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Compensation 13Th Edition By Barry Gerhart – Test Bank
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Compensation, 13e (Gerhart)
Chapter 2 Strategy: The Totality of Decisions
1) A compensation system that focuses on competitors’ labor costs is most closely associated with a(n) ________ strategy.
- A) innovator
- B) customer-focused
- C) cost-cutter
- D) differentiated
Answer: C
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
2) A compensation system using market-based pay is most likely to be part of a(n) ________ strategy.
- A) innovator
- B) cost-cutter
- C) cost leadership
- D) customer-focused
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
3) Flexible–generic job descriptions would most likely be used with a(n) ________ strategy.
- A) innovator
- B) customer-focused
- C) differentiated
- D) cost-cutter
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
4) Mich Inc., a hardware store, has a rating system in place that rates employees on their friendliness, usefulness, and product knowledge. Based on the ratings an employee receives, he or she gets an incentive. The compensation strategy followed by Mich is most closely described as a(n):
- A) customer-focused strategy.
- B) cost-cutter strategy.
- C) innovator strategy.
- D) differentiation strategy.
Answer: A
Difficulty: 3 Hard
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
5) A compensation system focusing on system control and work specifications is most closely associated with a(n) ________ strategy.
- A) innovator
- B) customer-focused
- C) cost-cutter
- D) differentiated
Answer: C
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
6) A compensation system focusing on operational excellence is most closely associated with a(n) ________ strategy.
- A) differentiated
- B) cost-cutter
- C) innovator
- D) customer-focused
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
7) In the formula for predicting performance, the component most closely related to compensation is
- A) A.
- B) M.
- C) O.
- D) C.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support HR Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
8) Whole Foods’ shared-fate philosophy of limiting executive salaries to no more than 19 times the average pay of full-time employees is an example of which strategic pay decision?
- A) External competitiveness
- B) Employee contributions
- C) Corporate responsibility
- D) Internal alignment
Answer: D
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: The Pay Model Guides Strategic Pay Decisions
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
9) Comparisons based on the forms of compensation used by other companies are part of
- A) internal alignment.
- B) external competitiveness.
- C) employee contributions.
- D) corporate responsibility.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: The Pay Model Guides Strategic Pay Decisions
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
10) The second step in developing a total compensation strategy is to:
- A) implement the strategy.
- B) assess total compensation implications.
- C) estimate the cost of the strategy.
- D) map the strategy.
Answer: D
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
11) Which of the following is the correct order of the steps in formulating a total compensation strategy?
- A) Assess the strategy, implement the strategy, map the strategy, and reassess the strategy.
- B) Assess the strategy, map the strategy, implement the strategy, and reassess the strategy.
- C) Map the strategy, implement the strategy, assess the strategy, and reassess the strategy.
- D) Map the strategy, assess the strategy, implement the strategy, and reassess the strategy.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
12) Based on the opinions of 10,000 U.S. workers, Hudson found that when given their choice of unconventional benefits, most employees would select
- A) more supplemental insurance.
- B) more job training.
- C) a more flexible work schedule.
- D) more personal days and family leave.
Answer: C
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
13) According to the Hudson survey, which of the following is the single thing that would make 41 percent of U.S. workers happier?
- A) More personal days
- B) A flexible work schedule
- C) More money
- D) Better health insurance
Answer: C
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
14) ________ refers to a wide range of factors, including legal and regulatory requirements, cultural differences, changing workforce demographics, expectations, and the like.
- A) Context
- B) Prominence
- C) Culture
- D) Transparency
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
15) Union preferences are a major factor in ________ a total compensation strategy.
- A) implementing
- B) reassessing
- C) assessing
- D) mapping
Answer: C
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
16) In mapping a total compensation strategy, the question of how important compensation is in the overall HR strategy is part of
- A) objectives.
- B) internal alignment.
- C) external competitiveness.
- D) corporate responsibility.
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
17) ________ refers to openness and communication about pay.
