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Human Resource
Q:
Which of the following observations is true of taking the services of independent contractors?
A. Core competencies can be effectively outsourced to contractors.
B. The company is not supposed to directly supervise the contractors.
C. It is a relatively slow process with low revocability.
D. The organization can achieve increased quality though the costs are more.
E. It provides an organization increased control over the operations.
Q:
Temporary employment:
A. is costlier compared to most other methods of overcoming labor shortage.
B. is not suitable when demand for the employers products changes rapidly.
C. is less flexible compared to the other methods of overcoming labor shortage.
D. it is most effective for key customer service jobs.
E. is not a popular method of overcoming labor shortage.
Q:
Temporary employment is popular with employers because:
A. it gives them flexibility in operations.
B. it allows them to comply with the requirement of affirmative action imposed by the government.
C. the quality of work is usually far superior.
D. it is most effective for key customer service jobs.
E. the temporary workers are more committed to the organization.
Q:
Which of the following is true of temporary workers?
A. Temporary employment involves higher costs.
B. Using temporary workers frees the employer from many administrative tasks.
C. Use of temporary workers is not suitable for small companies because extensive testing of the employees needs to be done before these companies get employees from an agency.
D. Most temporary workers need to be trained by the employers every time they join a new organization.
E. Temporary employment is not suitable for those employers who need to operate efficiently even when demand for their products changes rapidly.
Q:
Which of the following is a disadvantage of using temporary and contract workers?
A. Revocability of this method is lesser compared to other methods of avoiding labor shortage.
B. These kinds of workers cannot be hired through an agency.
C. These methods are a relatively slow solution to labor shortage.
D. These workers tend to be relatively less committed to the organization.
E. These workers work well in key jobs but not in those jobs that supplement the permanent employees.
Q:
The most widespread methods for eliminating labor shortages are:
A. outsourcing work and work sharing.
B. hiring temporary workers and outsourcing work.
C. retrained transfers and turnover reduction.
D. overtime and new external hires.
E. overtime and retrained transfers.
Q:
A phased-retirement program refers to:
A. laying off older employees in small batches.
B. giving lucrative incentives to a large number of older employees to voluntarily retire.
C. reducing the number of hours older employees work as well as the cost of these employees.
D. giving older employees a certain time limit to voluntarily retire.
E. offering alternative work locations and work responsibilities to older employees.
Q:
Early-retirement programs:
A. are not a popular way to reduce labor surplus.
B. are very successful because most baby boomers want to retire.
C. work well for knowledge based jobs and services.
D. cause more human suffering than the other methods of labor reduction.
E. encourage lower-performing older workers to leave voluntarily.
Q:
A manufacturing company hit by a slump in demand is experiencing a labor surplus. The company expects the market to improve in six months and it does not want to layoff any of its employees. Which of the following strategies is an equitable way to handle this issue that results in spreading the burden more fairly?
A. Demotions
B. Outsourcing
C. Reduced work hours
D. Overtime
E. Employing temporary workers
Q:
Many problems with downsizing can be reduced by:
A. slashing jobs across the board.
B. allowing workers to choose a buyout package in exchange for leaving.
C. engaging in better human resources planning.
D. avoiding unionization in the organization.
E. laying off only the older workers in the organization.
Q:
Which of the following is a reason why many of the downsizing efforts fail?
A. Surviving employees could become self-absorbed.
B. The company may become less competitive in the industry.
C. The overall costs incurred by the company may increase.
D. Governmental interference could cause problems.
E. Downsizing could result in decreased diversity.
Q:
Which of the following is a disadvantage of downsizing?
A. It cannot be used to reduce the number of managers.
B. It would result in reduced future competitiveness.
C. It cannot provide an immediate solution to labor surplus.
D. It hurts long-term organizational effectiveness.
E. It does not have an immediate effect on costs.
Q:
The primary reason organizations engage in downsizing is to: A. attain larger profit margins.
B. promote future competitiveness.
C. bring in additional skills to the organization.
D. thwart unionizing efforts within a given facility.
E. strengthen the social networks in the organization.
Q:
Which of the following is true of downsizing?
A. Downsizing improves long-term organizational effectiveness.
B. The negative effect of downsizing is especially low among firms that engage in high-involvement work practices.
C. Downsizing often disrupts the social networks through which people are creative and flexible.
D. The negative impact of downsizing is especially low for those organizations that emphasize research and development.
E. Downsizing campaigns only eliminate people who are replaceable.
Q:
Core competency refers to:
A. contracting with another organization to perform a broad set of services.
B. the planned elimination of large numbers of personnel with the goal of enhancing the organizations competitiveness.
C. the construction and application of statistical models that predict labor demand for the next year, given relatively objective statistics from the previous year.
