Deck 14: HR Assessment and Analytics

Question 1

Why are measures of managerial perceptions necessary when evaluating HRM effectiveness?

A)because other measures are time-consuming and meaningless
B)because management has a unique,comprehensive perspective
C)because management can give rich,qualitative information
D)because financial measures can be neither available nor appropriate

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What organizational costs would be affected by a smoking cessation program?

A)pension costs
B)vacation costs
C)presenteeism costs
D)productivity costs

Answer 2

D

Question 3

What are three of the main employee attitudes that are measured in HRM effectiveness surveys?

A)motivation,commitment,and work-life balance
B)satisfaction empowerment,and engagement
C)empowerment,commitment,and advocacy
D)engagement,satisfaction,and motivation

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What are the three stages of a fad's lifecycle?

A)introduction,growth,decline
B)ascendency,maturity,decline
C)introduction,growth,maturity
D)ascendency,growth,maturity

Question 5

If HRM is effective,it can cause numerous effects on employee behaviour.What is one such effect?

A)improving customer satisfaction
B)enhancing employee attrition
C)reducing employee shirking
D)eliminating high-potentials

Question 6

Typically,what is an organization's largest controllable cost?

A)technological costs
B)capital costs
C)labour costs
D)benefits costs

Question 7

What is one way that an HR department can reduce expenses associated with employees without reducing the headcount?

A)increase employees' efficiencies
B)eliminate the costs associated with absenteeism
C)purchase technology that improves productivity
D)initiate a hiring freeze and a wage freeze

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT a measure of efficiency?

A)time
B)quality
C)volume
D)cost

Question 9

What is the underlying assumption of the culture management model that is used to determine the effectiveness of HRM?

A)HR professionals are employed 20 to 30 percent of the time to ensure compliance with laws and legislation.
B)Organizational effectiveness is directly correlated to the size of the human resources budget.
C)HR practices can have a positive influence on employee attitudes,which in turn influence employee performance.
D)Highly committed employees will make personal sacrifices for the job and will not leave the organization for personal gain.

Question 10

In the book titled Retooling HR,author Boudreau stated that HR evolution is challenged by the presence of too much information.What solution did the author suggest?

A)reducing the volume of information
B)developing measures to summarize information
C)focusing on relevant HR information
D)creating frameworks to interpret the information

Question 11

What are two types of evidence that Enbridge Gas Distribution measures to determine overall customer satisfaction?

A)employee turnover and "presenteeism"
B)employee commitment and engagement
C)employee innovation and advocacy
D)employee satisfaction and work-life balance

Question 12

What methods are typically used to measure client satisfaction?

A)informal feedback and surveys
B)Delphi technique and focus groups
C)questionnaires and nominal group technique
D)critical incident method and breakout groups

Question 13

If an organization measures a decline in employee morale,approximately how long will it take to realize a drop in customer satisfaction?

A)2 months
B)4 months
C)6 months
D)8 months

Question 14

What is considered a zero-sum index when measuring HRM effectiveness?

A)growth
B)survival
C)maturity
D)stability

Question 15

According to a recent study,what percentage increase in customer satisfaction did Sears stores realize with every five percent increase in improved employee attitudes?

A)0.8 percent
B)1.3 percent
C)1.8 percent
D)2.3 percent

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT part of the 5C model of HRM impact?

A)contribution
B)cost control
C)compliance
D)commitment

Question 17

If an organization wishes to monitor the costs of turnover,which two costs should it measure?

A)lost revenue and productivity
B)absenteeism and termination
C)replacement and training
D)learning time and recruitment

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT related to the Sarbanes-Oxley requirements?

A)executive compensation
B)pension plans
C)employee benefits
D)whistleblower protection

Question 19

Why do some managers resist the need to measure the effectiveness of their performance?

A)because it is impossible to calibrate meaningful measures
B)because they know that they are underperforming in their jobs
C)because they do not control the information that is produced
D)because the time to gather information exceeds the benefits

Question 20

What type of costs can be estimated but not easily measured by financial expenditures?

A)direct
B)indirect
C)tangible
D)intangible

Question 21

Which of the following is NOT an approach to measuring HRM practices?

A)activity-based measures
B)costing measures
C)client satisfaction
D)balanced scorecard

Question 22

What is one benefit of benchmarking?

A)It motivates employees to take performance to a higher standard.
B)It stimulates a subjective review of processes,practices,and systems.
C)It provides subjective comparative data with best-in-class organizations.
D)It raises questions and stimulates discussion about better ways of strategizing.

Question 23

What are two main ways of measuring HR contributions to organizational performance?