- A) Transparency
- B) Ownership
- C) Prominence
- D) Centrality
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
18) ________ is the measure of how important total compensation is in the overall HR strategy.
- A) Competitiveness
- B) Prominence
- C) Centrality
- D) Ownership
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
19) The role non-HR managers play in making pay decisions is called
- A) ownership.
- B) transparency.
- C) technology.
- D) decentralized decision making.
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
20) Issues of transparency, technology, and choice are most closely associated with the ________ aspect of mapping a total compensation strategy.
- A) objectives
- B) management
- C) employee contributions
- D) internal alignment
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
21) Career growth, hierarchy, and flexible design are most closely associated with the ________ aspect of mapping a total compensation strategy.
- A) objectives
- B) internal alignment
- C) external competitiveness
- D) employee contributions
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
22) Work/life balance is most closely associated with the ________ aspect of mapping a total compensation strategy.
- A) external competitiveness
- B) objectives
- C) internal alignment
- D) employee contributions
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
23) ________ is the key to attracting, retaining, and motivating employees with the abilities necessary to execute the business strategy and handle greater decision-making responsibilities.
- A) Transparency
- B) Compensation
- C) Prominence
- D) Culture
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support HR Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
24) Which of the following tests of competitive advantage is probably the easiest test to pass?
- A) The alignment test
- B) The differentiation test
- C) The integration test
- D) The value-addition test
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Source of Competitive Advantage: Three Tests
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
25) The alignment test:
- A) is difficult to imitate.
- B) is the most difficult test.
- C) helps ensure passing the differentiation test.
- D) becomes difficult if the differentiation test is not clear.
Answer: C
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Source of Competitive Advantage: Three Tests
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
26) Trying to measure an ROI for any compensation strategy implies that:
- A) it is possible to align and differentiate the compensation strategy and still fail to add value.
- B) people are “human capital,” similar to other factors of production.
- C) adding value is the most difficult test.
- D) value created as a result of costs is difficult to specify.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Source of Competitive Advantage: Three Tests
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
27) Which of the following is a fundamental strategic choice at the corporate level?
- A) What business should we be in?
- B) How do we gain and sustain competitive advantage in this business?
- C) Which dimension of the pay strategy should we focus on?
- D) How should total compensation help this business gain and sustain competitive advantage?
Answer: A
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Strategic Choices
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
28) Research investigating high-performance workplaces found that performance-based pay ________ when combined with other high-performance practices.
- A) improves attitudes and behaviors
- B) increases the number of middle men required
- C) reduces labor costs
- D) has little effect on quality
Answer: A
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Virtuous and Vicious Circles
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
29) When organization performance declines:
- A) a virtuous circle may be created.
- B) performance-based pay plans do not pay off.
- C) managers must avoid changing pay practices.
- D) the employee attrition rate declines considerably.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Virtuous and Vicious Circles
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
30) Research shows that ________ will effectively shift an organization in a downward performance spiral into an upward one.
