HRM 500 Midterm Exam All Possible Questions

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The policies, practices, and systems that influence employees’ behavior, attitudes, and performance constitute:

materials management.

labor laws.

human resource management.

equal employment opportunity.

supply chain management.

 

As a type of resource, human capital refers to the:

tax-deferred value of an employee’s 401(k) plan.

total budget allocated to the HR department in an organization.

wages, benefits, and other costs incurred in support of HR functions in an organization.

employee characteristics that add economic value to the organization.

cash, equipment, technology, and facilities that the organization uses.

 

One of the qualities of human resources is that _____.

it is easily imitated by rivals

it is easily available for all companies to utilize

it is negligible in terms of value

it is indispensable for building a competitive advantage

it is highly substitutable and interchangeable

 

Which of the following responsibilities is specifically associated with the HR function of support for strategy?

Human resource planning and forecasting

Wage and salary administration

Discipline

Developing an HR information system

Developing employee handbooks and company publications

 

Which of the following refers to the process of getting detailed information about jobs?

Policy creation

Job orientation

Job rotation

Supply chain management

Job analysis

 

 

Job design is the process of:

identifying suitable candidates for jobs.

enabling employees to learn job-related knowledge, skills, and behavior.

presenting candidates with positive and negative information about a job.

defining the way work will be performed and the tasks that a given job requires.

generating a pool of potential candidates for a job.

 

Which of the following refers to the process through which an organization seeks applicants for potential employment?

Orientation

Work analysis

Training

Recruitment

Job design

 

The process by which the organization attempts to identify applicants with the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that will help the organization achieve its goals is referred to as _____.

performance management

selection

work analysis

orientation

compensation

 

_____ is a planned effort to enable employees to learn job-related knowledge, skills, and behavior.

Training

Compensation

Performance appraisal

Recruitment

Selection

 

The HR function of _____ involves acquiring knowledge, skills, and behavior that improve employees’ ability to meet the challenges of a variety of new or existing jobs, including the client and customer demands of those jobs.

recruitment

selection

development

employee relations

personnel policy

 

 

The process of ensuring that employees’ activities and outputs match the organization’s goals is called _____.

employee development

performance management

job analysis

supply chain management

career planning

 

How does establishing and administering policies help organizations?

It encourages employees to defend themselves by claiming ignorance of disciplinary norms.

It leaves a lot of room for subjective decision-making.

It allows companies to address issues on a case-by-case basis.

It eliminates the need for documentation and record-keeping.

It allows companies to handle situations fairly and objectively.

 

_____ refers to the use of quantitative tools and scientific methods to analyze data from human resource databases and other sources to make evidence-based decisions that support business goals.

Workforce analytics

Career development

Task analysis

Conjoint analysis

Performance management

 

Under the principle of “employment at will”, the employer may terminate employment:

immediately after written notice.

after two weeks’ notice.

only if the employee voluntarily resigns.

at any time without notice.

only if he cannot show just cause.

 

The process that helps the human resource department to forecast the organization’s needs for hiring, training, reassigning employees along with handling or avoiding layoffs is known as _____.

evidence-based HR

supply chain management

corporate social responsibility

human resource planning

job development

 

 

 

An organization’s ability to profit without depleting its resources, including employees, natural resources, and the support of the surrounding community is called _____.

social media optimization

high-performance management

sustainability

substitutability

supply chain management

 

The parties with an interest in the company’s success—typically, shareholders, the community, customers, and employees—constitute the _____ of a company.

management

market

personnel

stakeholders

strategic partners

 

Which of the following is true of sustainable organizations?

They focus on smooth turnover and outsourcing rather than long-term planning.

They are less concerned about employee development and empowerment.

They are more concerned about justice and fairness rather than short-term profits.

They are more concerned with the quantum of output than quality standards.

They primarily focus on maximizing profits and delivering high returns to investors.

 

Which of the following statements is true about HR responsibilities of supervisors?

Non-HR managers do not need be familiar with the basics of HRM.

HR activities are invariably limited to the specialists in the HR department.

Supervisors typically have responsibilities related to all the HR functions.

In small organizations, all HR activities are carried out by HR specialists.

Job analysis and job design are techniques that lie outside the purview of supervisors.

 

Which of the following is true of ethics in human resource management?

Most managers have a positive perception of the ethical conduct of U.S. businesses.

Evidence shows that HRM practices are invariably ethical.

Many ethical issues in the workplace involve human resource management.

Most people believe that individuals apply values they hold in their personal lives to their professional activities.

