1. Refer to the following scenario for the next 4 questions. The largest customer of a small consulting firm demands that the project manager terminate an employee for poor performance or the customer will terminate its contract immediately. The account project manager has documented the employee's performance as meeting expectations, there is no documentation to support a termination, and there is no place to transfer the employee to. The HR manager conducts a comprehensive investigation and learns that the employee and the customer had a verbal disagreement about how the employee had classified specific expenses and how it affects the customer's budget. The confrontation was significant but did not involve any unacceptable language. In addition, the employee's classification was technically correct; however, a reclassification was also acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles. The project manager was unaware of this conflict. The HR manager concludes that the employee did not follow the policy that requires an employee to advise the supervisor of a client issue. Because such a conflict could significantly harm the company's business, the policy states that an employee can be disciplined up to and including termination for this violation. The HR manager and the project manager prepare to meet with the employee. They consider their options. Which is the most effective option that will honor the company's policy, yet maintain the relationship with the company's customer?

A) A. Terminate the employee for violation of the company policy.
B) B. Tell the employee to apologize to the customer.
C) C. Tell the employee to do nothing; it will blow over.
D) D. The employee's behavior toward the customer was wrong, and the employee will be written up.



2. What can management do to improve the communication between the project manager and the project manager's employees so that this type of event does not recur?

A) A. Since the manager feels bad about what has happened, the company should take the 'lessons learned' approach. No other action is necessary.
B) B. The manager's supervisor should meet with the project manager for coaching on the responsibilities of day-to-day supervision and communication with employees and the customer.
C) C. Management should tell the project manager to work more closely with the customer.
D) D. The project manager should be written up.



3. What steps can HR implement to ensure that this type of event does not recur with the company's current employees?

A) A. Implement a 'buddy system' so employees always have a fellow employee to seek advice from.
B) B. Review the onboarding agenda to make sure that employees are aware of workplace policies that are related to customer interface and that they are clearly understood.
C) C. Meet with the entire project manager group to review policies, their job descriptions, and how to handle issues faced in day-to-day supervision.
D) D. Send a company-wide e-mail with the policies attached.



4. What steps should the company take with the customer to improve communication and ensure that all employees are aligned with how information should be communicated going forward?

A) A. The CEO of the company should contact the customer's CEO and blame his employee for the termination.
B) B. The HR manager should conduct a problem-solving meeting with the project manager and the customer's counterpart to review the situation in total and develop a communications plan so conflicts are handled effectively.
C) C. The HR manager and the project manager should meet with the customer to define what effective communication should be, and they then should share the new communication plan during an all-employee meeting.
D) D. The company and the customer do not need to meet.



5. What communications medium has a high risk of becoming a source of noise for some function team members because many communications seem urgent even when they are not important?

A) E-mails
B) Short messaging
C) Videoconferencing
D) Worksheets



6. Workplace Communications An employee who has been in the department for only a month asks his supervisor for feedback. The supervisor lists three ways in which the employee’s performance is inadequate. How is the employee likely to react?

A) The employee will disregard the criticism because it was not delivered in a timely manner.
B) The employee will be discouraged and ask someone else for an assessment of his performance.
C) The employee will work harder to correct his performance because of the specific feedback.
D) The employee’s performance will deteriorate further because of excessive negative feedback.



7. Which feedback message will be most useful to the feedback receiver?

A) 'You need to improve your customer service delivery. We scored low on that in the last quality survey.'
B) 'I got an e-mail last month from one of our HR customers who wanted to know the status of a compensation dispute. Not good.'
C) 'That was a good call. Don't forget the last step in customer service though. Follow up with our HR customers to explain the status of an issue.'
D) 'I notice that you never check back in with our HR customers. That's the last step in our process. Why do you skip that?'



8. An HR business partner is conducting a focus group to examine possible causes for recent low engagement survey scores. What is the business partner's role in this meeting?

A) To identify candidates for individual interviews
B) To encourage full discussion and participation
C) To convey management's concern about the scores and commitment to action
D) To present HR's theories about the possible causes



9. What should be the HR manager's first step to ensure the local adoption of the school's gift-giving policy?

A) A. Meet with the principal to go over the school's gift-giving policy in detail.
B) B. Research the local culture to determine if the principal is telling the truth about local cultural norms.
C) C. Prepare a business case highlighting the risks of the principal's behavior.
D) D. Recommend the principal for disciplinary action for his violation of the policy.



10. Which strategy should the HR manager use to reconcile the locally accepted practice of giving gifts to employees with the school's corporate gift-giving policy?

A) A. Host webinar training sessions by the corporate legal department on the approved code of conduct.
B) B. E-mail the staff information on the school's mission of being an international organization and need for consistency across all sites.
C) C. Use existing staff meetings to review the policy while acknowledging comments about the local practice of giving employees gifts.
D) D. Post a directive to the local staff prohibiting any gifts to employees while also expressing appreciation of the local culture.