- A) reinforcing performance-based pay
- B) implementing team-based pay
- C) improving work/life balance
- D) it is unclear what compensation practices
Answer: D
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Virtuous and Vicious Circles
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
31) Embedding compensation strategy within the broader HR strategy affects results.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Guidance from the Evidence
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
32) Strategy refers to the fundamental direction that an organization chooses.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Strategic Choices
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
33) An organization defines its strategy through the trade-offs it makes in choosing what to do and what not to do.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Strategic Choices
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
34) Compensation strategy, HR strategy, and business strategy ultimately seek to decrease costs or increase revenues, relative to competitors.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support HR Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
35) Customer-focused pay strategies are most likely to use market-based pay.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
36) Compensation systems focusing on competitors’ labor costs typically follow a cost-cutter strategy.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
37) The innovator business strategy stresses on delighting customers and bases employee pay on how well they do this.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
38) Most firms do not have generic strategies but use a blend of cost and innovation.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
39) Whole Foods’ shared-fate philosophy means that executive salaries are at least 19 times the average pay of full-time employees.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: The Pay Model Guides Strategic Pay Decisions
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
40) How an organization positions its total compensation against its competitors is part of external competitiveness strategic choices.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: The Pay Model Guides Strategic Pay Decisions
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
41) All organizations that pay their employees have a compensation strategy even though it may not be stated or written.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: The Pay Model Guides Strategic Pay Decisions
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
42) A compensation strategy should reflect an organization’s values.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
43) A major challenge in the design of future pay systems is how to better satisfy individual needs and preferences.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
44) Providing unlimited compensation choices to employees would meet with disapproval from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
45) Since unions represent such a small fraction of the labor force, their influence on pay decisions is insignificant.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
46) An organization whose profits or market share is increasing is able to pay larger bonuses and stock awards.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Virtuous and Vicious Circles
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
47) In a high-performance system, pay strategy always plays a lead role.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Developing a Total Compensation Strategy: Four Steps
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
48) Compensation is often a company’s largest controllable expense.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Source of Competitive Advantage: Three Tests
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
49) Declining organization performance increases the risks facing employees—risks of still smaller bonuses, demotions, wage cuts, and even layoffs.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Virtuous and Vicious Circles
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
50) In a virtuous circle, a pay-for-performance strategy results in the improvement of performance.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Virtuous and Vicious Circles
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
51) Define defenders and prospectors as referred to by Miles and Snow.
Answer: According to Miles and Snow, defenders are those firms that operate in stable markets and compete on cost, while prospectors are firms that are more focused on innovation and new markets.
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
52) Compensation systems can be tailored to general business strategies. List and explain these strategies.
Answer: Compensation systems can be tailored to three general business strategies:
- The innovator stresses new products and short response time to market trends. A supporting compensation approach places less emphasis on evaluating skills and jobs and more emphasis on incentives designed to encourage innovations.
- The cost cutter’s efficiency-focused strategy stresses doing more with less by minimizing costs, encouraging productivity increases, and specifying in greater detail exactly how jobs should be performed.
iii. The customer-focused business strategy stresses delighting customers and bases employee pay on how well they do this.
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Support Business Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
53) Explain AMO theory.
Answer: Boxall and Purcell found an increasingly common “very basic theory of performance” being used, which they referred to as “AMO theory”:
P = f (A, M, O)
P is performance, which is specified to be a function (f) of three factors: A is ability,
M is motivation, and O is opportunity.
In other words, the AMO logic is that HR systems will be most effective when roles are designed to allow employees to be involved in decisions and have an opportunity to make an impact, when employee ability is developed through selective hiring and training and development, and when the compensation system motivates employees to act on their abilities and take advantage of the opportunity to make a difference.
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Support HR Strategy
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
54) What are the aspects of the alignment of pay strategy?
Answer: Alignment of the pay strategy includes three aspects:
- Align with the business strategy
- Align externally with the economic and sociopolitical conditions
- Align internally within the overall HR system.
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Source of Competitive Advantage: Three Tests
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
55) Write short notes on virtuous and vicious circles.
Answer: Virtuous circle: Thinking of pay as part of a circle suggests that performance-based pay works best when there is success to share. An organization whose profits or market share is increasing is able to pay larger bonuses and stock awards, which fairly improves employee attitudes and work behaviors, which in turn improves their performance. The circle gains upward momentum. Employees receive returns that compensate for the risks they take. And they behave like owners, since they are sharing in the organization’s success.
Vicious circle: Circles can also gain momentum going downward to become a vicious circle. When organization performance declines, performance-based pay plans do not pay off; there are no bonuses, and the value of stock declines—with potentially negative effects on organization performance. Declining organization performance increases the risks facing employees—risks of still smaller bonuses, demotions, wage cuts, and even layoffs. Unless the increased risks are offset by larger returns, the risk-return imbalance will reinforce declining employee attitudes and speed the downward spiral.
