Exam 10: Managing Human Resources

Which of the following questions is deemed acceptable (i.e., "legal")for employers to ask applicants during the selection process?

____ help companies meet the legal requirement that their human resource decisions be job-related.

In legal terms, intentional discrimination by an employer is identified as adverse impact while unintentional discrimination is called disparate treatment.

In setting their pay structures, companies use a procedure known as performance assessment, which determines the worth of each job by determining the market value of the knowledge, skills, and requirements needed to perform it.

A perennial problem of teacher education programs is to screen the highest quality candidates from those who should not work in schools. One suggested method is to ask applicants a series of questions about their experiences with siblings, how they treat stress, their attitude toward procrastination, and ways they like to have fun. This method, which can use over 100 questions, gathers ____.

Employee turnover is always bad for an organization.

Which of the following is a direct (rather than indirect)measure of job applicants' capability to do the job?

Which of the following statements about using 360-degree feedback is true?

WWYD Nick's Pizza & Pub Nick's Pizza & Pub, a two-restaurant business in northern Illinois, wanted to open five more restaurants. But expansion wasn't to be. Expenses were high because of an inability to control food and beverage costs. An economic downturn saw guest counts drop. In the end, with costs up, revenues down, and lending standards tightening, Nick's fixed up and grew the two existing restaurants. Following the success of a young employee who asked staff for ways to keep costs in line, Nick pulled together the staffs in both restaurants to share how and where the restaurants were earning revenue and incurring expenses. He then asked for their help on three key issues: pay, hiring, and training. Nick and his people addressed three human resource challenges at Nick's Pizza & Pub. Pay was the first. Nick's takes a sophisticated multipronged approach to compensating its employees. To start, Nick's alters basic pay by one dollar more than minimum wage, and for employees who work at least 30 hours a week, the company pays half the cost of their company-provided health insurance. And for nearly a decade, Nick's has had a profit-sharing plan for all 230 employees. Each month, if the restaurant meets its goals in four out of the five following areas, food costs, beverage costs, guest comments, employee turnover, and labor costs, Nick's employees split 80 percent of the profit sharing pot. Nick's also takes a unique approach to recruiting. From the start of Nick's interview process, managers are looking for signs of personal accountability. The initial screening interview is strict and eliminates 80 percent of applicants. The 20 percent of applicants who make it out of the first round of interviews then complete two more interviews. This time, however, to increase the reliability and validity of the interview process, two managers sit in on each interview, with one manager sitting in on both interviews for each applicant. Like the first round of interviews, the criteria are strict. One "no" vote, and you're not hired. If you aren't, you still receive a thank-you note and a coupon for a free pizza. During the interview process, hiring managers at Nick's ask each applicant the same job-related questions. New hires spend two days learning about the company's purpose, values, and culture in a training class called Nick's 101 during which they spend 4 hours in the kitchen learning how to make pizza. The next step is Nick's 201, in which employees are separated by job, kitchen, wait staff, or bar staff, and are trained in their specific job responsibilities. And to prove that they've mastered their jobs, each employee is encouraged to certify their skill level in the tasks contained in their job. For example, it usually takes pizza makers two to four weeks to become certified, whereby they can make a pizza on their own to Nick's standards. Pizza makers, however, can get certified in other kitchen jobs, such as salads and sandwiches. When they've been certified in three jobs, their pay goes up 75 cents an hour. Becoming certified in another three jobs, six in total, increases their ay by $1.25 an hour. And when a kitchen worker is certified in nine jobs, their pay will increase by $2.75 an hour. Refer to WWYD Nick's Pizza & Pub. Nick's profit sharing plan is an example of:

Job analysis is a purposeful and systematic process of collecting information on the important work-related aspects of a job.

Identify two common problems that occur during the performance appraisal process. Recommend one approach for avoiding each of these problems.

To choose the best training method, a company should consider such factors as the number of people to be trained, the cost of training, and the objectives of the training.

A ____ is a purposeful, systematic process for collecting information on the important work-related aspects of a job.

Which of the following statements about job validation tests is true?

Which of the following types of tests accurately predicts job performance in almost all kinds of jobs?

____ is unintentional discrimination in which there is a substantially different rate of selection in hiring, promotion, or other employment decisions that works to the disadvantage of members of a particular race, sex, age, ethnicity, or protected group.

Which of the following training methods is most appropriate when the objective of training is practicing, learning, or changing behaviors?

Engineered Fabrics makes bladders for airplane gas tanks. In the event of a puncture, the bladder will prevent the tank from exploding. The bladders must be defect-free. To check the bladders, company employees must be able to crawl in an 18-inch diameter hole in the bladder side and look for light leaks. A limitation on weight and height of individuals working in quality control at this company would be legal because it is an example of ____.

Which of the following statements about performance appraisal is true?

Darlene Jespersen worked in a sports bar. She was an outstanding employee, but she didn't wear makeup because she felt it "took away her credibility" and interfered with her ability to be an effective bartender, which sometimes required her to deal with unruly, intoxicated guests. This changed when the sports bar implemented a "beverage department image transformation" program. Female employees were told they would be fired if they did not wear makeup. Jespersen contended that it was an example of ____ because male employees did not have to wear makeup.