The general public has a positive perception of the ethical conduct of U.S. businesses.

 

 

 

 

The right of employees to know the nature of the job they are being hired to do and the obligation of a company not to deceive them in this respect is mainly reflective of the basic Kantian right of _____.

free consent

privacy

freedom of conscience

due process

freedom of speech

 

Which one of Kant’s basic human rights is violated when a supervisor requires an employee to do something that is unsafe or environmentally damaging, in spite of the employee clearly objecting to the order?

Right of freedom of conscience

Right of equal opportunity employment

Right to due process

Right of freedom of speech

Right of privacy

 

 

People’s right of privacy is the right to:

fight against a wrongful discharge.

know the nature of the job they are being hired for.

control what they reveal about their private life.

autonomy in how they carry out their work.

a fair and impartial hearing.

 

If people believe their rights are being violated, they have the right to a fair and impartial hearing. This reflects the basic human right to:

privacy.

freedom of conscience.

lifetime employment.

due process.

free consent.

 

Which of the following is a standard that human resource managers must satisfy for HRM practices to be ethical?

Human resource practices must result in the greatest good for the largest number of people.

Employment practices must respect employees’ right of lifetime employment.

Employment practices must limit the application of the principle of employment-at-will as it is unfair to employees.

Managers must treat employees as family.

Managers must always maintain that customers are right.

 

Which of the following statements best explains the term “labor force”?

All the people willing and able to work

All the permanent employees of an organization

All the adult members of a population

All the people who have contracts to work at the company

All the temporary workers of an organization

 

Which of the following statements about the composition of the U.S. labor force during the next decade is true?

The largest proportion of the labor force is expected to be in the 16- to 25-year age group.

For the first time ever, the number of workers under 40 years of age will exceed the number of workers 40 years of age or older.

The labor force is expected to grow at a greater rate than at any other time in U.S. history.

Despite a small increase in the number of young workers, the overall workforce will be aging.

The total cost of labor in the United States would considerably decrease.

 

Managing cultural diversity involves:

avoiding the use of affirmative action policies.

encouraging career development for women and minorities.

reducing cultural diversity by selective hiring.

creating separate career tracks for employees with families.

forming different pay structures for various groups.

 

Which of the following skills are more actively sought by U.S. employers today?

Physical strength

Mastery of particular machinery

Ability to perform routine tasks

Ability to work with a tool

Interpersonal skills

 

Which of the following defines organizations with the best possible fit between their social system and their technical system?

Holistic management systems

High-performance work systems

Total quality management systems

Supply chain systems

Workforce analysis systems

 

 

 

Which of the following is a trend that is seen in present day high-performance work systems?

Employee empowerment in decision making

Mismatches in technical system and social system

Centralized decision making

Increase in individual assignments

Reduced reliance on knowledge workers

 

 

Employee empowerment primarily involves _____.

continually learning and improving one’s skills and abilities

following a centralized and tall organizational structure

providing increased salary and benefits to employees

leading employees by the strength of one’s charisma

giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions

 

_____ refers to full involvement in one’s work and commitment to one’s job and company.

Employee selection

Job enlargement

Employee appraisal

Job specialization

Employee engagement

 

The term teamwork essentially refers to:

centralizing responsibility and authority to make decisions regarding all aspects of product development.

providing employees with individual opportunities to grow, thereby achieving organizational goals.

having the best possible fit between an organization’s social system and technical system.

making efforts to continuously improve the ways people, machines, and systems accomplish work.

assigning work to a group of employees with various skills who interact to assemble a product.

 

Which of the following terms describes a company wide effort to continuously improve the way people, machines, and systems accomplish work?

Total quality management

Optimal performance system

Business reengineering

High-performance work system

Performance management

 

 

When two companies join forces and become one entity, it is referred to as a(n):

joint venture.

merger.

take-over.

strategic alliance.

acquisition.

 

A chemical company buying a medical equipment manufacturing company is an example of a(n) _____.

partnership

acquisition

consolidation

strategic alliance

joint venture

 

When an organization undertakes a complete review of its critical work processes to make them more efficient and to be able to deliver higher quality, it is engaging in:

offshoring.

codetermining.

greenfield venturing.

outsourcing.

reengineering.

 

Home Needs is a consumer goods company who provide the option of door-to-door delivery. They have partnered with a packaging company for transporting their goods to the customers. This practice of having another company to provide one of the services of the company is known as _____.

outsourcing

reengineering

cause marketing

disinvesting

downsizing

 

Which of the following is the reason why more organizations are looking overseas to hire talented people?