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Virtuous and Vicious Circles
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Compensation, 13e (Gerhart)
Chapter 4 Job Analysis
1) The systematic process of collecting information that identifies the similarities and differences among jobs is known as
- A) job performance.
- B) job analysis.
- C) use value evaluation.
- D) exchange value analysis.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job-Based Approach: Most Common
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
2) The list of tasks, duties, and responsibilities that make up a job is known as a
- A) job search.
- B) job control.
- C) job specification.
- D) job description.
Answer: D
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Structures Based on Jobs, People, or Both
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
3) Which of the following is true about a job specification?
- A) It refers to a grouping of jobs based on their job-related similarities and differences and on their value to an organization’s objectives.
- B) It primarily focuses on a specific job rather than on individuals who are expected to perform that job.
- C) It is the list of knowledge, skills, and abilities that are necessary for an individual to have to perform a specific job.
- D) It is the list of tasks, duties, and responsibilities that make up a job.
Answer: C
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Structures Based on Jobs, People, or Both
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
4) In a contemporary job description of a specific job, the job summary section
- A) lists the jobs that are supervised by the jobholder.
- B) provides an overview of the job.
- C) demonstrates where the job fits in an organization structure.
- D) depicts the nature of internal and external relationships.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Structures Based on Jobs, People, or Both
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
5) A specific statement of what a worker does on a job is known as a(n)
- A) appraisal.
- B) task.
- C) position.
- D) job structure.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Analysis Procedures
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
6) A group of tasks performed by one person makes up a(n)
- A) position.
- B) job title.
- C) appraisal.
- D) job structure.
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Analysis Procedures
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
7) A set of identical positions makes a
- A) procedure.
- B) task.
- C) title.
- D) job.
Answer: D
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Analysis Procedures
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
8) In the context of job analysis, engineering, office support, and marketing are examples of
- A) tasks.
- B) job families.
- C) job dimensions.
- D) appraisals.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Analysis Procedures
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
9) In the context of job analysis, which of the following is the smallest unit of analysis?
- A) A task
- B) A position
- C) A job family
- D) A job
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Analysis Procedures
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
10) Mike, a job analyst, conducts a job analysis at Great Bread, Inc. George, a first-level supervisor at Great Bread, conducts an initial tour of the work site for Mike. According to the conventional job analysis procedures developed by the U.S. federal government, which of the following steps should Mike perform immediately after the initial tour?
- A) Mike should go on a second tour of the work site but with a different first-level supervisor, someone other than George.
- B) Mike should prepare a preliminary list of duties that will serve as a framework for conducting interviews.
- C) Mike should conduct an interview with George to get an overview of the job and to understand how the major duties fit together.
- D) Mike should review existing documents in order to develop further familiarity with the job.
Answer: C
Difficulty: 3 Hard
Topic: Job Analysis Procedures
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
11) Identify a true statement about the step-by-step approach to conducting conventional job analysis developed by the U.S. federal government.
- A) For scheduling purposes, it is recommended that three to five interviews be conducted per day.
- B) It is recommended that an interview should last for a minimum of five hours and a maximum of eight hours.
- C) It is recommended that the same first-level supervisor-interviewee conduct the second tour of the work site.
- D) It is recommended that the first interview be conducted with the jobholders rather than with the first-level supervisors.
Answer: C
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Job Analysis Procedures
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
12) The U.S. federal government has developed a step-by-step approach to conducting conventional job analysis. Identify a true statement about the verification process in this approach.
- A) It essentially involves the top managers rather than the first-level supervisors because managers are in a better position to provide an overview of the job.
- B) Typed or legibly written copies of the job description are distributed to the first-level supervisors and the job incumbent interviewees.
- C) It takes place immediately after the second tour of the work site is conducted by the first-level supervisors.
- D) Past experience indicates that one minute of verification is required for every minute of interviewing.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Job Analysis Procedures
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
13) Which of the following is defined as a structured job analysis technique that classifies job information into seven basic factors: information input, mental processes, work output, relationships with other persons, job context, other job characteristics, and general dimensions?
