question

Describe trends in the labor force composition and how they affect human resource management.

answer

internal labor force external labor market *aging workforce *diverse workforce *skilled deficiencies

question

Summarize areas in which human resource management can support the goal of creating a high-performance work system.

answer

communication development performance appraisal employee relations

question

Define employee empowerment, and explain its role in the modern organization.

answer

Giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions regarding all aspects of product development or customer service. -Listen with an open mind. -Get employees fully engaged. -Invite all employees to contribute ideas. -Set up programs to reward innovation. -Train managers. -Be sure the innovation program has a process for responding.

question

Identify ways HR professionals can support organizational strategies for quality, growth, and efficiency.

answer

quality improvement programs, mergers and acquisitions, and restructuring, down-sizing, reengineering and outsourcing -Total Quality Management (TQM)

question

Summarize ways in which human resource management can support organizations expanding internationally.

answer

expanding into global markets U.S. businesses must develop global markets, keep up with competition from overseas, hire from an international labor pool, and prepare employees for global assignments. -operate on a multinational scale -have workforces and corporate cultures that reflect their global markets. -off shoring -expatriates

question

Discuss how technological developments are affecting human resource management.

answer

Large quantities of employee data can easily be stored on personal computers and manipulated with user-friendly spreadsheets or statistical software. -cloud computing-arrangements in which remote server computers do the user's computing tasks. -intranet -self-service

question

Explain how the nature of the employment relationship is changing.

answer

-Psychological Contract -employability -job hopping -flexibility

question

Discuss how the need for flexibility affects human resource management.

answer

Alternative Work Arrangements independent contractors, on-call, temp workers, contract workers -to protect employees' free time, and to more productively use employees' work time

question

Internal Labor Force

answer

An organization's workers (its employees and the people who have contracts to work at the organization).

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External Labor Market

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Individuals who are actively seeking employment.

question

High-Performance Work Systems

answer

Organizations that have the best possible fit between their social system (people and how they interact) and technical system (equipment and processes).

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Knowledge Workers

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Employees whose main contribution to the organization is specialized knowledge, such as knowledge of customers, a process, or a profession.

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Employee Empowerment

answer

Giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions regarding all aspects of product development or customer service. -can also extend to innovation

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Employee engagement

answer

full involvement in one's work and commitment to one's job and company—is associated with higher productivity, better customer service, and lower turnover.

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Teamwork

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The assignment of work to groups of employees with various skills who interact to assemble a product or provide a service. -agile

question

virtual teams

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teams that rely on communications technology such as videoconferences, e-mail, and cell phones to keep in touch and coordinate activities.

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agile

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involves weaving the development process more tightly into the organization's activities and strategies. -Users of agile software development say it increases customer satisfaction and speeds up the time from concept to usable software.

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strategy

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its plan for meeting broad goals such as profitability, quality, and market share.

question

Total Quality Management (TQM)

answer

A companywide effort to continually improve the ways people, machines, and systems accomplish work. •Methods and processes are designed to meet the needs of internal and external customers (that is, whomever the process is intended to serve).•Every employee in the organization receives training in quality.•Quality is designed into a product or service so that errors are prevented from occurring, rather than being detected and corrected in an error-prone product or service.•The organization promotes cooperation with vendors, suppliers, and customers to improve quality and hold down costs.•Managers measure progress with feedback based on data.

question

Reengineering

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A complete review of the organization's critical work processes to make them more efficient and able to deliver higher quality. -results in employees being laid off or reassigned to new jobs, as the organization's needs change.

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Outsourcing

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The practice of having another company (a vendor, third-party provider, or consultant) provide services. -gives the company access to in-depth expertise and is often more economical

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Offshoring

answer

Moving operations from the country where a company is headquartered to a country where pay rates are lower but the necessary skills are available.

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Expatriates

answer

Employees who take assignments in other countries. -The failure rate for U.S. expatriates is greater than that for European and Japanese expatriates.

question

Human Resource Information System (HRIS)

answer

A computer system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve, and distribute information related to an organization's human resources. -stores employee data, - training records, skills, compensation rates, and benefits usage and cost -can support strategic decision making, help the organization avoid lawsuits, provide data for evaluating programs or policies, and support day-to-day HR decisions.

question

Electronic Human Resource Management (e-HRM)

answer

The processing and transmission of digitized HR information, especially using computer networking and the Internet.

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cloud computing

answer

arrangements in which remote server computers do the user's computing tasks.

question

intranet

answer

network that uses Internet tools but limits access to authorized users in the organization.

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Self-Service

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System in which employees have online access to information about HR issues and go online to enroll themselves in programs and provide feedback through surveys.

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HR dashboard

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a display of how the company is performing on specific HR metrics, such as productivity and absenteeism.

