Managing Human Resources, 8e (Gomez-Mejia et al.)
Chapter 1 Meeting Present and Emerging Strategic Human Resource Challenges
1) As the director of HR, you are in a meeting with your corporate officers discussing the firm's
deliberate use of personnel to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. You are most likely
discussing:
A) human resource policies.
B) corporate objectives.
C) human resource strategies.
D) line employees.
2) Tony works in the finance department as an accounting clerk. He keeps a time card and
receives extra pay for any overtime he works. Tony is most likely a(n):
A) exempt line employee.
B) nonexempt staff employee.
C) exempt staff employee.
D) nonexempt line employee.
3) Salaried employees are also known as ________ employees.
A) exempt
B) senior
C) staff
D) line
4) Which of the following is an environmental challenge faced by modern HR managers?
A) Job insecurity
B) Decentralization
C) Globalization
D) Self-managed work teams
5) Due to the increasing work pace and burnout in the United States, more workers are dealing
with stress. According to your text, an increasing number of firms are choosing to:
A) provide employees with stress-control programs.
B) require employees to take longer breaks during the work day.
C) encourage telecommuting, job sharing, and employment sabbaticals.
D) inform potential employees of this challenge during the interviewing process.
6) Which of the following is NOT true of the Internet Revolution as it relates to HRM?
A) Writing skills are essential to effective e-mail communications.
B) The recruiting, screening, and hiring process is streamlined.
C) Online corporate training is surpassing classroom training.
D) Cross-cultural understanding is less important.
7) RCA is creating a corporate identity to smooth over cultural differences between its domestic
and international employees. RCA is most likely addressing the HRM challenge of:
A) outsourcing.
B) globalization.
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The objectives that management set for their human resources strategy are influenced by a variety of internal and external factors.
Internal influences on HRM objectives
Corporate objectives
E.g. an objective of cost minimisation results in the need for redundancies, delayering or other restructuring
Operational strategies
E.g. introduction of new IT or other systems and processes may require new staff training, fewer staff
Marketing strategies
E.g. new product development and entry into a new market may require changes to organisational structure and recruitment of a new sales team
Financial strategies
E.g. a decision to reduce costs by outsourcing training would result in changes to training programmes
External influences on HRM objectives
Market changes
E.g. a loss of market share to a competitor may require a change in divisional management or job losses to improve competitiveness
Economic changes
E.g. changes in the level of unemployment and the labour market will affect the supply of available people and their pay rates
Technological changes
E.g. the rapid growth of social networking may require changes to the way the business communicates with employees and customers
Social changes
E.g. the growing number of single-person households is increasing demand from employees for flexible working options
Political & legal changes
E.g. legislation on areas such as maximum working time and other employment rights impacts directly on workforce planning and remuneration