HRM II Block Test One
NOTE: SOME OF THE QUESTIONS IN THIS TEST DO NOT APPLY TO THE
COURSE THIS YEAR, PLEASE IGNORE THESE QUESTIONS
Section A
1) Name and discuss the four major roles and responsibilities of the HR function.
Answer:
1. Strategic partner. One of the most important roles that HR can play today is
that of a strategic partner. Aligning HR strategies to business strategies is
important in helping the company execute its business strategy.
2. Administrative Expert. Playing the role of administrative expert requires
designing and delivering efficient and effective HR systems, processes, and
practices. These include systems for selection, training, development,
appraising, and rewarding employees.
3. Employee Advocate. The employee advocate role entails managing the
commitment and contributions of employees. The role of employee advocate
is of great importance for firms seeking to gain a competitive advantage
through people.
4. Change Agent. The change agent role requires that HR play a role in
transforming organizations to meet the new competitive conditions. HR must
help in identifying and managing processes for change.
2) What is empowerment and what type of training must be conducted to make it
effective?
Answer:
Empowerment means giving employees the responsibility and authority to make
decisions regarding the aspects of product development or customer service under
their control. Employees are held accountable for products and services; in return,
they share the resulting rewards and losses.
For empowerment to succeed, managers must be trained to link employees to
resources within and outside the company, help employees interact with staff
throughout the company, and ensure that employees are updated on important
issues and cooperate with each other. Employees must also be trained to use the
Internet, e-mail, and other tools for communicating, collecting, and sharing
information.
3) Outline each of the four challenges companies must successfully face in order to gain a
competitive advantage.
Answer:
1. Competing in the New Economy
A. Changing structure of the economy, including the development of e-business
and more growth in professional and service occupations
B. Increased value placed on knowledge workers and intellectual capital,
including empowering to make decisions regarding all aspects of product
development or customer service
C. Changing skills requirements, as the occupational structure of U.S. economy
shifts to an emphasis on knowledge and service work. Demand for specific
skills is being replaced by a need for cognitive skills—mathematical and
verbal reasoning ability—and interpersonal skills related to being able to work
in teams or to interact with “customers” in a service economy
D. Changing employment relationship. In exchange for working longer hours
without job security and high levels of performance, employees want
companies to provide flexible work schedules, comfortable working
conditions, more autonomy in accomplishing work, available training and
development opportunities, and financial incentives based on how the
company performs
2. The Global Challenge
A. Development of global markets—Gain greater access to foreign markets,
helped by recent developments, including the changes in Eastern Europe, the
restructuring of the Soviet Union, the European Common Community market,
and NAFTA
B. Preparing employees for international assignments—Need to improve success
rate for U.S. expatriate employees; select employees based upon their ability
to understand cultural and business norms, their language skills, and their
technical ability; and train and develop foreign employees
3. Meeting Stakeholder Needs
 Balanced Scorecard
 Meeting Customer Service Needs
 Rewarding Quality Improvement
 Composition of Labor Force
 Structure of Economy
 Skill Deficiencies
 Changes in Employment Contract
 Employee Values
 Legal/Ethical Considerations
4. The High-Performance Work System Challenge
A. Employees will be given more responsibility for work and use a wider variety
of skills
B. There will be an increased use of teams to perform work
C. Managers' role as coaches and resource persons will increase
D. Company structure will rely on an adaptive high-involvement structure
E. HR information bases will be increasingly available
4) Discuss the challenges and opportunities (advantages) for HR in a downsizing, or
right-sizing, effort.
Answer:
Challenges include:
1. “Surgically” reduce workforce by cutting only the workers who are less
valuable in their performance.
2. Boosting the morale of employees who remain after the reduction.
3. Building trust and maintaining communication with remaining employees.
4. Developing a compensation system that ties individual compensation to
company performance.
5. Establishing ownership and gainsharing plans.
Opportunities include:
1. Getting rid of dead wood.
2. Making way for fresh ideas.
3. Changing the organization's culture.
Demonstrating to top-management decision makers the role HRM plays in managing
change effectively
5) Describe two of the four directional strategies that firms have used to meet objectives.
Answer:
1. Concentration strategy focuses on what is done the best.
2. Internal growth strategies involve channeling company's resources toward
building upon existing strengths. Options generally include market
development, product development, innovation, and joint venture.
3. External growth strategies include integrating horizontally or vertically or
diversifying.
4. Divestment strategy is one made of retrenchment, divestitures, or liquidation.
6) Job analysis is important to HR managers because information gathered in job analysis
is used in so many HR activities/functions. Describe how job analysis information
is used in four different HR activities/functions.
