First Exam Flashcards
What are the 3 levels of management?
- Top management
- Middle management
- First-Line management
What are some examples of Top Managers?
CEO, CFO, President, Vice President
What are some examples of Middle Managers?
Regional and District Managers
What are some examples of First-Line Managers?
General and Associate Managers
What are Human Resources?
The people who work in an organization.
What are the 3 categories of resources?
- Human
- Physical
- Financial
What are the 3 categories of Human Resources?
- Managers
- Line employee - those closest to customer
- Staff - those that support the line (like HR)
What is Human Resource Management?
The design of formal systems in an organization to ensure the effective and efficient use of HR to accomplish organizational goals.
What are the 5 major HR functions?
- Staffing
- HR Development
- Compensation
- Safety and Health
- Employee and Labor Relations
What are the 2 subcategories of Staffing?
- Recruitment
2. Selection
What are the 2 subcategories of HR development?
- Training
2. Performance Management
What are the 2 subcategories of Compensation?
- Financial (direct and indirect)
2. Nonfinancial
What is the purpose of Safety and Health (as an HR function)?
To provide safe and healthy working environments
What are the 2 subcategories of Employee and Labor Relations?
- Unions
2. Internal Employee Relations
What is an HR Generalist?
Someone who can be in any of the 5 major functions of HR. They know a little about a lot.
What is an HR specialist?
Someone who knows a lot about a little (as in they specialize in one of the 5 major branches).
What is does an HR consultant do?
An HR Consultant is responsible for assisting clients with strategically integrating effective HR processes, programs and practices into their daily operations
What are the 3 key HR responsibilities?
- Designing HR systems
- Employee relations
- Counseling and/or coaching
What do HRM decisions influence?
Bottom line (profit)
What is turnover?
The rate at which employees leave the organization. 300% turnover means that 3 people leave the same 1 position per year.
Why isn’t turnover necessarily a bad thing? (3 things)
- Seasonal jobs will always have high turnover.
- Some people are bad employees.
- Minimum wage type jobs always have high turnover.
What are the three main areas of Strategic HR challenges?
- Environmental issues
- Organizational issues
- Individual issues
What are environmental issues? Name some examples.
Factors outside of the organization’s control, such as rise of the internet, diversity, globalization, legislation, and natural disaster.
What are organizational issues?
Factors inside of the organization’s control. Up to 80% of a company’s costs are from HR.
What is decentralization?
When management comes more from a local level, and less from a single location.
What is downsizing?
Layoffs, cutting back the workforce and overall costs.
What is outsourcing?
When you hire an external company to do a job that was typically done internal to the organization.
What is organizational culture?
The values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.
What are individual issues of HR?
HR issues that address the decisions most pertinent to individual employees.
What is a job analysis?
The systematic process of collecting information used to make decisions about jobs. It identifies the tasks, duties, and responsibilities.
Who performs job analysis?
A member of HR, a manager, a consultant, and/or job incumbent.
What is a job incumbent?
The person currently assigned to the job.
What is a job description?
A written statement of the information collected from the job analysis. It is the end result of the analysis.
What are the 4 elements of a job description?
- Identification Information - job title, location
- Summary
- Job duties/responsibilities
- Job specifications and minimum qualifications
Why is job analysis useful for recruitment?
- Makes it easier to describe in ads
2. Can target more qualified applicants.
Why is job analysis useful for selection?
Can be used to determine what type of selection tests are appropriate.
Why is job analysis useful in performance appraisal?
Performance standards used in appraisals should be based upon the criteria determined by job analysis.
Why is job analysis useful for compensation?
Makes it easier to compare and determine the worth of a job.
Why is job analysis useful in training and career development?
It helps determine training needs.
When conducting job analysis, you are NOT measuring what?
Not measuring job performance; it takes an objective view and merely analyzes the position.
What are the 5 ways to conduct job analysis?
Lengthy
- Interview: Ask incumbents or managers to describe job
- Observation: Watch what people do and record it
- Diaries: Job incumbents keep a log of their daily activities and amount of time spent on each activity
4, Questionnaires: Job incumbent fills out a questionnaire asking what he does - Internet based data collection: (O*Net)
What is a team?
A small number of people with complementary skills who work toward common goals.
Why do organizations use teams in the workplace?
- More productive than individuals alone
2. Impressive contributions to bottom-line (profit)
What are a couple of problems with group work?
- Free riding - one mooches off the others
2. Group think - when they all have the same idea; consensus at all costs (a very bad idea)
What are self-managed teams?
A team responsible for producing an entire product. They have a complex/diverse skill-set.
What is a virtual team?
When members collaborate on large projects over the internet. This is, of course, done electronically and not over the internet.
What is job design?
The process of organizing work into the tasks required to perform a specific job.
Explain the process of simplification.
Work can be broken down into simple, repetitive tasks that maximize efficiency.
What are two problems with simplification?
Turnover and dissatisfaction.
What are the following things and what makes them different: job enlargement and job enrichment?
Job enlargement: expands a job’s duties
Jon enrichment: Puts tasks back together so that one person is producing a whole product. (The opposite of simplification)
What is job rotation?
Workers rotate among different narrowly defined tasks.
What are core workers?
An organization’s full-time employees.
What are contingent workers?
Workers hired to deal with temporary increases in an organization’s workload or to do work that is not part of its core set of responsibilities.
What are temporary workers?
Employees hired for short-term assignment only.
What are the two major benefits of hiring temp workers?
- Much cheaper than full-time employees
2. They are highly motivated
What is a part-time employee?
One who works fewer hours than a full-time employee. They receive fewer benefits.
