Deck 3: Environmental Influences on HRM

Question 1

A new regulation issued by the government requires certain safety training of employees. What is the major environmental factor that will affect the company's HR strategy in this case?

A) economics
B) globalization
C) demographics
D) legislation

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What are the four stages that can be used to analyze the external environment?

A) scanning, monitoring, forecasting, assessing
B) monitoring, forecasting, assessing, extrapolating
C) scanning, forecasting, monitoring, analyzing
D) monitoring, scanning, assessing, extrapolating

Answer 2

A

Question 3

If a group of HR managers decides to lobby government in order to change the legislation in their favour, what type of stance is the group taking?

A) reactive
B) passive
C) proactive
D) recursive

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What are the key issues that unions hope to achieve on behalf of their members?

A) telecommuting, flex-time, job sharing, and workplace privacy
B) asset-backed pensions, job satisfaction, career planning, and diversity
C) wages, work-life balance, quality of life, and environmental friendliness
D) job security, income security, working hours, and inflation protection

Question 5

According to Statistics Canada, nine percent of managers are now unionized. What are the two main reasons that managers are becoming part of unions?

A) To deal with compensation and workload issues.
B) To deal with organizational stress and burnout.
C) To deal with work-life balance and vacation.
D) To deal with overload and promotions.

Question 6

If the HR manager has noticed growth in flows of trade and financial capital across borders, what major environmental factor is the HR manager concerned with?

A) economics
B) labour force
C) globalization
D) demographics

Question 7

What type of law is related to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

A) contract
B) constitutional
C) common
D) criminal

Question 8

According to the textbook, what percentage of HR functions have the potential to become managed electronically?

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 75%
D) 100%

Question 9

According to the Global Wood Group, which of the following is NOT part of its environmental scanning?

A) external consultants and trainers
B) trade publication
C) professional associations
D) current legislation

Question 10

What timeframe is most relevant for HR strategists?

A) 2 to 3 years
B) 5 to 6 years
C) 9 to 10 years
D) 12 to 13 years

Question 11

What is another name for stakeholders?

A) company shareholders
B) business owners
C) constituent groups
D) lobby groups

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT a factor in determining the number of people available for work?

A) percentage of women in the workforce
B) unemployment rate
C) geographic migration
D) graduation rates from educational institutions

Question 13

What is the purpose of stakeholder groups?

A) To generate shareholder wealth and to ensure their investments are paid dividends.
B) To manage diverse groups of individuals who shape the perceptions of the organization.
C) To follow the actions of the organization and to lobby to have their interests satisfied.
D) To influence HR strategy and practices by withholding their votes at the annual meeting.

Question 14

What makes protecting intellectual property and safeguarding company secrets more difficult?

A) ease of transferring technology
B) built-in obsolescence of technology
C) the small number of employees who control the technology
D) accessibility to technology day and night

Question 15

What does an organization do once it has completed its environmental scan?

A) It alters the perceptions of stakeholders to match the scan.
B) It modifies the goals and objectives of the organization.
C) It analyzes the external environment further for more details.
D) It determines the impact on the organization.

Question 16

What trend is occurring in the labour market with Baby Boomers?

A) Baby Boomers might be eligible, but will delay retirement.
B) Baby Boomers will be the only generation to have organizational pensions.
C) Baby Boomers will live the longest of the younger generations.
D) Baby Boomers will require greater accommodations in the workplace.

Question 17

Although the majority of companies have vision statements that emphasize diversity, what percentage of these companies failed to allocate resources for diversity programs?

A) 54%
B) 64%
C) 74%
D) 84%

Question 18

What is demographics?

A) the study of social influences
B) the study of economic climate
C) the study of geographic migration
D) the study of population statistics

Question 19

A company wants to change its strategy to include "high tech" services. The HR manager then discovers that there is a shortage of technologically trained people and informs the CEO that the company may have to abandon its new strategy. What is the major environmental factor that has affected the company's strategy implementation?

A) technology
B) labour force
C) globalization
D) legislation

Question 20

How many years behind the U.S. does Canada lag in identifying HR trends?

A) 1 to 2 years
B) 2 to 3 years
C) 4 to 5 years
D) 6 to 7 years

Question 21

How long did it take for the World Wide Web to reach fifty million users?

A) 4 years
B) 6 years
C) 8 years
D) 10 years

Question 22

According to the text, what are some of the major HR trends that were difficult to forecast more than twenty years ago?

