Intro to Human Resource Management Study Guide PDF

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Intro to Human Resource Management Study Guide Topic 1 – The Dynamic Environment and Roles of HR Managers What are the four implicit HR Objectives? Improve productivity Improve quality of work Ensure legal compliance Ensure ethical behavior What are the six major trends that represent the major even...

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Intro to Human Resource Management Study Guide Topic 1 – The Dynamic Environment and Roles of HR Managers What are the four implicit HR Objectives? -

Improve productivity Improve quality of work Ensure legal compliance Ensure ethical behavior

What are the six major trends that represent the major events that influence the growth and importance of HRM? -

Increased competition The costs and benefits associated with HR utilization Productivity changes The increasing pace and complexity of social, cultural, legal demographic, and educational changes The symptoms of dysfunction in the workplace Societal trends of the 21st century

HR is influenced by what four internal environment factors? -

Culture o Shaped by top management values Technology o Refers to the firm’s equipment and knowledge Organizational structure Organizational size

What does the acronym SWOT stand for? -

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

Why would a company conduct a SWOT analysis? -

Allows leadership to assess the firm’s internal abilities and vulnerabilities to the external environment

What are the six competencies of a solid HR professional? -

Provides transformational leadership Collaborate and resolve strategic challenges within the firm Encourage real employee involvement Empower and facilitate learning as well as change and decision-making Design process and performance systems Maintain a global business perspective

What are the eight characteristics of a strong HR professional?

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Knowledge of the business and industry Greater understanding of economic phenomena Analytical abilities Leadership and influence Propensity for action Engagement Political awareness Customer focus

What is the difference between an HR generalist and an HR specialist? -

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HR generalist o Provides guidance, support, management and serves as a source of help and information on human resource matters. HR specialist o Responsible for specific human resource management functions within the organization.

What are the five functional areas of HR that a generalist should know? -

Training and development Compensation and benefits Employee and labor relations Recruiting and selecting employees Health safety and security

What is ethics? -

Moral principles and values that an individual uses to decide whether an action is right or wrong.

What are business ethics? -

Values and principles that are used to evaluate whether the collective behavior of members of an organization is right or wrong.

Why are ethics important in human resource administration? -

HR professionals play a central role in creating and sustaining a positive work environment It is important that they consistently engage in ethical behavior

Topic 2 - Equal Employment Opportunity: The Legal Environment of HR What is "employment at-will"? -

Doctrine under which the employer may terminate an employee at any time, and the employee can leave a job at any time, and for any reason, without facing adverse legal consequences

What is a main consequence to employees of the "employment at-will" doctrine? -

Employees now have less financial security.

What are the three exceptions to "employment at-will"? -

Public policy exception Implied contract exception Implied convent of good faith exception

What is an implied contract? -

Promise based on an employer’s words or actions.

What are the various ways implied contracts are created? -

Oral Actions of employer Handbooks Procedures

What is the Civil Rights Act of 1964? -

Law that ended segregation in public places, and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

What is Title VII? -

Federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, and religion. It generally applies to employers with 15 or more employees including federal, state, and local governments.

How was the EEOC created? -

By the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

What is the EEOC responsible for enforcing? -

Federal anti-discrimination statutes.

What groups are protected under Title VII? -

Race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

What is the difference between diversity and inclusion? -

Diversity is the differences between people. Inclusion is respect and valuing people in order to achieve a common goal.

What are the main benefits of a diverse workforce? -

Creativity and innovation.

What is sexual discrimination? -

Discrimination against anyone in the workplace because of their sex.

What is religious discrimination? -

Discrimination against anyone in the workplace because of their actual or assumed religious beliefs or activities.

What is national origin discrimination? -

Discrimination involves treating people unfavorably because they are from a particular country or part of the world, because of affiliation with particular country. Because they associate with those from another country or region.

What is affirmative action? -

A plan an employer must complete, per the government, due to past or current discriminatory practices. Because the company accepted federal money through a grant or contract.

What are the three basic elements of an affirmative action plan? -

Reasonable self-analysis Reasonable rationale for taking affirmative action Reasonable affirmative action.

What protected categories are covered under affirmative action? -

Women, African Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, American Indian/Alaska Native, disabled persons and veterans.

Topic 3 – Forecasting and Planning List the ways that human resource planning helps organizations. -

To consider the organization’s future staffing needs. Help execute the organization’s business strategy.

