Deck 2: Strategy and Human Resources Planning

Question 1

Changes in labor supply can place limits on the strategies available to firms.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Trend analysis is a qualitative approach to labor demand forecasting.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The strategic vision of an organization never moves beyond its mission statement to provide a perspective on where the company is headed and what the organization can become in the future.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The first step in strategic planning of a firm involves establishing a mission,vision,and values for the firm.

Question 5

Qualitative HR forecasting techniques generally employ sophisticated analytical models.

Question 6

Organizations tend to make long-term commitments to strategic knowledge employees,investing in their continuous training and development,and perhaps giving them an equity stake in the organization.

Question 7

Forecasting is frequently more of an art than a science,providing inexact approximations rather than absolute results.

Question 8

A cultural audit can be used to examine the attitudes and expectations of employees.

Question 9

Strategic planning involves a set of procedures for making decisions about an organization's long-term goals and strategies.

Question 10

Internal analysis focuses on culture and conflicts within an organization.

Question 11

Strategic human resources management (SHRM)is a combination of strategic planning and HR planning.

Question 12

Trend analysis refers to the use of statistical techniques to plot a historical trend of a business factor.

Question 13

Trend analysis relies on a single factor to predict employment needs.

Question 14

Strategic planning is the process of anticipating and providing for the movement of people into,within,and out of an organization.

Question 15

A vision statement clarifies the long-term direction of a company and its strategic intent.

Question 16

Human resource planning (HRP)refers to the process of recruitment and selection that caters to the welfare of an organization's existing employees.

Question 17

An organization's core values are the strong enduring beliefs and principles that the company uses as a foundation for its decisions.

Question 18

Organizational core values form the foundation of a firm's decisions.

Question 19

Staffing tables provide data on external labor supply sources.

Question 20

An internal analysis enables strategic decision makers to assess an organization's workforce-its skills,cultural beliefs,and values.​

Question 21

While unemployment rates vary by sector,the lack of talent in low-skill jobs continues to create a real challenge for firms.

Question 22

In unionized firms,layoffs are only based on performance.

Question 23

Organizational structure is the framework in which the activities of organization members are coordinated.

Question 24

In the long run,firms must approach outsourcing decisions based on cost alone to strengthen their core capabilities.

Question 25

Succession planning is the process of identifying,developing,and tracking talented individuals so that they may eventually assume top-level positions.

Question 26

Unionized organizations recognize seniority.

Question 27

In international joint ventures,the issue of culture is paramount.

Question 28

Corporate strategy focuses on domain selection.

Question 29

Critical success factors for a low-cost strategy include efficiency,productivity,and minimizing waste.

Question 30

Dell has been very successful competing based on a low-cost strategy.

Question 31

A disadvantage of overemphasizing seniority is that less competent employees receive the same rewards and security as more competent employees.

Question 32

The target company for benchmarking does not need to be a competitor.

Question 33

A Markov analysis can show the percentage of employees who remain in each of a firm's jobs from one year to the next.

Question 34

​A SWOT analysis helps executives summarize the major facts and forecasts derived from external and internal analyses.

Question 35

FedEx has been very successful in utilizing a differentiation strategy.

Question 36

Shared values act as a guiding parameter for strategic planning.

Question 37

The Balanced Scorecard is a tool for mapping a firm's strategy in order to ensure strategic alignment.

Question 38

​A Markov analysis can be used to track the pattern of employee movements through various jobs.

Question 39

Core values are the essence of corporate cultures and an expression of their personality.

Question 40

​Benchmarking is a process that companies use to look at their practices and performance in a given area and then compare them with other companies.

Question 41

The core value of a company:

A)is the systematic monitoring of its external opportunities.
B)is the basic purpose of the company.
C)is the strong enduring belief used by the company to make decisions.
D)is determined by conducting a trend analysis on its employees.

Question 42

The process of setting procedures for making decisions about an organization's long-term goals is called:

A)strategic planning.
B)HR planning.
C)job analysis.
D)environmental scanning.

Question 43

When a firm's resources improve the efficiency or effectiveness of the company,the resources are always considered to be:

A)difficult to imitate.
B)valuable.
C)organized.
D)rare.

Question 44

Which of the following is NOT a component of SWOT analysis?

A)Weakness
B)Threat
C)Strategy
D)Opportunity

Question 45

​The quality-of-fill metric attempts to measure how well new hires of an organization are performing so that the organization will have enough top performers to propel it towards its strategic objectives.

Question 46

Human resource planning is:

A)the technique that identifies the critical aspects of a job.
B)the process of anticipating and providing for the movement of people into, within, and out of an organization.
C)the process of setting major organizational objectives and developing comprehensive plans to achieve these objectives.
D)the process of determining the primary direction of a firm.

Question 47

Integrated knowledge sets within an organization that distinguish it from its competitors and deliver value to customers are known as:

A)individual competencies.
B)core capabilities.
C)human capital.
D)organizational competencies.

Question 48

The mission of a company:

A)is used for the systematic monitoring of its external opportunities.
B)is the basic purpose of the company.
C)is the strong enduring belief used by the company to make decisions.
D)provides a perspective on where the company is headed.

Question 49

The systematic,regular monitoring of major external forces influencing an organization is called:

A)demand forecasting.
B)environmental scanning.
C)exception reporting.
D)influence analysis.

Question 50

The group of employees which has skills that are quite valuable to a company in creating customer value but not particularly unique or difficult to replace is referred to as:

A)core employees.
B)strategic knowledge workers.
C)supporting workers.
D)partners.

