Deck 5: Human Resource Planning and Recruitment

Question 1

The typical organizational response to a labor shortage has been either hiring temporary employees or outsourcing, responses that are fast and high in revocability.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: The typical organizational response to a labor shortage has been either hiring temporary employees or outsourcing, responses that are fast and high in revocability.

Question 2

Research indicates that job applicants find companies with due process policies less attractive than companies with employment-at-will practices.

Answer 2

False
Explanation: Research indicates that job applicants find companies with due process policies more attractive than companies with employment-at-will policies.

Question 3

A leading indicator is an objective measure that accurately predicts future labor demand.

Answer 3

True
Explanation: A leading indicator is an objective measure that accurately predicts future labor demand.

Question 4

Statistical planning models are useful when there is a long, stable history that can be used to reliably detect relationships among variables.

Question 5

Typically, "call center" staffing is the only type of work that is being offshored.

Question 6

Promote from-within policies make it clear to applicants that there are opportunities for advancement within the company.

Question 7

The purpose of setting specific quantitative goals is to focus attention on the problem and provide a benchmark for determining the relative success of any programs aimed at redressing a pending labor shortage or surplus.

Question 8

One of the reasons organizations engaged in downsizing was that many firms changed the location of where they did business for economic reasons.

Question 9

A reason why downsizing efforts often fail is that employees who survive the purges often become narrow-minded, self-absorbed, and risk-averse.

Question 10

A comparison of the proportion of workers in protected subgroups with the proportion that each subgroup represents in the relevant labor market is called a workforce utilization review.

Question 11

Hiring employees from external sources is a fast option to avoid an unexpected labor shortage plus its revocability is high.

Question 12

Image advertising is often effective because job applicants develop ideas about the general reputation of the firm and then this spills over to influence their expectations about the nature of specific jobs at the organization.

Question 13

The last step in the human resource planning process is forecasting.

Question 14

Referrals are people who apply for a vacancy without prompting from the organization.

Question 15

The second step in human resource planning is goal setting and strategic planning.

Question 16

Outsourcing is a logical choice when a firm does not have certain expertise and is unwilling to invest the time and effort to develop it.

Question 17

An advantage of employing temporary workers is that it frees a firm from many administrative tasks and financial burdens associated with being the "employer of record."

Question 18

Employers prefer hiring and training new employees rather than having to pay existing workers extra for overtime production.

Question 19

Characteristics of a job vacancy are less important than recruiters or recruiting sources when it comes to predicting job choice.

Question 20

Baby boomers are fast approaching retirement, and early indicators show that this group will retire as expected.

Question 21

The process of attempting to ascertain the supply and demand for various types of human resources is called _____.

A)outsourcing
B)downsizing
C)delegation
D)forecasting
E)implementation

Question 22

How do statistical forecasting methods differ from judgmental forecasting methods with regard to the labor market?

A)Judgmental methods are not useful in situations that have no historical precedent.
B)Statistical methods are the best option for events that have no historical precedent.
C)Forecasting using judgmental methods is always more precise than forecasting using statistical methods.
D)Statistical methods are excellent for capturing historic trends.
E)Judgmental methods are better than statistical methods for events that have historical precedent.

Question 23

A(n)_____ shows the proportion of employees in different job categories at different times.

A)invertible matrix
B)transitional matrix
C)definite matrix
D)task role matrix
E)orthogonal matrix

Question 24

How many of the HR practitioners employed in 2012 were promoted to the category of HR officer in 2013?

A)2%
B)10%
C)5%
D)13%
E)8%

Question 25

There were demotions from the _____ job category.

A)HR assistant
B)HR administrator
C)HR practitioner
D)HR coordinator
E)HR officer

Question 26

How many of the total HR assistant managers employed in 2012 were promoted to the HR manager position in 2013?

A)95%
B)9%
C)5%
D)86%
E)10%

Question 27

Public employment agencies serve primarily the blue-collar labor market; private employment agencies perform much the same service for the white-collar labor market.

