PHRi Mock Exam Two 1

How can HR best provide support to leadership in overcoming issues related to the employees’ different language and culture?

What is the most accurate characterization of business value?

What term is used to describe traditionally higher-level leadership responsibilities being transferred to leaders at lower levels?

Gaps between actual and desired performance are best identified in which phase of the ADDIE process?

What is prohibited by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)?

What is the best reason to use social media channels for corporate communication?

What part of job documentation provides a written statement of the necessary qualifications of the job incumbent?

What is most helpful in forecasting future staffing conditions?

Once the requests for proposals (RFPs) are returned, how should the decision-making process be approached?

What would be examples of perquisites?

Under Title VII, what is the term for a hiring practice that has an adverse impact on a class of people but is defensible as job-related?

What is the critical policy challenge for global HR regarding organizational values and policies and its diversity and inclusion strategy?

Which function has the best intelligence about and highest awareness of customers, market needs, and competitive threats?

An organization has experienced rapid growth, outpacing its ability to respond quickly to competitive threats. Which form of restructuring will offer the best opportunity to minimize response times?

An organization needs to prioritize spending for its risk management initiatives. What would be a good first step?

The manager believes he lost a sale because, while he was unavailable, the director gave a prospect the wrong information. Angered at being blamed by the manager, the director asks HR to suspend the manager for insubordination. HR agrees, given the manager’s history. Now the director has discovered that she indeed made a mistake in the pricing information that she provided to the prospect. The director asks HR how she should proceed. What would you advise?

An organization’s work is divided according to a linear process. What organizational structure does this best describe?

During the employee selection process, how can HR identify an employee who is more likely to become engaged in the organization?

Why are efficiencies offered by technological advancements predicted to result in HR becoming smaller?

In the balanced scorecard approach, what is the purpose of leading indicators?

Which employees are the focus of talent management strategies?

What budgeting method is based on how much it costs to perform different enterprise activities and allocates funding according to the strategic significance of the activities?

The HR business partner and the VP of sales are planning an informal communication regarding changes to the bonus scheme. How should they proceed?

What characteristic typically distinguishes a job function as essential?

What would HR be able to do to support and enhance the type of communication this intervention requires?

What type of strategic compensation plan fosters acquisition of knowledge and skills and enhances employees’ performance, satisfaction, and self-efficacy?

What is the most effective method to achieve an employee-friendly, nonunionized workplace?

What information will be most critical for the national contract team to identify early in this process?

What should the HR business partner recommend that the VP of sales do to retain key sales employees?

The retention threshold for new hires indicates that 35% of the employees tend to quit during the first 90 days. What HR practice could improve the organization’s onboarding program and reduce voluntary turnover?

What are the three spheres of sustainability?

Due to personal reasons, the manager has become unfocused at work and his performance has started to decline. Global sales figures have decreased at the same time. In a performance review, the director attributes the sales drop to the manager’s performance. The manager complains to HR that he is being treated unfairly and that the sales drop is due to global market changes. How should HR advise the manager?

What type of compliance program evaluation asks questions such as “Is there less misconduct?” “How willing are employees and agents to report concerns?” or “How satisfied are stakeholders with the organization”?

How has the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) amended the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)?

What would be considered an employer unfair labor practice?

What can we learn from observing how organizations manage change?

What can HR suggest in order to promote better management of the global teams?

What is the best way to address the concern for implementing training to the Brazilian employees?

A large organization with federal contracts is under investigation for discriminatory hiring practices. How can HRIS help in the organization’s defense?

HR is seen by other functions in an organization as a cost center that does not generate revenue. How could the HR leader best address this perception?

In the course of discussions with both the director and the manager, the HR manager realizes that the global team regularly reveals confidential information to their clients. It is not clear to them that this is wrong, but HR believes that this information could impact the revenue of the company. However, telling the CEO about this could distract the CEO from approving the employee engagement strategy that HR has been working so hard on. No one else is aware of this breach of confidentiality. What step should the HR manager take first?

Efforts to examine span of control and reporting relationships are examples of what type of organizational effectiveness and development strategy?

