Deck 1: The Challenge of Human Resources Management

Question 1

The strategies companies are pursuing today increasingly involve one or more elements of globalization.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

'Six Sigma' refers to the six criteria for Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Total-quality management is a set of principles and practices whose core ideas include doing things right the first time and striving for continuous improvement.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

In general,many companies are realizing diminished demand for "touch labor" and an increasing demand for "knowledge workers."

Question 5

Companies are increasingly rotating non-HR managers into HR positions and vice versa to give exposure to different areas of the organization.

Question 6

Labor costs are one of the largest expenditures of any organization.

Question 7

To be successful,organizations should constantly seek to align their processes with customer needs.

Question 8

To proactively manage change,organizations should wait to see how external forces impact an organization's performance,then develop a plan to address those changes.

Question 9

Knowledge workers are employees whose responsibilities focus on problem solving.

Question 10

Human capital is intangible,but can still be managed the way organizations manage jobs,products,and technologies.

Question 11

Development of human capital is the responsibility of the HR group.

Question 12

Over the past twenty-five years,the employment relationship between companies and
employees has shifted from transaction based to relationship based.

Question 13

Proactive change is change that occurs when external forces have started affecting performance.

Question 14

In absolute terms,the United States remains the world's most productive nation,even when it comes to manufacturing.

Question 15

A firm's ability to compete through people depends upon its ability to manage human capital.

Question 16

Reengineering is a statistical method of translating customer needs into separate tasks and defining the best way to perform each task.

Question 17

A Human Resource Information System (HRIS)provides current and accurate data for control and decision-making by managers.

Question 18

Human capital is owned by the organization and is part of the company's core competencies.

Question 19

Six Sigma is a set of principles and practices whose core ideas include doing things right the first time and striving for continuous improvement.

Question 20

Furloughing is a situation in which a firm asks an employee to take time off,but the employee is still provided with full pay and benefits.

Question 21

Outsourcing refers to employing workers in their homes rather than within the traditional office environment.

Question 22

Because HR managers function in an advisory role,they are responsible for issuing policy revisions and implementing them.

Question 23

Downsizing was used extensively by firms during the Great Recession of 2008,causing the U.S.unemployment rate to jump up to about 10 percent.

Question 24

Employees today are less likely to define success in terms of financial gain.

Question 25

Family-friendly practices include offering flexible hours,telecommuting,and job sharing.

Question 26

Downsizing is often used by organizations for the planned elimination of jobs.

Question 27

One of the responsibilities of HR managers is to provide advice and counsel to line managers.

Question 28

As many as half of all high school seniors are unable to handle basic math involving fractions,decimals,and simple algebra.

Question 29

Older workers are often willing to work flexible hours.

Question 30

Corporate social responsibility requires the organization to act in the best interests of the people AND communities affected by its activities.

Question 31

Women now account for slightly more than half of the American workforce.

Question 32

Technology,transportation,communications,and utilities industries tend to spend
the least on training.

Question 33

Educational level is positively related to annual earnings.

Question 34

One of the roles of HR managers is to act as employee advocates despite their positions as managers.

Question 35

Some organizations have instituted "No Layoff" policies to help preserve institutional memory and worker productivity.

Question 36

Methods of reducing labor costs include downsizing,outsourcing,and employee leasing.

Question 37

Older workers have significantly higher training costs than younger workers.

Question 38

Offshoring greatly improves key competencies of a firm.

Question 39

By 2050,the percentage of Hispanics in the United States is expected to nearly triple,while
the percentage of people of Asian descent is expected to significantly decrease.

Question 40

An HR manager is typically expected to function as an in-house consultant to supervisors,managers,and executives.

Question 41

A needs assessment for IT investments should include all of the following except:

A) Initial costs and annual maintenance.
B) Who will have access to private records.
C) Ability to upgrade.
D) User friendly capability.

Question 42

HR managers establish credibility by supporting the policies and values of the firm.

Question 43

Women who are employed full-time today earn make about ____ of what men employed full-time make.

A) 50%
B) 2/3's
C) 80%
D) 100%

Question 44

The World Trade Organization (WTO)utilizes ____ to establish rules and guidelines for global commerce.

A) NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)
B) GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)
C) FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas)
D) APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation)

Question 45

To build human capital in organizations,managers should rely upon staffing programs that focus on:

A) identifying cheap sources of qualified labor.
B) identifying and hiring the best and brightest talent available.
C) identifying college graduates with the requisite skills.
D) identifying individuals with highly specialized skills.

Question 46

Which of the following is NOT a competitive challenge within the Human Resources Management framework?

A) changes in the marketplace
B) globalization
C) technology
D) employee rights

Question 47

Knowledge workers require skills in all of the following areas except:

A) computer programming.
B) planning.
C) decision-making.
D) problem solving.

Question 48

Organizational changes are said to be ____ when external forces have already affected an organization's performance.

A) proactive
B) intentional
C) reactive
D) negative

Question 49

The first step in choosing an HRIS is for the HR personnel to:

A) evaluate the most time-consuming tasks.
B) examine the user-friendliness of the software.
C) calculate the cost savings in using an HRIS.
D) calculate the time required to train the HR staff.

Question 50

An HRIS extends information technology beyond storing and retrieving information to:

A) overseeing production planning.
B) providing current and accurate data for purposes of control and decision making.
C) providing managers easy access to personnel records.
D) serving as an intranet communication system.

Question 51

Millennials are also known as:

A) Baby Boomers
B) Generation X
C) Generation Y
D) Screenagers

Question 52

____ is the process of moving jobs closer to one's home country.

A) Nearshoring
B) Outsourcing
C) Offshoring
D) The Boomerang Effect.

