Strategic Human Resource Management Midterm Questions & Answers

Outcomes of effective HR practice - ANSWERSCreate more satisfied employees, who in turn work harder to satisfy customers, translates into a competitive advantage and can affect organization's bottom line; organization's workforce is more stable (fewer leave), employee satisfaction is higher (feel empowered), employees stay longer Core HR functions - ANSWERSBusiness management and strategy, workforce planning and employment, HR development, compensation and benefits, employee and labor relations, risk management Business management and strategy - ANSWERSWorking with other parts of organization to provide quality goods and services Workforce planning and employment - ANSWERSIdentifying jobs that capture employee tasks, recruiting and selecting desirable employees HR development - ANSWERSMeasuring employee performance, training Compensation and benefits - ANSWERSPaying employees fairly, administering benefits Employee and labor relations - ANSWERSEstablishing and managing relationships between organization and employees, unions Risk management - ANSWERSEstablishing procedures for safe and secure working environment HR competencies - ANSWERSStrategic positioner, credible activist, change champion, HR innovator and integrator, capability builder Combining strategic and functional perspectives combine to direct HR practices - ANSWERSHR field has changed from emphasizing functional skills to requiring a strategic understanding of the whole business (includes planning and change management) Two types of strategies from the HR management perspective - ANSWERSCorporate-level strategy, business-level strategy Corporate-level strategy - ANSWERSFocuses on the different business and diversity of products and services that an organization produces Business-level strategy - ANSWERSConcerns how the organization will compete with other organizations that produce similar goods and services HR roles - ANSWERSStrategic partner (long-term processes), human capital developer (long-term people), functional expert (short-term processes), employee advocate (short-term people) What will be considered as the true strengths of the organization - ANSWERSCorporate-level strategy - differentiation; business-level strategy - cost leadership -Universalist approach to HR strategy/practice - ANSWERSSeeks to identify a set of HR practices that is beneficial for all organizations to follow Control strategy - ANSWERSA HR bundle that emphasizes managerial control and tries to streamline production processes Commitment strategy - ANSWERSA HR bundle that builds strong attachment to the organization and emphasizes worker empowerment -Contingency approach to HR strategy/practice - ANSWERSSeeks to align HR practices with competitive business strategies Loyal Soldier - ANSWERSA HR strategy that combines emphasis on long-term employees with a focus on reducing costs (internal/cost) Bargain Laborer - ANSWERSA HR strategy that combines emphasis on short-term employees with a focus on reducing costs (external/cost) Committed Expert - ANSWERSA HR strategy that combines emphasis on long-term employees with a focus on producing unique goods and services (internal/differentiation) Actions an employer will take to prevent discrimination complaints - ANSWERSDeveloping and enforcing clear policies against discrimination, adopting programs that provide employment opportunities for groups that have been historically disadvantaged, using advertisement and PR campaigns to improve the image of their organization as a desirable place to work Free Agent - ANSWERSA HR strategy that combines emphasis on short-term employees with a focus on producing unique goods and services (external/differentiation) -Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - ANSWERSThe Civil Rights Act that was passed by Congress and signed into law as a result of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, which sought to end racial discrimination (most important law affecting HR practices, part of act that applies to equal opportunity is Title VII) Which traits are the Title VII protection based on - ANSWERSRace, color, national origin, religion, sex Which three types of discrimination is Title VII related to - ANSWERSDisparate treatment, adverse impact, harassment Equal employment opportunity - ANSWERSEEOC is federal agency in charge of administrative and judicial enforcement of federal civil rights laws (led by five commissioners appointed by POTUS, any individual who feels he/she has been victim of employment discrimination can file complaint with EEOC) Disparate treatment - ANSWERSSpecific practice of treating certain types of people different than others; BFOQ is an exemption from disparate treatment for reasonable instances that assume that only a person with a particular characteristic can do the job Adverse impact - ANSWERSWhen a company's policies treat all applicants the same but result in different employment opportunities for different groups; Four-Fifths Rule is when the % of people selected from one group is less than 80% of the the people selected from the best-represented group Harassment - ANSWERSWhen an employee is persistently annoyed or alarmed by improper words or actions of other people in the workplace (two types of sexual harassment are quid pro quo - "something for something", hostile work environment) Race-norming - ANSWERSThe practice of evaluating an applicant's score by comparing the score only with scores achieved by people of the same race (Civil Rights Act of 1991 is amendment to Title VII that prohibits this) Autonomy - ANSWERSThe extent to which individual workers are given the freedom and interdependence to plan and carry out work tasks -Interdependence - ANSWERSThe extent to which an individual's work actions and outcomes are influenced by other people Sequential processing - ANSWERSWork organized around an assembly line such that the completed tasks of one employee feed directly into the tasks of another employee Reciprocal processing - ANSWERSWork organized around teams such that workers constantly adjust to the task inputs of others Specific outcomes of job analysis - ANSWERSClarifies what is expected of workers, helps managers select people with appropriate knowledge and skills, provides important information for planning training programs, guides decisions about pay, helps HR comply with legal guidelines