Deck 6: Human Resource Decision-Making in Organizations

Question 1

Ramon was employed by a software company to work in the print media section of its public relations department. The management of the company recently laid off the entire print media section, including Ramon, to cut costs. However, Ramon was not angry about the company's decision because he believed the decision of the company was objective and unbiased as all the employees in the print section were terminated. This scenario illustrates _____.

A) interactional justice
B) procedural justice
C) informational justice
D) restorative justice

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Interactional justice refers to perceptions that the process used to determine the outcomes that an employee faces was fair.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Which of the following can be used by an organization when it is possible to plan systematically for a gradual decrease in the workforce?

A) Contingent workers
B) Early retirements
C) Involuntary terminations
D) Employee leasing

Answer 3

B

Question 4

A large contingent workforce is the most desirable alternative to recruitment.

Question 5

In the context of downsizing, employees with survivor syndrome feel extremely proud of keeping their jobs, and their morale and commitment to the organization increase dramatically.

Question 6

Which of the following statements is true of employing part-time workers in an organization?

A) Part-time workers are available round the clock and on all days to provide technical support.
B) Part-time workers increase the labor costs of the organization.
C) Part-time workers are routinely expected to work less than 20 hours a week.
D) Part-time workers provide considerable scheduling flexibility to the organization.

Question 7

A progressive disciplinary plan is an organizational disciplinary program where:

A) the primary goal is to terminate employees.
B) employees are given incentives to engage in desired behavior.
C) verbal warnings are directly followed by employee suspension.
D) the severity of punishment increases across the seriousness of the problem.

Question 8

Distributive justice is insignificant in determining an employee's reactions to pay decisions.

Question 9

Which of the following refers to hours worked above the normal 40-hour workweek, for which there is usually a pay premium?

A) Voluntary turnover
B) Overtime
C) Expatriation
D) Functional turnover

Question 10

Which of the following is most likely to be an effective retention strategy for a high-tech software company to retain executive engineers for an extended period of time?

A) Regularly administering job satisfaction surveys
B) Increasing job embeddedness
C) Giving stock options that cannot be exercised for the first 5 years of employment
D) Reducing the job requirements to make jobs simpler and easier

Question 11

Which of the following statements is true of the job descriptive index?

A) It is the most commonly used method to assess procedural justice.
B) It has a single overall measure of job satisfaction.
C) It assesses satisfaction with specific job aspects such as pay, the work itself, and supervision.
D) It assesses the contextual performance of employees.

Question 12

Ethics and law always coincide precisely.

Question 13

In the context of layoffs, which of the following refers to the quality of the interpersonal treatment people receive when a decision is implemented?

A) Distributive justice
B) Procedural justice
C) Interactional justice
D) Restorative justice

Question 14

Providing employees with overtime opportunities is especially beneficial when the increased need for human resources is short term.

Question 15

As part of a progressive disciplinary program, a verbal warning given to an employee becomes part of the employee's permanent record.

Question 16

Which of the following statements is true of mergers and acquisitions?

A) When employees perceive threats to their self-identity, they let go of the identity for job stability.
B) In order to succeed, organizations must help each employee retain his or her original self-identity.
C) Organizations must integrate the two firms into one and create a new self-identity for all employees.
D) Organizations want to encourage the "us versus them" mentality between merging employees.

Question 17

Employees involved in mergers and acquisitions must retain their existing self-identity instead of developing a new one.

Question 18

Which of the following factors is most likely a reason for the failure of a merger or acquisition?

A) The size of the workforce of the acquiring firm was bigger than that of the acquired firm.
B) The new business was too far from the areas of expertise of the acquiring firm.
C) The accounting systems of both firms were different.
D) The parent firm incurred high levels of research-and-development expenditure.

Question 19

Employee leasing involves an organization paying a fee to a company that provides a pool of employees to the organization on a temporary basis.

Question 20

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires that employers give at least 60 days' notice for a mass layoff.