Answer:
1. Selection—Determines tasks and skills required in the job to design tests that
measure aptitude or ability to perform the job.
2. Performance appraisal—Through job analysis, the organization can identify
the behaviors and results that distinguish effective performance from
ineffective performance.
3. Training and development—Provides information regarding the tasks and
skills that should be taught in training and development activities.
4. Job evaluation—Provides information necessary to make comparisons of the
relative worth or requirements across different jobs.
5. Career planning—Knowledge of the skill requirements in various career paths
provides guidance to help people choose career paths consistent with their
skills or to specify the skills that will need to be acquired in order to pursue a
given career path.
6. Work redesign—Need information regarding the tasks and requirements of
the existing job prior to redesigning it.
7. Human resource planning—HR planning provides information regarding the
skill required in various jobs throughout the organization to ensure that the
firm has the people necessary to function effectively.
7) What are the differences among job analysis, job descriptions, and job specifications?
Answer:
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Job analysis is the process of gaining detailed information about jobs,
and it usually includes both a job description and a job specification as
an output of the process.
Job description is a list of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities (work
being performed) required by a job.
Job specification is a list of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other
characteristics that a jobholder must have in order to be able to
effectively do the tasks, duties, and responsibilities.
8) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using temporary employees as an option
in response to labor shortages.
Answer:
Advantages of using temporary workers include:
1. They increase flexibility that may be easily turned off and on when a company
is faced with uneven or cyclical demand for its products or services.
2. Frees firm from administrative burden of being “employer of record.”
3. Many temp agencies test and train employees prior to employment.
4. “Temps” often bring a different perspective to an organization.
5. Usually, they are less expensive than regular, full-time employees.
Disadvantages of temporary workers include:
2. “Temps” lack organizational experience that may create conflict with fulltime employees.
3. Feelings of a two-tiered society may develop.
9) Outline the steps required to implement an affirmative action plan.
Answer:
The steps are the same as those used for generic human resource planning.
1. Forecasting. This involves assessing current workforce utilization patterns and
then forecasting how these are likely to change.
2. Goal setting and strategic planning. This includes setting specific workforce
utilization goals and timetables for achieving them, then choosing specific
actions (e.g., recruitment of selection practices) to be carried out in pursuit of
the goals that have been set.
3. Implementation and evaluation of the selection programs. This includes
comparing results with workforce utilization goals and the timetable set earlier
in the process.
10) Compare and contrast the following recruiting sources—executive search firms,
employee referrals, newspaper advertising, and colleges/universities—in terms of
efficiency (cost per hire) and quality (yield ratio).
Answer:
Employee referrals and executive search firms generally have higher yields than
the other sources. The latter (search firms) cost more per hire largely due to the
higher-quality applicants at executive levels. Employee referrals combine for lowcost/high-quality hires, but have a disadvantage of offering a less diverse pool.
11) Define what is meant by reliability and validity in the employment selection context,
and discuss the relationship of reliability to validity.
Answer:
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Reliability is the degree to which a measure (i.e., a selection device) is
free from random error.
Validity is the extent to which performance on a measure is associated
with performance on the job.
The relationship is that a measure that must be reliable to be valid; but
a reliable measure is not necessarily a valid one.
12) Traditional job interviews have demonstrated low validity in terms of predicting job
performance. Describe how job interviews should be conducted in order to
maximize their validity.
Answer:
The validity of job interviews can be maximized by:
1. Keeping the interview structures standardized and focused on accomplishing a
small number of goals
2. Asking questions that force the applicant to display required knowledge or
ability (e.g., situational interview questions)
3. Using multiple interviewers who are trained
13) Name and discuss the four factors that affect HRM in global markets. Which of them
do you think is the most important factor and why?
Answer:
1. Culture—Culture is defended as “the set of important assumptions (often
unstated) that members of a community share.” It is important to HRM for
two reasons: (1) it often determines the other three factors and (2) it often
determines the effectiveness of various HRM practices.
2. Human Capital—Human capital refers to the productive capabilities of
individuals—that is, the knowledge, skills, and experience that have economic
value. Countries differ in their levels of human capital and influence a
company's ability to find and maintain a qualified workforce.
3. Economic System—A country's economic system influences HRM in that it
affects (1) the development of human capital and (2) labor costs and taxes on
compensation packages.
4. Political/Legal System—The political-legal systems often dictates the
requirements of certain HRM practices, such as training, compensation,
hiring, firing, and layoffs.
Culture is generally thought to be the most important factor influencing
international HRM.