SHRM SJT Flashcards
Situational Judgement Test Questions
The new HR director at a local government agency is tasked with overseeing an internal audit to ensure that all agency jobs comply with labor regulations. Most of the agency’s 300 workers are currently considered salaried employees; a small group is classified as independent contractors. The audit determines that several positions classified as independent contractor status should actually be employee status. The HR director reports these findings to the senior management team. The team acknowledges the need to adjust the status of these positions, but they are worried that doing so will call attention to the fact that the agency has violated the regulation. How should the HR director respond to the team’s concerns about correcting the classifications?
- Explain the benefits of compliance and include a copy of the agency’s policy on compliance.
- Defer to the agency’s legal consultant for a discussion of possible compliance actions and penalties.
- Ensure that the team has an accurate understanding of the regulatory requirements.
- Document the internal audit process findings in case of legal consequences.
Explain the benefits of compliance and include a copy of the agency’s policy on compliance. is the correct answer. The HR director demonstrates leadership and ethical practices in a high-visibility organizational issue.
What actions should the HR director take to ensure that the agency’s future processes comply with ethical guidelines?
A. Schedule individual meetings with senior leaders to determine the best course of action.
B. Communicate to personnel and leaders that classification mistakes have been made and outline steps taken to resolve those discrepancies.
C. Develop formal HR policies to regularly evaluate all position classifications for exempt/nonexempt employee and independent contractor status.
D. Do not correct existing issues but develop procedures to ensure that future personnel will be classified appropriately.
C. Develop formal HR policies to regularly evaluate all position classifications for exempt/nonexempt employee and independent contractor status.
C is the correct answer. It demonstrates a good-faith effort to clearly communicate and comply with labor regulations. HR demonstrates the Ethical Practice competency by developing HR policies and internal controls to minimize organizational risk from an unethical practice.
An organization restructures itself over a period of six months. Many employees and managers now work with individuals they have never worked with before. An employee requests a meeting with HR to discuss concerns about his new direct supervisor. The employee alleges that the supervisor is a “poor departmental leader,” citing examples such as not responding to e-mails in a timely manner, providing no performance feedback, and disinterested and rude behavior during meetings. Before the restructuring, the supervisor had high performance ratings and senior management considered him a valuable contributor. However, serving in a position of authority is totally new for the supervisor. The HR manager considers what action to take in response to the employee complaint, realizing that senior management will probably resist any attempt to move the supervisor to another department.
What is the most probable reason the organization restructured itself?
A. To reenergize the HR employees
B. To support the retention of high-value employees
C. To conduct business fairly and honestly
D. To facilitate the firm’s ability to meet market demand
To facilitate the firm’s ability to meet market demand is the correct answer. Restructuring staff is a proactive adjustment to meet changing business needs. It reflects identifying a need for and then facilitating strategic organizational change. HR applies its Consultation competency to help organizations implement these changes.
What is the most harmful outcome if HR fails to act in this conflict?
A. It becomes a contentious labor-management situation.
B. The cohesiveness in the supervisor’s work group is undermined.
C. Both HR’s and the organization’s public reputations are damaged.
D. Animosity is created between HR and management.
B. The cohesiveness in the supervisor’s work group is undermined. B is the correct answer. HR should attempt to resolve the problem before it damages productivity. Otherwise, the employee will continue to see the supervisor as a poor leader. Ongoing dissatisfaction could foster open disagreements that could be detrimental to group cohesiveness.
How should the HR manager respond to the employee making the complaint?
A. Tell the employee that changes are not likely due to the supervisor’s high performance and senior management’s endorsement.
B. Bring in a third party for mediation or arbitration.
C .Interview other team members about team issues while protecting the employee’s confidentiality.
D. Recommend that the supervisor’s manager coach the new supervisor.
C .Interview other team members about team issues while protecting the employee’s confidentiality.iscorrect. The complaint requires investigation. If the employee’s report is repeated by other team members, then the recommendation may be made for further coaching for the supervisor.
Before HR can take action, HR receives more complaints from other employees about the same supervisor. How would you handle the situation now?
A. Bring the issues to the supervisor and his manager and develop a performance improvement plan.
B. Discuss the issues with the supervisor alone and create a plan together to develop necessary leadership skills.
C. Review the organization’s policies and modify them to make sure there are no omissions or ambiguities that may be causing the issues.
D. Design and implement training programs for all supervisors on how to provide feedback and communicate with their subordinates.