D. a set of knowledge and skills that make the organization superior to competitors and create value for customers.
E. the attempts to determine the supply of and demand for various types of human resources within the organization.
Q:
Which of the following options for avoiding an expected labor shortage has the benefit of being a relatively fast solution with high revocability?
A. Retrained Transfer
B. Turnover Reductions
C. New External Hires
D. Overtime
E. Technological Innovation
Q:
Which of the following options for reducing an expected labor surplus has the benefit of being a relatively fast solution, but has the disadvantage of being high in human suffering?
A. Hiring Freeze
B. Early Retirement
C. Retraining
D. Work Sharing
E. Downsizing
Q:
Which of the following is a strategy to avoid labor shortage where the results can be obtained fast?
A. Technological Innovation
B. Retrained Transfers
C. Turnover Reductions
D. Outsourcing
E. New External Hires
Q:
Which of the following is a strategy of avoiding a labor surplus where the amount of human suffering caused is high?
A. Retraining
B. Demotions
C. Hiring Freeze
D. Early Retirement
E. Natural Attrition
Q:
Which of the following strategies could be used to avoid a labor shortage?
A. Reduced pay
B. Work sharing
C. Hiring freeze
D. Transfers
E. Retrained transfers
Q:
Which of the following is a fast option that can be used to avoid a labor surplus with only a moderate amount of suffering caused to the employees?
A. Pay reductions
B. Transfers
C. Demotions
D. Early retirement
E. Retraining
Q:
Why is hiring new employees for every labor shortage not preferable? A. The process will lead to an artificial scarcity in the labor market.
B. It would lead to reduced organizational control over the workers and process.
C. Selecting new employees attracts too many discrimination law suits.
D. If the shortage becomes a surplus, the organization may have to lay off employees.
E. The process may result in reduced quality and may affect standardization.
Q:
The goals that are set in the human resource planning process should come directly from:
A. the mid-level managers.
B. the analysis of labor supply and demand.
C. the judgments and choices made by the technical experts in the organization.
D. the feedback provided by the organization's customers.
E. the line workers at the grassroots level.
Q:
In the human resource planning process, which of the following is the immediate next step of the forecasting step?
A. Goal setting and strategic planning
B. Evaluation and feedback
C. Program implementation
D. Program evaluation
E. Performance evaluation
Q:
Planners need to combine statistical forecasts of labor supply with expert judgments because:
A. it would motivate the experts in the organization.
B. subjective judgments are always more reliable than historical data.
C. historical data may not always reliably indicate future trends.
D. statistical methods fail to account for historical trends.
E. statistical forecasts work well only in a dynamic environment.
Q:
Questions such as Where did people who were in each job category go? and Where did people now in each job category come from? can be answered with the help of:
A. propensity analysis.
B. leading indicators.
C. trend analysis.
D. multiple regression.
E. a transitional matrix.
Q:
Determining the internal labor supply calls for a detailed analysis of:
A. how many people are willing to work for the organization.
B. how many people are currently in various job categories.
C. the financial performance and profitability of the company.
D. the future vacancies that will be available in the company.
E. the compensation strategies and recruitment methods used by the company.
Q:
Which of the following terms is a chart that lists job categories held in one period and shows the proportion of employees in each of those job categories in a future period?
A. Trend Analysis
B. Leading Indicator Method
C. Propensity Analysis
D. Transitional Matrix
E. Labor Bureau Statistics
Q:
Trend analysis refers to:
A. a pooling of the "best guesses," or subjective judgments, of experts to predict labor demand and supply.
B. the use of subjective judgments to understand relationships among variables during fluctuating and unstable conditions.
C. a process that accurately predicts labor demand for the next year using leading indicators.
D. a comparison of the proportion of employees in protected groups with the proportion that each group represents in the relevant labor market.
E. a statistical method of forecasting that uses the proportion of employees in various job categories for making predictions.
Q:
Which of the following terms refers to objective measures that accurately predict future labor demand?
A. Performance indicators
B. Transitional matrices
C. Functional pointers
D. Coincident pointers
E. Leading indicators
Q:
Which of the following is an advantage of statistical forecasting methods?
A. They are particularly useful in dynamic environments.
B. Under the right conditions, they provide predictions that are much more precise than judgmental methods.
C. They are particularly useful in predicting important events that have no historical precedent.
D. They are invariably better than the "best guesses" of experts.
E. They can be used to reduce dependence on secondary data for making forecasts and predictions.
Q:
The first step in the human resource planning process is:
A. forecasting.
B. goal setting.
C. program implementation.
D. program evaluation.
E. performance evaluation.
Q:
On the whole, research suggests that realistic job previews have a strong, consistent effect on minimizing employee turnover.
Q:
The recruiter affects the nature of both the job vacancy and the applicants generated.
Q:
Private employment agencies serve primarily the blue-collar workers, while public employment agencies mostly serve the white-collar workers.
