Human Resource Management Practices, Exams of Human Resource Management

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HRMT 386 Introduction to Human Resource Management Exam Prep questions & answers from unit 1- plus definationa of key words Athabasca University

HRMT 386 Exam Prep study questions and answers complete solution update 2024 Athabasca University What is the purpose of human resource management? - --Managing human talent and acquiring the human capital needed to achieve an organization's objectives. Bringing together a diverse group of people to produce maximum efficiency. Ensuring that the employment relationship is efficient and follows legislation. HR often oversees wages, benefits, hiring, training, onboarding, performance evaluations and discipline. What are the major functions performed by human resource professionals? How are these functions related to one another? - --Major Functions: Planning, Job design, Recruitment, Staffing/training/development, appraisal, communications, compensation, benefits, labor relations, international HR. These functions are related as they are part of a process for the pursuit of appropriate human capital acquired for the organization. A failure in one would impact all others since they are interdependent What will be the most important issue or challenge facing HRM in the future? How will this issue or challenge affect the practice of HRM? - --Restructuring of organizations will be the largest challenge for HRM's in the future. Restructuring is happening due to advances in technology and globalization. HR will have to adapt strategies that address new issues from restructuring such as layoffs, job designs, legal requirements, international trade agreements, and changing demographics, etc., and HR will have to keep up with the pace of globalization which is happening quite rapidly. Is it fair to describe human resource management as a tool employers use to control workers? - --HR is a tool for employers to exercise their power to achieve the organizations goals in the way the employer sees fit. HR is used to increase the profitability and ensure that employees are working at their maximum efficiency levels. HR is described as the conduit through which knowledge is developed and transferred among employees

Women are to tend to their home responsibilities in addition to working in a system that was designed for employees that do not have other responsibilities that impede on work (the male norm). Why do organizations and individuals enter into an employment relationship? - --An employment relationship is entered into by individuals and organizations due to the economic needs of labor as they cannot provide for themselves without relying on capital. Capital turns labor's capacity to work into actual work which is another investment that capital can acquire for income as opposed to having to perform labor. What does the word resource in the term human resource management suggest about the nature of the employment relationship? - --It implies that the humans within the organization are resources that need to be managed. This suggests that there is a power imbalance in the employment relationship as employees are expected to perform to a certain standard and management has the authority to ensure that this happens with authority, discipline and other tactics. In what ways are women typically disadvantaged in employment relationships? What factors explain this disadvantage? - --Workplace's are based off of a system designed for the male norm which result in some employers seeing women as less than reliable employees. The disadvantages are due to the fact that women are increasingly impacted by this unrealistic expectation that does not fit in today's society anymore given the need for dual income. Being unable to meet this standard makes women seem unreliable and not as dedicated to their job as they could be. On what grounds is discrimination prohibited in your jurisdiction? Are there are grounds that appear to be missing from your jurisdiction's legislation? - --Protected grounds as defined by the Human Right act in Alberta are race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, religious beliefs, gender, physical disability, mental disability, age, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, source of income.

Some missing grounds in Alberta's legislation includes language rights in employment, provisions of service in regard to age, social condition, assignment, attachment (of wages), or seizure of pay, association, political beliefs, record of criminal conviction, and pardoned convictions. What requirements does your jurisdiction's legislation set in terms of accommodating a worker's disability and gender? What exceptions or limitations does it set out regarding the duty to accommodate? - --According to the Alberta human rights commission, employers must do their best to accommodate workers that have different needs. This applies to the 13 protected grounds. Employers do not have to accommodate if it causes them undue hardship. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the employer's hardship must be "substantial in nature" As a worker, what are the steps in filing a complaint that one's human rights have been violated? - --They start by filling out the Human Rights Complaint Form. They will then write a letter to the Alberta Human Rights Commission and the letter must have of the information that the Human Rights Complaint Form asks for. No lawyer is needed and you can choose to withdraw your complaint at any time. In the context of employment, what is discrimination? - --Discrimination in the workplace occurs when an individual/group is treated unfairly/unequally based on certain characteristics. This is something that can be intentional or unintentional however regardless, it is still a form of discrimination. How do direct discrimination and indirect (sometimes called "systemic") discrimination differ? - --Direct discrimination is a negative, unjust action by an employer against a worker that is a protected class outlined in the applicable jurisdiction's legislation. Systemic is the procedures, routines, environment, and culture of any organization that contributes to less favourable outcomes for minority groups. When employment