What are the 4 steps or phases in the HR planning process? -

Developing Data Establishing HR Objectives and Policies HR Programming HRP Control and Evaluation

Define the term "demand." -

The number and types of employees you will need to achieve the organization’s strategic mission.

Define the term "supply." -

The number and types of employees who will be available now or in the future to fill the jobs.

Which of the demand data gathering methods are judgmental techniques? -

Managerial estimate Delphi technique Nominal grouping technique.

Which of the demand data gathering methods are statistical techniques? -

Linear regression Multiple linear regression Productivity ratios Trend analysis Stochastic analysis

When should linear regression be used instead of multiple linear regression? -

When you have one variable with which you are forecasting labor demand, use linear regression. When there is more than one variable, use multiple regression.

What are the supply forecasting methods? -

Succession Planning and Replacement Planning

What is an "attraction" plan? -

A type of HR program in which the employer creates a workplace culture that attracts and retains workers.

What are the factors that organizations have shifted toward in order to attract employees? -

Increase employee self-control Increase bottom-up communications Emphasize intrinsic rewards Create more broadly defined job roles

What is a "reduction" plan? -

An HR program in which a company needs to lay off employees.

What actions are involved in reduction planning, to maintain dignity and morale? -

Planning should involve outplacement counseling, boy-outs, job skill retraining, and job transfers.

Topic 4 – Recruiting Qualified Applicants What is the purpose of recruitment? -

To generate a pool of potentially qualified applicants and to help organizations meet their legal and social responsibility.

What is the purpose of the Civil Rights Act? -

To make it unlawful to refuse to recruit or hire an individual based on the individual’s race, color, national origin, religion, or sex.

What is the purpose of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act? -

To prohibit discrimination of candidates or current employees based on the likelihood that potential employees will have future health issues. To protect the rights of genetic information to remain confidential.

What is the purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act? -

To prohibit discrimination of qualified people with disabilities who can perform the essential functions of a job with or without a reasonable accommodation. Recruiters may need to converse with applicants to determine what counts as a reasonable accommodation.

What is the purpose of the Family and Medical Leave Act? -

To provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave to an employee with serious health condition. To take care of a family member with a serious health condition. To add a child to the family. Requires an employer to return the employee to the same or a similar job position after the leave ends.

What is a promotion? -

When a current employee moves from one position in the company to one of a higher skill and/or pay level.

What is a transfer? -

When a current employee moves from one position in the company to another of a similar skill and pay level.

What is job rotation? -

A program in which trainees learn the tasks and functions of multiple job positions.

What is an employee referral? -

A word-of-mouth advertisement in which a current employee refers a skilled job applicant to an organization.

What is a job posting? -

An advertisement that exposes the job opening to a large number of potential applicants for screening while maintaining a low cost per applicant.

What is a walk-in? -

Candidate approaches the employer about job. Employer may or may not have a job opening that is fit for candidate.

What is an employment agency? -

A business that pre-screens and provides applicants that employers would have difficulty finding otherwise.

What is a temporary agency? -

A company that places temporary, temp to hire, or permanent hires in other organizations. May also perform pre-screening and is the employer of record for paychecks and any benefit provision.

What is a trade association? -

A local labor organization.

What is an educational institution? -

A technical school, or 2 or 4 year college through which candidates may gain internships, direct referral, or on-campus interviews from employers.

What is job matching? -

A systematic effort to identify people’s KSAs (knowledge, skills, and abilities) and match them to job openings.

What information does a job profile provide? -

Detailed job descriptions as well as job specifications.

What information does a candidate profile provide? -

Information regarding the candidate’s experience or skills to specific jobs which may list the candidate’s job preference and interests.

Topic 5 – Selecting and Testing Applicants What is "employee selection"? -

Process or series of steps to determine the most qualified candidates from the applicant pool.

Why is conducting a job analysis critical to employee selection? -

It increases accuracy of job descriptions in recruiting Aids in developing job-related selection procedures.

What is the relationship between recruiting and selection? -

The more effective the recruiting, the greater the likelihood that selection will find suitable candidates for hire.

What is a "criterion"? -

A behavior shown by a successful jobholder.

What are the two types of criteria? -

Ultimate criterion Actual criterion

What are ultimate criteria? -

Theoretical constructs or abstracts ideas that can never actually be measured. Represent a complete set of ideal factors that constitute a successful person.

What are actual criteria? -

The measurable factors that constitute a successful person, excluding bias and deficiency in the selection process.

Define "reliability" -

The consistency or stability of a selection instrument.