- A) The task inventories method
- B) The Position Analysis Questionnaire
- C) The Essential Elements Questionnaire
- D) The job tasks and elements inventory
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
14) Which of the following acts requires that essential elements of a job—those that cannot be reassigned to other workers—must be specified for jobs covered by the legislation?
- A) The Americans With Disabilities Act
- B) The Civil Rights Act
- C) The Fair Labor Standards Act
- D) The Equal Pay Act
Answer: A
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
15) In the context of a job analysis collecting sufficient information to adequately identify, define, and describe a job, which of the following information is most likely to be categorized as “related to the employee”?
- A) Working conditions
- B) Conflicting demands
- C) Performance criteria
- D) Technical knowledge
Answer: D
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
16) Jane works as a copy editor at TreeTime, Inc. She receives an email from the company’s human resources department with a link to a questionnaire that asks her to rate the necessary attributes required for her job. In this scenario, the approach used by TreeTime is characterized as:
- A) quantitative job analysis.
- B) objective job analysis.
- C) conventional job analysis.
- D) paired-comparison job analysis.
Answer: A
Difficulty: 3 Hard
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
17) The most common way to collect job information is
- A) to interview incumbents.
- B) to ask incumbents to fill out a questionnaire.
- C) to ask supervisors to fill out a questionnaire.
- D) to observe people at work and take personal notes.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
18) The advantage of using conventional questionnaires in job analysis is that the involvement of employees
- A) increases their understanding of the process.
- B) lowers the use value of the goods produced by the organization.
- C) reduces the subjectivity of employment decisions.
- D) increases the exchange value that is agreed upon by employees and employers.
Answer: A
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
19) Conventional methods of collecting job information are
- A) open to bias and favoritism.
- B) reliable and objective.
- C) not well-suited to small organizations.
- D) relatively less time consuming.
Answer: A
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
20) Today, job analysis is typically performed by
- A) experienced job incumbents.
- B) new employees.
- C) human resource generalists and supervisors.
- D) experienced workers.
Answer: C
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
21) When job analysis shows that managers and employees disagree on parts of a job, the best answer is to:
- A) collect more data.
- B) use quantitative job analysis.
- C) refer the problem to the compensation committee.
- D) hire an experienced compensation consultant.
Answer: A
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
22) One readily accessible source for generic job descriptions is the
- A) Bureau of National Affairs.
- B) Department of Labor.
- C) Occupational Information Network.
- D) Dictionary of Occupational Titles.
Answer: C
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Descriptions Summarize the Data
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
23) ________ looks at how an organization does its work: activities pursued to accomplish specific objectives for specific customers.
- A) Job analysis
- B) Market analysis
- C) Job structure
- D) Supply chain analysis
Answer: D
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Analysis: Bedrock or Bureaucracy?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
24) Which of the following is true about job analysis and susceptibility to offshoring?
- A) Historically, manual, low-skill jobs were least susceptible to offshoring.
- B) Susceptibility to offshoring is mainly limited to low-skill jobs, and white-collar jobs are safe.
- C) Jobs are most susceptible to outsourcing when inputs and outputs can easily be transmitted electronically.
- D) Susceptibility to outsourcing increases when the associated work is difficult to be routinized.
Answer: C
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Job Analysis, Globalization, and Automation
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
25) Gina announces that she is likely to lose her job because her company is considering offshoring her job to another country. In this case, Gina is most likely to be working in a job that requires her to:
- A) devise advertising campaigns for her company.
- B) curate art pieces in a museum.
- C) promote the image of her company to the public.
- D) manually fix typos in a document.
Answer: D
Difficulty: 3 Hard
Topic: Job Analysis, Globalization, and Automation
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
26) When judging job analysis, which of the following refers to the practicality of the information collected?
- A) Validity
- B) Usefulness
- C) Acceptability
- D) Currency
Answer: B
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Judging Job Analysis
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
27) Which of the following statements about the reliability of job analysis is true?