submitted. They must provide safety training and be able to discipline employees for failing to comply with safety rules. Advise employees of potential workplace hazards; ensure that workers use safety equipment, devices, and clothing; supervisors are to provide written instructions What are the key OHS responsibilities of workers? - --Comply with all relevant regulations. Report hazardous conditions and defective equipment. Follow all employer safety and health rules and regulations. Workers have many protections which include exercising their rights that pertain to requesting and receiving information about safety and health conditions. Workers must take their own health and the health of their coworkers seriously to prevent injuries, death and to prevent lawsuits What is supposed to happen when a worker refuses unsafe work? What might cause a worker to not refuse unsafe work? - --Employees have the right to refuse unsafe work without fear of reprisal. Once an employee has exercised their right to refuse potentially unsafe work, an investigation begins to find the most appropriate solution. A worker may not refuse unsafe work due to fear of employer retribution. Though this is not allowed, employees often do not have enough resources to challenge employer actions in court. While it is their right, workers are aware that an investigation may agitate their employer due to the halt in production and time/resources spent.

What are three common types of workplace hazards? And how can employers identify workplace hazards? - --Fatigue, Workplace violence, Distracted driving. Two ways are: Using workplace health and safety data to track incidents, and having a designated committee committed to finding hazards. What are two strategies employers can adopt to improve occupational health or safety? - --1) interview screening for safety habits, a preventative measure instead of a reactionary one. Though an employer cannot ask about past injuries, they can ask behavioural type questions such as asking about an unsafe incident they witnessed/how they handled it.

2. Safety rewards such as gift certificates, cash, vacations, dinners, clothes, or jewelry Identify two wellness programs that an employer can offer. - --1) Financial assistance towards the cost of activities that increase health/wellbeing, help employees access things such as yoga lessons, ski passes, and gym memberships.
3. Implementing an onsite gym/yoga studio
4. Smoking cessation program What worker and employer rights and obligations flow from common law and from statutory law? - --Worker common law: Acting in good faith/fidelity, duty to obey, competent performance, resignation notice Employer common law: Duty to provide work and pay. Notice of termination. A safe worksite. Stat law: Employment/Labor laws. OHS/Workers comp, human rights and privacy legislation, pay/employment equity.

An Employer can analyze how much time it takes to do every task and change their production expectations or restructure production. This can be seen as a change in the wage-effort bargain. How can job analysis and design negatively affect women? - --Job analysis may result in employment and structural change in an organization. An employer may determine that work can be restructured so that not as many part time workers are needed, especially since they are more easily terminated, as women are more often nonstandard workers, this would effect them the most. Job design is based on the standard expectations that are based on the male norm. Some jobs require employees to complete obligations outside of regular work hours (conferences, after work drinks with clients, working overtime). As women have obligations that extend beyond the workplace, it may be see as though women are not capable. Women often spend time organizing things in the workplace that are not considered conventional duties. This includes birthday celebrations, retirement acknowledgements, etc. This effort goes unnoticed as it is something that is just expected. How does job analysis inform other HRM functions? - --Job analysis in HRM helps establish the level of experience, qualifications, skills and knowledge needed to perform a job successfully. This information is used for recruitment, hiring, training, onboarding and development. What are job descriptions and job specifications? What does job analysis contribute to them? - --Job descriptions are a statement of tasks/duties/responsibilities of a job to be performed. Job specifications are the needed knowledge, skill sand abilities of the person who is performing the job. Job analysis collects information's that can be used to create the job description/specification. Identify three sources of information that can be used in job analysis. What are the pros and cons of each source of information? - --The sources of information are interviews,

