final exam study guide 1

Question 1

List and describe the components of Porter’s Strategy typology

Answer 1

Low-cost Strategy: create value by reducing costs
Differentiation strategy: creating value by convincing the market that your product/ service is different from all the others

Question 2

Identify the criteria for a core capability (or resource) to become a source of sustained competitive advantage for an organization.

Answer 2

Bundle of skills and technologies within an organization that distinguish it from its competitors and deliver value to customers VALUABLE, RARE, AND DIFFICULT TO IMITATE

Question 3

List and describe the four types of workers identified by the human capital architecture model.

Answer 3

Strategic knowledge: high uniqueness, high value: top management
Core employees: low uniqueness, high value: salespeople
Supporting labor: low uniqueness, low value: clerical workers
Alliance/ external partners: high uniqueness, low value: consultants

Question 4

Identify the two generic HR strategies

Answer 4

HPWS and Control-oriented work system

Question 5

HPWS

Answer 5

maximizes productivity and performance through utilization of employee abilities and motivation

Question 6

Control-oriented work system

Answer 6

minimizes employee knowledge and skill requirements and limits variability of performance across people

Question 7

exemptions to employment-at-will

Answer 7

public policy, implied contract, and violation of good faith and fair dealings

Question 8

what are the 5 organizational selection devices

Answer 8

reliability, validity, utility, generaalizability, and legality

Question 9

reliability

Answer 9

consistent, dependable, and stable, degree to which the measure is free from random error

Question 10

validity

Answer 10

a measure is valid to the extent that the inferences we make from it are correct. The 3 types are criterion (correlation), content (relevance), and construct (accurate) validity. “job-related”

Question 11

utility

Answer 11

degree to which the information provided by the selection methods enhanced the effectiveness of selecting personnel

Question 12

generalizability

Answer 12

the degree to which the validity of a selection method extends to other contexts

Question 13

legality

Answer 13

all selection methods should adhere to existing laws and legal precedents

Question 14

what are the different selection devices

Answer 14

interviews, cognitive ability tests, work samples, and application blanks

Question 15

most common selection device

Answer 15

interviews

Question 16

work samples

Answer 16

requires doing work on and off the job, validity depends on the extent of work done, expensive, generalizability is low, assessment centers are a specific variety of popular work sample tests

Question 17

application blanks

Answer 17

allows the collection of information in a standardized manner, historical and verifiable, good info source for experience, direct and indirect questions about protected classifications should be avoided, and must screen ADA and EEO requirements

Question 18

Recognize the defining characteristics of both behavioral (experience-based) and situational (future-oriented) job interviews

Answer 18

Situational: intentions predict behavior: future-oriented
Behavioral: best predictor of future behavior is past behavior

Question 19

Explain the key purposes of performance appraisal in organizations

Answer 19

A systematic measurement meant to assess employees

Question 20

Identify the following rating errors that can influence performance ratings: central tendency, leniency, contrast effects, and halo effect

Answer 20

central tendency: avoid extreme judgments
leniency: extremely positive fashion
contrast effects: compare them with recently observed people or objects
halo effect: overall impression

Question 21

list the methods raters can use to improve subjective performance appraisals

Answer 21

Socio/ structural remedies: TARGET THE SYSTEM, length of appraisal period, easy-to-use rating format, support from management
Training remedies: target individual raters (help equip rates for the rating process)
Statistical remedies: target the resulting data (standardize score within raters)

Question 22

Explain the concepts of internal and external equity with regard to compensation.

Answer 22

internal: pay within the same organization
external: pay in different organizations

Question 23

collecting market wage data

Answer 23

Market Pay Surveys: answer who should be included, determine ROI in employee using revenues/ employees and revenues/ labor costs ratios.
Benchmarking: comparing an organization’s practices against those of the competition
Focus on Key jobs

Question 24

Define the concept of broad-banding as it relates to compensation.

Answer 24

A compensation strategy that simplifies job classifications and pay by using fewer, broader pay ranges, unlike traditional systems with many narrow pay grades and specific salary ranges

Question 25

Outline the major provisions of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

Answer 25

Equal Pay Act of 1963: prohibits job discrimination for “substantially equal” jobs, but allows it for seniority, performance etc.
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: established minimum wage of $7.25