What is job sharing?
Full-time job is divided between two or more people to create two part-time jobs.
What is the purpose of a flexible work schedule?
Alter scheduling of work while leaving intact the job design and employment relationship.
What are flexible work hours?
This is when employees are required to put in a full 40 hour week, but they have control over when they work.
How does core-time compare with flex-time?
Core time (expected to be there, such as peak hours) and flex-time (work around personal activities).
What is the compressed workweek?
This is when the number of workdays is decreased by increasing the number of hours per day (such as 4, 10-hour days).
What is telecommuting?
Working from home.
What are the three main reasons why HR needs to understand the legal environment?
- Mandate good business practices.
- Realize the limitations of the organization’s HR and legal department.
- Minimize liability
What is the Equal Pay Act?
Passed in 1963, the first ever civil rights act requires the same pay for men and women who do the same job in the same organization.
What are the four exceptions to the Equal Pay Act?
- Merit pay plan
- Quantity and quality of production
- Seniority
- Any factor other than sex (like location and shifts worked).
What is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act? What 5 things does it prohibit?
Passed in 1964, this is arguably the most important “equality” law. It prohibits employment decisions based on race, religion, national origin, color, or sex.
What is a protected class?
A group of people who have suffered discrimination in the past and who are given special protection by the law.
What is discrimination?
Making distinctions among people.
What are the two types of ILLEGAL discrimination?
Disparate treatment and adverse impact.
What is disparate treatment?
Discrimination that occurs when individuals are treated differently because of their membership in a protected class (obvious discrimination).
What is adverse impact?
Discrimination that occurs when the equal application of an employment standard has an unequal effect on one or more protected classes.
For a disparate treatment lawsuit, what three things must occur to establish a prima facie (“on its face”) case?
- Show that the organization did not hire her
- Show that she was qualified for the job
- Show that the company continued to try to hire someone else after rejecting her.
It’s then the company’s turn to prove she was denied for some reason other than sex.
What was Griggs vs Duke Power (1971)?
Case of adverse impact. Griggs was denied a promotion because he didn’t have either a high school diploma or pass an IQ test.
How is it determined whether adverse impact has occurred?
Adverse impact has occurred if the hiring rate of a protected class is less than 4/5 of the majority group.
Why is it legal to “discriminate” for “job related” purposes?
This is the most common form of legal “discrimination.” For example, a firefighter is required to be able to carry around a lot of weight, so if you can’t carry the weight, they can “discriminate
against you.
Why is discrimination legal is the case of “bona fide occupational qualification” (BFOQ)?
For example, a film company looking for an actress has the right to discriminate against actors.
Why is discrimination sometimes legal in cases of seniority?
For example, pilots cannot be over the age of 70 (their senses drop off at that age, and that’s reason enough).
Why is it legal to discriminate for purposes of “business necessity”?
For example, an all-male prison should not have female prison guards.
What characteristics can you legally discriminate against?
- Height and weight
- Marital status
- Sexual orientation
What is the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978?
It protects women from discrimination on either (1) their ability to become pregnant or (2) their actual pregnancy.
What protections does the Pregnancy Act provide?
- Requires that an employer treat an employee who is pregnant in the same way as any other employee who has a medical condition.
- A sick employee could get sick leave, so a pregnant women could be maternity leave.
What are the two types of sexual harassment?
Quid pro quo (“this for that”) and hostile work environment.
What is quid pro quo (“this for that”) sexual harassment?
Harassment that occurs when sexual activity is required for getting or keeping a job or job-related benefit.
What is a (sexually) hostile work environment?
Harassment that occurs when the behavior of the coworkers, supervisors, or customers (anyone in the work setting) is sexual in nature and the employee perceives the behavior as offensive and undesirable.
What changes did the Civil Rights Act of 1991 make to the 1964 Act?
- Employer bears the burden of proof (must defend actions).
- Quotas are forbidden
- Punitive + compensatory damages and jury trials
What did the Executive Order 11246 do?
A presidential directive requiring organizations that have government contracts over $50,000 and 50 or more employees to develop affirmative action programs to promote the employment of protected-class members.
What is affirmative action?
Practice in which employers identify conspicuous imbalances in the workforce and take steps to correct under-representation of protected classes.
Are all organizations in the US required to have an affirmative action program?
No! AA applies only to contractors supplying goods and services to the federal government.
What is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967?
A law that prohibits discrimination against people who are 40 or older.
What is the Older Workers’ Protection Act?
Amends ADEA to make it illegal for employers to discriminate in providing benefits to employees based on age. Example: You can’t provide health insurance to young people, but simultaneously not for old people.
What is the Americans with Disability Act (ADA)?
Written in 1990 and 2008, Employment discrimination is prohibited against individuals with disabilities who are able to perform the essential functions of the job with reasonable accommodation.
Who are individuals with disabilities?
People who have a physical or mental impairment that substantially affects one or more major life activities.
What is an essential function?
Job duty that each person in a certain position must do or must be able to do to be an effective employee.
What is a reasonable accommodation?
An action taken to accommodate the known disabilities of applicants or employees so that disabled persons have equal employment opportunity.
What is the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986?
Mandates that employers hire only people who can document that they are legally permitted to work in the U.S.
What is the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988?
Requires that government contractors try to ensure that their workplaces are free from drug use.
What is the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Acts of 1994 (USERRA)?
Protects the rights of employees who take leave from a private-sector employer to perform military service.
What are the three major functions of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission?
- Processing discrimination complaints
- Issuing written regulations
- Information gathering and dissemination
What is diversity?
Any perceived difference among people.
