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SHRM-CP Certification Exam Questions 2023 - Day 10

Jenny Clarke

Mon, 10 Feb 2025

SHRM-CP Certification Exam Questions 2023 - Day 10

1. Refer to the following scenario for the next 2 questions. During the yearly performance and sales review at an organization, an HR manager realizes that the sales goal and bonus structure could potentially incentivize individuals to move closings from one quarter to the next as needed to meet quarterly sales goals. Leadership, mid-level management, and the salespeople have different bonus structures—annually for leadership, quarterly for mid-level managers, and monthly for salespeople. This has created a disconnect between the different groups and created different motivations.  The HR manager presents an analysis of the data to the CEO. The CEO determines that, while this bonus structure may have worked in the past, it needs to be changed and the bonus structure of the different groups needs to be aligned. She tasks the HR manager with crafting a new bonus structure and implementing it after she has approved it. What should the HR manager do first to create a bonus structure that is compatible with organizational goals and drives employee performance?

A) A. Determine if salaries lead, lag, or match the market in order to determine if a bonus plan is still needed.
B) B. Conduct interviews with employees to determine what changes they would like to see.
C) C. Determine the average time required to close a sale, and use that to create a new plan. 
D) D. Hire an outside organization to conduct a remuneration survey of competitors and their bonus structure.



2. Which would be the most effective way to communicate the new plan?

A) A. Decide on a date that the new plan will go into effect and announce it by e-mail. 
B) B. Meet first with managers and then with individual teams to discuss the new plan and its benefits. 
C) C. Hold a company-wide town hall and announce the changes.
D) D. Host small gatherings of employees in which the plan is reviewed



3. Refer to the following scenario for the next 4 questions. The HR director of a 6,000-employee hospital is meeting with the hospital's CEO about potentially conducting an employee engagement survey. The hospital has never conducted an engagement survey. The hospital's turnover is low, and it pays competitive wages and benefits. It is nonunion except for about 200 employees in its food service department. There is a sense that a baseline assessment of employee work environment perceptions and the employees' commitment to serving patients is needed. While there is anecdotal evidence that employees are relatively satisfied with the work environment and committed to serving patients, employees have complained through the organizational hotline about lack of management support in some areas. Since other hospitals in the market have experienced union organizing activity, there is concern about possible unionization. While the CEO is interested in the survey, there is fear that it will raise employee expectations that the organization cannot meet, increasing employee dissatisfaction. The HR director is planning a follow-up meeting with the administrator and an external consultant. The goal is to share with the CEO best employer practices in conducting engagement surveys, the positive benefits of using surveys to improve morale, and appropriate engagement strategies and practices to support managers in improving performance and productivity. In developing the business case for the CEO in collaboration with the external consultant, which is the best action for the HR director to take?

A) A. Execute a formal contract specifying the consultant's relationship and expectations of engagement during the entire assignment.
B) B. Support the consultant in designing the engagement survey, providing appropriate guidance and feedback throughout the process.
C) C. Lead the engagement survey design, seeking coaching, support, and feedback from the consultant in managing obstacles.
D) D. Develop and present the business case, with the consultant's collaborative input during the development and presentation processes.



4. What risks should the HR director share when recommending an employee engagement survey to the hospital's CEO?

A) A. Low senior leadership commitment poses significant risks when there is no credible action plan to address identified employee concerns.
B) B. The survey could raise unmanageable employee expectations that senior leadership neither can nor wants to fully meet in the future.
C) C. Inherent risks associated with an engagement survey, such as obtaining potential negative repeated feedback, cannot be fully mitigated.
D) D. Employees can challenge the validity of the survey through either individual or group legal actions



5. The CEO moves forward with the engagement survey. What is the first step the HR director should take with the food service workers' union?

A) A. Form a union and non-union employee participation committee to discuss conducting the engagement survey and seek their input in managing the project.
B) B. Initiate formal discussions with the labor union representatives about including food service workers in the survey and then seek labor council input.
C) C. Do not engage the union in the engagement survey discussion because to do so could be in violation of applicable labor laws.
D) D. Engage the union, with hospital's labor counsel, in an exploratory discussion to discuss the possible participation of bargaining unit employees in the survey.



6. What is the best course of action for the HR director in proactively addressing employee concerns with the engagement survey?

A) A. Meet with the union representative and legal counsel to share insights and get their perspectives.
B) B. Analyze new employee complaints to determine recurring trends and patterns indicating the need for the survey.
C) C. Advise the CEO about employee insights gained from complaints that support or negate the need for the survey.
D) D. Explore employees' interest in participating in stay interviews to give insight to the organization.



7. What technique will help you become a more active listener?

A) Prepare for the possibility of thinking differently about a situation after a conversation you are about to have.
B) Maintain hard eye contact, which is not looking away any more than you can help.
C) Engage in the conversation and avoid paraphrasing what you just heard.
D) Ask follow-up questions as you think of them, especially if the speaker seems to be changing subjects in mid-speech.



8. What is a valuable insight that can be gained from studying the sender-receiver communication model (the basic communication model)?

A) Communication breakdowns almost always occur on the receiver’s end.
B) People’s perspectives have a strong impact on how messages are understood.
C) If the receiver objects to the sender’s message, the sender needs to explain it again in a new way.
D) Natural communication flow requires thinking of how to respond as the other person is speaking.



9. What is a good way to signal acknowledgment but not necessarily comprehension or agreement in a face-to-face conversation?