- A) It is a measure of the practicality of the information collected.
- B) It examines the convergence of results among sources of data and methods.
- C) It is a necessary condition for validity.
- D) It is a sufficient condition for validity.
Answer: C
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Judging Job Analysis
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
28) If several incumbents, supervisors, and peers respond in similar ways to job analysis questionnaires, it suggests that the results are most likely to be
- A) useful.
- B) valid.
- C) invalid.
- D) unreliable.
Answer: B
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Judging Job Analysis
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
29) All of the following EXCEPT ________ are ways to judge job analysis.
- A) currency
- B) acceptability
- C) cost
- D) usefulness
Answer: C
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Judging Job Analysis
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
30) Apart from being reliable, a job analysis is also considered valid if:
- A) the results of the job analysis are consistent among various analysts.
- B) the results of the job analysis are consistent among various methods.
- C) the job analysis is found to be acceptable.
- D) the results converge among various sources of data and methods.
Answer: D
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Judging Job Analysis
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
31) In the context of the process for constructing a work-related internal structure, job-based and person-based structures use similar methods but have different underlying purposes.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Structures Based on Jobs, People, or Both
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
32) Job analysis is best done by someone thoroughly familiar with the organization and its jobs and trained in how to do the analysis properly.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
33) In the context of the job analysis process, verification often involves the jobholders as well as their supervisors to determine whether the proposed job description is accurate and complete.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Descriptions Summarize the Data
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34) Typical data collected for a job analysis would not include relationships with suppliers and customers.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
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35) All job incumbents can easily complete the Position Analysis Questionnaire as the reading level required for it is relatively low.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
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36) ADA regulations state that “essential functions refers to the fundamental job duties of the employment position the individual with a disability holds or desires.”
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
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37) The Americans With Disabilities Act has led to a significant increase in employment rates for people with disabilities.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
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38) The level at which a job analysis begins influences whether the work is similar or dissimilar.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
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39) The Americans With Disabilities Act’s essential-elements requirement for hiring and promotion decisions seems to require less detail than what is required for pay decisions.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
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40) Many employers are easily able to justify the time and expense of collecting task-level information, particularly for flexible jobs with frequently changing tasks.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
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41) Reducing the number of job titles in an organization is likely to increase the opportunities to reinforce positive employee behavior.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
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42) An increasingly common method of conducting job analysis is quantitative job analysis, which is usually conducted on a website.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
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43) Most organizations find it more practical and cost-effective to develop their own quantitative job analysis questionnaires from ground zero rather than to modify existing questionnaires.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
44) In the context of the Position Analysis Questionnaire, similarities and differences among jobs are described in terms of specific aspects unique to each job rather than in terms of the seven basic factors.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
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45) In some organizations, analyzing work content is now conducted as part of work flow and supply chain analysis.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Analysis: Bedrock or Bureaucracy?
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46) Traditional job analysis that makes fine distinctions among levels of jobs has been accused of reinforcing rigidity in organizations.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Analysis: Bedrock or Bureaucracy?
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47) A study of three different jobs in the United States, China, Hong Kong, and New Zealand found that ratings of the importance and amount of work activities and job requirements were significantly different across countries.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Analysis, Globalization, and Automation
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48) Quantitative job analysis methods help increase reliability.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Judging Job Analysis
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49) Most organizations do not engage in any regular updating of job analysis information.
Answer: TRUE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Judging Job Analysis
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50) The reliability and validity of the quantitative methods of job analysis have significantly reduced the importance of human judgment in job analysis.
Answer: FALSE
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Judging Job Analysis
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51) What are the usual steps in a conventional job analysis procedure? List them in their order of occurrence.
Answer: The steps in conventional job analysis procedures are as follows:
- Develop preliminary job information.
- Conduct initial tour of work site.
- Conduct interviews.
- Conduct second tour of work site.
- Consolidate job information.