Lack of demand for their products in the U.S.

Governmental pressure

Poor quality of labor in the U.S.

Low cost of labor in foreign countries

Lack of technology in the U.S.

 

 

 

 

Employees who take assignments in other countries are called _____.

external employees

expatriates

emigrants

immigrants

home-country nationals

 

 

Employees who take assignments in other countries are called _____.

expatriates

emigrants

external employees

immigrants

home-country nationals

 

A(n) _____ provides insight into business trends and patterns and helps businesses improve decisions.

shared service center

electronic performance support systems

Internet portal

application service provider

business intelligence system

 

A system in which employees have online access to information about HR issues and go online to enroll themselves in programs and provide feedback through surveys is termed as:

data mining.

payroll automation.

social facilitation

cloud computing.

self-service.

 

The relationship between employer and employee can be thought of in terms of a(n) _____, a description of what an employee expects to contribute in an employment relationship and what the employer will provide the employee in exchange for those contributions. Unlike a written sales contract, this is not formally put into words.

union bond

psychological contract

employee contract

legal agreement

offer letter

 

 

The new type of psychological contract has resulted in reduced:

creativity.

training and development opportunities.

employee compensation.

job security.

flexibility.

 

Employees realize that many companies are no longer able to provide long-term employment security. Instead, the employees now want:

employability.

increased pay.

written employment contracts.

additional benefits.

less demanding work.

 

Independent contractors are:

employed directly by a company for a specific time.

usually full-time company employees.

self-employed individuals with multiple clients.

people employed by the company to work on an independent project through a written contract.

people employed by a temporary agency.

 

_____ are employed directly by a company for a specific time, specified in a formal agreement between the company and the workers.

On-call workers

Part-time workers

Temporary workers

Independent contractors

Contract company workers

 

The use of independent contractors, on-call workers, temporary workers, and contract company workers, collectively constitute:

alternative work arrangements.

outsourcing.

offshoring.

consolidation.

high performance work systems.

 

 

 

Which of the following is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission?

Fourteenth Amendment

Thirteenth Amendment

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Executive Order 11246

 

According to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, men and women performing the same job cannot have differences in pay on the basis of _____.

quality of production

sex

education

seniority

merit

 

Which of the following is true about Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

The act permits employers to retaliate against employees participating in a proceeding against the employer.

The act applies to organizations with 15 or more employees.

The act protects employers from an employee’s opposition to an alleged illegal employment practice.

The act permits employers to hire job applicants belonging exclusively to a particular nationality.

The act permits employers to hire an individual based on his gender and race in the absence of a BFOQ.

 

Which of the following categories is NOT covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

Age discrimination

Gender discrimination

Discrimination on the basis of nationality

Religious discrimination

Racial discrimination

 

Which of the following is true about Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)?

ADEA permits an employer to reduce the fringe benefits to all employees over 40.

ADEA permits companies to lay off older workers when the economy is slow.

ADEA favors the idea of coercing employees to accept early-retirement incentives.

ADEA recommends early-retirement incentive programs wherein employees agree not to sue the company for ageism.

ADEA outlaws making employment decisions based on a person’s age being over 40.

 

 

Which of the following terms refer to an organization’s active effort to find opportunities to hire or promote people in a particular group?

Disparate impact

Reasonable accommodation

Adverse impact

Reverse discrimination

Affirmative action

 

Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was introduced to enhance employment opportunity for _____.

older employees

minors

individuals with disabilities

minorities

women

 

Which of the following individuals will NOT be covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act?

An individual with cancer in remission

An individual with a history of heart disease

An individual who is deaf and blind

An individual who is subject to substance abuse

An individual with a history of mental illness

 

Which of the following is true about the Americans with Disabilities Act?

It classifies a person, who needs ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses to perform each major life activity with little or no difficulty, as disabled.

It goes beyond prohibiting discrimination to require that employers take steps to accommodate individuals covered under the legislation.

It is used to protect individuals with conditions such as obesity and substance abuse.

It permits the employer to cut down on fringe benefits of individuals with disabilities.

It permits discrimination in areas such as layoff and leave.

 

Which of the following is true about the Civil Rights Act of 1991?

It prohibits violators from paying compensatory damages.

It requires violators to pay punitive damages that specifically cover emotional pain and

suffering.

It limits damage claims to attorney’s fees and costs.

It limits the maximum punitive damages allowed, depending on the size of the organization.

It limits the maximum punitive damages to $50,000 for all organizations even if the discrimination was intentional.

 

An employee leaves an organization for three years to fulfill military duties. Which of the following observations is true of the employer’s obligation to reemploy the worker under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act?