Question 28

The first step in the human resource planning process is _____.

A)forecasting
B)goal setting
C)program implementation
D)program evaluation
E)groupthink

Question 29

Which of the following is true about transitional matrices?

A)Transitional matrices can be read across rows but cannot be read from top to bottom.
B)Transitional matrices provide a comparison of the proportion of workers in protected subgroups with the proportion that each subgroup represents in the relevant labor market.
C)Transitional matrices provide an objective measure of the effectiveness of an organization's human resource recruitment policy.
D)Transitional matrices are extremely useful for charting historical trends in a company's supply of labor.
E)Transitional matrices show the increase in productivity of employees over a period of time.

Question 30

The goals that are set in the human resource planning process should come directly from:

A)the mid-level managers who tend to be most in touch with the organization's needs.
B)the results of the previous year's appraisal process.
C)the analysis of the labor supply and demand.
D)the strategic choices made by the company's top-level managers.
E)the feedback provided by the organization's customers.

Question 31

Which of the following job categories saw the highest percent of its employees leave the organization in 2013?

A)HR assistant
B)HR coordinator
C)HR practitioner
D)HR administrator
E)HR officer

Question 32

The purpose of setting specific quantitative goals is:

A)to make sure that employees are held accountable for achieving the stated goals.
B)to ascertain whether or not the company has successfully avoided any potential labor surpluses or shortages.
C)to collect data about current employees, measure their performances, and compare it with global standards in order to get a better idea of the firm's international competence.
D)to focus attention on a problem and provide a benchmark for determining the relative success of any programs aimed at redressing a pending labor shortage or surplus.
E)to predict areas within the organization where there will be future labor shortages or surpluses.

Question 33

Statistical planning models almost always have to be complemented by _____.

A)competitor information
B)subjective judgments
C)transitional matrices
D)unstable history
E)labor forecasts

Question 34

When applicants' reactions to recruiters are examined, age and gender are the two traits that stand out the most.

Question 35

Recruiting advertisements in newspapers and periodicals typically generate more desirable recruits than direct applications or referrals.

Question 36

Which of the following is true of statistical forecasting methods that capture historic trends?

A)They are useful for predicting events in the labor market that have no historical precedent.
B)They are particularly useful in situations where there is no long, stable history.
C)They provide predictions that are much more precise than judgmental methods.
D)They remove the need for subjective judgments of experts.
E)They include variables like intuition and guesswork into economic decision making.

Question 37

Which of the following is the definition for the term leading indicator?

A)It is an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity between two currencies.
B)It is a measurement of consumer confidence, which is defined as the degree of optimism about the state of the economy.
C)It is an economic indicator found by adding the unemployment rate to the inflation rate of an economy.
D)It is an indicator to measure changes in the price level of consumer goods and services purchased by households.
E)It is an objective measure that accurately predicts future labor demand.

Question 38

From which of the following job categories was no employee promoted in 2013?

A)HR assistant
B)HR administrator
C)HR practitioner
D)HR coordinator
E)HR officer

Question 39

Recruiters tend to be viewed by job seekers as more credible when they are personnel specialists rather than subject matter experts in the job being filled.

Question 40

Newspaper ads generate the largest number of recruits and many of these are qualified for the position.

Question 41

Which of the following is true of the several options available to reduce expected labor surplus?

A)Early retirement causes relatively less human suffering.
B)The human suffering after pay reduction is relatively low.
C)Retraining causes comparatively more human suffering than other options.
D)A hiring freeze causes immense human suffering.
E)Transfers cause the least amount of human suffering.

Question 42

Is the argument that "call center" staffing is the only type of work being offshored valid?

A)No, because countries to where jobs are being offshored are facing a shortage of skilled labor and are refusing "call center" jobs.
B)Yes, because the level of education and infrastructure does not support high-end support jobs like reading X-rays and other medical tests.
C)Yes, because the state of online security and privacy is less advanced in developed countries.
D)No, because figures have shown that countries like China and India are trying to climb the skill ladder of available work.
E)Yes, because in order to maintain employment rates in their own countries, companies avoid offshoring jobs.