Q:
Many of the people reading classified ads are either over- or underqualified for the position.
Q:
Referrals are people who apply for a vacancy without prompting from the organization.
Q:
Recruitment sources affect the characteristics of both the vacancies and the applicants.
Q:
In general, all companies have to make decisions in three areas of recruiting: personnel policies, recruitment sources, and the characteristics and behavior of the recruiter.
Q:
The steps in a workforce utilization review are identical to the steps in the HR planning process.
Q:
Implementation that ties planning and recruiting to the organizations strategy and to its efforts to develop employees becomes a complete program of talent management.
Q:
To ensure success with an outsourcing strategy, companies should outsource work that requires tight security.
Q:
Contracting with another organization to perform a broad set of services is called outsourcing.
Q:
If the person providing the service is a contractor and not an employee, the company is not supposed to directly supervise the worker.
Q:
The use of temporary workers might burden the organization with additional administrative tasks.
Q:
The most widespread methods for eliminating labor shortages are reducing work hours and endorsing early-retirement programs.
Q:
The negative effect of downsizing would be low among firms that use performance-related pay incentives.
Q:
Work sharing is one of the options that can be used for avoiding labor shortage.
Q:
Downsizing can be used as an option for reducing surplus labor as it yields fast results.
Q:
The goals an organization sets in its human resource planning process should come directly from the analysis of its labor supply and demand.
Q:
The second step in human resource planning is performance evaluation.
Q:
A transitional matrix is a chart that lists job categories held in one period and shows the proportion of employees in each of those job categories in a future period.
Q:
Statistical models are used for forecasting labor demands because they are good at capturing once-in-a-lifetime changes.
Q:
In human resource planning, forecasting is an intermediary step.
Q:
How does The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) encourage organizations to adopt ergonomic job design?
Q:
Outline the steps in a work flow analysis.
Q:
Which of the following is a way to simplify a jobs mental demands?
A. Enforcing stringent quality control standards
B. Training employees to multi-task between different job duties
C. Providing social-media tools to simplify information sharing
D. Providing comfortably designed office chairs
E. Enhancing the information processing functions of the job
Q:
It can be most beneficial to simplify jobs where _____.
A. the employees seek challenges and new demands
B. the costs of errors are severe
C. the scope for errors is minimal
D. the employees do not engage in multi-tasking
E. the information-processing requirements of the job are minimal
Q:
Designing jobs that meet mental capabilities and limitations generally involves _____.
A. allowing employees to opt for a compressed workweek schedule
B. curbing autonomy and emphasizing error-free work
C. increasing the amount of reporting requirements and documentation
D. training employees to multi-task and self manage teams
E. reducing the information-processing requirements of a job
Q:
Which of the following is NOT a strategy used by OSHA to increase ergonomic job design?
A. Issuing regulations and guidelines for industries
B. Directing ergonomic research along specific lines
C. Providing licenses to new companies only when they ensure the highest levels of ergonomically designed jobs
D. Enforcing violations of its requirement that employers protect employees from work-related hazards
E. Performing advisory functions in the area of ergonomic designing of occupational environments
Q:
The manager of a local grocery store places a short conveyor belt that allows customers to place items on it prior to billing. This saves the cashier from the physical strain of bending forward and reaching into carts to retrieve the items. This change is congruent with the _____ approach to job design.
A. telecommuting
B. job enrichment
C. ergonomics
D. flextime
E. job sharing
Q:
What is the goal of ergonomics?
A. Empowering the employees by giving them decision-making authority
B. Reducing the physical strain on employees performing the job
C. Reducing the number of reporting relationships in the job
D. Enlarging jobs by moving employees among several different jobs
E. Increasing the jobs mental demands
Q:
Which of the following best describes ergonomics?
A. The study of the interface between individuals physiology and the characteristics of the physical work environment.
B. The study of jobs to find the simplest way to structure work in order to maximize efficiency.
C. The study of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities for employees in a new job.
D. The study of the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the job.
E. The study of the relationship between intrinsic rewards and employee motivation in the context of human resource management.
Q:
A telework arrangement is generally difficult to set up for _____.
A. editors
B. software programmers
C. manufacturing workers
D. graphic designers
E. accountants
Q:
Which of the following is true about telework?
A. Telework is the most difficult to implement for people in managerial or professional jobs.
B. A telework arrangement is the easiest to set up for manufacturing workers.
C. Telecommuting supports the strategy of corporate social responsibility by reducing the employees need to commute by vehicles.
D. Telework arrangements are mandatorily restricted to employees who are disabled or need to be available for children or elderly relatives.
E. Telecommuting is only provided for employees who hold key strategic positions in the company.
Q:
_____ refers to the option given to employees to work away from a centrally located office.
A. Zero-hour contract
B. Telework
C. Retroactive overtime
D. Flextime
E. Compressed workweek
Q:
Which of the following would qualify as a compressed workweek?
