HRM Midterm Study Guide Questions &
Answers
HR functions - ANSWERSSHRM also says HR Managers are to have command of the
basic functional areas of HR such as the following:
1. Functional Area #1: Talent Acquisition & Retention
2. Functional Area #2: Employee Engagement
3. Functional Area #3: Learning & Development
4. Functional Area #4: Total Rewards
5. Functional Area #5: Structure of the HR Function
6. Functional Area #6: Organizational Effectiveness & Development
7. Functional Area #7: Workforce Management
8. Functional Area #8: Employee Relations
9. Functional Area #9: Technology & Data
10. Functional Area #10: HR in the Global Context
11. Functional Area #11: Diversity & Inclusion
12. Functional Area #12: Risk Management
13. Functional Area #13: Corporate Social Responsibility
14. Functional Area #14: U.S. Employment Laws & Regulations
15. Functional Area #15: Business & HR Strategy
Trends that Affect HR - ANSWERSThe Trends Shaping Human Resource Management
- trends are occurring in the environment of human resource management that are
changing how employers get their human resource management task done. These
trends include workforce trends, trends in how people work, technological trends, and
globalization and economic trends.
Define workforce demographics and diversity trends - ANSWERSWorkforce
Demographics and Diversity Trends - the composition of the workforce will continue to
change over the next few years; specifically it will continue to become more diverse with
more women, minority group members, and older workers in the workforce.
Explain the new trends in how people work - ANSWERSTrend in How People Work -
work has shifted from manufacturing jobs to service jobs in North America and Western
Europe. Today, over two-thirds of the U.S. workforce is employed in producing and
delivering services, not products.
1. On-Demand Workers
2. Human Capital
Define globalization trends - ANSWERSGlobalization Trends - refers to companies
extending their sales, ownership, and/or manufacturing to new markets abroad.
,Define economic trends - ANSWERSEconomic Trends - Figure 1-2 shows the gross
national product (GNP), a measure of the United States of America's total output. Figure
1-3 shows that during this period, home prices leaped as much as 20% per year.
Unemployment remained docile at about 4.7%. Then around 2007-2008, all these
measures fell off the cliff. GNP fell, home prices dropped by 10% or more, and
unemployment nation-wide soon rose to more than 10%.
1. Labor Force Trends - the labor force in America is growing more slowly than
expected. Mostly because with baby boomers aging, the "labor force participation rate"
is declining—in other words, the percent of the population that wants to work is
declining.
2. The Unbalanced Labor Force -although unemployment rate is dropping, it's doing so
in part because fewer people are looking for jobs (remember the shrinking labor
participation rate). Demands for workers is unbalanced.
Explain what technology trends are impacting HR and what the five main types of digital
technology are driving the transfer to automation. - ANSWERSTechnology Trends - it
may be techology that most characterizes the trends shaping human resources
management today. Five main types of digital technologies are driving this transfer of
functionality from HR professionals to automation.
1. Social Media - employers increasingly use tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and
LinkedIn to recruit new employees.
2. Mobile Applications - used by employers, for instance, to monitor employee location
and to provide digital photos at the facility clock-in location to identify workers.
3. Gaming - enables employers to inject features such as feedback, fun, and objectives
into training, performance appraisal, and recruiting.
4. Cloud Computing - a more intutive user interface that enables employers to monitor
and report on things like a team's goal attainment and to provide real-time evaluative
feedback.
5. Data Analytics - uses statistical techniques, algorithms, and problem-solving to
identify relationships among data for the purpose of solving particular problems; it is
also called talent analytics.
Strategic HR Management - ANSWERSStrategic Human Resource Management -
Formulating and executing human resource policies and practices that produce the
employee competencies and behaviors the company needs to achieve its strategic
aims.
Employee engagement and what affects it - ANSWERSemployee engagement - The
extent to which an organization's employees are psychologically involved in, connected
to, and committed to getting their jobs done.
Distributed HR vs. centralized - ANSWERSDistributed HR and the New Human
Resource Management - more and more human resources management tasks are
, being redistributed from a central HR department to the company's employees and line
managers.
Centralized HR - units whose employees are shared by all the companies departments
to obtain advice on matters
HR staff roles vs. line roles - ANSWERSLine and Staff Aspects of Human Resource
Management - in organizations, line authority traditionally gives managers the right to
issue orders to other managers or employees. Line authority creates a superior (order
giver) - subordinate (order receiver) relationship. Staff authority gives a manager the
right to advise other managers or employees. It creates an advisory relationship.
Demographic barriers - ANSWERSThings like minorities might be less likely to be able
to conform to standard work hours/benefits/etc. (i.e. a single mom who needs to come
to work late so she can drop her child off at day care)
Issues related to acceptance of diversity - ANSWERSPotential Threats to Diversity -
workforce diversity produces both benefits and problems for employers. Unmanaged, it
can produce big behavioral behaviors that reduce cooperation. Potential problems
include: stereotyping, discrimination, tokenism, and ethnocentrism.
Uniform Guidelines from EEOC - ANSWERSUniform Guidelines - Guidelines issued by
federal agencies charged with ensuring compliance with equal employment federal
legislation explaining recommended employer procedures in detail.
Equal Employment Opportunity Law - ANSWERSEqual Opportunity Laws Enacted from
1964 - 1991
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (ratified in 1791) states that, "no person
shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law." The
Thirteenth Amendment (1865) outlawed slavery, and courts have held that it bars racial
discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gives all persons the same right to make
and enforce contracts and to benefit from U.S. laws.
A. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act - was one of the first of these laws. Title VII bars
discrimination on the part of most employers, including all public or private employers of
15 or more persons and most labor unions. Title VII also established the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to administer and enforce the Civil
Rights Act at work. The EEOC consists of five members appointed by the president with
the advice and consent of the Senate.
1. The act says it is unlawful to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge an individual or
otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his/her compensation,
terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin.
2. The act says it is unlawful to limit, segregate, or classify employees or applicants for
employment in any way that would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of