A. Bring the issues to the supervisor and his manager and develop a performance improvement plan. is the correct answer, because it makes both the supervisor and his manager aware of the issue, addresses the gap, and sets performance improvement goals. This is a positive demonstration of the Consultation competency.
A customer service employee approaches the HR manager with an allegation that a coworker has engaged in illegal activity in the workplace. The organization has a zero tolerance policy for unethical and illegal workplace behavior. The HR manager assembles an investigation team, including himself, legal counsel, and the customer service department manager. The team interviews all individuals relevant to the investigation, including the accused employee. The accused employee denies the allegation. However, during his explanation of the events, he admits to violating a company policy regarding cell phone use at work, a policy that does not require immediate termination. At the conclusion of the investigation, the team consensus is that the employee very likely conducted the illegal activity. However, many of the interview statements collected were soft (hearsay) accounts, and the investigation did not uncover definitive, objective proof (such as e-mails or records). The team discusses whether the employee should be terminated. They worry that allowing the employee to continue working will expose the organization to ethical and legal risks.
What additional information should be considered in the termination decision?
A. Potential for the employee to correct his behavior
B. Feedback from organizational stakeholders
C. Likelihood of overcoming a legal challenge from the terminated employee
D. Previous treatment of similar situations in the past
D. Previous treatment of similar situations in the past The correct answer is D. A major aspect of termination litigation is consistency. If a decision to terminate is legally challenged as unlawful termination or discrimination, a key consideration is whether the practice is consistent with previous actions in similar settings.
Based on the information available, how do you suggest the organization handle the situation?
A. Allow the employee to remain employed until concrete evidence of illegal activity can be accumulated.
B. Terminate the employee, citing the organization’s zero tolerance policy for unethical and illegal behavior.
C. Sanction the employee for violating company policy and issue a probationary warning, citing termination action if evidence of illegal behavior is discovered.
D. Terminate the employee, citing his admission of violating a company policy.
C. Sanction the employee for violating company policy and issue a probationary warning, citing termination action if evidence of illegal behavior is discovered.
The correct response is C. There is no concrete evidence indicating illegal activity. The sanction and the probationary warning ensure that the employee is given due process and shield the organization from legal risks if the employee’s actions result in litigation against the organization.
Based on this situation, what is the best tactic to prevent future incidents of unethical or illegal behavior?
A. Set up control systems that allow HR staff to systematically review employee work and screen for potentially unethical or illegal behavior.
B. Develop policies and incentivized requirements that encourage all employees to report potentially unethical behavior when they see it.
C. Terminate the employee and communicate the decision company-wide, using the termination action to demonstrate the consequences of unethical or illegal behavior.
D. Send an e-mail to all employees that clearly communicates what constitutes unethical or illegal behavior and the consequences of such behavior.
B. Develop policies and incentivized requirements that encourage all employees to report potentially unethical behavior when they see it. The correct answer is B, because it cultivates a culture of ethical practice and risk management and it provides HR with a monitoring approach that can address a wide variety of ethical and legal concerns.
A police station organizes its law enforcement officers into two shifts: day and night. The selection and assignment of employees across the two shifts is done using a seniority-based system. This system is part of the law enforcement union’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Typically, the tenured officers who are given the choice between shifts choose the day shift. As a result, new hires and individuals who have limited law enforcement experience usually end up with the night shift. Since the seniority-based shift system is in the union CBA, there is no employer appeal process for employees assigned to the night shift. After being assigned to the night shift, a new employee contacts police management to complain that he was not aware of the seniority-based system. The employee claims to have a medical condition that prevents him from altering his sleep schedule. He asks to be reassigned to the day shift. Police department management is worried about potentially violating the employee’s rights if they reject the employee’s request. But they are also concerned about violating the CBA if they comply with the employee’s request. An HR consultant is brought in to help reach a solution. What should the HR consultant do first before formulating or proposing any solution?
A. Conduct a work analysis comparing and contrasting the day and night shifts in terms of work and worker requirements.
B. Consult external legal counsel on whether the employee has a valid case and what may be a proper course of action in this situation.
C. Arrange a meeting with union representatives and have an open conversation about the issue.
D. Discuss the concern with more seasoned employees and evaluate what their reaction may be if the new employee is accommodated.
C. Arrange a meeting with union representatives and have an open conversation about the issue.
C is the correct answer, because it generates a positive and open relationship with the union representatives. This demonstrates the Relationship Management competency and facilitates buy-in from the union as well as procedural cooperation.
