Question 1

Unique bundles of resources can contribute to employee competitive advantages.

Accepted Answer

Competitive advantages tend to be harder for competitors to copy if they are based on unique bundles of resources.

Question 2

Hiring via personal networks is a trend in which job recruiters look for candidates at the crux of social relationships in organizations because they have the potential to bring valuable colleagues with them.

Accepted Answer

In The Wall Street Journal, Bernard Wysocki described the increase in a type of Pied Piper effect, in which teams or networks of people are leaving one company for another. The trend is to recruit job candidates at the crux of social relationships in organizations, particularly if they are seen as having the potential to bring with them valuable colleagues. This is a process that is referred to as hiring via personal networks.

Question 3

The most effective method of improving retention of top talent at a firm is to intensify its hiring efforts.

Accepted Answer

Stepped-up recruiting is a poor substitute for weak retention. Today, leaders can either provide the work environment and incentives to keep productive employees and management from wanting to bail out, or they can use legal means such as employment contracts and non-compete clauses.

Question 4

Social capital helps organizations leverage human capital within and across the firm.

Accepted Answer

The key role of social capital is in leveraging human capital within and across the firm.

Question 5

Knowledge-based resources tend to be more explicit in nature.

Accepted Answer

Knowledge-based resources tend to be more tacit in nature. Therefore, they are much more difficult to protect against loss (i.e., the individual quitting the organization) than other types of capital, such as equipment, machinery, and land.

Question 6

Workforces that reflect demographic changes will become more homogeneous over the next few decades with regard to gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality.

Accepted Answer

Demographic trends and accelerating globalization of business make management of cultural differences a critical issue. Workforces that reflect demographic changes in the overall population will be increasingly heterogeneous along dimensions such as gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality.

Question 7

Social capital is found in the knowledge, skills, and abilities of individual employees.

Accepted Answer

Social capital development (the friendships and working relationships among talented individuals) gains importance when key players are free agents, because it helps tie knowledge workers to a given firm.

Question 8

If employees are working effectively in teams and sharing their knowledge and learning from each other, not only will they be less likely to add value to the firm, but they also will be more likely to leave the organization, because of the loyalties and social ties that they develop over time.

Accepted Answer

If employees are working effectively in teams and sharing their knowledge and learning from each other, not only will they be more likely to add value to the firm, but they also will be less likely to leave the organization, because of the loyalties and social ties that they develop over time.

Question 9

When Michael Reene left Andersen Consulting, eventually he joined Third Millennium as CEO with a small salary and 20 percent ownership position. He brought others with him, who brought others with them. This was possible because of the Pied Piper effect.

Accepted Answer

Mr. Reene was a star at Andersen Consulting in the 1980s and at IBM in the 1990s. He built his businesses and kept turning down overtures from Mr. Eickhoff. However, in early 2000, he joined Third Millennium as chief executive officer, with a salary of just 120,000 USD but with a 20 percent stake in the firm. Since then, he has brought in a raft of former IBM colleagues and Andersen subordinates. One new hire from his time at Andersen, Mary Goode, was brought on board as executive vice president. She promptly tapped her own network and brought along former colleagues.

Question 10

Human capital mobility caused by social relationships occurs when talent emigrates from an organization to form start-up ventures.

Accepted Answer

Another example of social relationships causing human capital mobility is the emigration of talent from an organization to form start-up ventures. Microsoft is perhaps the best-known example of this phenomenon.

Question 11

Developing social capital is risky for an organization because social capital is specific to individuals and remains with the employee, if he or she leaves the organization.

Accepted Answer

Social capital development (the friendships and working relationships among talented individuals) gains importance when key players are free agents, because it helps tie knowledge workers to a given firm.

Question 12

The 360-degree evaluation systems are not useful due to the need to integrate large amounts of feedback.

Accepted Answer

The 360-degree feedback system complements teamwork, employee involvement, and organizational flattening. As organizations continue to push responsibility downward, traditional top-down appraisal systems become insufficient.

Question 13

Social network analysis can be used to help identify groups or clusters of individuals that comprise the network, individuals who link the clusters, and other network members.

Accepted Answer

Social network analysis depicts the pattern of interactions among individuals and helps to diagnose effective and ineffective patterns. It helps identify groups or clusters of individuals that comprise the network, individuals who link the clusters, and other network members. It helps diagnose communication patterns and, consequently, communication effectiveness.

Question 14

The development of intellectual capital (that is, the friendships and working relationships among talented individuals) gains importance, because it helps tie knowledge workers to a given firm.

Accepted Answer

The development of social capital (that is, the friendships and working relationships among talented individuals) gains importance, because it helps tie knowledge workers to a given firm.

Question 15

Hiring organizations can be amorphous, distant and threatening entities and therefore detractors for knowledge workers.

Accepted Answer

Knowledge workers often exhibit greater loyalties to their colleagues and their profession than their employing organization, which may be an amorphous, distant, and sometimes threatening entity.

Question 16

A hiring agent offers a scientist approximately the same salary, facilities, equipment, and shared laboratory with 10 highly skilled and enthusiastic scientists. Part of the job is to collaborate with these peers and jointly develop promising drug compounds. This structure will create greater firm loyalty than one in which the hiring agent offers only monetary compensation.

Accepted Answer

In this case, the scientist is offered approximately the same salary, facilities, and equipment plus one additional ingredient: working in a laboratory with 10 highly skilled and enthusiastic scientists. Part of the job is to collaborate with these peers and jointly develop promising drug compounds. There is little doubt as to which scenario will lead to a higher probability of retaining the scientist. The interaction, sharing, and collaboration will create a situation in which the scientist will develop firm-specific ties and be less likely to bolt for a higher salary offer.

Question 17

Developing and protecting social capital requires independence, in which individuals must spend most of their time working individually.

Accepted Answer

Developing social capital requires interdependence among group members. Social capital erodes when people in the network become independent. Increased interaction between members aids in the development and maintenance of mutual obligations in a social network.

Question 18

The text suggests that talented professionals are typically most concerned about financial rewards. Money is the top reason why such employees take and leave jobs.

Accepted Answer

Paying people more is seldom the most important factor in attracting and retaining human capital. Most surveys show that money is not the most important reason why people take or leave jobs, and that money, in some surveys, is not even in the top 10.

Question 19

An internal work opportunity market for employees is one means of increasing employee retention.

Accepted Answer

One way firms keep highly mobile employees motivated and challenged is through opportunities that lower barriers to employee mobility within a company. For example, Shell Oil Company has created an open sourcing model for talent. Jobs are listed on the Shell intranet; with a two-month notice, employees can go to work on anything that interests them.

Question 20

Start-up ventures often are formed by mobile human capital talent.

Accepted Answer