Key hr initiatives support organizational strategy in all of the following ways, except:

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1. Social Science
2. Sociology
3. Management

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Terms in this set (101)

As the director of HR, you are in a meeting with your corporate officers discussing the firm's deliberate use of personnel to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. You are most likely discussing:

Human Resource Strategies

Tony works in the finance department as an accounting clerk. He keeps a time card and receives extra pay for any overtime he works. Tony is most likely a(n):

nonexempt staff employee

Salaried employees are also known as ________ employees.

exempt

Which of the following is an environmental challenge faced by modern HR managers?

Marketplace Globalization

Due to the increasing work pace and burnout in the United States, more workers are dealing with stress. According to your text, an increasing number of firms are choosing to:

provide employees with health and wellness programs

Which of the following is NOT true of the Internet Revolution as it relates to HRM?

Cross-cultural understanding is less important

RCA is creating a corporate identity to smooth over cultural differences between its domestic and international employees. RCA is most likely addressing the HRM challenge of:

globalization

What is the primary reason for the rising importance of HR at firms over the last four decades?

employment laws

A dual-career family is one in which:

both husband and wife work.

Firms are increasingly introducing family-friendly programs to:

hire and retain the best workers

Growth in service sector employment is most likely tied to:

advances in technology that eliminate manufacturing jobs

The need for skilled employees in the US has:

intensified in the service sector due to technology advancements.

Companies spend around ________ billion dollars each year on employee training programs.

55

How has the collapse of the U.S. housing market affected HR policies?

limited recruitment to local area

Which organizational challenge has the most significant impact on a firm's competitive advantage?

controlling costs

Which term refers to an organization-wide approach to improving the quality of all the processes that lead to a final product or service?

Total Quality Management

HR policies affect a firm's competitive position in all of the following ways EXCEPT by:

developing mission statements

Which term refers to transferring responsibility and decision-making authority from a central office to people closer to the situation that demands attention?

decentralization

Which of the following has aided decentralization in many companies?

Internet Technology

The current trend to downsize most likely results in:

lower salary expenditures

Organizational restructuring over the past two decades has primarily led to firms with:

fewer people between the CEO and the lowest-ranking worker.

Self-managed work teams are:

groups of peers in a company setting who take responsibility for a particular area or task.

According to research, the contributions that self-managed work teams offer a large firm are typically:

very positive.

According to the text, what percentage of new businesses fail in their first year of operation?

40%

Organizational culture most likely refers to:

basic beliefs shared by members of an organization

All of the following are key elements of organizational culture EXCEPT:

available technology

A critical ethical issue for HR managers related to technology use in work environments is the:

improper use of proprietary data

Knott's Construction builds one house every month. Mr. Knotts and Scott perform all the structural work themselves while they subcontract the plumbing and electrical work. This subcontracting is an example of:

Outsourcing

What is the primary HR challenge of outsourcing?

A firm is still accountable for the actions of its subcontractors, but it exercises less control over them.

Rudy is writing a report about the individual challenges his firm is facing. Which of the following topics would be LEAST relevant to the report?

outsourcing low-paying jobs

A study of fast-growth firms shows that they are more likely to employ managers who are:

risk-takers

When it comes to managers dealing with ethical issues, it is most safe to say that:

what is ethical or unethical is seldom clear cut.

Wilton Carpet and Flooring supports local children's sports teams by providing uniforms and practice gear. Which of the following terms best describes the activities of the firm?

social responsibility

Karl is trying to improve company productivity by focusing on employee competence. Karl is focusing on the ________ factor of productivity.

ability

You are talking with a manager about one of his employees, Tom. The manager describes Tom as a person who has a strong desire to do the best possible job and put in the maximum effort to perform his assigned tasks. The manager is describing Tom's:

motivation

Empowerment is best defined as:

emphasizing the decision-making power of workers

One of your best MIS people quit to work for a competitor in a neighboring city. When she left, she took with her a partially completed proposal for an enhanced MIS system that would reduce costs and increase the speed of handling information. You've just experienced a:

brain drain

Many profitable American companies eliminate jobs every year. This trend can most likely be attributed to which of the following factors?

increasing corporate competition

Strategic human resource planning is best defined as the process of:

formulating HR strategies and establishing programs to implement them

Strategic human resource planning provides a number of benefits to a company, such as:

helping to identify the gap between a company's current situation and vision.

Molly heads a large company that has just experienced a major brain drain. She immediately increases compensation to new employees and gives each employee with over 10 years experience an extra 3 days of paid vacation per year. This is an example of:

reactive HR strategy

Managers who rely on their personal views and experiences to solve problems are more likely to run the risk of:

making false assumptions about the business and threatening corporate profitability.

In order to stimulate critical thinking, the strategic HR planning process should most likely be:

ongoing and flexible.

Which of the following is a primary challenge of strategic HR planning?

developing strategies that offer the firm a sustained competitive advantage

Kelly spends her day focusing on recruiting qualified employees for her growing company, reviewing benefit plans in order to offer competitive compensation packages, and creating online job postings. Kelly is most likely facing the strategic HR planning challenge of:

concentrating too much on day-to-day problems.

Town House Publishing is implementing a new HR strategy, and to give it the best chance of succeeding, the HR department should most likely:

ensure managers' commitment to the strategy.

Which of the following is a characteristic of most intended strategies?

They mobilize responses from top management.

Emergent strategies generally:

evolve and change as needs arise

Working on his HR strategic plan, Jose is thinking about whether to recommend specific job descriptions or broad job classes, and detailed or loose work planning. Jose is considering the HR strategic choice related to:

work flows.

