Ch 3

Question 1

The human resource planning process

Answer 1

Step 1- forecast demand for resources
Step 2- assess supply of resources
Step 3- develop HR objectives
Step 4- design and implement HR programs to balance demand and supply. 
Step 5- establish program evaluation.

Question 2

Strategic plan

Answer 2

Involves identification of a firm’s mission, objectives, and plans for achieving those objectives.

Question 3

Forecasts

Answer 3

Estimates of future resource needs and changes

Question 4

Nominal group technique

Answer 4

A focused group discussion where members meet face to face, write down their ideas, and share them. All new thoughts on a topic are recorded and ranked for importance.

Question 5

Delphi technique

Answer 5

The soliciting of predictions about specified future events from a panel of experts, using repeated surveys until convergence in opinions occurs.

Question 6

Extrapolation

Answer 6

Extending past rates of change into the future.

Question 7

Indexation

Answer 7

A method of estimating future employment needs by matching employment growth with a selected index, such as the ratio of production employees to sales.

Question 8

Staffing table

Answer 8

A list of anticipated employment openings for each type of job.

Question 9

Skills inventories

Answer 9

Summaries of each non managerial worker’s skills and abilities.

Question 10

Management inventories

Answer 10

Comprehensive reports of available management capabilities in the organization.

Question 11

Replacement charts

Answer 11

Visual representations of who will replace whom when a job opening occurs.

Question 12

Replacement summaries

Answer 12

Lists of likely replacements for each job and their relative strengths and weaknesses.

Question 13

Markov analysis.

Answer 13

Forecast of a firm’s future HR supplies using transitional probability matrices reflecting historical or expected movements of employees across jobs.

Question 14

Transition matrices.

Answer 14

Describe the probabilities of how quickly a job position turns over and what an incumbent employee may do over a forecast period of time, such as stay in the current position, move to another position within the firm, or accept a job in another organization.

Question 15

Labour market analysis.

Answer 15

The study of a firm’s labour market to evaluate the present and future availability of different types of workers.

Question 16

Canadian occupational projection system.

Answer 16

Provides up to 10 year projection of Canadian economy and human resource needs.

Question 17

Outplacement

Answer 17

Assisting employees to find jobs with other employers.

Question 18

Attrition

Answer 18

Loss of employees due to their voluntary departures from the firm through resignation, retirement or death.

Question 19

Phased retirement

Answer 19

Gradual phase into retirement with loss or reduction of pension benefits.

Question 20

Job sharing

Answer 20

A plan whereby available work is spread among all workers in a group to reduce the extent of layoffs when production requirements cause a substantial decline in available work.

Question 21

Part-time workers.

Answer 21

Persons working fewer than the required hours for categorization as full-time workers and who are ineligible for many supplementary benefits offered by employers.

Question 22

Labour shortage

Answer 22

Insufficient supply of qualified talent to fill the demand for labour.

Question 23

Contract or contingent worker.

Answer 23

A freelancer who is not part of the regular workforce who provides goods or services to another entity under the terms of a specific contract.

Question 24

Outsourcing

Answer 24

Contracting tasks to outside agencies or persons.

Question 25

Crowdsourcing

Answer 25

The act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined and generally large network of people in the form of an open call

Question 26

Work arrangement

Answer 26

A firm’s use of work hours, schedules and location to ensure that the goals of the organization and the needs of employees are optimally met.

Question 27

Flex hours

Answer 27

Variable start and stop times

Question 28

Flex schedules

Answer 28

Any type of variation in traditional work schedules.

Question 29

Compressed workweeks

Answer 29

A reduction in the number of days per week in which full-time work is performed, but not in the number of weekly hours.

Question 30

Human resource planning

Answer 30

A process used to determine future human resource requirements by anticipating future business demands, analyzing the impacts of these demands on the organization, and making decisions on how to effectively acquire and utilize firms’ human resources.

Question 31

Telecommuting

Answer 31

Full or part time labour performed at the employees home or on the move with the assistance of technology.

Question 32

Virtual organization

Answer 32

An operational domain of any organization whose workforce includes a significant portion of remote workers.

Question 33

Flexible retirement

Answer 33

A novel approach to optimizing the talent of recent retirees, this extending their contributions and continuing their engagement in organizational activities.

Question 34

People equity

Answer 34

How organization’s measure and manage their human capital to maximize its value.

Question 35

HR information system (HRIS)

Answer 35

Gathers, analyzes, summarizes, and reports important data for formulating and implementing strategies by HR specialists and line managers.

Question 36

Enterprise-wide systems

Answer 36

Link an organization’s entire software application environment into a single enterprise solution.

Question 37

Intranet

Answer 37

An organization-specific internal computer network.

Question 38

Predictive analysis.

Answer 38

The process of selecting, exploring , analyzing , and modelling data to create better business outcomes.

Question 39

Talent management

Answer 39

A systemic attraction, identification , development , engagement /retention, and development of those individuals with high potential who are of particular value to the organization.

Question 40

Human resource accounting (HRA)

Answer 40

A process to measure the present cost and value of human resources as well as their future worth to the organization.