An organization is developing a corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. At which two stages of the CSR strategic process is it likely to find the GRI G4 Guidelines most useful?

How should the manager respond to the employee’s charge that the supervisor caused his accident?

Why does the company not just find a cheaper benefit provider?

How should an organization’s diversity and inclusion strategic initiative affect supply chain management and relations?

How should the manager manage the supervisor’s outburst

What is the relationship between diversity and inclusion

How does Peter Senge, author ofThe Fifth Discipline, define learning organizations?

During workforce planning, HR determines that 20 new employees will be needed to achieve organizational plans for growth in global markets. This determination is part of which area in a workforce analysis process?

How should the head of HR handle the suspected leak of confidential information?

What key step should the manager take to maintain the relationship she has established with the employee in order to complete the investigation into his concerns?

The son of the company’s chief executive officer (CEO) also has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and, as such, the CEO is a strong promoter of volunteer activities supporting the rights of those with mental conditions. The CEO asks the HR director to identify those individuals within the organization who may be interested in supporting his efforts because of their own condition or that of a family member. How should the HR director respond?

What should the company do to the employees who are using the benefits excessively?

Refer to the following scenario for the next 6 questions. Nationally, a company is experiencing a high number of work absences across all of its operations for a variety of reasons: some related to the society as a whole and some specific to company demographics. The head of HR has analyzed payroll expense data and has noted that the higher costs and increasing frequency of using fill-in and temporary staff is having a significant bottom-line impact. After attending the SHRM National Conference and learning about the potential advantages of centralized sourcing, the head of HR asks her recruiting team to look at the options available for a national contract to support the company’s national needs and make a recommendation. The recruiting team has been primarily experienced in staffing headquarters positions. Individually they are experienced primarily with local recruiting resources. How should the recruiting team begin to execute their assignment?

What is the greatest benefit of Internet recruiting in a global environment?

What part of the final agreement will be most important for this organization to ensure that the new process is accepted and delivers the desired financial savings?

An organization’s board of directors recommends a large cut in the financial support of the organization’s employee health insurance plan in order to increase profits. It also recommends adding stock options and increasing the severance package for senior officers. At the same time, the management team emphasizes placing customers first, promoting teamwork, and treating coworkers fairly. In this situation, what is the strongest message the organization is sending?

In what type of undesirable engagement do employees appear engaged, for example, by working longer hours and even responding as such in engagement surveys, but do not actually feel or think in an engaged way?

After responding to the complaints, how should HR proceed?

HR’s strategic responsibilities include participating in creating the organization’s business strategy and aligning the HR strategy with the organization’s strategy. What else could be considered a strategic responsibility?

How can HR help in maintaining the benefits of the new shift and mitigating the negative impacts?

What is the first thing an employer should do when conducting a preemployment background check?

The HR director shares the accommodations with the employee’s manager, who then presses the director for information as to the employee’s underlying condition. How should the director respond?

Three employees have said that if they are “forced” to work with the employee making the accusations, they will quit. How should the manager respond?

What would be the best way to address the communication challenges due to cultural differences?

What is the most important factor HR should consider before conducting an employee engagement survey?

Which of the terms below best describes the following statement? “In three months we will train 60 members of the programming staff in the designated programming language.”

What is the most complete definition of the term “duty of care”?

An objective in broadbanding is to

What is the best way for the HR business partner to apply her organizational and compensation knowledge to assist the VP of sales in solving issues with the sales team?

When designing a training program, a global HR professional must first consider

What budgeting method is based on how much it costs to perform different enterprise activities and allocates funding according to the strategic significance of the activities?

Sales has made an unrealistic commitment to a customer. In order to meet the commitment, the CEO suggests that all salaried employees work ten-hour days, six days a week, for a minimum of one year. What would be the best response by the HR director?

What is the best way HR can involve employees in supporting the organization’s goals and mission?

For the task force to gain support across all business lines for its ultimate recommendations, what would be the best strategy?

A nonselected job candidate challenges the outcome of a selection test. What is the best piece of evidence the organization can present in a legal defense of the selection decision?