Which of the following is a strategic HR issue related to staffing?

empowering supervisors to make hiring decisions

When considering HR strategies regarding employee separations, managers must consider whether to:

use layoffs or voluntary inducements to downsize a firm.

When developing performance appraisals, a firm needs to make strategic HR choices concerning:

which kind of appraisal system (customized or general) will work best for the organization.

If an HR department is reviewing whether to use discipline as a control mechanism or as a proactive way to encourage appropriate behavior, it is considering its strategic choices within the HR function of:

employee rights

Candles, Inc. is currently evaluating the ________ the firm gives its employees, including stock options, benefit packages, and raises based on performance.

compensation

Which term refers to the compatibility between HR strategies and other key aspects of an organization?

fit

Which of the following is a true statement about the contribution of an HR strategy to an organization's performance?

Firm performance increases when HR strategy matches unique organizational features.

Which of the following is LEAST important when determining which HR strategies will positively impact a firm's performance?

Overall cost leadership strategy

For an HR strategic plan to fit with organizational strategies, it most likely needs to align with:

the firm's corporate and business unit strategies.

An evolutionary firm would most likely:

be highly decentralized and flexible.

Which of the following HR strategies would most likely be appropriate for a firm implementing an overall cost leadership business strategy?

use performance appraisal as a control device

Manvel Enterprises is implementing a differentiation strategy. Manvel will most likely:

create a unique product.

An HR strategy that fits a company's differentiation strategy would most likely:

emphasize innovation.

HR strategies that fit a company's focus strategy are best described as being:

between those of a differentiation and a low-cost strategy.

Firms that display a defender strategy will most likely:

encourage individual training.

Firms that are high on uncertainty or that operate in volatile environments would benefit most from HR strategies that involve:

variable pay and flexibility.

Firms that are low on uncertainty and change and that operate in stable environments would benefit most from HR strategies that involve:

control emphasis and fixed pay.

A firm considering the volatility of its product market, the degree of change that its product is experiencing over the passing of time, and the number of competitors with which it is competing is probably examining its HR strategy's fit with:

the environment

Which of the following is an aspect of an organization's "personality"?

market posture

Stacey notes that her firm is risk averse, operates with a flexible, delegating management style, and is outwardly focused. Stacey's observations describe which organizational characteristic of a company?

The firm's management philosophy

A firm that encourages an entrepreneurial climate would most likely:

implement a variable pay compensation system.

Mona is interested in buying a new computer. She has heard that Shell processors are on the low end of the cost spectrum and that the company offers an excellent warranty. Mona is focused on the firm's:

distinctive competencies.

The primary role of HR is to:

support and help managers perform their jobs.

Which of the following actions would most likely foster an effective relationship between managers and HR?

requiring some management experience as part of HR professionals' training

Carson is gathering information for an HR audit. With which of the following areas should he be concerned?

Turnover rate

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) offers which of the following?

Professional certification

T/F A human resource tactic refers to a firm's deliberate use of human resources to gain and maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

false

T/F More and more U.S. companies are forming global alliances and trying to develop worldwide cultures in order to smooth over differences among employees.

true

T/F The manufacturing sector is now growing more rapidly than the service sector in the U.S. economy.

false

T/F Training employees helps control an organization's costs and improve efficiency.

true

T/F TQM programs are designed to improve the quality of the processes used to produce products.

true

T/F Downsizing is a type of organizational restructuring.

false

T/F According to the SBA, a wholesale company with 85 employees and a manufacturing firm with 1,200 employees are both small businesses.

true

T/F According to studies, 99.8% of small businesses in the U.S. have less than 100 employees.

true

T/F Studies show that 90% of all small businesses fail within their first three years.

false

T/F Norms, rules of the game, and organizational climate are elements of an organization's structure.

false

T/F A significant technology issue for HR is the proper use of the data that its information systems generate.

true

T/F Federal laws prevent firms from monitoring employees' use of the Internet.

FALSE

T/F Groupware networks have enabled power and authority to spread more evenly among employees at firms.

true

T/F Research indicates that fast-growth firms benefit from having managers with marketing and sales backgrounds

true

T/F Reverse brain drain refers to the trend of foreigners applying for visas to work in the United States.

false

T/F Firms with strong organizational cultures typically perform better than firms without such environments.

true

T/F HR strategies that work for one company in an industry will work just as well for another company in the same industry since business environments tend to be similar within industries.

false

T/F Emergent strategies provide organizations with a sense of purpose and a guide for allocating resources.

false

T/F Work flow refers to how a specific task is organized to meet the production or service goals of a firm.

true

T/F The Cola Corporation controls a bottle factory, a root beer brewery, and a bottling plant. This mix of businesses on the part of Cola Corp. is referred to as the business unit strategy.

false

T/F A corporation that values centralization, long-term career development, and internal grooming of employees has probably adopted a steady state strategy.

true

T/F Firms with evolutionary business strategies are less likely to acquire businesses in different industries.

false

T/F Prospector strategies are characterized by broad job classes, variable pay, and informal hiring processes.

true

T/F HR strategies need to fit a firm's overall management philosophy but may largely ignore the company's market posture and production processes, since those are line management responsibilities and HR has little impact on them.

false

t/f A firm's unique technical abilities and reputation are distinctive competencies.

true

A particular HR policy or program that helps to advance a firm's strategic goal is referred to as a ________.

human resource tactic

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