A)financial measures and managerial perceptions of effectiveness
B)organizational efficiency and productivity
C)worker productivity and efficiency
D)managerial perceptions of effectiveness and worker productivity

Question 24

What is a leading indicator in HRM evaluation?

A)an indicator that anticipates management action
B)an indicator that predicts or affects the future
C)an indicator that explains changes or events
D)an indicator that represents current HR trends

Question 25

What are three ways to reduce labour expenses by reducing the size of the labour force?

A)technology,job design,and outsourcing
B)technology,outsourcing,and downsizing
C)layoffs,downsizing,and restructuring
D)outsourcing,layoffs,and downsizing

Question 26

What are some of the necessary costs for human resources accounting?

A)training,development,executive salaries,and benefits
B)recruiting,selecting,training,and retaining
C)technology,outsourcing,selecting,and orientation
D)downsizing,training,recruiting,and development

Question 27

The number of people interviewed to fill a job is an example of what kind of efficiency measurement?

A)time
B)labour
C)volume
D)cost

Question 28

What are two of the main employee attitudes that are measured in HRM effectiveness surveys?

A)initiative and satisfaction
B)satisfaction and collaboration
C)empowerment and commitment
D)engagement and motivation

Question 29

Why is there interest in measuring HR?

A)the need for competitive measurements
B)the need to measure human resource productivity
C)the need to measure change initiatives
D)the need for objective indicators of success to accompany the analysis of HR activities

Question 30

Which of the following is a part of the 5C model of HRM impact?

A)change management
B)commitment
C)compliance
D)communication

Question 31

What is the perennial problem in measuring the impact of HRM practices?

A)separating cause and effect
B)finding financial resources
C)overcoming the conservative nature of HRM
D)attracting individuals with knowledge

Question 32

What type of costs can be measured by financial expenditures?

A)direct
B)indirect
C)tangible
D)intangible

Question 33

Which of the following is one of the four basic questions used in the balanced HR scorecard?

A)How do employees see us?
B)Can we continue to remain profitable?
C)How do we look to shareholders?
D)Which areas need improvement?

Question 34

There are a number of approaches to measuring the impact of HRM policies and practices.Measuring the cost per hire is an example of what type of measure?

A)activity-based measures
B)hiring measures
C)costing measures
D)staffing measures

Question 35

Which of the following is NOT a hurdle to the development of HR metrics?

A)applying HR measures consistently and over time
B)gaining acceptance of HR measures by stakeholders
C)training managers to believe in the usefulness of HR measures
D)identifying HR measures that are grounded in research and theory and are practical

Question 36

Which of the following is NOT a type of mimicry that organizations use to adopt HR practices?

A)outcome-based mimicry
B)frequency-based mimicry
C)trait-based mimicry
D)knowledge-based mimicry

Question 37

What percentage is typically added to an HR budget in order to regularly evaluate HR practices?

A)5 percent
B)10 percent
C)15 percent
D)20 percent

Question 38

What is a typical way of measuring HR activities?

A)efficiency measures
B)activity-based measures
C)productivity measures
D)health measures

Question 39

What costs did National Steel track over four years to determine the effectiveness of its safety programs?

A)safety incentive payouts and needs assessment costs
B)injuries on the job,and safety orientation and training
C)cost of accidents and motivation for safe behaviour
D)drug and alcohol addiction,and lost-time accidents

Question 40

What is a problem with measuring client satisfaction?

A)low expectations of clients
B)conflicting expectations
C)use of broad techniques
D)use of critical incident methods

Question 41

Which of the following is a cost-efficiency measure?

A)time to process compensation and benefits
B)ratio of compensation expense to total operating expense
C)number of training days and number of employees trained
D)number of interviews per selection

Question 42

What term best defines the collection and analysis of facts and statistics for reference or analysis?

A)performance metric
B)analytics
C)data
D)hr analytics

Question 43

Which of the following is a response time efficiency measure?

A)time between requisition and filling of position
B)processing costs per benefit claim
C)administration costs per benefit claim
D)cost per training day

Question 44

What is an evidence-based approach for making better decisions about employees and HR policies,using a variety of tools to report HR metrics and to predict outcomes of HR programs?

A)performance analytics
B)HR analytics
C)data analytics
D)workforce analytics

Question 45

There is growing interest in measuring HR.What is this interest fuelled by?

A)the need for competitive measurements
B)business improvement efforts across organizations
C)the need to measure human resource productivity
D)the need for subjective and objective indicators of HR activities

Question 46

What are three ways to reduce labour expenses by reducing the size of the labour force?

A)restructuring,outsourcing,and downsizing
B)technology,rightsizing,and downsizing
C)technology,layoffs,and downsizing
D)technology,outsourcing,and downsizing

Question 47

Which of the following is a volume efficiency measure?