Question 53

Today,approximately ____ of private sector workers have pension plans?

A) 5 percent
B) 15 percent
C) 25 percent
D) 40 percent

Question 54

The value,skills,and capabilities that have a tremendous impact on an organization's performance but does not show up on its balance sheet are known as:

A) intellectual capital.
B) human capital.
C) core competencies.
D) employee capital.

Question 55

Employee leasing shifts administrative costs from the company to a professional employer organization.

Question 56

What change is initiated by management to take advantage of targeted opportunities?

A) proactive
B) intentional
C) reactive
D) negative

Question 57

Which of the following is the largest employment agency in the United States?

A) Snelling Personnel Services
B) Kelly Services
C) Manpower Inc.
D) Labor Ready

Question 58

Which of the following is not a primary impact that technology has had on HRM?

A) It has altered the methods of collecting employment information.
B) It has speeded up the processing of employment data.
C) It has diminished the role of supervisors in managing employees.
D) It has improved the processes of internal and external communications.

Question 59

The operational impact of information technology on HRM includes all of the following except:

A) administering benefits programs.
B) improving productivity internal to the HR function.
C) providing a direct connection to recruitment sources such as Monster.com.
D) automating routine tasks.

Question 60

____ is closely related to corporate social responsibility.

A) downsizing
B) furloughing
C) sustainability
D) offshoring

Question 61

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of organizations that have been successful in engineering change?

A) linking the change to business strategy
B) Engaging key employees early in the change process
C) investing in the implementation of change
D) showing how the change has created qualitative benefits

Question 62

The trend towards opening up foreign markets to international trade and investment is knows as:

A) globalization
B) offshoring
C) outsourcing
D) international economic diversity

Question 63

Which of the following is not an approach used by organizations to try to lower labor costs?

A) productivity enhancements
B) outsourcing
C) employee leasing
D) employee development

Question 64

A Watson Wyatt study showed that companies with excellent recruiting and retention policies provide a ____ return to shareholders compared to those that do not.

A) exact rate of
B) 1.4% lower rate of
C) 1.4% higher rate of
D) 14% higher rate of

Question 65

_____ is a process used to translate customer needs into a set of optimal tasks that are performed in concert with one another.

A) Six Sigma
B) Total Quality Management
C) Reengineering
D) Change Management

Question 66

Managers have to find ways to empower employees and encourage their participation and involvement to more fully utilize human capital because:

A) They are figured as part of training costs.
B) Firms are moving away from team-based structures.
C) Employee skills often go unused.
D) Knowledge exchange is the best method of human capital development.

Question 67

Which one of the following is not an HR cost that is typically incurred as a result of downsizing?

A) severance pay
B) vacation and sick-day payouts
C) potential lawsuits
D) developmental expenses

Question 68

About ___ of what Americans produce every year dollar-wise is sold abroad.

A) 50 percent
B) 30 percent
C) 10 percent
D) 2 percent

Question 69

Which of the following is one of the largest expenditures of service companies?

A) production costs.
B) marketing costs.
C) labor costs.
D) distribution costs.

Question 70

TQM:

A) Focuses on understanding customer needs,doing things right the first time,and striving for continuous improvement.
B) Uses statistical methods to translate customer needs into separate tasks and defining the best way to perform them.
C) Fundamentally redesigns business processes to achieve improvements in cost,quality,service,and speed.
D) Changes the purpose and function of the HR group.

Question 71

Approximately ____ of the U.S.economy today is affected by international competition,including small companies.

A) 25-40 percent
B) 50-65 percent
C) 70-85 percent
D) 90-100 percent

Question 72

Hiring someone outside the company to perform tasks that could be done internally is known as:

A) outplacement.
B) contracting.
C) outsourcing.
D) employee leasing.

Question 73

Which strategy is the planned elimination of jobs?

A) downsizing.
B) outsourcing
C) TQM
D) reengineering

Question 74

Layoffs can incur all of the following hidden costs except:

A) pension and benefit payoffs
B) increased training expenses
C) loss of institutional memory and human capital
D) a paranoid,political workforce

Question 75

Six Sigma is a systematic approach to quality that:

A) Focuses on understanding customer needs,doing things right the first time,and striving for continuous improvement.
B) Uses statistical methods to translate customer needs into separate tasks and defining the best way to perform them.
C) Fundamentally redesigns business processes to achieve improvements in cost,quality,service,and speed.
D) Focuses on improving the HR function through six principles.

Question 76

A fiercely loyal workforce,a recruiting edge,and workers who aren't afraid to innovate are all benefits of:

A) downsizing
B) outsourcing
C) companies that establish "no layoff" policies
D) productivity enhancements

Question 77

Reengineering:

A) Focuses on understanding customer needs,doing things right the first time,and striving for continuous improvement.
B) Uses statistical methods to translate customer needs into separate tasks and defining the best way to perform them.
C) Fundamentally redesigns business processes to achieve improvements in cost,quality,service,and speed.
D) Changes the purpose and function of the HR group.

Question 78

A survey conducted by the Human Resource Planning Society revealed that ____ percent of the responding companies believe that their HR group plays an important role in developing human capital.

A) less than 30
B) nearly 50
C) between 30 and 40
D) nearly 65

Question 79

The practice of moving jobs overseas is known as:

A) outplacement.
B) offshoring.
C) outsourcing.
D) employee leasing.

Question 80

______ paved the way for the formation of many major trade agreements and institutions.

A) GATT
B) The WTO
C) NAFTA
D) The EU