A) Eye contact
B) Encoding thoughts
C) Repeating back what was said
D) Written summary



10. Refer to the following scenario for the next 3 questions. An HR business partner for a mid-sized company has been asked to investigate root causes of high employee turnover. The CEO thinks that the turnover is the result of HR failing to set clear expectations for managers and has stated that there is a disparity in how managers lead their employees versus what employees think their managers should be doing. The CEO believes that this inconsistency in expectations is the reason for attrition. HR currently conducts annual employee engagement and morale surveys and presents the results to management. However, most of the management team has been with the company for many years and are resistant to change. Past efforts to guide the management team have been unsuccessful due to limited participation. For example, leadership skills training has been held in the past, but most of the management team have declined to attend. The CEO has requested that the HR manager provide a detailed plan to address the turnover by next quarter. Which step should the HR manager take to ensure buy-in from the managers when implementing an initiative to address the turnover?

A) A. Present data to managers that shows how the high turnover has affected the company's profit.
B) B. Create a policy that links participation in leadership training with incentives and bonuses for managers.
C) C. Ask employees about their managers' capabilities and provide managers with this feedback.
D) D. Purchase off-the-shelf business competency models to use as a management tool.



1. Right Answer: D
Explanation: D is the best answer, because it is based on identifying best practices in the industry. An experienced consultant is probably the best way to identify this data. A is not correct. It may, however, result from the consultant’s work; the consultant may report that incentives are not effective in this industry. B is not correct. The employees do not have the perspective and expertise to make this decision. C is not correct. It is likely to damage the motivation of employees and possibly incentivize them to avoid complex but valuable sales.

2. Right Answer: B
Explanation: B is the best response, because it recognizes the role the managers play as important stakeholders in the sales process. They can provide advice on communicating the new policy to salespeople and can provide support once the policy is communicated. A is incorrect. This issue is too important to the individuals affected; they will want to ask questions and react. C is incorrect. It could lead to an open rebellion that damages the organization. D is plausible but misses the opportunity of enlisting manager support. The ripple effect of communicating the policy one team at a time may also be problematic.

3. Right Answer: D
Explanation: D is correct. It recognizes the importance of the HR director's role as the account manager for the organization, bringing in specialists to assist when needed. As the in-house partner to the business leaders, the HR director should not have the consultant manage the relationship with organizational leaders. This would mean that the HR director has given up a pivotal role. A is incorrect. Having a formal contract in place is important, but it does not address the need to develop a business case. B is incorrect. Such an approach would be counterproductive and detrimental to the interests and goals of the organization in executing the survey. C is incorrect. It does not recognize the importance of the two parties maintaining a collaborative and synergistic relationship to maximize each other's expertise in contributing to the success of the project.

4. Right Answer: A
Explanation: A is the best response. It represents a fundamental principle in conducting employee surveys: that the organization should not undertake such projects unless senior leadership is seriously committed to acting on the results. B is incorrect. While it is true that surveys tend to raise expectations, responsible communications on the organization's capacity to meet these expectations within the limits of its resources can help set more realistic employee expectations of results. C is incorrect. Carefully managing expectations and setting clear but realistic goals could mitigate the risk. D is incorrect. It is unlikely that such an individual or group legal action would be successful, providing the survey is validated to minimize the risk of adverse impact against any particular group.

5. Right Answer: D
Explanation: D is the correct. It provides an opportunity to engage the union in discussion about possible labor-management collaboration on the project without obligating the organization to negotiate something that should be an inherent part of their management rights prerogative. A is incorrect. It fails to incorporate legal counsel on this issue. B is incorrect. No formal discussion should take place without the hospital's labor counsel. C is incorrect. This option fails to recognize the importance of maintaining positive labor-management relations with the organization's union.

6. Right Answer: D
Explanation: D is correct. Absent administering a full-scale employee engagement survey, it is possible to glean insight from one-to-one stay interviews. Of course, pursuing this avenue would require CEO and key stakeholder support to ensure that there is a commitment to action. It is beneficial to get a sense of whether or not employees would openly and honestly participate in the interviews before launching the efforts. It would provide an opportunity to reinforce the company's commitment to its employees. This could serve as the prelude to administering the engagement survey. A is not correct. Meeting with the union representative would be premature. When a meeting does occur, the hospital's legal counsel should be engaged early in the process. B is not correct. While the HR director may want to analyze the complaints, this is a reactive rather than proactive measure. C is not correct. It is impractical to inform the CEO about every new complaint and piece of information gleaned from the complaints. It is also presumptuous to generalize information from the complaints to support the need for a survey. The HR director should remain cognizant of the nature, frequency, theme/pattern, severity, etc., of the complaints. At some point, the CEO may need a briefing about the complaints and the overall implications.

7. Right Answer: A
Explanation: Keeping an open mind as an active listening technique involves accepting the fact that this conversation could change your position on an issue, your feelings about the speaker, or your understanding of the subject. One should not interrupt as it could be rude, one should summarize and paraphrase to signal understanding, and one should maintain soft eye contact.

8. Right Answer: B
Explanation: The model is commonly used to highlight people’s perspectives and the things that can get in the way of understanding.

9. Right Answer: A
Explanation: Eye contact can be a form of acknowledgment, which is a signal that a message was received. It is a sign that you are paying attention.

10. Right Answer: A
Explanation: The best answer is A. HR is demonstrating the Critical Evaluation competency by showing the manager the correlation between turnover and profits. By seeing the negative impact on profits, managers will be more interested in working toward solutions. B, C, and D are not the best answers. After the managers are fully aware of the correlation between profits and turnover, they may be willing to move forward with feedback opportunities and training programs.

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