ESSENTIALS OF MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER TWELVE
BUILDING AND MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES

Six Sigma programs ____________.

A. are a required part of every HR system

B. do not require HR initiatives

C. can be built by employees from the bottom up

D. require top management commitment

E. are the responsibility of middle management

In order for "Six Sigma" quality improvement plans to be effective, top managers have to be committed to
Six Sigma, employees must be motivated, and there must be demand for the products or services of the
organization.

Microsoft Corporation interviews dozens of highly qualified programmers before deciding on which ones
to hire. This is the HRM process of _____________.

A. recruitment
B. development

C. selection

D. validation

E. orientation
Managers use recruitment and selection, the first component of an HRM system, to attract and hire new
employees who have the abilities, skills, and experiences that will help an organization achieve its goals.
Microsoft Corporation has the goal of remaining the premier computer software company in the world. To
achieve this goal, managers at Microsoft realize the importance of hiring only the best software designers:
Hundreds of highly qualified candidates are interviewed and rigorously tested. This careful attention to
selection has contributed to Microsoft's competitive advantage.
Newly-hired programmers at Microsoft Corporation join small work teams so that experienced workers can
serve as mentors to them while they are adjusting to their new job. This is the HRM process of
____________.

A. self-managing work teams

B. selection

C. performance appraisal

D. orientation
E. training and development
Managers use the second component of the HRM process, training and development, to ensure that
organizational members develop the skills and abilities that will enable them to perform their jobs
effectively in the present and the future.

The information that managers need to make good human resources decisions about how to train,
motivate, and reward organizational members can be obtained through ___________.

A. recruitment

B. induction

C. training

D. the performance appraisal

E. feedback
Performance appraisal can provide managers with the information they need to make good human
resources decisions—decisions about how to train, motivate, and reward organizational members.
Steffie has requested for a week's leave to be with her mother, who is very ill. Her manager refuses to grant
her the leave even though Steffie is aware that this would result in a loss of pay, and she is agreeable to it.
If her manager does not grant Steffie leave, the employer would be violating ____________.

A. the Age Discrimination in Employment Act

B. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

C. the Family and Medical Leave Act

D. the Equal Pay Act

E. the Union Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act requires that employers provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave for medical
and family reasons including paternity and illness of a family member.

A large publishing company contracts with a freelance writer for the task of copyediting a new manuscript,
instead of hiring a full-time copyeditor. This is an example of:

A. lateral movement.
B. open sourcing.

C. outsourcing.

D. job rotation.

E. downsizing.
Outsourcing occurs when, instead of recruiting and selecting employees to produce goods and services,
managers contract with people who are not members of their organization to produce goods and services.
A software firm has an opening for a software programmer. Jason, the HR manager, is making a list of all
the tasks, duties, and responsibilities that make up a software programmer's job. He then lists the
knowledge, skills, and abilities that a candidate should posses in order for him/her to perform the job. This
is the process of developing a job ____________.

A. hypothesis
B. validation

C. utilization
D. design

E. analysis
Job analysis is the process of identifying (1) the tasks, duties, and responsibilities that make up a job (the
job description) and (2) the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the job (the job
specifications).

When a manager studies the résumé of a job applicant to determine the work history and education of the
applicant, this is known as the process of:

A. interviewing

B. induction

C. gathering background information

D. situational interviewing

E. paralleling
To aid in the selection process, managers obtain background information from job applications and from
résumés. Such information might include the highest levels of education obtained, college majors and
minors, type of college or university attended, years and type of work experience, and mastery of foreign
languages.
When interviewers present a job applicant with a scenario that is likely to occur on the job and ask the
applicant how he/she would respond, this type of question is known as a(n) _______________ interview
question.

A. unstructured

B. ad hoc

C. situational

D. personality
E. semi-structured
In situational interviews, interviewers present interviewees with a scenario that they would likely encounter
on the job and ask them to indicate how they would handle it.

A manager requires all job applicants to complete an online questionnaire that claims to tell the manager if
each applicant is an extrovert or an introvert. This manager is engaging in the HRM process of
____________.

A. reference checking
B. interviewing

C. ability testing
D. personality testing

E. background information
Personality tests measure personality traits and characteristics relevant to job performance

Karen is a manager in a large restaurant chain, and she wants to use situational interview questions while
interviewing server candidates. A situational interview question Karen can ask is:

A. "What are your strengths and weaknesses as a server?"

B. "Tell me something about your last job as a server."

C. "What do you like about being a server?"

D. "What would you do if a customer wanted to be seated away from small children?"
E. "Do you like to work with people?"
Situational interview questions often present interviewees with a scenario they would likely encounter on
the job and asks them to indicate how they would handle it. This helps the interviewee to demonstrate
skills and abilities needed for the job by answering the question.
A manager attempting to select a test for a job applicant that will be a good predictor of the applicant's
performance on the job, should be primarily concerned with the _______________ of the test.

