Deck 5: Planning for and Recruiting Human Resources

Question 1

If the person providing the service is a contractor and not an employee,the company is not supposed to directly supervise the worker.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: In contrast to public employment agencies, which primarily serve the blue-collar labor market, private employment agencies provide much the same service for the white-collar labor market.

Question 2

The steps in a workforce utilization review are identical to the steps in the HR planning process.

Answer 2

True
Explanation: Statistical methods capture historic trends in a company's demand for labor. Under the right conditions, these methods predict demand and supply more precisely than a human forecaster can using subjective judgment. But many important events in the labor market have no precedent. When such events occur, statistical methods are of little use.

Question 3

Leading indicators are objective measures that accurately predict future labor demand.

Answer 3

True
Explanation: If the person providing the service is a contractor and not an employee, the company is not supposed to directly supervise the worker.

Question 4

Contracting with another organization to perform a broad set of services is called outsourcing.

Question 5

Implementation that ties planning and recruiting to the organization's strategy and to its efforts to develop employees becomes a complete program of talent management.

Question 6

The goals an organization sets in its human resource planning process should come directly from the analysis of its labor supply and demand.

Question 7

Downsizing can be used as an option for reducing surplus labor as it yields fast results.

Question 8

Downsizing leads to a loss of talent.

Question 9

In general,all companies have to make decisions in three areas of recruiting: personnel policies,recruitment sources,and the characteristics and behavior of the recruiter.

Question 10

A transitional matrix is a chart that lists job categories held in one period and shows the proportion of employees in each of those job categories in a future period.

Question 11

The use of temporary workers might burden the organization with additional administrative tasks.

Question 12

The second step in human resource planning is performance evaluation.

Question 13

To ensure success with an outsourcing strategy,companies should outsource work that requires tight security.

Question 14

Statistical models are used for forecasting labor demands because they are good at capturing "once-in-a-lifetime" changes.

Question 15

Work sharing is one of the options that can be used for avoiding labor shortage.

Question 16

In human resource planning,forecasting is an intermediary step.

Question 17

The most widespread methods for eliminating labor shortages are reducing work hours and endorsing early-retirement programs.

Question 18

The negative effect of downsizing would be low among firms that use performance-related pay incentives.

Question 19

Personnel policies influence the kinds of job applicants an organization reaches.

Question 20

Recruitment sources affect the characteristics of both the vacancies and the applicants.

Question 21

Which of the following terms refers to objective measures that accurately predict future labor demand?

A) Performance indicators
B) Transitional matrices
C) Functional pointers
D) Coincident pointers
E) Leading indicators

Question 22

Which of the following terms is a chart that lists job categories held in one period and shows the proportion of employees in each of those job categories in a future period?

A) Trend Analysis
B) Leading Indicator Method
C) Propensity Analysis
D) Transitional Matrix
E) Labor Bureau Statistics

Question 23

Many of the people reading classified ads are either over- or underqualified for the position.

Question 24

Referrals are people who apply for a vacancy without prompting from the organization.

Question 25

On the whole,research suggests that realistic job previews have a strong,consistent effect on minimizing employee turnover.

Question 26

The recruiter affects the nature of both the job vacancy and the applicants generated.

Question 27

Which of the following is a strategy to avoid labor shortage where the results can be obtained fast?

A) Technological Innovation
B) Retrained Transfers
C) Turnover Reductions
D) Outsourcing
E) New External Hires

Question 28

Planners need to combine statistical forecasts of labor supply with expert judgments because:

A) it would motivate the experts in the organization.
B) subjective judgments are always more reliable than historical data.
C) historical data may not always reliably indicate future trends.
D) statistical methods fail to account for historical trends.
E) statistical forecasts work well only in a dynamic environment.

Question 29

The goals that are set in the human resource planning process should come directly from:

A) the mid-level managers.
B) the analysis of labor supply and demand.
C) the judgments and choices made by the technical experts in the organization.
D) the feedback provided by the organization's customers.
E) the line workers at the grassroots level.

Question 30

Private employment agencies serve primarily the blue-collar workers,while public employment agencies mostly serve the white-collar workers.

Question 31

The first step in the human resource planning process is:

A) forecasting.
B) goal setting.
C) program implementation.
D) program evaluation.
E) performance evaluation.

Question 32

Which of the following is a strategy of avoiding a labor surplus where the amount of human suffering caused is high?

A) Retraining
B) Demotions
C) Hiring Freeze
D) Early Retirement
E) Natural Attrition

Question 33

Questions such as "Where did people who were in each job category go?" and "Where did people now in each job category come from?" can be answered with the help of:

A) propensity analysis.
B) leading indicators.
C) trend analysis.
D) multiple regression.
E) a transitional matrix.