Why is having a reliable selection process important? -

High reliability increases the likelihood of a positive work environment and the overall productivity in the organization. Allows a company to rely on test results or process results to make our decisions.

Define "validity" -

Refers to how accurately and precisely a measure assesses an attribute. Assumes the appropriateness of using a given measuring device for drawing inferences about certain criteria.

Why is having a valid selection process important? -

High reliability increases the likelihood of a positive work environment and the overall productivity in the organization. Allows a company to rely on test results or process results to make our decisions.

What is the role of an application blank? -

Applications are an effective method for gathering a large amount of applicant biographical information for relatively little cost.

What is the role of reference checks? -

Allows us to gather information from other people’s perspective on the candidate. Might uncover attributes or worrisome events that may otherwise be missed.

What is the purpose of an interview? -

Interviews assist in gather information about a candidates KSAs through questions about the content of a job. Allow us to assess verbal communication, interpersonal skills, and other areas of competency.

What are background checks? -

Processes for verifying job-related requirements of the applicant, including items such as driving record, credit history, and academic records.

What is the main benefit to organizations of new employee orientation and socialization? -

These activities help reduce turnover among the new employees.

Topic 6 – Employee Training and Development What is employee training? -

Actions to correct employee skill deficiencies Seeks to improve an employee in some current job role by increasing knowledge, skill, or other ability levels.

What is employee development? -

Actions to help prepare employees for career changes. Seeks to provide knowledge, skills or abilities that apply to future roles in the organization.

What are the 5 steps of the ADDIE model? -

Assessment Design Development Implementation Evaluation

Why is the ADDIE model beneficial to the training process? -

The results of evaluation from one training program become part of the assessment of needs for the next program.

What are the three goals of the needs assessment step? -

Determine whether a training need exists Identify where in the organization this need exists Determine the precise nature of the required training,

What groups/stakeholders are involved in the needs assessment? -

Upper-level managers can appropriately provide input on the vision of the organization. Middle-level managers can advise on the nature of specific performance problems. Training managers and instructional designers need to assess whether potential training programs are aligned with business strategy Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

What are the 3 levels of needs assessment associated with the ADDIE model? -

Organizational Task Personal levels.

What is included in the design phase of the ADDIE model? -

Goals, objectives, and evaluation tasks that must be developed and sequenced The design phase is like a blueprint before building a house.

What is "transfer of training"? -

The ability to take what is learned in the classroom and apply it back on the job.

Why is transfer of training important? -

Training serves no purpose if it is not used back on the job.

What three actions increase transfer of training? -

Ensuring that conditions in the training program are identical to those in the job Teaching principles for applying the behaviors learned in the training program to the job situation. Using the contract plan.

Topic 7 – Performance Management What is the relationship between performance appraisal systems and compensation and training and development? -

Performance appraisal drives salary increases as well placement decisions.

What is empirical validity? -

Describes how closely scores on a test correlate with the behavior as measured in other contexts.

What is construct validity? -

How well a test measures what it claims to measure. Measures a complicated psychological trait or skill such as intelligence or personality.

What is content validity? -

The extent to which an assessment is relevant to the content of the job.

What three factors make a performance appraisal instrument valid or invalid? -

Incomplete or inaccurate information Poor communication Rating errors

What is straight ranking? -

Performance appraisal method in which a superior list the subordinates in order from the best to worst, usually on the basis of overall performance.

What is alternative ranking? -

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Performance appraisal method in which the first step is to put the best subordinate at the head of the list and the worst subordinate at the bottom, usually on the basis of overall performance. The superior selects the best and worst from the remaining subordinates, repeating until all are ranked.

What is paired comparisons? -

Performance appraisal method that compares each employee to another, two at a time on a single standard, to determine which is better. Rank order can be obtained by counting the number of times each individual is selected as the better of a pair. The subordinate with the most favorable comparisons is thus ranked in the first place. The subordinate with the second greatest number of favorable comparisons is ranked second.

What is the forced distribution method? -

Aligns people in present “buckets” Top 20 percent, middle 70 percent, low performing 10 percent.

What is a narrative essay? -

Type of performance appraisal in which the supervisor writes notes and examples of critical performance incidents during the appraisal period.

What is a peer-appraisal? -

Allow teammates to offer feedback on the performance of those with whom they work. These appear valuable when superiors lack access to some aspects of the subordinate’s performance. Can be useful for self-managed teams, when teamwork and participation are part of the organizational culture.

What is the drawback to peer appraisals? -

The validity of peer appraisals is reduced somewhat if the organizational reward syst...