Exam 11: Human Resource Management: Finding and Keeping the Best Employees

Keep on Truckin' School for Truck Drivers is proud of its training methods. Before its students are ever allowed on the road with a big rig, they are taught safe driving techniques with the help of sophisticated, computerized equipment that comes as close as possible to duplicating real driving conditions, right down to the sights, sounds, bumps and vibrations experienced on the road. Keep on Truckin' is using a training method known as job replication.

Several years ago, Drew's company sent him to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for an intensive program of leadership and business communication training. Although expensive, the firm was committed to investing in the development of key employees for the purpose of retention and promotion. This type of managerial development is known as off-the-job courses and training.

Employers must verify that employment candidates are eligible to work in the U.S. as mandated by:

Performance appraisals are very useful for new, inexperienced workers and first-line managers, but have little value for top management.

According to the "Spotlight on Small Business" box in Chapter 11, one way that a small business can attract qualified employees is to hire its customers.

One of the main complaints made by critics of employment tests is that these tests:

Frank has thirty years of service as a manager for his company. He remembers when managers had almost complete freedom to fire workers. Frank thinks this is only fair. "After all," Frank points out, "workers quit whenever they get a better offer. Shouldn't managers have as much freedom to fire workers as the workers have to quit?" Frank's comments suggest that he believes in the doctrine of:

Lani wants to know how many workers in her company have certain specialized skills and have received training to update their qualifications within the past year. She could use a human resource inventory to help her find this type of information.

A job description identifies and describes the type of person who should perform the job, including important qualifications such as deduction, skills, and experience.

Central Communications, a company that provides land line, cell phone, Internet, and television services for residential customers experienced poor customer call care ratings with its overseas call center service. As a recent Introduction to Business student, you would suggest that Central implement home-based call agents. This will cost them a little more in office space and benefits, but it will certainly increase its customers' perception of their service.

A department manager evaluated the performance of her subordinates as part of a performance appraisal process. If she follows the six-step appraisal process, the next step is:

Mini-Case Dee Pozitt had been the assistant human resource director at Fleesum Financial Services for a bit more than a year when the company's human resource director was injured in a sky diving accident. Because of his injuries the director would be unable to work for several months. Howie Fleesum, the company's CEO, decided to name Dee the acting director of human resources. Though she had been at the firm for a shorter period of time than most other managers, he felt that her position as the director's assistant had given her insights into the company's human resource issues that the other managers lacked. He also was very impressed by the glowing performance appraisal Dee recently received from the director, her peers, and even subordinates. Before accepting the position as acting director, Dee made sure that Mr. Fleesum recognized her authority to implement some major changes in policies she and the director had been planning before his accident. The changes were intended to make the company more responsive to the needs of employees, thus improving morale and reducing worker turnover. Although Dee was sorry the director was injured, she was pleased that Mr. Fleesum had confidence in her and was willing to give her the authority to implement important new programs. The only aspect of her opportunity that worried her was the resentment and hostility she sensed from a few of the older, more experienced managers. One of the most hostile coworkers was a fellow named Mort Gage. Dee decided she had better talk to Mort and find out why he was so upset. -Fleesum recently began using cross-functional teams. Dee wants to make sure the teams collaborate effectively, but also wants to avoid stifling individual initiative. One method she could use to achieve this goal would be to:

The appropriate term for employees whose skills and knowledge go beyond their current work environment and work responsibilities are underemployed workers.

Sun Valley Produce finds it needs more workers during harvest times than at other times of the year. Hiring contingent workers could be an efficient way for Sun Valley to meet its temporary employment needs.

One drawback of performance appraisals is that they cannot be completed for top management because there is no one above this level of management to carry out and evaluate the results.

Which of the following statements is the most accurate description of the impact the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) has had on businesses?

Markus believes that due to changing technology the minimum skill level that his company is requiring for computer intensive jobs should be increased to include knowledge and experience in higher level programming applications. These new requirements would be reflected in for various jobs at his company.

A management training program that gives managers assignments in a variety of departments in order to expose them to different functions within the organization is called:

At Friendly Financial Consulting, employees are allowed to choose what time they start each workday, as long as they arrive between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. They must be on the job from 10:00 a.m. until noon and from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. They are required to work a total of 8 hours each day, so the earlier they arrive, the earlier they can leave. This is a system.

Toni Matthews is interested in a position that has opened up at her firm, but she wants to find out more about the type of work and responsibilities involved in the job. A document that would have the information she wants is the job specification.