Question 34

Why is hiring new employees for every labor shortage not preferable?

A) The process will lead to an artificial scarcity in the labor market.
B) It would lead to reduced organizational control over the workers and process.
C) Selecting new employees attracts too many discrimination law suits.
D) If the shortage becomes a surplus, the organization may have to lay off employees.
E) The process may result in reduced quality and may affect standardization.

Question 35

Determining the internal labor supply calls for a detailed analysis of:

A) how many people are willing to work for the organization.
B) how many people are currently in various job categories.
C) the financial performance and profitability of the company.
D) the future vacancies that will be available in the company.
E) the compensation strategies and recruitment methods used by the company.

Question 36

Trend analysis refers to:

A) a pooling of the "best guesses," or subjective judgments, of experts to predict labor demand and supply.
B) the use of subjective judgments to understand relationships among variables during fluctuating and unstable conditions.
C) a process that accurately predicts labor demand for the next year using leading indicators.
D) a comparison of the proportion of employees in protected groups with the proportion that each group represents in the relevant labor market.
E) a statistical method of forecasting that uses the proportion of employees in various job categories for making predictions.

Question 37

In the human resource planning process,which of the following is the immediate next step of the forecasting step?

A) Goal setting and strategic planning
B) Evaluation and feedback
C) Program implementation
D) Program evaluation
E) Performance evaluation

Question 38

Which of the following strategies could be used to avoid a labor shortage?

A) Reduced pay
B) Work sharing
C) Hiring freeze
D) Transfers
E) Retrained transfers

Question 39

Which of the following is an advantage of statistical forecasting methods?

A) They are particularly useful in dynamic environments.
B) Under the right conditions, they provide predictions that are much more precise than judgmental methods.
C) They are particularly useful in predicting important events that have no historical precedent.
D) They are invariably better than the "best guesses" of experts.
E) They can be used to reduce dependence on secondary data for making forecasts and predictions.

Question 40

Which of the following is a fast option that can be used to avoid a labor surplus with only a moderate amount of suffering caused to the employees?

A) Pay reductions
B) Transfers
C) Demotions
D) Early retirement
E) Retraining

Question 41

Which of the following is a disadvantage of downsizing?

A) It cannot be used to reduce the number of managers.
B) It would result in reduced future competitiveness.
C) It cannot provide an immediate solution to labor surplus.
D) It hurts long-term organizational effectiveness.
E) It does not have an immediate effect on costs.

Question 42

Which of the following observations is true of taking the services of independent contractors?

A) Core competencies can be effectively outsourced to contractors.
B) The company is not supposed to directly supervise the contractors.
C) It is a relatively slow process with low revocability.
D) The organization can achieve increased quality though the costs are more.
E) It provides an organization increased control over the operations.

Question 43

Temporary employment:

A) is costlier compared to most other methods of overcoming labor shortage.
B) is not suitable when demand for the employers' products changes rapidly.
C) is less flexible compared to the other methods of overcoming labor shortage.
D) it is most effective for key customer service jobs.
E) is not a popular method of overcoming labor shortage.

Question 44

Hugh & Co.,a manufacturer of widgets,has entered into a contract with a third party to perform a few functions of its supply chain management.Hugh & Co.can be said to be engaged in:

A) offshoring.
B) consolidation.
C) licensing.
D) merger.
E) outsourcing.

Question 45

Which of the following options for reducing an expected labor surplus has the benefit of being a relatively fast solution,but has the disadvantage of being high in human suffering?

A) Hiring Freeze
B) Early Retirement
C) Retraining
D) Work Sharing
E) Downsizing

Question 46

Which of the following is a challenge associated with outsourcing strategy?

A) Labor shortage
B) Increased cost
C) Quality-control problems
D) Lack of necessary technology
E) Diseconomies of scale

Question 47

Core competency refers to:

A) contracting with another organization to perform a broad set of services.
B) the planned elimination of large numbers of personnel with the goal of enhancing the organization's competitiveness.
C) the construction and application of statistical models that predict labor demand for the next year, given relatively objective statistics from the previous year.
D) a set of knowledge and skills that make the organization superior to competitors and create value for customers.
E) the attempts to determine the supply of and demand for various types of human resources within the organization.

Question 48

Outsourcing refers to:

A) contracting with another organization to perform a broad set of services.
B) licensing another organization to perform an organization's business in a different country.
C) using a temporary or contract employee to fill a single job vacancy.
D) buying the necessary raw materials needed to perform a business from external agencies.
E) moving operations away from the home location to bring about cost savings.

