mgmt exam 3 practice questions

Which of the following human relations management (HRM) practices supporting high-performance work systems is associated with decentralized decision making, reduced status distinctions, and information sharing?

Which of the following human relations management (HRM) practices supporting high-performance work systems is associated with decentralized decision making, reduced status distinctions, and information sharing?

work design

Which of the following statements about human relations management (HRM) practices is true?

HRM practices directly affect an employee's ability to satisfy customer needs.

Ensuring that human relations management (HRM) practices comply with federal, state, and local laws is part of

managing the human resource environment.

Which dimension of human relations management (HRM) practices measures employees' performance?

assessing and developing human resources

Job descriptions are part of the ________ function of a human relations (HR) department.

analysis and design of work

If we consider HR as a business, it will have three product lines—administrative services and transactions, business partner services, and:

strategic partner role

________ assets include human capital, customer capital, social capital, and intellectual capital.

intangible

The ________ abolished slavery and formed the base of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) law.

Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

Which of the following is major legislation regulating equal employment opportunity in the United States and applies to organizations with 15 or more employees working 20 or more weeks a year that are involved in interstate commerce?

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Which of the following acts prohibits discrimination based on disability in all employment practices such as job application procedures, hiring, firing, promotions, compensation, and training—in addition to other employment activities such as advertising, recruitment, tenure, layoff, leave, and fringe benefits.

the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

Which government commission monitors the hiring practices of organizations by analyzing their annual hiring reports?

the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Martha, an African American woman, and Sophie, a Caucasian woman, both graduated from the same school, cum laude, with an MBA. Saunders Incorporated interviewed both candidates and selected Sophie because the firm had higher standards for African American candidates compared to white applicants. Based on this situation, it appears that Martha may have been the victim of

disparate treatment.

The WHM Corporation was sued by an individual who alleged gender discrimination. During the court hearing, representatives from WHM acknowledged that some discriminatory motive existed but argued that the same hiring decision would have been reached even without the discriminatory motive. This is an example of:

mixed-motive.

________ places a special obligation on an employer to affirmatively do something to suit an individual's disability or religion.

Reasonable accommodation

Tamara complains that her male colleagues often tell dirty jokes in front of her, make offensive sexual comments about her physical appearance, and touch her inappropriately during the workday. This is an example of

a hostile working environment.

Suzette is the CEO of a company who forces her male assistant to perform sexual favors in exchange for increasing his salary. This is an example of

quid pro quo harassment.

To eliminate discrimination in the workplace, many organizations have ________ programs to increase minority representation.

affirmative action

The ________ authorized the federal government to establish and enforce occupational safety and health standards for all places of employment engaging in interstate commerce.

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

An employer administered a problem-solving skills test to applicants for a business analyst job once at the very beginning of the application process and again a week later. Results indicated that the problem-solving skills test produced very similar scores from the first and second administrations of the test. Based on this result, the appropriate conclusion is that the problem-solving skills test possessed

test-retest reliability.

A group of managers and employees evaluated a job knowledge test for a customer service representative job by examining the questions asked in the test and making judgments about the degree to which these questions were representative of the range of situations that a customer service representative would encounter in the actual performance of the job. This is an example of an assessment of

content validity

Crystal, an employee, tells her HR representative that she was passed up for a promotion because she is young, even though she has the experience and is much better with technology than other applicants. HR tells her that the ________ legislation does not support her claim.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

An employer assessed the degree to which senior executive scores on a leadership competencies test were correlated with the profitability of the overall company. Results of this analysis found that leadership competencies scores were related to company profitability, indicating that this test possesses

utility.

An employer rejected an applicant who possessed a physical disability for a computer operator position; however, the applicant could still perform the most important or essential functions of the job. The applicant requested that the employer provide her with an inexpensive voice-activated technology application as an accommodation so that she could perform the job, but the company insisted this would be an excessively costly and disruptive accommodation to make just for this worker. Based on the Americans with Disabilities Act, who is most likely correct?

The job applicant is correct.

Patrick has changed his interview techniques to include questions that ask employees to explain how they would solve real-life workplace problems. He feels that this type of interviewing has increased his probability of making the best choice. Patrick is employing the ________ interview technique.

situatioinal

Which of the following is true of interviews?

Generalizability of interviews is low.

Which of the following is true of the reliability of several personnel selection methods?

Reliability of physical ability tests is high.

Which of the following is true of the generalizability of several personnel selection methods?

Cognitive ability tests have high generalizability.

Which of the following personnel selection methods has a high criterion-related validity and a low content validity?

biographical information

Which of the following personnel selection methods has a high generalizability?

drug test

For feedback to be effective,

the manager should ask the employee to rate his or her performance before the session.

Performance appraisal is the process

through which an organization gets information on how well an employee is doing his or her job.