A. Employees are required to be at work from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and can choose additional hours before/after this period.
B. Two part-time employees work in different shifts and share the tasks of a specific job.
C. Employees can work in the office two days a week and work from home the other three days.
D. Employees can choose to work away from a centrally located work area.
E. Employees are permitted to work 10 hours a day, Monday through Thursday.
Q:
Helen Taylor works 10 hours a day for 4 days a week, while her colleagues work 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. Helen is utilizing a flexible work schedule option known as _____.
A. the zero-hour contract
B. the compressed workweek
C. the flexible workweek
D. retroactive overtime
E. telework
Q:
Which of the following best describes job sharing?
A. A work option in which two part-time employees carry out the tasks associated with a single job.
B. Allowing full-time employees to choose start and end times within the guidelines specified by the organization.
C. Empowering individual workers by adding more opportunities for specialization in their current job duties.
D. Enlarging jobs by combining several relatively simple jobs to form a job with a wider range of tasks.
E. Enlarging jobs by moving employees among several different jobs.
Q:
Tech-Marketing Inc., an advertising firm located in Ohio, requires its employees to be at work between the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. This work rule allows employees to work additional hours before or after the time period in order to work the full day. Identify the job design method implemented at Tech-Marketing.
A. Zero-hour contract
B. Flextime
C. Compressed workweek
D. Telework
E. Retroactive overtime
Q:
Which of the following is true of self-managing work teams?
A. Team members job duties are narrowly defined.
B. Team members usually share work assignments.
C. Team members joint responsibilities are minimal.
D. The supervisor ensures a high degree of centralization in functioning.
E. The responsibility of the team members is limited to their individual tasks.
Q:
Carl Borden, the manager of an electronics store in California, gives his staff the authority to resolve customer complaints. He lets the staff decide whether to issue refunds or replace merchandise in case of consumer grievances. Which of the following job design techniques does Carl implement in his store?
A. Job sharing
B. Cross training
C. Job rotation
D. Job enrichment
E. Job evaluation
Q:
Which of the following steps can an organization take to enrich manufacturing jobs for its employees?
A. Divide tasks among employees in great detail.
B. Carry out time-and-motion studies to identify one best way to perform a job.
C. Make the tasks repetitive and simple to avoid errors.
D. Give employees more authority to manage the production process.
E. Encourage job specialization and division of labor.
Q:
According to Herzbergs two-factor theory, which of the following factors would motivate individuals the most?
A. Meaningfulness of a job
B. Fringe benefits in the job
C. Share in company stock
D. Salary and allowances
E. Periodic bonuses
Q:
Job enrichment differs from job rotation in that job enrichment:
A. empowers workers by adding more decision-making authority to their jobs.
B. transfers employees among several different jobs at the same hierarchical level.
C. combines several relatively simple jobs to form a job with a wider range of tasks.
D. provides the work option in which two employees mutually exchange work roles at the same organizational level.
E. assesses of the relative dollar value of each job to the organization.
Q:
Which of the following job design techniques involving the addition of decision-making authorities to a job is credited to Frederick Herzberg?
A. Job extension
B. Job rotation
C. Job enrichment
D. Job enlargement
E. Job sharing
Q:
Which of the following arrangements would qualify as job rotation?
A. A receptionist is required to perform the jobs of file clerk and typist.
B. Training housekeeping staff in front office functions through periods of alternating work arrangements.
C. Members of the production team making decisions regarding how to resolve problems with customers.
D. A manager participating in a meeting while on vacation with his family.
E. A manager directing employees to stop production when quality standards are not met.
Q:
Thought-Creations Inc., a publishing company in Manhattan conducted a survey on employee satisfaction. The results indicated that a majority of its support staff considered their jobs to be monotonous. In order to make the requisite change, the management decided to combine the job duties of assistants, typists, and file clerks into a single job that requires all three kinds of work. Which of the following techniques of job design did this move constitute?
A. Job rotation
B. Job review
C. Job enrichment
D. Job evaluation
E. Job extension
Q:
Which of the following is the objective of job enlargement?
A. To make jobs less repetitive and more interesting
B. To increase efficiency by identifying one best way to perform a job
C. To decrease the burden of decision-making responsibilities for employees
D. To assess the relative dollar value of each job to the organization
E. To decrease the impact the job has on the lives of other people
Q:
In which of the following scenarios will workers be less motivated to perform the job?
A. When the job requires a variety of skills to be performed
B. When the job requires completing the whole piece of work from beginning to end
C. When the job has minimal impact on the lives of other people
D. When the job allows individuals to take autonomous decisions about the job
E. When a person receives clear information about performance effectiveness from the work itself