Exam 13: Managing Human Resources

HR management is important for organizations because ________.

Human resource planning can be condensed into two steps: assessing current human resources and ________.

Mike has just been promoted to human resources manager at National Corporation. His boss, the vice-president of human resources, has asked him to prepare an employment plan to address a major restructuring in one of the divisions at National. The restructuring plans call for the elimination of 500 jobs, and Mike must determine the best way to achieve this target. He is hoping that some of the affected employees who are older will accept incentives to terminate their employment before their normal retirement date. Other employees may be qualified for job openings in other divisions; however, Mike needs to compile a list of each employee's skills, training, and education in order to assess their talents. Some job vacancies will occur naturally as employees voluntarily resign from the company to pursue new career plans or employment opportunities. Still other employees may choose to accept part-time work or share jobs with their coworkers. Despite these decruitment options, Mike is concerned that some involuntary terminations will inevitably be required in order to achieve the restructuring plan. He will recommend that some of these terminations be classified as "temporary" so that qualified employees can still be recalled to fill future job vacancies in the coming weeks and months. -Mike is considering the decruitment option of ________ in the case of those employees who voluntarily resign to pursue other opportunities.

Which of the following training methods is also called apprenticing in certain industries?

Ken is manager of recruitment at PASA Corporation. Business is booming, and the vice-president of human resources has asked Ken to hire 20 new employees by the end of the month. He tells Ken, "I don't care where you find them, just try to get some people in here who will do a good job!" Ken considers the various sources of job candidates and wonders which one will produce the best applicants on such short notice. -Another source,________,reaches large numbers of people who can produce immediate feedback.However,it also tends to generate many unqualified candidates.

A layoff is a temporary voluntary termination.

Which of the following is most likely to be included in family-friendly benefits provided by organizations?

A(n)________ involves presenting applicants with a miniature model of a job and has them perform a task that is central to that job.

A temporary involuntary termination is called ________.

Job descriptions focus on the job,while job specifications focus on the person.

A job specification typically specifies what a jobholder does,how the job is done,and why it is done.

Which type of selection device is used when a candidate for an automotive mechanic position is asked to deconstruct and reconstruct part of a car's engine?

A(n)________ represents employees and seeks to protect their interests.

Carly has just returned from a conference on performance appraisal methods. It was an interesting conference and it generally confirmed what Carly had suspected about her company's performance management system—it required some drastic revision! The company's current method is to have the immediate supervisor write out an evaluation of each individual employee. This method is time-consuming for the supervisors, and is as much a test of their writing skills as it is an evaluation of actual employee performance. Carly considered three alternative methods to replace the current system. The first method was one of the oldest and most popular performance appraisals. It involved listing a set of performance factors such as quantity of work, quality of work, level of cooperation, etc., and then rating each factor on an incremental scale. The second alternative method involved a system that focused on specific and measurable job behaviours. It required appraisers to rate employees according to numbered items which each represented actual job behaviours, rather than general descriptions or traits. The third alternative method was very results-oriented and was often used to evaluate managers and professional employees based on their accomplishment of specific goals that had been jointly established with their superiors. -What is the second alternative method that Carly is considering?

Every Canadian province and territory has human rights laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on race,sex,religion,age,political belief,national origin,language,or prior conviction.

An example of a high-performance work practice is self-managed teams.

To make interviews valid and reliable,interviewers should structure a fixed set of questions for all job applicants.

Which of the following is a type of specific training provided by organizations?

Steven is hired to manage the human resources department of a local manufacturing company. Unfortunately, the company has a reputation among workers of being the firm "where you work until you find your next job." Employee turnover is high and morale is low. Steven is determined to change the situation by turning the organization's human resources into a competitive advantage and a source of pride for the firm. -To improve the company's compensation system,Steven recommends a ________ pay system that rewards employees for competencies they can demonstrate,rather than basing pay on job titles.

One way to manage downsizing is to tell surviving employees the new goals and expectations.