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

According to the Spotlight on Small Business box in Chapter 11, small businesses have an advantage over large businesses when it comes to recruiting good talent for two reasons: they can afford to pay better; and they already have great employees who recruit for them.

The Hay compensation system gives managers the flexibility to adjust pay for workers to reflect the value of their contribution to the firm.

Human resource managers at Tri Max, Inc. want to encourage teamwork and are looking for a better way to compensate members of teams. One approach they are considering is a skill-based system. Which of the following statements about this type of pay system is most accurate?

A recent study has shown that the most effective way for most firms to improve worker productivity is to increase expenditures on machinery and equipment.

One challenge faced by today's human resource managers is the fact that workers overseas often work for lower wages and are subject to fewer laws and regulations.

Besides increasing productivity, a good training program can increase a firm's retention rates.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, or compensation, based on race, religion, creed, sex, or national origin.

Artificial intelligence software already exists that will review information provided by an applicant and e-mail a report to a manager with a recommendation as to whether the applicant should be interviewed.

Airlines, banks, hospitals and many other service organizations are so labor intensive that the cost of labor is their primary cost of operations.

A job specification identifies the minimum qualifications a person must have to fill a particular job.

Barney's company creates promotional campaigns for other businesses. He just learned that the firm lost the Lisle Account, a long- standing customer. On the short-term, this will significantly reduce the need for several creative writers and web content developers the company has on staff. As he prepares to call each employee in for dismissal, Barney reviews the best way to approach this inevitable task. He decides that it is best not to tarnish the image of the company so rather than tell each that they lost an important account, he will blame the need to reduce the workforce on new technology the firm is implementing and his personal evaluation of their work. He also plans to offer a two-month severance, as long as each signs a no-compete agreement good for one year. In that way, he may be able to call them back if new accounts emerge. All of these strategies are considered good procedures that would surely avoid "wrongful discharge lawsuits."

A job analysis results in two written statements. They are:

Although the skills learned do not always translate into profits for the company, pay rewards the growth of both the individual and team participation.

the person filling the position is already familiar with the organization's culture and procedures.

One way human resource managers can keep current on human resource legislation and rulings is to read current business literature such as The Wall Street Journal and Business Week.

Most firms have trouble implementing the structural changes required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

When recruiting employees, human resource managers focus primarily on the skills and training of the people they are recruiting, and work on determining "fit" after the hiring process has occurred.

As a new regional manager, Tim was informed that his first assignment was to travel to Hawaii and dismiss (fire) the sales rep that held that territory. "What luck!" he thought. My first time in Hawaii and I have to make enemies instead of friends." Fortunately, he remembered that his HR management instructor in College offered advice on how to keep from making mistakes when terminating employees. As he went back through his notes, he dialed the number for the company HR manager, to get his advice on how to proceed. Which of the following statements is

Sun Microsystems has experimented extensively with flextime and has found that overall it has a positive impact on productivity.

Shadowing is another term used to refer to .