Suppose law enforcement management decides to accommodate the employee. As a result, a tenured officer files a grievance claiming that the new employee’s transfer to the day shift is unfair treatment. The employee contends that he had a similar medical condition but worked the night shift for several years. How would you approach the grievance process?
A. Conduct a meeting with the tenured employee and the organization’s senior management to come to a compromise and demonstrate concern for the individual.
B. Meet with the employee’s supervisor and a representative of the union to determine if a valid grievance has occurred.
C. Offer the tenured employee preference in the next shift cycle in exchange for withdrawing his grievance.
D. Bring in a neutral outside arbitrator, along with the union and the organization’s senior management, in order to settle the issue.
B. Meet with the employee’s supervisor and a representative of the union to determine if a valid grievance has occurred.
B is the correct answer. No matter what steps follow in the grievance procedure, it is important to first determine whether the grievance is valid. It is also important to communicate openly and clearly with union representatives. This demonstrates the Ethical Practice competency.
What practice should the HR consultant recommend to help the organization avoid such issues in the future?
A. Clearly communicate to future applicants how the shift system works so that they are informed ahead of time and may opt out of the selection process before an issue occurs.
B. Have a senior police manager explain to all employees that the results of the shift selection process are final and out of the organization’s hands.
C. Recommend that police management lobby against the shift system in the CBA in favor of a new system more compliant with legal concerns and organizational strategy.
D. Hold an open discussion with management and union representatives toward reevaluating and renegotiating the language and rigidity of the CBA.
D. Hold an open discussion with management and union representatives toward reevaluating and renegotiating the language and rigidity of the CBA. is the correct answer, because it fosters a positive, constructive relationship between stakeholders, provides an opportunity for future-oriented change rather than just a reactionary fix, and puts the employer and union representatives on the same side. Increasing the flexibility of the CBA will help mitigate a future similar oversight. This is the Relationship Management competency in action.
The HR manager meets with the director of sales to discuss a significant decline in sales over the past three months. During the meeting, the sales director suggests that the performance drop is likely due to the new sales processing software. He claims that several members of the sales team were never properly trained on the software and that now they are spending valuable time learning the software instead of doing “real work.” In his opinion, the department should go back to the previous system in which order processing (all the “paper work”) was submitted to and completed by a separate processing division.The HR manager has a different theory regarding the low performance. She notes that the department head disclosed to the entire sales department which sales employees had been selected to participate in a “high-potential” program and groomed for future leadership positions in the organization. The department head says he released the information for the sake of transparency. However, the HR manager thinks that the way the disclosure was handled undermined the morale of the department employees who were not deemed high-potential. The sales director admits that interdepartmental cooperation has been at an all-time low since the disclosure. In addition, the high-potential employees missed most of the vendor software training because they were at a high-potential program orientation. The other employees, who were trained by the software vendor, are reluctant to spend time sharing their knowledge with the high-potential employees who missed the training. What is the most plausible reason for the implementation of a high-potential program?
A. Rapid changes and complexity in demand of the organization’s target markets
B. An increase in employee turnover due to relatively low compensation
C. An executive mandate to shift the organization to a more hierarchical (vertical) structure
D. New systems facilitating internal job transfers across the organization for diverse job opportunities
A. Rapid changes and complexity in demand of the organization’s target markets
A is the correct answer. Rapid business changes will likely require many skilled leaders to deal with market shifts and/or needed organizational change. Adopting new technology to solve business problems and needs is also a sound business strategy. Combined, these actions are a positive demonstration of the Business Acumen competency.
What additional information should the HR director gather when considering the sales director’s request to revert to the old processing system?
A. Interviews with regular and high-potential sales employees regarding what they think of the new software
B. Previous reports regarding the sales director’s skill and effectiveness in decision making and managing policy changes
C. Benchmarking data on revenue gains in competing organizations that recently implemented the same software
D. Reports regarding the performance improvement and/or cost savings in the organization’s processing division
D. Reports regarding the performance improvement and/or cost savings in the organization’s processing division
D is the correct answer. It approaches the issue from an organizational utility perspective. The most important information to the organization is whether the new software contributes an overall net gain in organizational performance. If the advantages to the processing department outweigh disadvantages to the sales department (which are likely temporary), the system is more justified. This analysis and evaluation of data for decision making demonstrates the Critical Evaluation competency.