Question 21

In the context of dealing with increased demand for workers, which of the following involves an organization paying a fee to a company that provides a pool of workers who are available on a temporary basis?

A) Rightsizing
B) An internship
C) Employee leasing
D) A part-time contract

Question 22

Cinergy Inc., a Midwestern gas and electric utility company, needs to reduce its workforce over the next 2 years. The company is offering employees who leave the firm before the age of 65 a bonus equivalent to 2 weeks' pay for every year of employment with Cinergy Inc. In the given scenario, Cinergy Inc. is:

A) increasing job embeddedness.
B) encouraging voluntary early retirement.
C) providing stock options to employees.
D) implementing an involuntary turnover strategy.

Question 23

Which of the following statements is true of stock options?

A) Employees who are given stock options are legally bound to sign a noncompete clause.
B) The stock-option price for employees is higher than the selling price of the stock when the option is issued.
C) They give employees the right to purchase a certain number of shares of stock at a given price.
D) They give employees the opportunity to be part of the company's inventory management.

Question 24

Beth, a new assistant manager at one of the branches of Scroll Bank, is unhappy with her job because she was not told during her job interview that she would be responsible for answering phone calls. Moreover, she claims that many of the workplace facilities mentioned during her interview are not really present. As a result, she is resigning from her job. Which of the following employee retention strategies should Scroll Bank use to avoid similar situations in the future?

A) Employee assistance programs
B) Realistic job previews
C) Stock options
D) Cafeteria-style benefits plans

Question 25

Which of the following is a major cause for involuntary turnover in an organization?

A) Lack of job complexity
B) Poor performance of an individual
C) High job embeddedness
D) Poor rapport between co-workers

Question 26

Which of the following is a difference between leased employees and part-time employees?

A) Unlike leased employees, part-time employees are usually covered by benefits from the organization.
B) Unlike part-time employees, leased employees provide considerable scheduling flexibility to the organization that hires them.
C) Unlike leased employees, part-time employees reduce the labor costs of an organization.
D) Unlike part-time employees, leased employees are regularly expected to work less than 40 hours a week.

Question 27

Which of the following refers to the fact that some people stay on their jobs, even when they decide they are unhappy and should leave?

A) Job embeddedness
B) Normative commitment
C) Affective commitment
D) Job enrichment

Question 28

Organizational citizenship behaviors include employee behaviors:

A) that are formally required as part of an employee's job.
B) that are beneficial to the organization.
C) that are recognized by the job descriptive index.
D) that increase job embeddedness.

Question 29

Which of the following is a difference between suspension and termination?

A) Suspension is part of a progressive disciplinary program, whereas termination is not part of a progressive disciplinary program.
B) Suspension lasts for a day or for a few weeks, whereas termination marks the end of the employment relationship.
C) Suspension is the first step in most progressive disciplinary programs, whereas termination is the last step in most progressive disciplinary programs.
D) Suspension invariably leads to legal problems for an employer, whereas termination rarely leads to legal problems for an employer.

Question 30

According to a study of the effects of rightsizing conducted in the 1990s, the firms where the decline in employment was less than 5 percent from 1980 to 1994, but the decline in plant and assets during the same period was at least 5 percent greater than the decline in employment were called _____.

A) stable employers
B) employment downsizers
C) asset downsizers
D) combination upsizers

Question 31

Exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine are inapplicable when:

A) an individual is terminated because of union activity.
B) an employee is an objectively documented poor performer.
C) an employee is discharged for refusing to commit a crime.
D) an individual has an implied contract guaranteeing employment.

Question 32

In the context of a progressive disciplinary program of an organization, which of the following is a temporary layoff, usually with pay, when there is an ongoing investigation?

A) Termination
B) Suspension
C) Disbanding
D) Rightsizing

Question 33

Which of the following is often used with new employees as a means of socializing them in their new job roles and is effective in reducing turnover?

A) A stock-option plan
B) Job enrichment
C) A realistic job preview
D) Internal equity

Question 34

Which of the following exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine protects whistle-blowers?