HR can best demonstrate its strategic capability by

What is the term for briefer, more frequent surveys that address specific issues or are given to specific segments of the workforce?

What global trend has been marked by increases in both foreign direct investments (FDIs) and reverse innovations?

An organization’s state mandates a $2.00 per hour increase in the minimum wage. As the company is implementing this change, new hires will now be started at the same wage as workers who have been on the job for two years. This is an example of

An employee files a grievance with the immediate supervisor claiming that a contract violation has occurred. The union steward agrees. What is the next step in the process?

Which recent technological innovation is essential to HR in maintaining compliance?

What consideration should be given to the business lines’ existing relationships with local workforce sourcers?

An organization erroneously withheld deductions from several exempt employees’ paychecks. Under the safe-harbor provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act, what must the organization do?

What is the most distinctive feature of constructive discipline?

A company purchases new billing software. What method will be most effective in training employees to use the new system?

A not-for-profit organization conducts a SWOT analysis and determines that it has a limited global presence that prevents it from delivering its message to those who could use its services. This is an example of a(n)

What is a potential challenge in trying to build a strong global employment brand?

The new director of global business development has made changes that most of her team are quite excited about. The disappointed candidate for her job is not, and he openly criticizes the director’s ideas, even escalating this criticism to the CEO. How should the HR manager advise the director to handle this situation?

What type of learning activity would most appeal to a kinesthetic learner?

How can HR provide the most value in the strategic planning process?

What is the term for the system of rules and processes an organization puts in place to ensure adherence to laws, rules, ethical norms, and environmental and social codes of conduct?

A supervisor conducts an investigatory meeting to obtain information that could be the basis for a disciplinary action. According to theWeingarten case, who may union employees have attend the investigatory meeting?

Stating that a training program will improve customer service’s ability to answer product questions by 30%, thus meeting the organization’s mission of being the best service provider in the field, is an example of what HR process?

Refer to the following scenario for the next 6 questions. A global management consulting firm has quadrupled in size since its inception five years ago. Given the growth of the firm, a need has been identified for a director of global business development. This position would oversee a team of two manager-level employees and two department assistants. The manager of human resources is tasked with identifying the search team to find the best candidate for the director of global business development. The final candidate list includes two internal and two external people. The HR manager decides to exclude herself from the interview team since she is close to the two internal candidates. These internal candidates include: Manager 1, who has been with the firm for close to three years. Previously, he was director of global business development for nearly 10 years at a larger firm. He took a manager-level role at the consulting firm because he liked the smallness of the firm and wanted to have an opportunity to see how his contributions made a difference to the firm and its clients. Manager 2, who was promoted into the manager role a year ago. She was recruited from a top business graduate school. She completed her degree while working full-time. She has been eager to learn and has quickly adapted to the additional responsibilities given to her. She does, however, have limited global experience, all of it in her current position. Five days after the interview process has been completed, the HR manager advises Manager 1 that a “better fit” has been chosen for the position. Later that same day, Manager 2 is named the new director of global business development. Manager 1 complains bitterly about the decision to the HR manager. He is angry and feels unfairly treated as he has significantly more experience than Manager 2. In fact, he helped to orient and train her. In the months that follow, both the new director of global business and the disappointed manager face challenges. They both bring them to the HR manager for her advice. How should the HR manager respond to the disappointed manager?

What task must be accomplished before identifying and analyzing risks?

Refer to the following scenario for the next 5 questions. The annual loss or claims ratio for a company’s health plan is measured at 158%. The head of HR has been asked by the CEO to propose changes to the plan that will lower costs while retaining as many current benefits as possible. A detailed review of the usage data shows that two entitlements, dental and prescription drugs, account for 84% of the plan’s overall expenditure and that three employees in a workforce of 91 account for 73% of all claims. After reviewing a series of proposals by different insurance brokers, the head of HR decides that the best option is a plan that doubles the deductibles on both the dental and prescription benefits while lowering the maximum reimbursement coverage by 25%. The head of HR proceeds to make a presentation outlining this suggestion to the company’s executive committee. After a brief discussion of the rationale and merits, the chief operating officer mentions that the company should announce the plan’s changes to employees immediately; the head of HR responds that doing so would risk defeating the purpose of the changes. Without further discussion the executive committee proceeds to vote and accepts the changes to become effective upon plan renewal the following month. Two months after the introduction of the new plan, it is discovered that two employees made bulk prescription purchases (a six-month supply) one week prior to the changes in the benefit plan going into effect. This seems a peculiar coincidence, and the head of HR suspects a leak of confidential information. Why would announcing any plan changes to employees in this way be problematic?