The employer is not obligated to reemploy the worker.

The employer should implement an early-retirement incentive program for the employee.

The employer must reemploy the worker but is exempted from providing him any fringe benefits or retirement benefits.

The employer must reemploy the worker with the same seniority and status.

The employer must reemploy the employee with a lower pay scale to compensate for the loss of his absence.

 

An individual wishing to file a complaint with the EEOC or a similar state agency must file the complaint within _____ days of the incident.

30

7

14

180

360

 

_____ refers to an agreement between the EEOC and an organization that the organization will cease certain discriminatory practices and possibly institute additional affirmative-action practices to rectify its history of discrimination.

Letter of indemnity

Consent decree

Good faith bargaining

Judicial estoppel

Trust agreement

 

_____ is the set of guidelines issued by the EEOC and other agencies to identify how an organization should establish a recruitment process that is free and fair.

Code of Federal Regulations

Equal Opportunity Legislation and Policy

Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures

EEO-1 Report

Uniform Commercial Code

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which of the following refers to a comparison of the race, sex, and ethnic composition of the employer’s workforce with that of the available labor supply?

Applied behavior analysis

SWOT analysis

Utilization analysis

Content analysis

Job analysis

 

_____ refer(s) to a plan identifying the ways in which for how the organization will meet its diversity goals.

Utilization analysis

Disparate impact

Affirmative action

Action steps

Diversification

 

Differing conduct toward individuals, where the differences are clearly based on the individuals’ race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability status is termed as _____.

disparate treatment

disparate impact

reverse discrimination

reasonable accommodation

affirmative action

 

Disparate treatment could be legal if the discrimination _____.

is intended to reduce affirmative action

is performed by a private employer

is performed by a governmental organization

is practiced to increase efficiency

is categorized as a bona fide occupational qualification

 

_____ refers to a condition in which employment practices are seemingly neutral yet disproportionately exclude a protected group from employment opportunities.

Corrective action

Disparate impact

Reasonable accommodation

Disparate treatment

Affirmative action

 

 

 

 

Which of the following actions of employers can result in reverse discrimination?

Affirmative action

Disparate impact

Disparate treatment

Retaliation

Reasonable accommodation

 

Which of the following refers to an employer’s obligation to do something to enable an otherwise qualified person to perform a job?

Reverse discrimination

Adverse action

Disparate impact

Reasonable accommodation

Reverse discrimination

 

Sexual harassment refers to _____.

undue benefits provided to males

unwelcome sexual advances

reasonable accommodation based on gender

discrimination based on gender

preferential treatment for a particular sex

 

When an individual is promised a positive outcome for submission to sex, or threatened with a negative outcome for failure to submit to sex, this is referred to as _____.

undue hardship

disparate impact

reverse discrimination

quid pro quo harassment

adverse impact

 

Which of the following is the most comprehensive U.S. law regarding worker safety?

OSH Act

Civil Rights Act of 1991

Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Thirteenth amendment

Fourteenth amendment

 

 

 

 

 

Under OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard, organizations must have _____ for chemicals that employees are exposed to.

material safety data sheets

standard operating protocols

white papers

EEOC 1 forms

action reports

 

The process of analyzing the tasks necessary for the production of a product or service is termed as _____.

break-even analysis

ergonomics

industrial engineering

utilization analysis

work flow design

 

_____ are the products of any work unit.

Processes

Inputs

Jobs

Outputs

Tasks

 

_____ are the activities that a team’s members engage in to produce a given output.

Work processes

Task identities

Job analyses

Group dynamics

Ergonomic activities

 

The process of getting detailed information about jobs is known as _____.

job analysis

job rotation

job definition

job swapping

job training

 

 

 

 

 

 

Job descriptions generally contain all of the following components EXCEPT _____.

the details of pay and benefits attached to the job

the job title

a list of essential duties

the details of the tasks involved

a brief description of the responsibilities

 

A _____ is a list of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that an individual must have to perform a particular job.

job scope

job definition

job rotation

job specification

job evaluation

 

Carla Warne is an HR executive looking for a new job. She comes across an advertisement in a newspaper seeking applications for the post of an HR manager. The advertisement exclusively highlights requirements such as strong communication skills, excellent teamwork, and leadership skills. These requirements constitute the _____.