A) The Taft-Hartley Act exception
B) The due process exception
C) Public-policy exception
D) Breach-of-good-faith exception

Question 35

Which of the following is a job-related factor that may lead to job dissatisfaction?

A) Job complexity
B) Ties in the community
C) Individual genetic predisposition being satisfied or dissatisfied
D) Affective commitment to a job

Question 36

Saint Mary City Hospital is facing a severe shortage of nurses in some of its departments. Many nurses quit their jobs recently as they were asked to do tasks that were not included in their job profile. The administration is now hiring new nursing staff. Which of the following would be the most effective in retaining the new nurses that are hired?

A) Conducting realistic job previews
B) Reducing job enrichment
C) Increasing the normative commitment of the nurses
D) Increasing job embeddedness

Question 37

Voice, a critical dimension of procedural justice, refers to the perception that:

A) the rules used to make a decision were applied the same way to everyone involved.
B) the person applying the rules to make a decision had no vested interest in the outcome of the decision.
C) the rules used to make a decision conform to prevailing standards of ethics and morality.
D) the person affected by a decision had some control over the outcome in the decision.

Question 38

Voluntary turnover occurs when:

A) employees choose to leave the organization for a variety of reasons.
B) a facility is closed and all of its workers are put out of work.
C) an underperforming employee is laid off.
D) managers choose to leave job vacancies unfilled.

Question 39

In the context of downsizing, which of the following describes employees who feel guilty over keeping their jobs when others lost their jobs?

A) The glass ceiling illusion
B) Protagonist syndrome
C) Survivor syndrome
D) The victim mentality

Question 40

Which of the following is a dimension of interactional justice that refers to the extent to which the decision maker of a layoff decision provides details about the rules used to make the decision and how they were applied?

A) Interpersonal justice
B) Informational justice
C) Procedural justice
D) Distributive justice

Question 41

Which of the following increases the likelihood of a merger or acquisition being successful?

A) The HR manager should serve as the center of communications across the merging organizations.
B) The HR manager must disseminate information in a limited and "need-to-know" manner.
C) The HR manager should become the final arbiter of which mergers or acquisitions should be pursued.
D) The HR manager must not be closely involved in the merging process of organizations.

Question 42

In the context of the employment-at-will doctrine, an employee who is discharged can sue for wrongful termination if:

A) the termination is because of union activity.
B) the employee has a civil right to his or her job.
C) the employee is terminated for having an ethnocentric attitude.
D) the termination comes as part of a progressive disciplinary program.

Question 43

An organization engages in job enrichment by making employees' work more challenging and by granting them more autonomy. These most likely reduce:

A) the organizational citizenship behaviors of the employees.
B) the affective commitment of the employees toward the organization.
C) the turnover rates of the company.
D) the contextual performance of the employees.

Question 44

In the context of the dimensions of procedural justice, which of the following is the perception that the rules used to make a decision conform to personal or prevailing standards of morality?

A) Consistency
B) Representativeness
C) Voice
D) Ethicality

Question 45

In the context of the different models of the turnover process, which of the following is an event that can be either positive or negative but is so profound that it causes an employee to think about the organization, the job, and how he or she fits with both?

A) A shock
B) A realistic job preview
C) Organizational alienation
D) Functional turnover

Question 46

Identify a true statement about mergers and acquisitions.

A) In most cases, mergers and acquisitions result in a shortage of employees.
B) Mergers and acquisition threaten the self-identity of the employees involved.
C) The employees of the acquiring firm are seen as allies by the employees of the acquired firm.
D) Employees involved in mergers and acquisitions should retain their self-identity.

Question 47

Identify a critical dimension of procedural justice that refers to the perception that a person applying the rules to a decision had no vested interest in the outcome of the decision.

A) Consistency
B) Free from bias
C) Voice
D) Information accuracy

Question 48

An advantage of retaining highly performing employees is that:

A) it helps in fostering normative commitment in the workplace.
B) it helps in increasing job embeddedness at the workplace.
C) it helps in reducing functional turnover.
D) it helps in avoiding the expenses involved in replacing them.