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Psychological Contract

answer

A description of what an employee expects to contribute in an employment relationship and what the employer will provide the employee in exchange for those contributions.

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employability

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they want their company to provide training and job experiences to help ensure that they can find other employment opportunities.

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job hopping

answer

the intentional practice of changing jobs frequently—say, every year or two

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Alternative Work Arrangements

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Methods of staffing other than the traditional hiring of full-time employees (for example, use of independent contractors, on-call workers, temporary workers, and contract company workers).

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Independent contractors

answer

self-employed individuals with multiple clients.

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On-call workers

answer

persons who work for an organization only when they are needed.

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Temporary workers

answer

employed by a temporary agency; client organizations pay the agency for the services of these workers.

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Contract company workers

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employed directly by a company for a specific time specified in a written contract.

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crowdsourcing

answer

The act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined generally large group of people in the form of an open call.

question

Which of the following authorities is responsible for tracking changes in the composition of the U.S. labor force and forecasting employment trends?

answer

Bureau of Labor Statistics

question

Which of the following is a challenge for HRM during mergers?

answer

Developing conflict resolution skills among employees

question

The HRM function during downsizing is to terminate the workers who:

answer

are less valuable in their performance

question

Most organizations look for _____ to find employees who are capable of handling a variety of responsibilities, interacting with customers and thinking creatively.

answer

educational achievements

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A company that operates in the U.S.,shifts its warehouses and operations to a low rent area that is 50 miles away from town. This is an example of offshoring.

answer

False

question

The use of independent contractors, on-call workers, temporary workers, and contract company workers, collectively constitute:

answer

alternative work arrangements.

question

Which of the following is a trend that is seen in present day high-performance work systems?

answer

Employee empowerment in decision making

question

Employees who take assignments in other countries are called _____.

answer

expatriates

question

As a method of downsizing, early-retirement programs have been shown to be:

answer

humane.

question

Which of the following statements about the composition of the U.S. labor force during the next decade is true?

answer

Despite a small increase in the number of young workers, the overall workforce will be aging.

question

downsizing

answer

an important challenge for employers was how to maintain a reputation as an employer of choice and how to keep employees engaged in their work and focused on the organization's goals *challenges-reducing the workforce by cutting the workers who are less valuable. workers may leave voluntarily to avoid layoffs *opportunities-early retirement

question

TQM

answer

a company wide effort to continually improve the ways people, machines, and systems accomplish work. TQM has several core values

question

Reengineering 1

answer

adopting new processes to replace processes and procedures which no longer work efficiently

question

International expansion

answer

offshoring-moving operations to another country

question

outsourcing

answer

having another company (a vendor, third-party provider, or consultant) provide services.

question

mergers and acquisitions

answer

*two companies becoming one *one company buying another -consolidation within an industry, meaning that two firms in one industry join to hold a greater share of the industry. -cross industry lines, banking/insurance

question

Which of the follow statements is true about high-performance work systems?

answer

they provide the best possible fit between people and the equipment used.

question

A company's plan for meeting broad goals such as profitability, quality and market share is referred to as its:

answer

strategy

question

____ is the assignment of work to groups of employees with various skills who interact to assemble a product or provide a service.

answer

Teamwork

question

____ is a system in which employees have online access to information about HR issues and go online themselves in programs and provide feedback through surveys.

answer

Self-service

question

Which of the following is true about knowledge workers?

answer

Many of the fast-growing occupations in the U.S. require only on-the-job training

question

_____ refers to a company wide effort to continually improve the ways people, machines, and systems accomplish work.

answer

Total Quality Management (TQM)

question

The term "labor force" is a general way to refer to:

answer

all the people willing and able to work.

question

Consolidation within an industry refers to:

answer

two firms in one industry joining to hold a greater share of the industry.

question

Giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions regarding all aspects of product development or customer service is known as:

answer

Employment Empowerment

question

Which of the following is true about teams?

answer

Teams that rely on communications technology such as video conferences, e-mail, and cell phones to keep in touch and coordinate activities are known as virtual teams.

question

A complete review of the organization's critical work processes to make them more efficient and able to deliver higher quality is known as:

answer

reengineering

question

The _____ is an agency of the Department of Labor that tracks changes in the composition of the U.S. labor force and forecasts employment trends.

answer

Bureau of Labor Statistics

question

A computer system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve, and distribute information related to an organization's human resources is known as:

answer

Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

question

Today's employees must be able to handle a variety of responsibilities, interact with customers, and think creatively. Which of the following is a common method used by organizations to find employees with such skills?

answer

Organizations assess the educational achievements of potential candidates.

question

Which of the following is true about the US labor force?

answer

Employers say they have difficulty finding enough qualified U.S. workers to fill technical jobs.

Human Resource Management Chapter 2 – Flashcards

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