Question 49

A manufacturing company hit by a slump in demand is experiencing a labor surplus.The company expects the market to improve in six months and it does not want to layoff any of its employees.Which of the following strategies is an equitable way to handle this issue that results in spreading the burden more fairly?

A) Demotions
B) Outsourcing
C) Reduced work hours
D) Overtime
E) Employing temporary workers

Question 50

Many problems with downsizing can be reduced by:

A) slashing jobs across the board.
B) allowing workers to choose a buyout package in exchange for leaving.
C) engaging in better human resources planning.
D) avoiding unionization in the organization.
E) laying off only the older workers in the organization.

Question 51

A phased-retirement program refers to:

A) laying off older employees in small batches.
B) giving lucrative incentives to a large number of older employees to voluntarily retire.
C) reducing the number of hours older employees work as well as the cost of these employees.
D) giving older employees a certain time limit to voluntarily retire.
E) offering alternative work locations and work responsibilities to older employees.

Question 52

Which of the following is true of downsizing?

A) Downsizing improves long-term organizational effectiveness.
B) The negative effect of downsizing is especially low among firms that engage in high-involvement work practices.
C) Downsizing often disrupts the social networks through which people are creative and flexible.
D) The negative impact of downsizing is especially low for those organizations that emphasize research and development.
E) Downsizing campaigns only eliminate people who are replaceable.

Question 53

The primary reason organizations engage in downsizing is to:

A) attain larger profit margins.
B) promote future competitiveness.
C) bring in additional skills to the organization.
D) thwart unionizing efforts within a given facility.
E) strengthen the social networks in the organization.

Question 54

Which of the following is true of temporary workers?

A) Temporary employment involves higher costs.
B) Using temporary workers frees the employer from many administrative tasks.
C) Use of temporary workers is not suitable for small companies because extensive testing of the employees needs to be done before these companies get employees from an agency.
D) Most temporary workers need to be trained by the employers every time they join a new organization.
E) Temporary employment is not suitable for those employers who need to operate efficiently even when demand for their products changes rapidly.

Question 55

Early-retirement programs:

A) are not a popular way to reduce labor surplus.
B) are very successful because most baby boomers want to retire.
C) work well for knowledge based jobs and services.
D) cause more human suffering than the other methods of labor reduction.
E) encourage lower-performing older workers to leave voluntarily.

Question 56

Which of the following options for avoiding an expected labor shortage has the benefit of being a relatively fast solution with high revocability?

A) Retrained Transfer
B) Turnover Reductions
C) New External Hires
D) Overtime
E) Technological Innovation

Question 57

The most widespread methods for eliminating labor shortages are:

A) outsourcing work and work sharing.
B) hiring temporary workers and outsourcing work.
C) retrained transfers and turnover reduction.
D) overtime and new external hires.
E) overtime and retrained transfers.

Question 58

Which of the following is a reason why many of the downsizing efforts fail?

A) Surviving employees could become self-absorbed.
B) The company may become less competitive in the industry.
C) The overall costs incurred by the company may increase.
D) Governmental interference could cause problems.
E) Downsizing could result in decreased diversity.

Question 59

Temporary employment is popular with employers because:

A) it gives them flexibility in operations.
B) it allows them to comply with the requirement of affirmative action imposed by the government.
C) the quality of work is usually far superior.
D) it is most effective for key customer service jobs.
E) the temporary workers are more committed to the organization.

Question 60

Which of the following is a disadvantage of using temporary and contract workers?

A) Revocability of this method is lesser compared to other methods of avoiding labor shortage.
B) These kinds of workers cannot be hired through an agency.
C) These methods are a relatively slow solution to labor shortage.
D) These workers tend to be relatively less committed to the organization.
E) These workers work well in key jobs but not in those jobs that supplement the permanent employees.

Question 61

In the context of HR planning,implementation that ties planning and recruiting to the organization's strategy and to its efforts to develop employees becomes a complete program of:

A) reengineering.
B) total quality management.
C) benchmarking.
D) talent management.
E) workforce utilization.

Question 62

Which of the following aspects of recruitment is most likely to affect the nature of the positions that are vacant?

A) Recruitment sources
B) Personnel policies
C) Recruiter traits
D) Recruiter behavior
E) Applicant characteristics

Question 63

_____ influence the kinds of job applicants an organization reaches.

A) Personnel policies
B) Recruitment sources
C) Characteristics of the recruiter
D) Financial sources
E) Operational policies

Question 64

The process of communicating information about a job vacancy on company bulletin boards,in employee publications,on corporate intranets,and anywhere else the organization communicates with employees is referred to as:

A) job postings.
B) external hiring.
C) employment referral.
D) a workforce utilization review.
E) direct sourcing.