Question 49

John, an executive at a top investment firm, often gets into heated arguments with his boss over their differing views on how to best execute projects. They also come into conflict with each other because of their different working styles. In this scenario, John is most likely to be dissatisfied with his job because of:

A) his affective commitment to the firm.
B) the challenging nature of his job.
C) his relationship with his supervisor.
D) job enrichment.

Question 50

Which of the following is the degree to which an employee identifies with a firm and is willing to exert effort on behalf of the firm?

A) Organizational commitment
B) Representativeness
C) Contextual performance
D) Job embeddedness

Question 51

The key to successful termination of an employee is _____.

A) public-policy exception
B) realistic job previews
C) documentation
D) verbal warnings

Question 52

Identify a correct statement about mergers and acquisitions.

A) The failure or success of mergers and acquisitions is assessed by looking at employee turnover.
B) Successful mergers and acquisitions result in lower research-and-development expenditure.
C) Aspects of human resource management are not relevant to the success or failure of mergers and acquisitions.
D) The failure or success of mergers and acquisitions can be assessed by looking at stock prices.

Question 53

Adelint Inc., a retail store chain, had been incurring high costs and hence downsized its workforce to increase its profits. However, the company's business grew over the next 6 months, and it had to recruit many new employees. The company hence ended up incurring the usual high infrastructure costs as well as the cost of recruiting the new employees. Instead of downsizing its workforce, Adelint Inc. could have _____

A) rightsized its workforce.
B) outsourced its work.
C) invested in plant and machinery.
D) reduced its fixed assets.

Question 54

Which of the following statements is true of the contingent workforce of an organization?

A) It refers to the employees who feel guilty over keeping their jobs when others are laid off as part of the rightsizing process of an organization.
B) It includes employees who work more than 50 hours a week.
C) It includes all part-time employees who are employed by an organization to fill in for permanent employees during peak demand.
D) It refers to the permanent employees of an organization.

Question 55

Wisnet Corp. recently replaced its accounting software with another accounting application provided by a software development firm. The software development firm provides lifelong services for the new software, so Wisnet Corp. has laid off those employees whose job profile had been limited to providing technical support for the old software. In the given scenario, Wisnet Corp. engaged in _____.

A) involuntary turnover
B) a progressive disciplinary plan
C) employee leasing
D) a job enrichment program

Question 56

Which of the following indicators can be used to assess the success or failure of a merger or acquisition?

A) Research-and-development expenditures
B) HR policies of the newly formed organization
C) Ethics and values of the newly formed organization
D) Previous acquisitions of the acquiring firm

Question 57

Antony, a content analyst, is dissatisfied with the salary his current organization pays him. Although he finds other jobs with better compensation packages, he does not take up any of them. This is because taking up a new job would require him to move to a new neighborhood, which would mean that he would have to move away from his friends. The given scenario exemplifies _____.

A) functional turnover
B) affective commitment
C) job embeddedness
D) organizational alienation

Question 58

In the context of progressive discipline, which of the following refers to following unacceptable behavior with some type of negative consequences?

A) Extinction
B) Procedural justice
C) Punishment
D) Interpersonal justice

Question 59

In the context of a study of the effects of downsizing conducted in the 1990s, the firms where changes in employment from 1980 to 1994 fell between plus and minus 5 percent were called _____.

A) stable employers
B) employment downsizers
C) asset downsizers
D) asset stabilizers

Question 60

Which of the following refers to the system of rules and procedures for how and when punishment is administered and how severe the punishment should be?

A) Procedural justice
B) Distributive justice
C) Discipline
D) Ethicality

Question 61

Briefly explain the steps in a typical progressive disciplinary program.

Question 62

Describe some of the models of the turnover process.

Question 63

How do retention strategies address the causes of job dissatisfaction?

Question 64

Briefly explain the three types of justice that influence an employee's reaction to layoff.

Question 65

Explain the role of effective human resource management (HRM) during mergers and acquisitions.