Ability

Responsibility

Skill

Knowledge

Personality traits

 

Skill is defined as _____.

the tangible aspects of an employee’s abilities like licenses or certifications

the personality traits such as someone’s persistence or motivation to achieve

the factual or procedural information that is necessary for successfully performing a task

an individual’s level of proficiency at performing a particular task

the past experience a person has in performing similar jobs

 

The _____ Questionnaire is a standardized job analysis questionnaire containing 194 questions about work behaviors, work conditions, and job characteristics that apply to a wide variety of jobs.

Conjoint Analysis

Fleishman Job Analysis

Work Flow Design

Position Analysis

Utilization Analysis

 

 

Which of the following job analysis methods requires subject-matter experts to evaluate a job in terms of abilities required to perform the job?

Position Analysis Questionnaire

Work Sampling Technique

Fleishman Job Analysis System

Conjoint Analysis Technique

Participatory Observation Technique

 

Which of the following HR activities is similar to analyzing a job that does not yet exist?

Work redesign

Career development

Job evaluation

Human resource planning

Selection

 

_____ involves assessing the relative dollar value of each job to the organization in order to set up fair pay structures.

Career planning

Job rotation

Performance appraisal

Training

Job evaluation

 

Which of the following best defines competency?

It is the set of related duties for accomplishing work.

It is the list of tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDRs) that a particular job entails.

It is the activity that a work unit’s members engage in to produce a given output.

It is an area of personal capability that enables employees to perform successfully.

It is the set of duties performed by a particular team.

 

The process of defining how work will be performed and what tasks will be required in a given job is known as _____.

job rotation

job design

job enrichment

job extension

job evaluation

 

 

 

 

The industrial engineering approach is most likely to emphasize _____.

designing jobs in such a way that they require minimal specialization

creating complex and challenging jobs that require innovative employees

streamlining jobs to make them simpler, efficient, and automatic

elaborate work arrangements and reporting requirements

exploring new and diverse ways of doing the same job

 

Which of the following models was developed by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham to describe ways to make jobs more motivating?

The Motivation-Hygiene Model

The Cognitive Dissonance Model

The Situational Leadership Model

The Push and Pull Model

The Job Characteristics Model

 

In terms of the Job Characteristics Model, feedback refers to the extent to which _____.

a person receives clear information about performance effectiveness from the work itself

performance appraisals are perceived as transparent and fair by employees

employees are given the authority to make decisions

a job requires a variety of skills to carry out the tasks involved

a job requires a variety of skills to carry out the tasks involved in the job and its duties

 

In which of the following scenarios will workers be less motivated to perform the job?

When the job allows individuals to take autonomous decisions about the job

When a person receives clear information about performance effectiveness from the work itself

When the job has minimal impact on the lives of other people

When the job requires completing the whole piece of work from beginning to end

When the job requires a variety of skills to be performed

 

Which of the following is the objective of job enlargement?

To increase efficiency by identifying one best way to perform a job

To decrease the impact the job has on the lives of other people

To make jobs less repetitive and more interesting

To decrease the burden of decision-making responsibilities for employees

To assess the relative dollar value of each job to the organization

 

 

 

 

 

Which of the following job design techniques involving the addition of decision-making authorities to a job is credited to Frederick Herzberg?

Job sharing

Job extension

Job enlargement

Job enrichment

Job rotation

 

According to Herzberg’s two-factor theory, which of the following factors would motivate individuals the most?

Share in company stock

Fringe benefits in the job

Periodic bonuses

Meaningfulness of a job

Salary and allowances

 

Which of the following is true of self-managing work teams?

Team members usually share work assignments.

Team members’ joint responsibilities are minimal.

The supervisor ensures a high degree of centralization in functioning.

Team members’ job duties are narrowly defined.

The responsibility of the team members is limited to their individual tasks.

 

Which of the following best describes ergonomics?

The study of the relationship between intrinsic rewards and employee motivation in the context of human resource management.

The study of the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the job.

The study of the interface between individuals’ physiology and the characteristics of the physical work environment.

The study of jobs to find the simplest way to structure work in order to maximize efficiency.

The study of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities for employees in a new job.

 

The final stage in work flow analysis is to identify the _____.

market forces of demand and supply for the outputs

inputs used in the development of the work unit’s product

operating procedures to be applied in production

tangible outputs of a particular work unit

work processes used to generate the outputs of the work unit

 

 

 

 

Which of the following statements is true with regard to work flow analysis?

Inputs and outputs are the two stages that represent the complete work flow cycle.

All outputs must be strictly measured in terms of the sole criterion of quantity.

Outputs may be tangible or intangible products of different work processes.

Information cannot be considered to be an input as it is not tangible.

Quality standards are not a key criterion in the process of work flow analysis.