Solange Lennon, an operations manager at a distribution center, is going to use performance evaluations to identify employee strengths and weaknesses to develop performance improvement plans for her direct reports. She is using performance management for a(n) ________ purpose.

developmental

The performance management system at the KTX Corporation focuses on enhancing employees' abilities to be innovative in performing their jobs, which supports the company's corporate strategy to be a leading innovator in the computer peripherals industry. This is an example of

strategic congruence.

The performance management system at the Walker Corporation is very detailed in terms of defining the performance expectations of employees for each job. This is an example of a performance management system that possesses

specificity.

Which of the following approaches to performance management has high validity results but has very low specificity if ratings are done carefully?

the comparative approach

Which of the following approaches to performance management has high acceptability, usually low validity, and very low specificity and yields low strategic congruence results that require the manager to make the link?

the attribute approach

Kendra Taylor is a law enforcement officer in a small city whose job often entails patrolling a neighborhood that is far from the sheriff's office. As a consequence, the sheriff rarely witnesses her work. Which of the following rater options would offer the sheriff the most accurate picture of Annabelle's performance as a police officer?

Peers

Namrutha Mahtani, the IT manager at TX International, does not like the way that Vivica Mason speaks up in an abrasive manner at many team meetings. As a result, she gives Vivica low ratings on all dimensions of her performance review. This is an example of which rater bias?

horns

Jayor Houser is a supervisor at Millennium Management. In a bid to boost the morale of his direct reports, he gives high performance ratings to all of his direct reports regardless of their performance. This is an example of which performance rating error?

leniency

Taher Brown is a sales manager at Soundview Inc. He is known to be a taskmaster and consistently gives low ratings to all of his direct reports regardless of their performance. This is an example of which performance rating error?

strictness

Chan Wong has been working at Fulman & Co. as a business analyst for a year. His performance during the first few months at his job was very good, and he developed a very good impression with his employers. Despite his weaker job performance for the nine months after that, Chan still received excellent performance ratings due to his overall good image. This is an example of which rating error?

halo

Despite the fact that Katie Long performed very well in her job as a customer service representative at the Pepperdine Corporation, she ended up getting only an average performance rating from her immediate supervisor because her coworkers who received their performance reviews just before Katie were exceptional performers. This is an example of a ___________ rating error.

contrast

HR leaders at the Hillsboro Corporation need to evaluate the effectiveness of the company's compensation system, in terms of the perceived fairness of the system from the perspective of employees. The company assesses employee perceptions of the pay and other outcomes they receive given the amount of time and effort they put into their jobs compared to how comparison workers see these issues. This is an example of using __________ theory.

equity

Harris DuVall, an electrical engineer at the Wilcox Corporation, asks HR about the specific types of cash compensation offered by the company as part of the total compensation package for employees. HR's response should be that cash compensation includes

merit increases.

The amount an organization must pay to compete against other companies that hire similar employees is referred to as

labor market competition.

Product market comparisons that focus on labor costs are likely to deserve greater weight when

the supply of labor is inelastic.

The CEO and other executives of a rapidly growing startup firm want to develop a formal pay system that recognizes employees for performing well and encourages retention. The most effective strategy for achieving these objectives is to create:

rate ranges.

The major disadvantage of using ________blank is that some jobs will be underpaid and other jobs will be overpaid.

pay grades

Which of the following is true of occupations covered in the Fair Labor Standards Act?

Employees in nonexempt occupations are eligible for overtime pay.

Which group of employees is exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act?

administrative employees

Which of the following theories is based on E. L. Thorndike's Law of Effect?

the reinforcement theory

A fundamental principle underlying reward systems in organizations is to link positive consequences with desired behavior, such as performance. At the TCR Corporation, the company maintains a strong link between rewards (merit pay increases) and job performance. This is a reflection of

reinforcement theory.

Sales representatives at the Saratoga Corporation are highly motivated because they feel that they can be successful, and they see high job performance as being rewarded with outcomes they value. This explanation of worker motivation is best explained by _________ theory.

expectancy

In incentive pay systems, performance measures are of the

individual

Management at the Sea Quest Corporation is committed to ensuring that there is a strong link between pay and performance for all employees in the company. To ensure the company can link the most appropriate merit pay increase for workers given their performance ratings and position in their salary range, the company should use a

merit increase grid.

Management and production workers at a large manufacturing facility at the MXT Corporation use an incentive system where any productivity gains and cost savings are shared between the company and the workforce based on a set formula. This is an example of

gainsharing.

Shannon Greene is a new manager at the Orlando Corporation. She wants her direct reports to have a voice in providing input for improving the team's functioning and to feel free to approach her when they think she is wrong. Shannon believes in ________ justice.

procedural

Which of the following programs uses the returns from the company stock as a performance measure?

ownership