Question 43

Which of the following options for avoiding an expected labor shortage is a slow solution and has low revocability?

A)Overtime
B)Temporary employees
C)Retrained transfers
D)Technological innovation
E)Outsourcing

Question 44

Which of the following is true about outsourcing?

A)Outsourcing became a valid choice after certain methods of production and manufacturing became obsolete.
B)Outsourcing is a logical choice when a firm simply does not have certain expertise and is not willing to invest time and effort into developing it.
C)Technological advancements have slowed the momentum of outsourcing being done today.
D)Statistical forecasting resulted in companies transferring their operations and functions overseas.
E)Companies shifting their operations overseas did so because customers were complaining about poor client services domestically.

Question 45

Which of the following statements is true about downsizing?

A)The typical organizational response to a surplus of labor has been downsizing, which is slow but low in human suffering.
B)An organization turns to downsizing only in times of recession.
C)In firms that are high in research and development intensity, downsizing has been linked to higher long-term organizational profits.
D)The negative effects of downsizing seem to be reduced in service industries characterized by high levels of customer contact.
E)Downsizing efforts often fail because employees who survive the purges often become narrow-minded, self-absorbed, and risk-averse.

Question 46

_____ is considered a slow option for avoiding an expected labor shortage but has high revocability.

A)Natural attrition
B)Retrained transfers
C)Outsourcing
D)Transfers
E)Technological innovation

Question 47

Which of the following options is considered a slow option for reducing an expected labor surplus and has a low impact on human suffering?

A)Downsizing
B)Demotions
C)Early retirement
D)Pay reduction
E)Temporary employees

Question 48

Which of the following options for avoiding an expected labor shortage has the benefit of being a fast solution with high revocability?

A)Temporary employees
B)Technological innovation
C)Turnover reductions
D)New external hires
E)Retraining

Question 49

A special case of outsourcing where the jobs that move actually leave one country and go to another is called _____.

A)homesourcing
B)co-sourcing
C)reshoring
D)telecommuting
E)offshoring

Question 50

Which of the following is most likely to lead to a successful downsizing?

A)Avoiding indiscriminant reductions
B)Informing employees that they are laid off via emails
C)Downsizing at random
D)Avoiding changes in the nature of work roles
E)Removing the company's long-term employees first

Question 51

_____ is the planned elimination of large numbers of personnel designed to enhance organizational effectiveness.

A)Homesourcing
B)Downsizing
C)Retirement
D)Retraining
E)Work sharing

Question 52

Which of the following is true about temporary workers?

A)Although they are temporary, these workers have to be included in employee records.
B)The objective perspective that temporary workers bring along with them is of no value because of their lack of experience.
C)Despite prior training from temporary agencies, companies have to retrain temporary workers to match company standards.
D)Some full-time employees perceive the temporary help as a threat to their own job security.
E)Instead of replacing long-term employees with temporary employees, many organizations supplement their core staff with a small set of temporary workers who act more like assistants to the core staff than potential replacements.

Question 53

In the face of demographic pressures dealing with an aging workforce, many employers try to use _____ among their older workers through early retirement incentive programs.

A)paid leave
B)job rotation
C)work sharing
D)voluntary attrition
E)transfers

Question 54

Which of the following is a disadvantage of employing temporary workers as a means of eliminating a labor shortage?

A)The use of temporary workers adds up to many administrative tasks and financial burdens associated with being the "employer of record."
B)Temporary workers pose no threat to current employees, which makes the overall environment less competitive.
C)The low levels of commitment to the organization and its customers that temporary workers bring with them often reduces the level of customer loyalty.
D)Many temporary agencies train employees prior to sending them over to employers, which often means that the company has to retrain them in accord with its own standards.
E)Because temporary workers have little experience in the host firm, the objective perspective they bring is of no value.