A new employee on the global sales team tends to stay to herself and does not interact with the rest of the team. She does not seem to have any problems with attaining her sales. However, the director does not see her as a “team player” and asks the HR manager for assistance with how best to include her as part of the sales team. What recommendation should HR provide?

Which statement best describes HR’s role in the litigation process?

What political factors can have an impact on talent acquisition and retention?

At what point in the hiring process does an employer first have an opportunity for employee engagement?

Organizations that achieve total quality management are most likely to create an environment that

Why would an HR professional use trend analysis?

What steps should the HR business partner take with the reorganization, given the appointment of the new VP of sales?

What is the best outcome of an HR audit?

What advice would you give about using benchmarks?

How should the manager respond to the supervisor’s request to terminate employment?

The Center for Creative Leadership, after 30 years of research, designed a model of learning called the 70-20-10 rule. The rule proposes that to develop managers it is important to engage them in three clusters of experience, using a 70-20-10 ratio. What type of experience does the “70” in the ratio stand for?

Opportunities for development, problem solving, and creativity are examples of which motivational need as described by Maslow?

Which work relationships are most closely tied to creating and sustaining employee engagement?

What is different about the employment-at-will concept of the employment relationship?

What is the basis of civil law?

Which phrase is most characteristic of replacement planning as opposed to succession planning?

Your organization needs to integrate functions and data for customer relationship management, manufacturing resource planning, finance, supply chain, and human resources. What type of technology would you implement?

What could HR do to help change employees’ perceptions of their new job activities?

Rather than increase deductibles and decease coverage limits, what other options might have been considered to control costs while minimizing the impact of any entitlement changes?

An organization uses information provided by experts to predict future industry trends. What is the name for the form of judgmental forecasting in which experts take turns presenting their assumptions and refining a composite but never meet?

Refer to the following scenario for the next 6 questions. A new operations manager is assigned to a cash management operations function in a wholesale bank. He recently acquired his MBA, and he has decided to apply his new knowledge to speed up the work by using an assembly-line process and a total quality management (TQM) approach. Most employees are of Philippine descent and hold graduate degrees from Philippine universities. Although they have been teachers, lawyers, and professional workers at home, because their degrees are not recognized in their new country, they have been relegated to clerical-level positions. The new manager has implemented his assembly-line approach, and the employees are miserable. They complain to the business head, who asks the HR manager to work with the operations manager and help him implement the change more effectively. In reviewing the new changes that have been implemented, HR can see that the new schedule offers some impressive business results, increasing the unit’s throughput rate and the bottom line because of the volumes being produced. However, the assembly-line work element of the new work process means that some employees are only stapling documents together or putting them into a file folder. The work is monotonous and offers little autonomy. HR also notes that one element of the change is a move to a 24/7 operations schedule. A shift differential in wages has been offered, and employees have volunteered for the shifts. However, they are experiencing problems, and attendance and error rates are suffering. From employee complaints, it appears that the schedule is causing personal and family issues for the employees. How should HR respond to the employee complaints?

Nancy Adler identifies four challenges to effective cross-cultural communication. What term describes the challenge that absolves individual responsibility by ascribing obstacles to innate cultural resistance

A job design strategy that increases the variety of responsibilities but requires the same skill level is referred to as

What is an example of indirect compensation?

What is a direct cost of turnover for the loss of a key account sales representative?

What is an example of a risk management strategy that uses prevention?

What steps should the manager take concerning the patient information included by mistake in the physician’s notes?

What is meant by a fiduciary duty or obligation?

Training activities that require participants to debate employment practices may be difficult for employees from what type of culture?