BUS243 Chapter 1: 7 Questions

How do human resources professionals provide an organization with a sustainable competitive advantage?

• They manage commonly available resources.

• They help the organization do what competitors are doing.

• They keep the organization focused on the short term.

• They hire high-quality employees who provide a needed service as they perform many critical functions.

Answer explanation

Human resources can provide companies with a sustainable competitive advantage because human resources are valuable (high-quality employees provide a needed service as they perform many critical functions), rare, inimitable, and irreplaceable. An organization realizes the potential of these human resources through the ways it practices human resource management.

In the context of today's organizations, which statement is true of employees?

• Employees are not easily replaced parts of a system; they are the source of a company's success or failure.

• There are many substitutes for good employees.

• Employees with high levels of the required skills and knowledge can be easily imitated.

• Employees do not have the right to refuse to do what violates their moral beliefs.

Answer explanation

Human capital means the organization's employees are described in terms of their training, experience, judgment, intelligence, relationships, and insight—the employee characteristics that can add economic value to the organization. In other words, for an organization to succeed at what it does, it needs employees with certain qualities, such as particular kinds of training and experience. This view means employees in today's organizations are not interchangeable, easily replaced parts of a system but the source of the company's success or failure.

Kareem works in the human resource department at Gamma Corp. His chief responsibilities include administering salaries, determining incentives, managing group insurance, and employee vacation and leave. Which HRM function is being performed by Kareem?

• performance management

• employee relations

• compensation and benefits

• training and development

Answer explanation

In this case, Kareem is executing the HRM function of compensation and benefits. The responsibilities of the HRM function of compensation and benefits include wage and salary administration, incentive pay, insurance, vacation and leave administration, retirement plans, profit sharing, and stock plans.

In his new position, Marc was told he would be in charge of job design. What will Marc be doing?

• generating a pool of potential candidates for a job

• defining the way work will be performed and the tasks that a given job requires

• identifying suitable candidates for jobs

• presenting candidates with detailed information about a job

Answer explanation

Job design is the process of defining the way work will be performed and the tasks that a given job requires.

What is responsible for the shift in the job trend towards the use of broadly defined jobs instead of the use of narrowly defined jobs in organizations?

• emphasis on innovation and quality

• increased demand for low-skilled workers

• increased focus on simplifying jobs

• educed use of team-based projects

Answer explanation

With many simple jobs, a company can easily find workers who can quickly be trained to perform the jobs at relatively low pay. However, greater concern for innovation and quality has shifted the trend to the use of more broadly defined jobs.

In the context of HRM functions, the activities of performance management include

• making a planned effort to enable employees to learn job-related knowledge, skills, and behavior.

• identifying applicants with the necessary knowledge and abilities that will help an organization achieve its goals.

• seeking applicants for potential employment.

• specifying the tasks and outcomes of a job that contribute to an organization's success.

Answer explanation

The activities of performance management include specifying the tasks and outcomes of a job that contribute to the organization's success. Then various measures are used to compare the employee's performance over some time period with the desired performance.

The HR function of maintaining positive employee relations includes

• selecting only those applicants that are referred by employees.

• maintaining communication with union representatives.

• offering training programs on effective teamwork.

• maintaining performance measures on outcomes.

Answer explanation

In organizations where employees belong to a union, employee relations entail additional responsibilities. The organization periodically conducts collective bargaining to negotiate an employment contract with union members. The HR department maintains communication with union representatives to ensure that problems are resolved as they arise.