Question 55

Due to a series of resignations from the organization, Zylon Inc., a large software firm is facing an acute labor shortage. During which of the following human resource planning steps would the firm contemplate several options to address the labor issue?

A)Goal setting and strategic planning
B)Program evaluation
C)Forecasting
D)Program implementation
E)Data collection

Question 56

Which of the following is a method used to reduce an expected labor shortage that is low on revocability?

A)Overtime
B)New external hires
C)Temporary employees
D)Outsourcing
E)Retrained transfers

Question 57

Which of the following best explains why older people approaching retirement age have no intention of retiring?

A)Many employers want to stay away from the costs of hiring a younger crowd and refuse to retire the older workers.
B)Older workers typically occupy the best-paid jobs and hence prevent the hiring of younger workers.
C)Improved health of older people in general, in combination with the decreased physical labor in many jobs has made working longer a viable option.
D)Employers are ignoring situations where it is more expensive to pay for an older worker's experience than hire younger employees.
E)Statistical forecasting results have shown that older people are an asset to an organization's economic strength.

Question 58

Which of the following options is considered a fast option for reducing an expected labor surplus but results in high human suffering?

A)Early retirement
B)Retraining
C)Hiring freeze
D)Natural attrition
E)Demotions

Question 59

Each of the following is a relatively fast method to reduce an expected labor surplus EXCEPT _____.

A)work sharing
B)retraining
C)pay reductions
D)demotions
E)transfers

Question 60

Which of the following is NOT one of the forces that draw out an older worker's career?

A)The improved health of older people in general
B)The fear of Social Security being cut
C)Employers being constrained by age discrimination legislation
D)Insufficient younger workers to replace the older workforce
E)Employers' fear of losing the experience that older workers possess

Question 61

Which of the following is an example of image advertising?

A)Orange Inc. releases an advertisement promoting the product it produces.
B)Paper Corp. publishes its profit details in the newspaper.
C)Richmond Inc. releases an advertisement on television about an event it is promoting.
D)Umbrella Corp. asks its employees to work on Saturdays for the next three months to meet project deadlines.
E)Rain Inc. releases television advertisements that give an idea about the pleasant working conditions in the organization.

Question 62

_____ is the practice or activity carried on by an organization with the primary purpose of identifying and attracting potential employees.

A)Human resource recruitment
B)Applicant tracking system
C)Customer relationship management
D)Sensitivity training
E)Customer experience transformation

Question 63

A policy that lays out the steps an employee can take to appeal a termination decision is called a(n)_____.

A)counter cyclical hiring policy
B)outsourcing policy
C)employment-at-will policy
D)due process policy
E)affirmative action policy

Question 64

Which of the following is an advantage of relying on internal recruitment sources?

A)It is a good way to strengthen one's own company, while weakening one's competitors at the same time, because it increases diversity.
B)It generates a sample of applicants who are well known to the firm.
C)The applicants are relatively less knowledgeable about the company's vacancies and are hence easily trainable.
D)Because of the applicants' lack of knowledge about a particular position, their expectations are easy to meet.
E)It results in a workforce whose members all think alike and who therefore are more suited to innovation.

Question 65

The approach that pays employees higher wages than what competitors pay their employees in similar roles is called the _____.

A)premium-wage approach
B)free-rider effect
C)lead-indicator approach
D)lead-the-market approach
E)first-mover advantage

Question 66

_____ are people who apply for a vacancy without prompting from the organization.

A)Internal employees
B)Direct applicants
C)Referrals
D)Poached employees
E)Virtual employees

Question 67

A _____ is a short-term elimination of paid workdays applied to salaried workers, as opposed to hourly workers.