questionnaires, and observation. Some employees may misconstrue the importance of their job. Observations can be misconstrued. What is job design? And how is it related to job analysis? - --Job design is structuring jobs to improve organizational efficiency and employee job satisfaction. Job design is an outgrowth of job analysis. Job design uses information from the job analysis to make the decisions. What are two major approaches in job design? How do the priorities of these approach converge and conflict? - --Job design should facilitate the achievement of organizational objectives but also recognize the capabilities and needs of those who are to perform the job. Accomplishing both requires proper allocation of resources and the organizational objectives may conflict with employee needs if there is only a limited amount of resources available. How might human-rights considerations be incorporated into job analysis and design? - --Job specifications must be carefully studied to ensure that they are pertinent to the task at hand. They should not discriminate. This means requirements cannot be made in a way that hinders someone's qualifications based on something unrelated to the job. It is important to attempt to reduce any barriers that may exist that prevent a group of individuals from doing the job. What is (are) the purpose(s) of HR planning? - --The purpose of human resource planning is to help managers deploy their human resources as effectively as possible, where and when they are needed, to accomplish the organization's strategy. What are recruitment and selection, and how are they different? - --Recruitment refers to the process where potential applicants are searched for, and then encouraged to apply for an actual or anticipated vacancy. Selection is the process of hiring employees among the shortlisted candidates and providing them a job in the organization. What constraints do organizations face in the ways in which they select employees? - --The condition of the labor market, the economy, the resources and time the organization has available to invest in selection. Demographic quotas that need to be met.

I believe offering incentives or recalling laid off workers would be the best strategy since both types of employees have the knowledge and skills they need to complete the task at hand and have an understanding of the organization. This saves on training/onboarding costs. What techniques are available to manage a labour surplus? Describe the two techniques you think are most effective and why. - --Layoff, terminate, or use attrition. I believe it depends on the urgency and how the organization would like to handle the surplus. If there is a time constraint the most effective yet flexible way would be layoffs, however if time is not an issue I believe attrition is an effective way to handle a surplus. What is the purpose of recruitment? What are the main elements or steps of a recruitment process? - --To attract a pool of candidates to fill job openings within an organization.

1. Identify hiring needs
2. Create job description/Specification
3. Identifying the most appropriate recruitment strategy
4. Creating a pool of applicants for the selection process What are the main methods of internal recruitment and the pros and cons of this approach? - -- Internal job postings on organizations newsletters, intranet sites, replacement charts. Pros are that the candidates will require less training, no need for intensive orientation/onboarding and it is cost effective and fast. Managers have a good grasp on the employees capabilities. Cons are that it can lead to inbreeding, which can affect diversity, favouritism, and nepotism. What are the main methods of external recruitment and the pros and cons of this approach? - --Advertisements on internet, specifically social networking sites, mobile recruiting, educational institutes, re-recruiting, referrals, job fairs, employment agencies

Pros: can help reach a wide variety of candidates which can breed innovation Cons include expenses and time it may take to recruit, select, and train. Which internal or external recruiting methods appear to disadvantage women and how? - -- Language in internal and external job postings can be geared towards men, especially in male dominated industries. This consciously/subconsciously may make a woman question her qualifications for the job. Internal recruitment in male dominated industries perpetuate the cycle of inequality. As many women already with the organization have come to accept the inequality. Referrals can also hinder the chances of women in a male dominated industry as most referrals would be coming from men who would most likely favor other men. Identify two ways you would measure the success of recruiting efforts. Why did you choose these methods? - --Yield ratios show the number of applicants that move beyond the recruitment stage into selection and tracking the steps after that (cumulative yield ratio). Quality of fill. This data that shows us the average job performance of new hires, their productivity and retention rate. Both metrics give us accurate, hard data can be analyzed and used for future recruitment methods. What are the arguments for and against mandating diversity in recruiting campaigns? - --Helps those discriminated against have a fair chance of employment.

How might these concerns affect the ability of organizations to recruit FIFO workers? - --To attract workers due to the concerns, the organization will have to increase wages and benefits and recruiting may take longer. If an organization does not have the proper resources, this will negatively effect their ability to recruit workers. What is the purpose of selection? What are the main elements or steps of a selection process? - --Determine which candidates in a recruitment pool are most suitable.

