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

Iris Bloom accepted a management position at the Sustainable Plant Life Corporation. In order to give her an appreciation of the different functional areas of her new company, she is required to spend six weeks in each of five different functional areas of the company, including production, research and development, accounting, marketing, and the HR management department. This type of training is known as contingency employment.

Sean works for a large discount retailer. His wife works for a large bank with several branches. After recently adopting a child, the couple agreed that each would take six weeks of leave from work in order to care for the child. According to the Family and Medical Leave Act, one, but not both, are eligible for leave.

The selection process may include a(n) _______________, where employment is only guaranteed for a specified period of time, until either a permanent offer is extended or the employee is discharged.

Companies are utilizing home-based workers as ________, shifting away from the expense of maintaining in-house operators or less qualified offshore operators.

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.

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:

Human resource management is receiving increased attention because the shift from traditional manufacturing industries to service and high-tech manufacturing industries requires workers to have more technical job skills.

When John lost his job as a highly skilled craftsman at a metal working shop, he searched for a good job for several months before finally accepting a position as a maintenance worker at a local community college. He is happy to have a job, but frustrated by the fact that he had to settle for a job that did not take full advantage of his skills. John is a(n):

__________ workers have a higher skill level than their current job requires.

Corporate managers who supervise, coach, and guide lower-level employees and serve as their organizational sponsors are called:

In just a few short weeks, Jake would arrive back in the states from his semester abroad. He was already in a temp agency's database from the previous summer, when he spent 8 weeks working for an accounting firm. Jake will again try to hire on as a ___________ during the summer months. The company that hired him last summer typically hires several college students each year, mainly because they have good computer skills, and the company does not need to offer college students benefits.

Examples of soft benefits that a firm might offer are: onsite medical physician services, and exercise centers.

Companies compete with other firms for good employees.

Danielle relies on summer earnings to fund her next year at the university. When she tried to get her old high school summer job back at local Cool Rags Clothier, she learned that the manager no longer hires college students during the summer months. Which of the following strategies do you recommend that Danielle pursue?

A job specification is a statement of the job itself, while a job description is a statement about the person who does the job.

Recruitment is a set of activities undertaken for attracting qualified people, at the right time.

A(n) __________ is prepared as part of the human resource planning process, and indicates the characteristics and qualifications of the organization's labor force, thus helping the firm determine whether its employees are technically up-to-date and adequately trained.

Over the next ten to fifteen years, most firms will discontinue apprenticeship programs as changes in technology make this type of training obsolete.

When creating a job description, the HR manager may include:

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not do enough to discourage discriminatory practices in the workplace.