Intro To HR Flashcards
Human resource management AKA HRM/HR
Responsible for:
- recruiting
- selection
- motivation
Defining and analyzing jobs in organizations
What are the two planning functions of HR?
- Strategic planning
- Short and medium range planning
How do HR planning activities help the organization?
Help the organization better understand how many and what type of employees the org needs in the future
What does staffing include?
- Recruiting applicants
- Selecting most appropriate candidate
- Applied to both internal and external candidates
Direct compensation
Rewards that are directly linked to performance on the job
Indirect compensation
Compensation that is given simply for being a member of an org
Performance appraisal (review)
Method in which an employee’s job performance is evaluated
4 implicit HR objectives
- Improve productivity
- Improve quality of work life
- Ensure legal compliance
- Forster ethical behavior
Quality of work life (QWL)
The quality of life experiences by employees in their work environments
Moral philosophy
Principles, rules, and values that individuals use in deciding what is right or wrong
What are the two categories of ethical theories?
- Consequential
- Deontological
Consequential theories
Focuses on the consequences of manager’s actions - end result
Deontological theories
Focuses on the rules or duties of managers - moral duties and responsibilities to do the right thing
6 trends representing major events that influenced the growth of HRM
- Increased competition
- Cost and benefits
- Productivity changes
- Increasing pace and complexity
- Symptoms of dysfunction in the workplace
- Societal trends of the 21rst century
True or false: HR dept execs are just as concerned with profits as other execs
True
How are millennials described entering the workforce?
Cynical
What is strategy?
How an organization is going to compete
What is a societal trend that affects HR and it’s function?
Symptoms of dysfunction in the workplace
Internal environment
Factors that organizations control as they interact in the global marketplace
- culture
- product development
- strategy
External environment
Factors that organizations in their managers have no control over
- Legislation
- Changes in technology
- Competition
SWOT analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
What does a strong economy tend to create?
A more competitive market for recruiting talent
Did NAFTA force corporations to become more or less competitive?
More
What have organization started doing with their structure as the use of technology has increased in the workplace?
Decreased the number of management levels of the organization
What are the HR competencies?
- Provide transformational leadership
- Collaborate and resolve strategic challenges
- Encourage real employee involvement
- Empower and facilitate learning
- Design process and performance systems
- Maintain a global business perspective
HR generalists
-Provide guidance to employees
- support management
- serve as a source of health and information on human resource matters
HR specialists
recruiting, training, and compensation
Are HR specialists generally found in large or small firms?
Large
What does common law not give to or require of the courts?
Lenient adherence to law
Public policy exception
An exception to the employment at-will doctrine where employer cannot terminate employee for reasons that would violate public policy interest or statute
3 common law exceptions to the at-will doctrine
- Public policy exception
- Implied contract exception
- Implied covenant of good faith exception
Implied contract exception
An exception to the employment at will doctrine, stating that a legally binding agreement is created between an employer and employee, based on their actions and not a formal contract
Implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing exception
An exception to the employment at will doctrine, stating that each party in an employment relationship has made an implied promise to treat the other in good faith in fairness
Which is the only state that does not embrace the doctrine of employment at will?
Montana
Which exception to the employee at will doctrine is only valid and a handful of states?
Implied covenant of good faith
Civil rights act of 1964
Law, prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
Equal employment, opportunity commission - EEOC
Federal agency tasked with formal enforcement of employment discrimination law
Other EEOC federal statutes
- Equal Pay act of 1963
- age discrimination act of 1967
- Americans with disabilities act of 1990
- Rehabilitation act of 1973
- Civil rights act of 1991
- Uninformed services employment and reemployment rights act
- Genetic information nondiscrimination act of 2008
Title VII
Part of the civil rights act that prohibits employment discrimination
When was the EEOC given the authority to enforce the rights given by the civil rights act?
1972
True or false: the EEOC only conducts enforcement for title VII of the civil rights act of 1964?
False
To be considered sexual harassment of gender discrimination, the harassment, what must involve at the very least?
Harassment directed on an employee because of gender
Establishing a claim of age discrimination:
- 40+ years old
- was adversely affected by an employment action
- Was treated less favorably than someone younger
Older workers benefit protection act - OWBPA
An amendment to the age, discrimination in employment act intended to safeguard older workers employee benefits from age discrimination
Was age originally included in title VII of the 1964 civil rights act?
No
When was the OWBPA passed? (Age discrimination)
1990
When was religion first to find entitled VII of the civil rights act?
1972
What is the first thing an employer must do if an employer asks for an accommodation because of a work religion conflict?
Determine if the conflict is indeed, a religious one
True or false: employees may not demand a particular accommodation other than a reasonable one offered by the employer?
True
What president gave civil rights legislation to Congress in 1963?