A. validity
B. stability

C. reliability
D. compatibility

E. consistency
Managers should use tests that most accurately predict what applicants' performance will be on the job for
which they are being assessed. This is called the validity of the test.

The Act that made it legal for workers to organize into unions was the:

A. Fair Labor Standards Act.

B. Equal Pay Act.

C. National Labor Relations Act.

D. Civil Rights Act.

E. Equal Employment Opportunity Act.

The National Labor Relations Act made it legal for workers to organize into unions to protect their rights
and interests and declared certain unfair or unethical organizational practices to be illegal.
Each component of an HRM system influences the others, and all five must fit together. Explain the
components of recruitment and selection and training and development.
Managers use recruitment and selection, the first component of an HRM system, to attract and hire new
employees who have the abilities, skills, and experiences that will help an organization achieve its goals.
After recruiting and selecting employees, managers use the second component, training and development,
to ensure that organizational members develop the skills and abilities that will enable them to perform
their jobs effectively in the present and the future. Training and development compose an ongoing
process; changes in technology and the environment, as well as in an organization's goals and strategies,
often require that organizational members learn new techniques and ways of working.

Write a note on the components of performance appraisal and feedback and pay and benefits to the
employees.
Performance appraisal and feedback is the third component of the HRM system, It serves two different
purposes. First, performance appraisal can give managers the information they need to make good human
resources decisions—decisions about how to train, motivate, and reward organizational members. Second,
feedback from performance appraisal serves a developmental purpose for members of an organization.
On the basis of performance appraisals, managers distribute pay to employees, which is part of the fourth
component of an HRM system. By rewarding high-performing organizational members with pay raises,
bonuses, and the like, managers increase the likelihood that an organization's most valued human
resources will be motivated to continue their high levels of contribution to the organization. Benefits such
as health insurance are important outcomes that employees receive by virtue of their membership in an
organization.
Outsourcing has advantages and disadvantages for the organization. Discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of outsourcing to an organization.
Outsourcing allows managers flexibility so that part-time workers can be hired only when needed by the
organization instead of having to keep a full-time worker on the payroll at times when this worker is not
really needed. Outsourcing can frequently reduce costs because the organization does not have to pay any
benefits to the temporary workers and can often pay them at a lower rate than they would have to pay a
full-time worker.
Outsourcing has disadvantages, however. When work is outsourced, managers may lose some control over
the quality of goods and services. Also, individuals performing outsourced work may have less knowledge
of organizational practices, procedures, and goals and less commitment to an organization than regular
employees. In addition, unions resist outsourcing because it has the potential to eliminate some of their
members.

Managers can use a variety of selection tools to weed out and sort job applicants in order to appraise their
potential for being good performers on a job. Briefly discuss the different types of paper-and-pencil tests
and physical ability tests.
The two main kinds of paper-and-pencil tests used for selection purposes are ability tests and personality
tests. Ability tests assess the extent to which applicants possess the skills necessary for job performance,
such as verbal comprehension or numerical skills. Personality tests measure personality traits and
characteristics relevant to job performance.
For jobs requiring physical abilities, such as firefighting, garbage collecting, and package delivery,
managers use physical ability tests that measure physical strength and stamina as selection tools.

Discuss the most important ways in which performance appraisal and feedback contribute to the effective
management of human resources within an organization.
Performance appraisal gives managers important information on which to base human resource decisions.
Decisions about pay raises, bonuses, promotions, and job moves all hinge on the accurate appraisal of
performance. Performance appraisal can also help managers determine which workers are candidates for
training and development and in what areas. Performance feedback encourages high levels of employee
motivation and performance. Performance feedback can provide both good and poor performers with
insight on their strengths and weaknesses and ways in which they can improve their performance in the
future.
Trait appraisals have both advantages and disadvantages for the organization. Explain what is meant by
this term and discuss three disadvantages of this technique.
A trait appraisal is a manager's subjective assessment of the personal characteristics of a subordinate that
the manager believes are relevant to job performance. Three disadvantages of trait appraisals are:
• Possession of a personal characteristic does not guarantee that the characteristic will be used on the job;
• Courts may view them as unfair and discriminatory; and
• They do not allow managers to provide feedback and suggestions for improvement to subordinates.

Discuss the 360-degree performance appraisal.

In a 360-degree appraisal a variety of people, beginning with the manager and including peers or
coworkers, subordinates, superiors, and sometimes even customers or clients, appraise a manager's
performance. The manager receives feedback based on evaluations from these multiple sources. Research
suggests that 360-degree appraisals should focus on behaviors rather than traits or results and managers
need to carefully select appropriate raters. Moreover, appraisals tend to be more honest when made
anonymously and when raters have been trained in how to use 360-degree appraisal forms. Additionally,
managers need to think carefully about the extent to which 360-degree appraisals are appropriate for
certain jobs and be willing to modify any appraisal system they implement if they become aware of
unintended problems it creates. Even when 360-degree appraisals are used, it is sometimes difficult to
design an effective process by which subordinates' feedback can be communicated to their managers; but
advances in information technology can solve this problem.