Question 51

A qualitative approach to demand forecasting can include any of the following EXCEPT:

A)trend analysis
B)the Delphi technique
C)soliciting expert opinion
D)management forecast

Question 52

The examination of the attitudes and activities of a company's workforce is done using:

A)environmental scanning.
B)trend analysis.
C)cultural audit.
D)behavioral modeling.

Question 53

Strategic knowledge workers have:

A)unique skills not directly related to company strategy.
B)unique skills directly related to company strategy.
C)skills that are valuable but not unique.
D)skills that are generally available in the labor market.

Question 54

When the knowledge,skills,and abilities of a firm's human resources are not equally available to its competitors,these resources are considered to be:

A)impossible to imitate.
B)devalued.
C)common.
D)rare.

Question 55

In order to do an effective job at strategic planning managers do all of the following EXCEPT:

A)making forecasts of labor demand.
B)neglecting supply considerations.
C)performing supply analyses.
D)balancing supply and demand considerations.

Question 56

Customers,suppliers,and substitutes are part of a _____ environment.

A)political
B)technological
C)demographic
D)competitive

Question 57

Which of the following is NOT an element of organizational growth?

A)Increased employee productivity
B)Large number of employees
C)Employees developing or acquiring new skills
D)High employee turnover rate

Question 58

The strategic vision of a company:

A)is used for the systematic monitoring of its external opportunities.
B)is the basic purpose of the company.
C)is the strong enduring belief used by the company to make decisions.
D)provides a perspective on where the company is headed.

Question 59

A competitive environment includes all the following EXCEPT:

A)new entrants.
B)suppliers.
C)rivals.
D)subordinates.

Question 60

At the fundamental level,a firm's strategy should focus on creating value for:

A)resellers.
B)suppliers.
C)customers.
D)subordinates.

Question 61

Talent inventories can be used to develop _____,which list current jobholders.

A)core values
B)replacement charts
C)trend models
D)staffing tables

Question 62

Measures of turnover costs do NOT include:

A)separation costs.
B)employee turnover costs.
C)replacement costs.
D)training program costs.

Question 63

Layoff decisions are usually based on:

A)union membership.
B)department ranking.
C)seniority.
D)favoritism.

Question 64

Cross-training and job rotations are intended to improve the _____ of an organization.

A)coordination flexibility
B)turnover capability
C)organizational capability
D)resource flexibility

Question 65

According to 7-S framework analysis,which of following is NOT in the "Hard S" category?

A)Strategy
B)Shared values
C)Structure
D)Systems and processes

Question 66

_____ is the ability of an organization to rapidly reallocate resources to new or changing needs.

A)Coordination flexibility
B)Predicted flexibility
C)Organizational capability
D)Turnover capability

Question 67

​A _____ is a measurement framework that helps managers translate strategic goals into operational objectives.

A)benchmark
B)trend analysis
C)Balanced Scorecard
D)cultural audit

Question 68

Shared values:

A)are essential for an organization that aims to increase its employee turnover rate.
B)act as the framework in which activities of employees are coordinated to reduce absenteeism.
C)are formal and informal procedures that govern every day activity of the managers of an organization.
D)act as guiding parameters for strategic planning.

Question 69

Cooperative strategies pursued by firms include:

A)joint ventures.
B)trend analysis.
C)mergers.
D)acquisitions.

Question 70

In the 7-S framework analysis,the "Hard S" category includes systems and processes which:

A)lay out the route that the organization will take in the future to increase absenteeism.
B)only includes the framework in which activities of employees are coordinated.
C)include formal and informal procedures that govern the every day activities of a firm.
D)act as guiding parameters for strategic planning in order to increase employee turnover rate.

Question 71

A _____ is used to depict the number and percentage of employees of an organization in each job from year to year,with proportions of those who are promoted,demoted,transferred,or who exit the organization.

A)staffing table
B)Markov analysis
C)skills inventory
D)trend analysis

Question 72

The capacity of an organization to continuously act and change in pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage is known as:

A)coordination flexibility.
B)predicted capability.
C)organizational capability.
D)turnover flexibility.

Question 73

A _____ analysis is intended to help executives summarize the major facts and forecasts derived from external and internal analyses.

A)gap
B)Markov
C)SWOT
D)trend

Question 74

A graphical representation of all organizational jobs along with the numbers of employees currently occupying those jobs and future employment requirements is called:

A)a staffing table.
B)an organization chart.
C)a skills inventory.
D)career planning.

Question 75

The first step in strategic planning involves:

A)analyzing the competition.
B)interviewing potential employees.
C)reviewing failed plans from the past in order to improve employee turnover rate.
D)establishing a mission, vision, and values for an organization.

Question 76

Trend analysis includes all of the following steps EXCEPT:

A)selecting a business factor.
B)soliciting expert opinions.
C)predicting employment needs.
D)plotting historical trends.

Question 77

The Delphi technique:

A)is an attempt to decrease subjectivity of forecasts.
B)is a quantitative method.
C)is used to plot historical trends.
D)is the quickest method for increasing employee turnover rates.

Question 78

An organizational structure:

A)lays out the route that the organization will take in the future to increase absenteeism.
B)is the framework in which activities of employees are coordinated.
C)is the formal procedure that governs every day activity.
D)is used to increase employee turnover rate.

Question 79

The process of identifying,developing,and tracking talented individuals so that they may eventually assume top-level positions is:

A)target forecasting.
B)predicted change.
C)succession planning.
D)replacement selection.

Question 80

Which of the following is NOT a cell of the Balanced Scorecard model?

A)Financial
B)Turnover
C)Customer
D)Process