Question 65

Which of the following is an employment principle which states that if there is no specific employment contract saying otherwise,the employer or employee may end an employment relationship at any time,regardless of cause?

A) Due-process
B) Employment flexibility
C) Rule of fair treatment
D) Psychological contract
E) Employment at will

Question 66

A small company that manufactures special-order wood furniture has kept its employees busy on a 40-hours-a-week schedule for the past two years.The company just received the largest contract in its history from a Saudi Arabian company,opening offices in the area.The company does not expect repeat business.In order to complete the contract in the required one month,additional skilled labor is needed at short notice.Which of the following strategies is best suited to avoid this short-term labor shortage?

A) Retrained transfers
B) Overtime
C) Technological innovation
D) New external hires
E) Turnover reductions

Question 67

Which of the following is most likely to be an advantage of relying on internal recruitment sources?

A) They are likely to promote diversity in terms of race and sex.
B) They minimize the impact of political considerations in the hiring decision.
C) They are generally cheaper and faster than other means.
D) They expose the organization to new ideas or new ways of doing business.
E) They are well-suited to recruit specialized upper-level positions.

Question 68

Which of the following is an internal source of recruitment?

A) Employee Referrals
B) Direct Applicants
C) Employment Agencies
D) Job Postings
E) Personal Interviews

Question 69

Which of the following is true of internal recruitment sources?

A) Research indicates that most organizational positions are filled internally.
B) Internal recruitment sources expose the organization to new ideas or new ways of doing business.
C) Internal recruiting minimizes the possibility of unrealistic employee expectations.
D) Employee referrals are the most common source for internal recruitment.
E) Internal sources are most appropriate for specialized upper-level positions.

Question 70

Which of the following methods is best suited to diagnose the underutilization of a certain minority group in an organization?

A) Workforce Utilization Review
B) Trend Analysis
C) Transitional Matrix
D) Yield Ratio
E) Capacity Utilization Analysis

Question 71

Which of the following is an element in the final stage of human resources planning?

A) Estimating labor demand
B) Estimating labor supply
C) Estimating labor surplus/shortage
D) Strategic planning
E) Evaluating outcomes

Question 72

The process of _____ creates a buffer between planning and the actual selection of new employees.

A) recruiting
B) HR plan evaluation
C) induction
D) outsourcing
E) training

Question 73

Which of the following guidelines should companies follow to achieve success with outsourcing agencies?

A) Concentrate mainly on the cost-savings, and not on the internal environment at the agency.
B) Primarily outsource work that is proprietary in nature.
C) Start by outsourcing a significant chunk of work with minimal monitoring.
D) Outsource work in areas that will promote growth.
E) Do not enter into an outsourcing agreement with a partner located in the same country.

Question 74

Which of the following types of jobs would most likely force an organization to use external recruitment methods?

A) Technical positions
B) Business analyst positions
C) Supervisory positions
D) Entry-level positions
E) Middle-management positions

Question 75

Which of the following is a process used to determine whether there are any subgroups whose proportion in a given job category within a company is substantially different from their proportion in the relevant labor market?

A) Adverse Treatment Analysis
B) Workforce Utilization Review
C) Subgroup Reconciliation
D) Discrimination Analysis
E) Disparity Analysis

Question 76

The U.S.Army's "Army Strong" campaign,designed to create a generally favorable impression of the Army as a good place to work in,is an example of:

A) general advertising.
B) image advertising.
C) saturation advertising.
D) proactive advertising.
E) adventure advertising.

Question 77

_____ formally lay out the steps an employee may take to appeal an employer's decision to terminate that employee.

A) Leading indicators
B) Psychological contracts
C) Implicit contracts
D) Due-process policies
E) Employment-at-will contracts

Question 78

Recruitment is defined as:

A) the process of screening a pool of applicants who have applied for a specific position.
B) the process of evaluating the performance of an employee.
C) the activities carried out to identify and attract potential employees.
D) the process of identifying the skills required for successfully performing an organizational role.
E) the process of determining the labor supply and labor demand in an organization.

Question 79

Companies that use "lead-the-market" pay strategy:

A) would pay more than the current market wages for a job.
B) have a recruiting disadvantage.
C) would recruit lesser number of employees than needed and depend on overtime.
D) provide relatively better working conditions to employees compared to competitors.
E) usually have low pay, coupled with overtime and flex-time.

Question 80

Organizational recruitment materials that emphasize due-process policies,rights of appeal,and grievance mechanisms send a message that:

A) the organization has many problems.
B) employee morale is low in the organization.
C) job security is high in the organization.
D) the organization has a vertical decision-making structure.
E) the organization does not value the employees in the organization.