aPHR Certification Study Guide With Complete Solution

Human Resource Managment (HRM) - Answer HRM consists of an organization's "people practices" - the policies, practices, and systems that influence employees' behavior, attitudes, and performance. Explain how HRM contributes to an organization's performance - Answer Through its practices or process, The HRM influences who works for the organization and how those people work. These human resources, if well managed, have the potential to be a source of sustainable competitive advantage, contributing to basic objectives such as quality, profits, and customer satisfaction. HRM Process/ practices - Answer 1) Analysis and Design of work 2) HR planning 3) Recruitment 4) Selection 5)Training and development 6)Compensation 7)Performance Management 8) Employee Relations Human Capital - Answer An Organization's employees, described in terms of their training, experience, judgement, intelligence, relationships, and insight. Human Resources qualities valuable to the success of organizations - Answer 1) Human Resources are VALUABLE- high-quality employees provide a needed service as they perform many critical functions. 2) Human Resources are RARE- a person with high levels of the needed skills and knowledge is not common 3) Human Resources CANNOT BE IMITATED - 4) Human Resources have NO GOOD SUBSTITUTES High Performance Work System - Answer An organization in which technology, organizational structure, people, and processes work seamlessly to give an organization an advantage in the competitive environment. Maintaining a High-Performance Work System may include: - Answer -Development of training programs -Recruitment of people with new skill sets - Establishment of rewards for such behaviors as team work, flexibility, and learning Ratio of HR employees to total employees - Answer 2 full time HR staff persons for every 100 employees on payroll. In small organizations the ratio is much higher Administrative role of HRM - Answer Handling administrative tasks ( hiring employees, answering questions about benefits) efficiently and with a commitment to quality. This requires expertise in the particular task Business Partner role of HRM - Answer Developing effective HR systems that help the org meet its goals attracting, keeping, and developing people with the skill it needs. For the systems to be effective, HR people must understand the business so it can understand what the business needs Strategic partner role - Answer Contributing to the company's strategies through an understanding of its existing and needed HR and ways HR practices can give the company a competitive advantage. For strategic ideas to be effective, HR people must understand the business, it's industry, and its competitors Job Analysis - Answer The process of getting detailed information about jobs Work Flow Design - Answer The process of analyzing the tasks necessary for the production of a product or service Job - Answer A set of related duties Position - Answer A set of duties performed by a particular person Job Description - Answer A list of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDRs) that a particular job entails Job Specification - Answer A list if the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that an individual must have to perform a particular job Job Design - Answer The process of defining the way work will be performed and the tasks that a given job requires Industrial Engineering - Answer The study of jobs to find the simplest way to structure work in order to maximize efficiency Job enlargement - Answer Broadening the types of tasks performed in a job Job extension - Answer Enlarging jobs by combining several relatively simple jobs to for a job with a wider range of tasks Job rotation - Answer Enlarging jobs by moving employees among several different jobs Job enrichment - Answer Empowering workers by adding more decision making authority to jobs Flextime - Answer A scheduling policy in which full time employees may choose starting and ending times within guidelines specified by the organization Job sharing - Answer A work option in which two part time employees carry out the tasks associated with a single job Telework or Telecommuting - Answer Means doing one's work away from a centrally located office Ergonomics - Answer The study of the interface between individuals' physiology and the characteristics of the physical work environment Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) - Answer A standardized job analysis questionnaire containing 194,questions about work behaviors, work conditions, and job characteristics that apply to a wide variety of jobs Flesh an Job Analysis System - Answer Job analysis technique that asks subject matter experts to evaluate a job in terms of the abilities required to perform Competency - Answer An area of personal capability that enables employees to perform their work successfullyb Recruitment - Answer The process through which the organization seeks applicants for potential employment Selection - Answer The process by which the organization attempts to identify applicants with the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that will help the organization achieve its goals Top 5 qualities employers look for in employees - Answer 1)- Teamwork Skills 2)- Verbal Communications Skills 3)- Decision Making, Problem Solving 4)- Gathering / Processing information 5)- Planning/ Prioritizing Tasks Training - Answer A planned effort to enable employees to learn job-related knowledge, skills, and behavior Development - Answer The acquisition of knowledge, skills, and behaviors that improve an employees ability to meet changes in job requirements and in customer demands Performance Management - Answer The process of ensuring that employees' activities and output match the organization's goals. Compensation and benefits - Answer This function includes Wage and salary administration, incentive pay, insurance, vacation leave administration, retirement plans, profit sharing, stock plans Employee Relations - Answer Preparing and distributing employee handbooks, company publications, answer questions about benefits and company policy, address problems between employees and supervisors, communication with union representatives Workforce analytics - Answer The use of quantitative tools and scientific methods to analyze data from human resource databases and other sources to make evidence-based decisions that support business goals. Organizational Strategy - Answer Organization's plan for meeting broad goals such as profitability , quality, and market share How HR supports the organization's strategy - Answer Understanding the organization's business operations, projecting how business trends might affect the business,reinforcing positive aspects of the organization's culture, developing talent for present and future needs, crafting effective HR strategies, effective human resource planning Human Resource Planning - Answer Identifying the numbers and types of employees the organization will require to meet its objectives. Forecasting - Answer The attempts to determine the supply of and demand for various types of human resources to predict areas within the organization where there will be labor shortages or surpluses Trend analysis - Answer Constructing and applying statistical models that predict labor demand for the next year, given relatively objectives statistics from the previous year Leading indicators - Answer Objective measures that accurately predict future labor demand Transitional Matrix - Answer Statistical procedure to determine labor supply 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 Core Competency - Answer A set of knowledge and skills that make the organization superior to competitors and create value for customers Options for reducing a surplus - Answer Downsizing, pay reductions, demotions, transfers, work sharing, hiring freeze, natural attrition, early retirement, retraining Options for avoiding a shortage - Answer Overtime, temporary employees, outsourcing, retrained transfers, turnover reductions, new external hires, technological innovations Workforce Utilization Review - Answer A comparison of the proportion of employees in protected groups with the proportion that each group represents in the relevant labor market Talent Management - Answer A systematic, planned effort to attract, retain, develop, and motivate highly skilled employees and managers Evidence-based HR - Answer Collecting and using data to show that human resources practices have a positive influence on the company's bottom line or key stakeholders (employees, customers, community, and shareholders) Sustainability - Answer An organization's ability to profit without depleting its resources, including employees, natural resources, and the support of the surrounding community Stakeholders - Answer The parties with an interest in the company's 'success ( shareholders, community, customers, and employees ) HRM professionals' skills - Answer Successful Members of The Human Resource department must be able to share information, build relationships, and influence persons inside and outside the company. The HR department needs to bring together a large pool of skills. These skills fall into six basic functions: 1-Credible activists, 2-cultural and change steward, 3-talent managers/ organizational designers, 4-strategic architects, 5-business allies, 6-operational executors . All of these competencies require interpersonal skills. HR responsibilities of supervisors - Answer Supervisors typically have responsibilities related to all the HR functions. They help define jobs ( job analysis and design) Forecast HR needs( HR planning) Provide training Interview ( and select ) candidates Appraise performance Recommend increases and promotions Communicate policies Motivate, with support from pay, benefits, and other rewards Ethics - Answer The fundamental principles of right and wrong. Ethical behavior is behavior that is consistent with those principles. HR Ethics and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) - Answer Reduce the likelihood of illegal and unethical behaviors by : -- Having a written Code Of ethics and conduct standards --Providing ethical behavior training and advice -- Establishing confidential reporting systems for ethical misconduct -- Providing whistle-blower protection --Supporting HR's role as "keeper and voice" of organization's ethics