- Verify job description.
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: Job Analysis Procedures
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52) Briefly describe the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Answer: The Americans with Disabilities Act regulations state that “essential functions refers to the fundamental job duties of the employment position the individual with a disability holds or desires.” The law does not make any allowances for special pay rates or special benefits for people with disabilities. While the law does not require any particular kind of analysis, many employers have modified the format of their job descriptions to specifically call out the essential elements.
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: What Information Should Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
53) Describe the ways in which information can be collected.
Answer: Information can be collected in two ways: conventional methods and quantitative methods.
Conventional methods: The most common way to collect job information is to ask the people who are doing a job to fill out a questionnaire. Sometimes an analyst will interview the jobholders and their supervisors to be sure they understand the questions and that the information is correct. Or the analyst may observe the person at work and take notes on what is being done.
The advantage of conventional questionnaires and interviews is that the involvement of employees increases their understanding of the process. However, the results are only as good as the people involved. If important aspects of a job are omitted, or if the jobholders themselves either do not realize or are unable to express the importance of certain aspects, the resulting job descriptions will be faulty. The process is open to bias and favoritism and takes a huge amount of time.
Quantitative methods: Increasingly, employees are directed to a website where they complete a questionnaire online. Such an approach is characterized as quantitative job analysis (QJA). In addition to facilitating statistical analysis of the results, quantitative data collection allows more data to be collected faster.
A questionnaire typically asks jobholders to assess each item in terms of whether or not that particular item is part of their job. If it is, they are asked to rate how important it is and the amount of job time spent on it. The responses can be machine-scored, similar to the process for a multiple-choice test, and the results can be used to develop a profile of the job. Questions are grouped around five compensable factors: knowledge, accountability, reasoning, communication, and working conditions.
Some consulting firms have developed quantitative inventories that can be tailored to the needs of a specific organization or to a specific family of jobs, such as data/information-processing jobs. Many organizations find it practical and cost-effective to modify these existing inventories rather than to develop their own analysis from ground zero. The results depend on the quality of the inputs, and the items on the questionnaire matter. If important aspects of a job are omitted or if the jobholders themselves do not realize the importance of certain aspects, the resulting job descriptions will be faulty. This analysis needs to include good performers to ensure that the work is usefully analyzed.
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
54) What should the manager do if employees and their supervisors do not agree on what is part of the jobs?
Answer: While supervisors, in theory, ought to know the jobs well, they may not, particularly if jobs are changing. People actually working in a job may change it. They may find ways to do things more efficiently, or they may not have realized that certain tasks were supposed to be part of their jobs.
Differences in job data may arise among jobholders. Some may see the job one way, some another. The best answer is to collect more data. Enough data are required to ensure consistent, accurate, useful, and acceptable results. Holding a meeting of multiple jobholders and supervisors in a focus group to discuss discrepancies and then asking both employees and supervisors to sign off on the revised results helps ensure agreement on, or at least understanding of, the results.
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: How Can the Information Be Collected?
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
55) Briefly describe offshoring in job analysis and susceptibility to offshoring.
Answer: Offshoring refers to the movement of jobs to locations beyond a country’s borders. Historically, manual, low-skill jobs were most susceptible to offshoring. There are substantial differences in hourly compensation costs across countries for manufacturing workers; this has played an important role in companies’ decisions about where to locate production operations. Similar differences in cost in other low-skill occupations (e.g., in call centers) have had similar ramifications. There are productivity differences across countries as well, meaning that lower labor costs may in some cases be offset by lower productivity. Availability of workers with needed education and skills is another potential constraint. Proximity to customers is yet another issue.
Increasingly, susceptibility to offshoring is no longer limited to low-skill jobs. White-collar jobs are also increasingly at risk. Jobs are most susceptible to outsourcing when inputs and outputs can easily be transmitted electronically, little interaction with other workers is required, little local knowledge is required, and the work can be routinized.
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: Job Analysis, Globalization, and Automation
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
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