Question 1

Social capital is a source of strength to many firms. Firms leverage their social capital in an effort to create competitive advantages. The social capital of a firm is based on the

Accepted Answer

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

Question 2

The least effective way to retain human capital is to

Accepted Answer

For retention of talent, greater efforts should be directed at a good work environment and incentives, although employment contracts and non-compete clauses may sometimes have their place.

Question 3

The text discusses three areas a firm must be concerned with in order to keep their best and brightest employees from leaving. These include all of the following except

Accepted Answer

Hiring is the first process in which all successful organizations must engage to build and leverage human capital. Firms must also develop employees to fulfill their full potential to maximize joint contributions, and provide the working environment and intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to retain their best and brightest.

Question 4

Two software engineers working together on a computer code share their _______ knowledge in order to create new knowledge.

Accepted Answer

New knowledge is constantly created through the continual interaction of explicit and tacit knowledge. Consider two software engineers working together on a computer code. The computer code is the explicit knowledge. By sharing ideas based on the experience of each other, that is, their tacit knowledge, they create new knowledge when they modify the code.

Question 5

QFQ, Incorporated desires to have the most qualified people in every position throughout its organization. This is an example of a concern for

Accepted Answer

It is not enough to hire top-level talent and expect that the skills and capabilities of those employees remain current throughout the duration of their employment. Rather, training and development must take place at all levels of the organization, which is considered developing human capital.

Question 6

In an effort to capture key employees from competitors, firms may attract the symbolic leader of a group within a competing firm and hope others will follow. This has been termed

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.

Question 7

Developing human capital is essential to maintaining a competitive advantage in the current knowledge economy. Efforts and initiatives to develop human capital should be directed

Accepted Answer

It is not enough to hire top-level talent and expect that the skills and capabilities of those employees remain current throughout the duration of their employment. Rather, training and development must take place at all levels of the organization, which is considered developing human capital.

Question 8

What is a major reason for Nokia to lose its competitive edge in the cell phone business?

Accepted Answer

When given the choice, people will often choose to collaborate with others they know well or who have similar backgrounds, yet static groups breed insularity and may suffocate innovation. Take the former executive team at Nokia as an example. The team was 100 percent Finnish and had worked closely together for more than a decade. Many believe this homogeneity explains why Nokia failed to see the smartphone threat emerging from Silicon Valley.

Question 9

New knowledge involves the continual interaction between __________ and __________ knowledge.

Accepted Answer

New knowledge is constantly created through the continual interaction of explicit and tacit knowledge. Consider two software engineers working together on a computer code. The computer code is the explicit knowledge.

Question 10

Managing a knowledge intensive workforce is very challenging. The best way for a firm to manage its workforce is to

Accepted Answer

Attracting, developing, and retaining human capital are highly interrelated activities, like a three-legged stool. If one leg is weak or broken, the stool collapses. To illustrate such interdependence, poor hiring impedes the effectiveness of development and retention processes. In a similar vein, ineffective retention efforts place additional burdens on hiring and development.

Question 11

Many companies use referrals by current employees as a source for new hiring and even monetarily reward them because

Accepted Answer

GE Medical Systems offers a monetary reward for referrals, but it is peanuts compared to the fees that it typically pays to headhunters for each person hired. When someone refers a former colleague or friend for a job, his or her credibility is on the line. Thus, employees will be careful in recommending people for employment, unless they are reasonably confident that these people are good candidates.

Question 12

Maintaining a competitive workforce is very challenging in the current economy. The role of evaluating human capital, in recent years, has

Accepted Answer

In the current environment, collaboration and interdependence are vital to organizational success. Individuals must share their knowledge and work constructively to achieve collective, not just individual, goals. Traditional systems evaluate performance from a single perspective (i.e., top down) and generally do not address the softer dimensions of communications and social skills, values, beliefs, and attitudes.

Question 13

Professionals frequently leave Microsoft en masse to form venture capital and technology start-ups, called Baby Bills, built around teams of software developers. This is an example of ____________ causing human capital mobility.

Accepted Answer

Professionals frequently leave Microsoft en masse to form venture capital and technology start-ups, called Baby Bills, built around teams of software developers. This is an example of social relationships causing human capital mobility.

Question 14

Attracting and retaining human capital is a challenge for many firms today. Firms experiencing high turnover should

Accepted Answer

Stepped-up recruiting is a poor substitute for weak retention. 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 15

In a 360-degree evaluation and feedback system, which of these does not rate the skills and performance of an individual?

Accepted Answer

To address the limitations of the traditional approach, many organizations use 360-degree evaluation and feedback systems. Here, superiors, direct reports, colleagues, and even internal and external customers rate the performance of an employee.

Question 16

Human capital and social capital are vital for superior firm performance. If a firm has strong human capital, the firm may exploit this by building social capital. This can be accomplished by

Accepted Answer

In the knowledge economy, the development of social capital (the friendships and working relationships among talented individuals) gains importance, because it helps tie knowledge workers to a given firm. The interaction, sharing, and collaboration will create a situation in which a worker will develop firm-specific ties and be less likely to bolt for a higher salary offer.

Question 17

Another example of social relationships causing human capital mobility is the _______ of talent from an organization to form __________.

Accepted Answer

Another example of social relationships causing human capital mobility is the emigration of talent from an organization to form start-up ventures.

Question 18

Firms must compete for top talent. In attracting and selecting employees, firms must strive to select the best fit for both the employee and the firm. In an effort to reduce wasted time and effort in interviewing too many candidates while assuring a good candidate pool, a firm should

Accepted Answer

Alan Cooper, president of Cooper Software, Inc., cleverly uses technology to hone in on the problem-solving ability of his applicants and their attitudes before an interview even takes place. He has devised a Bozo Filter, an online test that can be applied to any industry. Before you spend time on whether job candidates will work out satisfactorily, find out how their minds work.

Question 19

In order to take advantage of investment in human capital, a firm should

Accepted Answer

Since attracting and developing talent represent an investment to a firm, it is necessary to ensure the third step is also done to fully leverage the human capital. A firm must also retain the talent.

Question 20

Today, the loyalty of a knowledge worker to his or her employing firm has __________ compared to his or her loyalty to his or her profession and colleagues.

Accepted Answer

The rise to prominence of knowledge workers as a vital source of competitive advantage is changing the balance of power in organizations today. Knowledge workers place professional development and personal enrichment (financial and otherwise) above company loyalty.

Quiz 4: Recognizing a Firms Intellectual Assets: Moving Beyond a Firms Tangible Resources