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Essay/ Short Answer MGT501 - Human Resource Management, for mid term and final term exams 101. What are the five basic functions of management? Explain some of the specific activities involved in each function. Is one function more important for human resource management? Answer: The five basic functions are planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Planning activities include establishing goals and standards, developing rules and procedures, and developing plans and forecasting. Organizing activities include giving specific task assignments to subordinates, establishing departments, delegating authority to subordinates, and establishing channels of authority and communication. Staffing activities include determining what type of people should be hired, recruiting prospective employees, and setting performance standards. Leading activities include maintaining morale and motivating subordinates. Controlling activities include setting standards such as sales quotas, and quality standards and taking corrective action as needed. Staffing is the function most readily related to human resource management. However, HR managers actually perform all 5 functions. 102. Explain the difference between line authority and staff authority. What type of authority do human resource managers have? Answer: Authority is the right to make decisions, to direct the work of others, and to give orders. Line managers are authorized to direct the work of subordinates and are directly in charge of accomplishing the organization’s basic goals. Staff managers are authorized to assist and advise line managers in accomplishing these basic goals. Human resource managers are usually staff managers because they are responsible for assisting and advising line managers in areas like recruiting, hiring, and compensation. However, human resource managers do have line authority within their own department. 103. Human resource managers carry out three distinct functions. List and explain the three functions. Answer: The three functions include a line function, a coordination function, and a staff or service function. HR managers exert line authority within the HR department because they direct the activities of the people in that department. HR managers also coordinate personnel activities. In the service function, HR managers assist in hiring, training, evaluating, rewarding, counseling, promoting, and firing employees. They also administer benefit programs and help line managers comply with EEO, occupational health and safety, and labor laws. 104. Explain the meaning of the term nontraditional worker. Provide an example. Answer: Nontraditional workers include those who hold multiple jobs, or who are contingent or part-time, or people working in alternative work arrangements, or who work as independent contractors. 105. Some countries are becoming an hour-glass societies. Explain how this change could negatively affect the labor supply and the retirement system. Answer: The hour-glass metaphor is used to describe a society whose population is wider in older residents and in children but thinner for people in the workforce. When drawn, the shape resembles an hour-glass. As baby boomers retire, the shape of the American population more closely resembles an hour-glass. There are fewer people to take the jobs that baby boomers left behind. This creates two problems. First, the labor pool is smaller. This creates more demand for retirees, foreign labor, and younger workers. Second, it means that there are fewer people working and supplying funds to the social security system. This threatens the viability of the system funding the retirement of the baby boomers. 106. Identify five metrics used to evaluate HR performance. (moderate) Answer: There are several possible answers including cost per hire, absence rate, human capital ROI, human capital value added, HR expense factor, health care costs per employee, revenue factor, time to fill, training investment factor, turnover costs, turnover rate, and workers’ compensation cost per employee. 107. What are the four categories of proficiencies required today for human resource managers? Explain the meaning of each type of proficiency. (moderate) Answer: The four categories of proficiencies are HR proficiencies, business proficiencies, leadership proficiencies and learning proficiencies. HR proficiencies represent traditional knowledge and skills in such areas as employee selection, training, and compensation. Business proficiencies refer to operations strategy, strategic planning, marketing, production, and finance. Leadership proficiencies include the ability to lead and manage groups. Learning proficiencies include the ability to stay abreast of and apply new technologies. 108. Employment law increasingly affects the decisions of human resource managers. Name three types of laws and explain the purpose of each one. (moderate) Answer: The three types of laws are equal employment laws, occupational safety and health laws, and labor laws. Equal employment laws set guidelines regarding how the company writes its recruiting ads, what questions its job interviewers ask, and how it selects candidates for training programs. Occupational safety and health laws mandate strict guidelines regarding safety practices at work. Labor laws lay out what the supervisor can and cannot say and do when dealing with unions. 109. What are the three main ways that technology improves HR functioning? (moderate) Answer: Technology improves HR functioning through self-service, call centers, and outsourcing. 110. Explain the popularity of HR portals. (easy) Answer: HR portals provide employees with a single access point to all HR information. They let employees and managers access and modify HR information. They streamline the HR process and enable HR managers to focus more on strategic issues. Because they provide a single source of information and the ability for employees to update information directly, they improve efficiency for HR departments. http://htxt.it/7AYy