A)work sharing culture
B)demotion
C)furlough
D)layoff
E)suspension

Question 68

A critical aspect of the program implementation step of human resource planning is:

A)setting a benchmark for determining the relative success of a program.
B)making sure that some individual is held accountable for achieving the stated goals.
C)selecting the best option for redressing a pending labor shortage or surplus.
D)ascertaining whether or not the company has successfully avoided any potential labor surpluses or shortages.
E)focusing attention on redressing a pending labor supply problem.

Question 69

Which of the following is an example of an intrinsic reward?

A)A manufacturing organization offering a monthly bonus on joining the firm at a particular position in a particular city
B)A firm providing free vehicles to employees who are promoted to the managerial level
C)The Army appealing to the patriotism in people to get more new recruits
D)A bank offering loans at a subsidized rate to its employees
E)A school management giving monthly bonuses to the teachers

Question 70

Policies that state that either party in an employment relationship can terminate that relationship at any time, regardless of cause, are called _____.

A)due process policies
B)employment-at-will policies
C)counter cyclical hiring policies
D)employee liability policies
E)affirmative action policies

Question 71

The process of determining whether there are any subgroups whose proportion in a given job category within a company is substantially different from their proportion in the relevant labor market is called _____.

A)adverse treatment analysis
B)workforce utilization review
C)subgroup reconciliation
D)discrimination analysis
E)leading indicator

Question 72

The programs developed in the strategic-choice stage of the process are put into practice in the _____ stage.

A)forecasting
B)program-implementation
C)goal-setting
D)evaluation
E)program feedback

Question 73

Sometimes, organizations advertise just to promote themselves as a good place to work in general. This is called _____.

A)product advertising
B)image advertising
C)informative advertising
D)proactive advertising
E)subliminal advertising

Question 74

The final step in the planning process is to _____.

A)evaluate results
B)set goals and objectives
C)formulate strategies
D)establish forecasting methods
E)implement recruiting methods

Question 75

Ron works as a sale executive for Janus Inc., a large manufacturer of turbocharged engines. He hears about a vacancy for sales manager at Ios Inc., a competitor in the same industry, and sends in his résumé requesting Ios to consider him for the vacancy. Ron is an example of a(n)_____.

A)poached employee
B)virtual employee
C)internal employee
D)referral
E)direct applicant

Question 76

Which of the following is true about offshoring?

A)The smaller and newer a vendor, the better it is for the company to conduct business.
B)Small overseas upstarts do not take risks that larger, more established contractors take.
C)Any work that is proprietary and requires tight security should be offshored.
D)A company should avoid outsourcing work that is self-contained and does not need an exchange of information.
E)Small overseas upstarts often promise more than they can deliver.

Question 77

When a company faces a shortage of employees in the work force, and it predicts that current demand for products or services may not extend to the future, it will:

A)try to garner more hours out of the existing labor force.
B)recruit and train new employees.
C)be willing to hire part-time employees.
D)decrease the production rate by half to meet quality standards.
E)lease out its machinery to other factories, thereby maintaining income.

Question 78

Which of the following is the accurate definition of workforce utilization review?

A)It is a comparison of the proportion of workers in protected subgroups with the proportion that each subgroup represents in the relevant labor market
B)It is a comparison of the proportion of workers who are underperforming with the proportion of those in the labor market who are not yet hired
C)It is a comparison of the proportion of workers who are underperforming with the proportion of those who are excelling in the workplace
D)It is a comparison of the proportion of workers who are being paid higher than the national average with the proportion of workers who are being paid lower than the national average
E)It is a comparison of the proportion of workers whose performance ratings are lower than the internal average with the proportion of those whose performance ratings are higher

Question 79

_____ forecast and monitor the proportion of various protected group members, such as women and minorities that are in various job categories and career tracks.

A)Ethnocracies
B)Group rights
C)Affirmative action plans
D)T-test techniques
E)Employment background checks

Question 80

_____ is a generic term used to refer to organizational decisions that affect the nature of the vacancies for which people are recruited.

A)Budgetary policies
B)Personnel policies
C)Judicial policies
D)Fiscal policies
E)Monetary policies