A)benefit cost per employee covered
B)ratio of benefits expense to total operating expense
C)ratio of filled positions to authorized positions
D)cost per trainee per program

Question 48

Which of the following is a passive measure of employee contentment with little relationship to performance?

A)satisfaction
B)motivation
C)fulfillment
D)engagement

Question 49

Counting the number of employees completing training is an example of what type of measure?

A)activity-based measure
B)costing measure
C)client satisfaction measure
D)employee satisfaction measure

Question 50

Which of the following is the beginning of the strategic HR planning process?

A)assessing and implementing HRM policies and practices
B)defining,interpreting,and communicating HRM policies and practices
C)aligning HRM programs and policies with organizational goals
D)reviewing and evaluating how HRM programs and policies are performing

Question 51

What are two main employee attitudes that are measured in HRM effectiveness surveys?

A)engagement,advocacy,and motivation
B)satisfaction,empowerment,and engagement
C)empowerment,commitment,and advocacy
D)motivation,commitment,and work-life balance

Question 52

Which of the following is a measure that probes whether employees feel stimulated in their role and are driven to meet work and organizational goals?

A)empowerment
B)commitment
C)engagement
D)motivation

Question 53

Which of the following is an employee attitude measure of their alignment with the strategy,objectives,and values of the organization?

A)commitment
B)engagement
C)empowerment
D)satisfaction

Question 54

What term best defines the process of measuring an organization's behaviour,activities,and performance?

A)performance metrics
B)analytics
C)workforce analytics
D)HR analytics

Question 55

What term best defines the discovery,interpretation,and communication of meaningful patterns in data?

A)performance metric
B)analytics
C)workforce analytics
D)HR analytics

Question 56

What are two types of evidence that Enbridge Gas Distribution measures to determine overall customer satisfaction?

A)employee commitment and productivity
B)employee satisfaction and engagement
C)employee innovation and advocacy
D)employee satisfaction and work-life balance

Question 57

There is growing interest in measuring HR.What is this interest fuelled by?

A)attempts to measure competitive advantage
B)attempts to position HR as a strategic partner
C)attempts to measure change initiatives
D)attempts to evaluate HR activities

Question 58

What term best defines how HR metrics,such as turnover and employee engagement,are used to describe the workforce?

A)workforce analytics
B)HR analytics
C)analytics
D)performance metric

Question 59

What are two types of evidence that Enbridge Gas Distribution measures to determine overall customer satisfaction?

A)employee commitment and high levels of productivity
B)employee creativity and high levels of innovation
C)employee leadership succession and high levels of alignment to company goals
D)employee satisfaction and high levels of employee efficiency

Question 60

Which of the following is a measure of high employee motivation,commitment,and advocacy?

A)empowerment
B)engagement
C)motivation
D)satisfaction

Question 61

Indirect costs are the hard costs that can be measured by expenditures.

Question 62

Benchmarking enhances organizational performance by establishing standards against which processes,products,and performance can be compared and improved.

Question 63

Direct costs are harder to measure than indirect costs.

Question 64

Most organizations do undertake the evaluation of HRM effectiveness because the problems of measurement are difficult to resolve.

Question 65

HR professionals are resistant to measuring their work because they have limited knowledge of measurement models and limited skills of measurement ratios.

Question 66

Sarbanes-Oxley requirements force HR to provide information about executive compensation,pension plans,and employee benefits.

Question 67

Corporate scorekeeping allows organizations to make a plan that fits organizational strategy.

Question 68

There are four sources of benchmarking partners: internal,competitive,sector,and external.

Question 69

By focusing on the alignment of HR practices with organizational strategy,a company will achieve greater performance and fit than by focusing on best practices and benchmarking.

Question 70

Return on investment is a key financial ratio computed by an organization to determine its relative success in achieving its goals.

Question 71

Many HR departments were originally set up because of the need to comply with employment legislation and standards.

Question 72

Organizational survival is the first measure of effectiveness and is considered a "life-or-death" index.

Question 73

With respect to the HR scorecard,deliverables should be linked to strategy.

Question 74

An audit is a measurement method that assesses progress against plan.

Question 75

There are three ways to reduce labour expenses by reducing the size of the labour force: technology,outsourcing,and mergers.

Question 76

Measuring and benchmarking HR activities will result in the fulfillment of management-by-objectives.

Question 77

Efficiency is defined as the results achieved compared to resource inputs.

Question 78

There are three typical measures for efficiency: time,quality,and cost.

Question 79

Kim has to move to another city.Kim has decided to compare and contrast different moving companies in terms of their charges and the times that they are available.Kim is conducting an informal utility analysis.

Question 80

HR can affect the probability of survival of a new venture by as much as 32 percent.