A long-term union employee in a manufacturing facility has developed a pattern of excessively disruptive behavior. He refuses to help when line problems occur. Routinely, he yells at other line employees and often personally insults them. As a result, many line employees do not want to work with him, often declining overtime in order to avoid him. The other employees think the individual is a bully but are hesitant to speak up because they are afraid of him. The production manager is very frustrated with the negative impact this employee has on the department and wants management to transfer him to a different department or terminate him immediately. Union representatives have heard about the employee’s behavior and ask management to address the situation. A new HR manager is made aware of the ongoing concerns. Company culture dictates that management should address the issue, and the HR manager is tasked with doing so. What is the most significant short-term risk that HR and the company should be concerned about in this situation?
A. More informal complaints from employees
B. Arbitration with the union
C. Litigation by aggrieved employees
D. Loss of credibility with union employees
More informal complaints from employees
A is the correct response, as continuing complaints are likely until the issue is addressed. This is the Critical Evaluation competency—making sound decisions based on evaluation of available information.
Given the background and the complaints about the employee, the HR manager schedules a meeting with the employee. What is the best strategy for the HR manager to follow at this meeting?
A. Have a general conversation with the employee as to how he feels about the job.
B. Tell the employee that he is being terminated based on the complaints that have been made.
C. Tell the employee about the allegations and ask for his thoughts.
D. Tell the employee about the allegations and discuss expectations and consequences for future behavior.
D. Tell the employee about the allegations and discuss expectations and consequences for future behavior.
D is the correct answer. It makes the employee aware of the seriousness of the issues and clearly communicates the consequences of future behavior. This demonstrates the Ethical Practice competency by applying standards in an objective manner.
How should HR respond to the production manager’s demands for the bully to be transferred or terminated?
A. Begin the transfer process immediately.
B. Meet in person with the manager to explain the process that is being followed.
C. Begin the termination process immediately.
D. Do not respond until HR has made a final determination on the case.
B. Meet in person with the manager to explain the process that is being followed.
B is correct. The success of HR professionals involves developing sound relationships with organizational stakeholders. In discussing this situation with the production manager, HR is building trust and teamwork.
What is the best way for the HR manager to respond to a union steward’s comments about the way the bully treats other employees when the union steward has not witnessed the alleged incidents?
A. Ask the union steward for specifics of the incidents and document them for the file.
B. Ask the union steward if the bullied employees will agree to speak directly with the HR manager.
C. Ask the union steward to report and escalate the issues upward in the union organization.
D. Ask the supervisors in the department if they witnessed any of the reported behavior.
B. Ask the union steward if the bullied employees will agree to speak directly with the HR manager.
B is the correct answer, as it allows the HR manager to conduct a thorough, firsthand investigation into the bully’s behavior. This demonstrates the Critical Evaluation and Ethical Practice competencies, as the HR manager seeks evidence with which to make a fair decision.
A company has operated under a labor agreement for 51% of its employees for the last 15 years. There have been two successful renegotiations of the present agreement. The original union steward who successfully negotiated the three agreements without any strikes recently retired, and a new union steward is in place. Until now, there has been no reason for a strike, and the company and the union have coexisted amicably. Over the years, the union filed a small number of grievances, but these were resolved without any contention in a timely manner. The latest agreement is over five years old and passed the renewal date six months ago. The union and company management have been in negotiations but have made little progress. Negotiations are stalled on the union’s demands for increased pay and the addition of another category of employees to the union rolls. This addition would raise the union coverage to 65% of the employees in the company. What advice should the HR specialist responsible for union relations offer management at this point?
A. Accept the current union offer to avoid a lengthy and costly strike.
B. Warn employees about the possible and permanent loss of employment.
C. Begin to plan for long or failed negotiations.
D. Focus on developing a stronger personal relationship with the new steward.
C. Begin to plan for long or failed negotiations.
C is correct. The HR specialist demonstrates Business Acumen by advising that management plan for the risk posed by lengthy or failed negotiations. This could involve a new negotiation position and strategy and a business continuity plan in the event of a strike.
The HR specialist also recommends immediate training. What type of training would be most beneficial?
A. Online, off-the-shelf product on negotiating styles available to both negotiators and supervisors
B. Workshop on avoiding unfair labor practices
C. Workshop that models and practices positive employee interactions
D. Lecture by experienced labor lawyer on typical union strike activities
C. Workshop that models and practices positive employee interactions
C is correct. If supervisors are trained in how to maintain a positive workplace, there will probably be fewer grievances among unionized employees and less attraction to join a union among the nonunionized part of the workforce.