1. Completion of application
2. Initial interview with HR department
3. Employment testing (aptitude, achievement)
4. background investigation
5. preliminary selection in HR department
6. Supervisor/team interview
7. selection is made What are reliability and validity? Why are they each important in the selection process? - -- Reliability is about the consistency of a measure, and validity is about the accuracy of a measure A selection process is valid if it helps you increase the chances of hiring the right person for the job and the reliability is how consistently it has been proven to do so. Describe two kinds of employment tests. What are the pros and cons of each? - --Job knowledge tests, pro = candidates demonstrate their knowledge of the job and what it entails con = Taking it at face value, not seeing their understandings in action. This can be remedied by a work sample test

or an assessment centre test which can be costly. What is a non directive interview - --Refrains from influences candidates' responses, broad/open ended questions. Minimum interruptions. Pro = Candidate may reveal extra info that they normally would not in a structured interview. Negative= no set procedure, little info to cross check with other interviewers in process. Reliability and validity are not great with this type of interview. What is a situational descriptive interview? - --Focus on actual work incidents in interviewees past "Tell me about the last time you disciplined an employee". To help understand how the candidate would react in common/uncommon scenarios. Candidates can fabricate their responses and they may not align with what they would do in that given situation. What is a panel interview? - --3-5 interviewers at the same time who take turns asking questions. Reduces interview time. Interviewers pool their observations/rating scores. Higher reliability because involves multiple inputs. Shorter decision-making period. Diverse group of interviewers reduces discrimination.

Workers undertake training for a multitude of reasons, this can include job security, wanting to personally challenge themselves, combat boredom, acquire new KSAO's and increase their value as an employee. The interests converge as both actors want training to be successful however employers worry that the KSAO's that an employee receives from training will be pointless if/when the employee leaves the company. What purposes does orientation serve for employers and workers? - >>>Sets the tone with rules, policies, and procedures. Influences how employees act in that work environment. They set out what the work culture is in an attempt to influence the employee's mentality to motivate them to act in accordance and meet expectations with enthusiasm. This serves as a way for new hires to understand their purpose within the organization. To understand the org's goals and missions. It helps them become familiar with the culture, how things are done and who everyone is. When organizations attempt to use worker development to reduce barriers to advancement for women, how does the gendered division of labour in society limit its effectiveness? -

Development and advancement for women can be reduced when they are limited in their networking abilities due to external obligations that they are to meet due to societal pressures. The networking abilities that are often hindered are the ones that include socializing after work. Identify and summarize the main steps in the instructional design process. - >>>1) Perform a needs assessment by completing an organization analysis to assess the environment, strategies, and resources to determine where to emphasize training, task analysis to assess which KSAOs are needed and person analysis to find out what kind of training employees need and how much.

2. Design the training program Establish the trainings instructional objectives: skills or knowledge to be acquired and/or the attitudes to be changed, readiness of trainees/their motivation whether trainees have experience/knowledge to absorb training
3. Implementing the training program/delivery of methods: E-learning, Modelling, Seminar, Conferences, Blended learning
4. Evaluate the training program: Employee reaction, what did they like? What would they change? Did they learn anything? Behavior: How well employees apply what they have learned to their jobs Results: Calculate ROI Why do organizations perform needs assessments? In what way is a needs assessment an exercise of power? - >>>To find who needs to be trained, and what KSAOs are needed to be taught to achieve the learning objectives. This is an exercise of power because employers are collecting information regarding employees and their jobs to make changes and determine what/who is necessary and where they are needed. Identify +summarize two training methods. What are the pros and cons of each method? -

1. On-the-job training gives hands-on experience in normal working conditions. An opportunity for the trainer and new employee to build a relationship. Con: Some firms to not use this technique properly. They should develop goals and objectives and conduct periodic evaluations and keep a training schedule

2. E-learning (webinars, podcasts, intranets) is efficient and cost-effective Con: Interaction is quite limited and it does not replace the benefits of face-to-face interactions. Self-paced E-learning can cause a decrease in motivation and attendance.