Question 1

A company with high wages cannot be economically competitive.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False  False

Question 2

Business process reengineering (BPR)involves radical redesign of work flow in the organization.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False  True

Question 3

A lack of a deep talent pool in the organization would be classified as a "weakness" in a SWOT analysis.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False  True

Question 4

The cessation of NASA's space shuttle program and the five year delay before the Constellation program launches,means that NASA

Accepted Answer

A)   legally has the needed opportunity to lay off all its current employees and hire new employees with fresh technological and scientific skills.
B)   has the opportunity to reinvigorate the morale of shuttle technicians and scientists who have been discouraged and unmotivated as a result of being saddled with outmoded technology.
C)   will be able to seamlessly apply the current knowledge, skills and abilities of its current workforce to the Constellation program.
D)   faces a knowledge gap if experience shuttle-related employees retire before the Constellation program starts up.

Question 5

Despite the increase in global trade,most U.S.-based organizations experience little impact from global competitors or foreign business practices.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 6

Backroads Merchandise,an Oklahoma-based manufacturer of outdoors and sports products,is facing a pronounced downturn in business due to lower-priced products from foreign competitors.Top management is concerned that this will be a permanent or long-term problem and they have decided to reduce the number of employees.The CEO has conferred with the director of HR to learn which method of reducing the workforce will be received better by both the employees leaving and the employees remaining behind.The CEO also wishes to minimize the cost of the reduction process.The director of HR has suggested the use of

Accepted Answer

A)   layoffs with the option of re-hire when business revives.
B)   voluntary separations with severance.
C)   greater use of contingent workers.
D)   attrition combined with a hiring freeze.

Question 7

Vendome Products will have a labor surplus of 15% in its non-exempt employee ranks next year because of decreases in sales of its major product line.Vendome will need to consider all of the following alternatives EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

A)   transferring non-exempt employees working on this product line into exempt-level jobs at Vendome.
B)   workforce reductions of non-exempt employees working on this product line.
C)   cutting wages or hours for non-exempt employees working on this product line.
D)   not replacing non-exempt employees working on this product line who leave Vendome voluntarily.

Question 8

____ is a bundle of services provided to employees who have been laid off.These services give these former employees support and assistance in finding new jobs.

Accepted Answer

A)   Severance
B)   Worker retraining
C)   Transition support
D)   Outplacement

Question 9

One approach to assessing HR effectiveness is ____,which compares specific measures of performance against data on those measures in other organizations.

Accepted Answer

A)   comparative return on investment
B)   benchmarking
C)   EVA
D)   the balanced scorecard

Question 10

An HR best practice that most directly ties individual behavior to organizational strategy is

Accepted Answer

A)   pay for performance.
B)   stringent hiring standards.
C)   flexible work arrangements.
D)   talent development.

Question 11

Attrition to reduce an employee surplus is most useful when

Accepted Answer

A)   employee morale in the organization is low.
B)   hiring programs are not affected.
C)   the workforce reduction is needed in the short-term.
D)   turnover rates in the organization are high.

Question 12

Downsizing an organization typically has all of the following effects on the organization EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

A)   demoralization of surviving employees.
B)   short-term reduction in labor costs.
C)   revenue generation.
D)   extra costs in the form of severance pay and outplacement.

Question 13

__________ is the use of human resource management practices to gain or keep a competitive advantage.

Accepted Answer

A)   Manpower planning
B)   Strategic HR management
C)   HR business integration
D)   Competitive HRM.

Question 14

Useful metrics have all the following characteristics EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

A)   measures are linked to strategic and operational objectives.
B)   results can be compared both internally and externally.
C)   calculations can be clearly understood.
D)   the measures include subjective judgments by experts.

Question 15

Alamanzo Devices,Inc.,in Oklahoma City is opening a location in Brazil.Managers from Oklahoma City will staff key positions in the Brazilian location so that headquarters can closely control the operations there.This is a/an _______ approach to international staffing.

Accepted Answer

A)   ethnocentric
B)   polycentric
C)   geocentric
D)   regiocentric

Question 16

In order to add value to the human capital of the organization,

Accepted Answer

A)   HR must have good metrics about the HR side of the business.
B)   HR managers must be focused on reducing the total cost of labor.
C)   the HR function must form the interface between the external environment of the organization and its internal environment.
D)   HR policies and practices should result in the workforce with the minimum quantity and maximum quality needed to achieve productivity goals.

Question 17

As a senior member of the HR department at TransOceanic Industries,Abigail realizes that the firm's upcoming merger with its main competitor,Amorphous Sea Ventures,will result in challenges in the year ahead.Abigail

Accepted Answer

A)   recognizes that cultural clashes will be minimal since TransOceanic and Amorphous are in the same industry and have similar product lines.
B)   realizes that she needs to design programs for retaining key talent in the aftermath of the merger.
C)   anticipates that the two HR departments will continue separate operations since TransOceanic and Amorphous have much different HR systems.
D)   there will be a reduction in voluntary turnover at executive levels as key employees engage in a power struggle.

Question 18

What are HR metrics and why are they important to organizations? Give examples of HR metrics.How do benchmarking and the balanced scorecard mesh with HR metrics?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are HR metrics and why are...

Question 19

Effectiveness compares inputs and costs to outputs and benefits.

Accepted Answer