Kennedy
When were all races include in the civil rights act?
1964
Executive order 8802
prohibition of ethnic or racial discrimination in the nation’s defense industry
Executive order 10925
Mandated affirmative action to eliminate bias in employment practices
Executive order 11246
Required government contractors to take affirmative action towards prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring an employment
The Philadelphia plan
Required contractors to establish specific goals employing minorities in their hiring plans
What are the three basic elements of an affirmative action plan?
- Reasonable self analysis
- Reasonable rationale for taking affirmative action
- Reasonable affirmative action
What is affirmative action?
Action by employers to overcome discrimination in their practices
What did affirmative action provide that title VII did not?
A way to enforce non-discriminatory practices by way of administrative action
What is the next step and human resource planning once the business plans are determined?
Decide how many and which employees are needed
What are the four phases of human resource planning?
- Gather and forecast data for supply and demand
- Establish objectives and policies
- Design and implement plan and action programs
- Control and evaluate HRM plans and programs
True or false: few small and medium size organizations can be successful without a formal process for estimating future human resource needs?
False
Managerial estimates
Most common method of estimating HR demand – typically made by top management
Delphi technique
Method of group decision making and forecasting that involves excessively collecting the judgment of experts
Nominal grouping technique
Group process involving problem identification, solution, generation, and decision making
Simple linear regression
projection of future demand based on a past relationship between employment level and a variable related to employment, such as sales
Multiple linear regression
An extension of simple linear regression analysis instead of relating employment to just one variable multiple variables are used
Productivity ratios
Historical data used to examine the past level of a productivity index
Human resource ratios
Past data used to determine historical relationships among employees in various jobs
Time series analysis
Past staffing levels used to project future HR needs
Stochastic ratios
The probability of landing a series of contracts in order to estimate expected staffing requirements
Redundancy planning
HR planning associated with the process of laying off employees
Which of the demand data gathering methods are judgemental techniques?
Managerial estimate
Delphi technique
Nominal grouping technique
Which of the data gathering methods are statistical techniques?
Linear regression
multiple linear regression
productivity ratios
trend analysis
stochastic analysis
What are the supply forecasting methods?
Succession planning and replacement planning
What actions are involved in reduction planning to maintain dignity and morale?
Outplacement counseling, buy-outs, job skill retraining, and job transfer
KSA’s
A person’s knowledge, skills, and abilities
What is the purpose of the Generic Information Nondiscrimination Act?
To prohibit discrimination of candidates and current employees based on the likelihood that potential employees will have future health issues, and to protect the rights of genetic information to remain confidential
What is a trade association?
A local labor organization
Empirical validity (aka statistical/predictive validity)
Describes how closely scores correlate with behavior as measured in other contexts
Why is conducting a job analysis critical to employee selection?
Increases accuracy of job descriptions in recruiting and aids in developing job related selection procedures
What are the two types of criteria?
Ultimate and actual
Ultimate criteria
Theoretical constructs or abstract idea that can never actually be measures
Actual criteria
Measurable factors that constitute a successful person
What are the 5 steps of the ADDIE model?
Assessment
Design
Development
Implementation
Evaluation
What are the 3 goals of the needs assessment step?
- Determine if a training need exists
- Identify where the need exists
- Determine nature of training
What are the 3 levels of needs assessment associated with the ADDIE model?
- Organizational
- Task
- Personal
What is included in the design phase of the ADDIE model?
Goals, objectives, and evaluation tasks that must be developed and sequenced
What is “transfer of training”?
The ability to take what is learned in the classroom and apply it to the job
What are 3 actions that increase transfer of training?
- Ensuring that conditions in the training program are identical to those in the job
- Teaching principles for applying behaviors learned
- Using the contract plan
What is construct validity?
How well a test measures what it claims to measure; measures a complicated, psychological trait or skill, such as intelligence or personality
What is content validity?
The extent to which an assessment is relevant to the content of a job
What is straight ranking?
Performance appraisal method in which subordinates are listed in order from best to worst
What is alternative ranking?
Performance appraisal method in which the first step is to put the best subordinate at the head of the list and the worst subordinate at the bottom
What are paired comparisons?
Performance appraisal method that compares each employee to another two at a time on a single standard
What is the forced distribution message?
Forced to ranking system that aligns people in preset bucket, such as the top 20%
What uses of performance appraisal are considered administrative actions?
- Promotion
- Wage decisions
- Validation of employee selection
- Evaluation of training effectiveness
What uses of performance appraisal are considered developmental actions?
- Feedback for performance improvement
- Identification of training needs
- Career planning
Cash plan
Provides payment of profit shares at regular intervals
Variable compensation
Rewards that link employee pay to employee and organizational performance
What is indirect compensation?
- Employee benefits
- Employee training
- Employee services
