctions between employees.
A(n) ________ plan is a retirement plan for which the employer assumes all the risk of
meeting the plan’s obligation and which provides the employee with a safe, secure,
predictable retirement income.
A) 401(k)
B) portable benefit
C) IRA
D) defined benefit
Of the advancement suggestions offered by the authors, one of the most critical is:
A) setting reasonable goals.
B) placing a priority on enhancement.
C) cultivating relationships with superiors.
D) improving your communication skills.
Additional Case 8.3
The HR department at McBain Associates is putting together a multi-step training
program to help managers appraise employee performance. The firm has experienced
previous legal problems associated with improper performance appraisals, so HR needs
to ensure that every manager is able to conduct a performance appraisal appropriately.
Managers will receive information about EEO law, company policies, appraisal forms,
and appropriate interview questions. Information provided during training should be
relevant and consistent. The firm wants managers to have access to the information
after training and as needed when conducting performance appraisals. In addition, the
firm wants to minimize the time managers spend on the training and to avoid large
group meetings. Due to changing policies and forms, HR needs the ability to update the
training information easily and quickly.
Refer to Additional Case 8.3. HR at McBain has decided to use an instructor-led
program to train managers. Which of the following best supports this decision?
A) The training and development budget at McBain is very limited.
B) Job aids help McBain managers to recall the KSAs needed for different jobs.
C) Performance appraisals at McBain are conducted twice a year for most employees.
D) HR expects managers to have many questions regarding McBain’s policy changes.
When General Electric chose to staff its Hungarian subsidiary with Hungarian
nationals, it was using a(n) ________ approach to management.
A) ethnocentric
B) polycentric
C) geocentric
D) multinational
On average, in 2010, women earned how much for each dollar earned by men?
A) $.64
B) $.71
C) $.83
D) $.98
What is the primary benefit of using Web-based employee attitude surveys?
A) Providing immediate feedback to managers
B) Ensuring the privacy of collected results
C) Protecting the firm from legal actions
D) Supplementing informal feedback
The ________ regulates how unions are organized, how they run their own business,
and what their fiduciary responsibilities are.
A) Taft-Hartley Act
B) Landrum-Griffin Act
C) Railway Labor Act
D) Wagner Act
Trait-based performance appraisal systems are most similar to:
A) outcome-based performance appraisal systems.
B) behavioral-based performance appraisal systems.
C) relative judgment performance appraisal systems.
D) absolute judgment performance appraisal systems.
When implementing a layoff, employees should first be informed:
A) through a company memo.
B) by their supervisor over the phone.
C) in a work unit meeting with HR present.
D) by their supervisor in a face-to-face meeting.
Which recruitment source has been linked to the most loyal and satisfied hires?
A) Referrals from current employees
B) Referrals from customers
C) Employment agencies
D) Online job postings
The HR director wants to get a sense of workers’ feelings about working conditions on
the production lines. She wants a formal process that will give her the maximum
amount of honest feedback. Her best tool for gathering this information is:
A) management by walking around.
B) an employee attitude survey.
C) an employee hotline.
D) an electronic bulletin board.
In order to decide whether verbal and other nonphysical behavior of a sexual nature
create a hostile work environment, which of the following is LEAST important to
consider?
A) The age and gender of the employee
B) Whether the conduct interferes with the employee’s work performance
C) The frequency of the discriminatory conduct
D) Whether the conduct is physically threatening or humiliating
During a conversation about a promotion with his boss, George is told that if he will
meet her at the Slumberland Motel and spend the night with her, he will get the
promotion. This is most likely an example of:
A) a hostile work environment.
B) harassment.
C) illegal employment discrimination.
D) “quid pro quo” sexual harassment.
Alex is a first-line supervisor with an employee who has a performance problem. After
coaching the employee with no improvement, Alex decides to terminate the
employment relationship. Which term refers to this type of separation?
A) Layoff
B) Discharge
C) Rightsizing
D) Early retirement
A survey of 1,400 employers showed that ________ of them factor customer
satisfaction into their calculation of incentive payments to employees.
A) 75%
B) 55%
C) 35%
D) 15%
Which of the following is an example of a non-exempt employee?
A) A manager
B) A salesperson
C) An HRM professional
D) An hourly employee on the production line