A) e-learning, online recruitment, and technology
B) mandatory retirement, localization, and ethics
C) brain drain, diversity, and work-life balance
D) downsizing, outsourcing, and telecommuting

Question 23

When was the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) established?

A) 1974
B) 1984
C) 1994
D) 2004

Question 24

There are more households in Canada with children than without.

Question 25

According to the text, only 13% of organizations were able to learn about their competitors' moves early enough to respond to them.

Question 26

Every HR function has the potential to become managed electronically.

Question 27

In light of the Occupy Wall Street protests, what are two major issues that Human Resources Departments need organizations to address?

A) Organizations need to comply with labour legislation and reduce executive bonuses.
B) Organizations need to ensure pay equity and discourage high-risk executive behaviours.
C) Organizations need to increase hiring of disadvantaged groups and monitor executive compensation.
D) Organizations need to continue to support globalization and communicate ethical violations of executives.

Question 28

What statement depicts the importance of the labour market and its influence on an organization's ability to implement strategy?

A) The labour market is the most important demographic factor that should be monitored.
B) The labour market is the most important economic factor that should be monitored.
C) The labour market is the most important social factor that should be monitored.
D) The labour market is the most important global factor that should be monitored.

Question 29

A drop in demand for contingent, temporary, and contract employees can predict an economic slowdown.

Question 30

The labour market influences an organization's ability to implement strategy.

Question 31

Canadian newspapers and magazines provide a good source of information for HR professionals.

Question 32

Canadian HR trends lag three to five years behind U.S. trends.

Question 33

Which of the following is NOT one of the top ten trends that will have a strategic impact on the workplace?

A) increasing employee rights due to legislation
B) increasing global competition for jobs
C) increasing complexity of legal compliance
D) increasing growth in national deficit

Question 34

Which of the following HR publications is published in Canada?

A) HR Magazine
B) People Management
C) Personnel Journal
D) Workplace Today

Question 35

When HR managers group together and try to change legislation, they are taking a reactive stance.

Question 36

Which of the following would NOT help governments improve the climate for job creation?

A) increase public debt
B) create balanced labour legislation
C) increase job-training opportunities
D) provide tax incentives

Question 37

The ease of transferring information electronically has made concerns about safeguarding company secrets and intellectual property relatively worry-free.

Question 38

Given its more than fifty percent of market share over fifty years ago, why did General Motors (GM) fail?

A) GM did not cut fixed operating costs deeply enough.
B) GM did not understand how external factors interact.
C) GM did not look for clues to explain its efficiencies.
D) GM did not forecast the number of cars sold in China.

Question 39

If an organization is debating over "doing the right thing" with respect to laying off some of the staff in a department because it is less expensive to outsource the work, what type of issue is the organization dealing with?

A) political
B) ethical
C) social
D) economic

Question 40

Whether in Vancouver or New Delhi, managers are influenced by the culture in which they operate.

Question 41

Environmental scanning is the frequent monitoring of trends affecting the organization in the external environment.

Question 42

Identify and briefly describe the FOUR sources that HR planners use to keep current with business and HR trends.

Question 43

Identify and describe TWO of the six environmental factors affecting HRM.

Question 44

Define "stakeholders" and identify FIVE major stakeholders influencing strategy in today's workplace.

Question 45

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, more than 75% of its companies use virtual work.

Question 46

Identify THREE challenges in environmental scanning.

Question 47

Emerging economies like China and India have many workers who are willing to work longer hours for less pay than workers in developed countries like Canada.

Question 48

According to the textbook, it has been estimated that one in ten jobs in Canada is related to international trade.

Question 49

One of the challenges facing environmental scanners is that so much change is happening in so many areas that it is difficult to isolate critical events from insignificant ones.

Question 50

Key issues for unions include job security, income security, working hours, and inflation protection.

Question 51

American HR publications are not applicable to Canadian companies because what happens in the U.S. is not relevant to Canada.

Question 52

In order to increase diversity with visible minorities, organizations can use inclusion programs like customizing their communication styles and benefits.

Question 53

Stakeholders are also known as constituent groups.

Question 54

A collective agreement is an example of common law.

Question 55

"Baby Boomers" are those who were born in between World War I and World War II.

Question 56

The employer-employee relationship is governed by a legal framework that includes common law, contract law, and criminal law.

Question 57

The Baby Boomers are the most important demographic factor that should be monitored by HR professionals.