1. After consideration and budget approval from the CEO and the CFO, what is the first step the HR manager should take to introduce the reading program to company employees?
A) A. Send an e-mail to all supervisors requesting that all of their employees plan to attend the company reading improvement program. B) B. Form a small pilot group of employees, including employees with a reading level below the national average, and test the program. C) C. Post an announcement in the breakroom that a reading improvement program is available to any employee who cannot read. D) D. Send an e-mail to all employees announcing that a reading improvement program is available for any employee who cannot read.
2. How should the HR manager evaluate the effectiveness of the program?
A) A. Ask participants if they are enjoying the program and if they are improving their reading skills. B) B. Ask colleagues if the employees in the program are still asking as many questions about instructions. C) C. Track the quarterly accident trends to see if they have decreased since the training began. D) D. Ask managers for their feedback as to whether their employees' morale has improved.
3. Refer to the following scenario for the next 3 questions. A company has experienced a high degree of turnover during the past year. Senior leadership is concerned about the amount of turnover and worried that HR is not moving fast enough to fill these positions. The hiring managers say that the applicant pools have been weak lately and they have had trouble finding qualified applicants to hire from within the pools HR provides. HR has relied heavily on recruiting by word of mouth, which in the past has generated applicants that fit the company’s culture. The award for referrals that result in hiring has also been popular with employees. What would be the best way for HR to bring in more qualified applicants?
A) A. Post job openings on Internet job sites and examine the effect on the applicant pool. B) B. Talk to senior leaders to figure out which types of jobs are most difficult to fill. C) C. Investigate how other organizations are identifying quality applicants. D) D. Interview hiring managers to determine the specific gaps in knowledge and skill that need to be addressed.
4. What would be the best way for HR to address the senior leaders’ concerns about turnover?
A) A. Tell senior management that HR will ask the hiring managers why so many positions are open in order to determine the cause of the turnover. B) B. Tell senior management that HR will do an analysis of the current turnover rate across fiscal years to determine if the turnover rate has changed drastically. C) C. Tell senior management that HR will meet with hiring managers about projecting hiring needs more effectively. D) D. Tell senior management that HR will benchmark the company’s experiences against those of similar companies to determine if the organization's situation represents an industry-wide trend or is an isolated occurrence
5. What would be the most effective step to avoid unwanted turnover in the future?
A) A. Develop and administer an employee satisfaction survey that solicits candid feedback about employee perceptions. B) B. Schedule meetings with senior leaders to discuss the impact turnover has on their business. C) C. Implement team-building activities to foster a collaborative work environment. D) D. Conduct interviews with senior leaders about why they think turnover at the organization is so high.
6. Statistical Principles HR seeks employee volunteers to compare two possible wellness programs. Their responses will be aggregated and analyzed to make a recommendation to senior management. How would you assess this critical analysis?
A) The assessment tools the volunteers use will be unreliable. B) The sample group is too small. C) The program assessment tools cannot be validated. D) The sampling approach is flawed.Â
7. Which is the most important aspect of a selection test that successfully measures essential job-related skills and abilities?
A) Reliability B) Validity C) Cultural compliance D) Statistical significance
8. Which feature should HR incorporate into a pre-employment test for a position that requires a high degree of accuracy, with any mistakes by the incumbent being dangerous?
A) High reliability B) Fairness evidence C) High validity D) Environmental factors
9. Refer to the following scenario for the next 4 questions. An HR manager is asked by the vice president of HR to define and implement a simulation-based assessment center that uses specially trained observers to rate each candidate's performance. The need is to assess which employees have potential for promotion into management. The VP of HR is familiar with this practice, having used the technique in a prior company, and she sees the assessment center as a best practice innovation. The VP of HR is new and comes from a large but entirely domestic organization with an aging workforce. Her new company is a global organization with eight operations located around the world. It is highly diverse in terms of ethnicity, and the average worker is probably 15 to 20 years younger than the VP of HR is used to. In researching methodologies, the HR manager stumbles onto an online assessment system that requires no trainers and raters, takes 75% less time to complete than the assessment center process, and has higher validity and reliability as an assessment technique. What should the HR manager do with the information he has uncovered?
A) A. Create a business case including cost-benefit analyses of both options. B) B. Forward materials about the online option to the VP of HR and let her make her own decision. C) C. Put it aside as an option that is not viable now but should be researched further and possibly tested. D) D. Move forward with option that he deems to be the best.
10. Given that the VP of HR has already indicated a preference for the assessment center approach, what would be the most effective way to reopen the options for this project?
A) A. The HR manager should lobby the other VPs to convince the VP of HR to consider other options. B) B. The HR manager should emphasize business needs met by the online assessment option that are not provided by the traditional method. C) C. The HR manager should urge the VP of HR to experience the online option by completing an online assessment herself. D) D. The HR manager should conduct a small pilot study on his own and present actual company-related data rather than the manufacturer's claims.
1. Right Answer: B Explanation: B is the best response. Forming a test sample group will contribute to the overall success of the program; program issues can be resolved before the final rollout. A is incorrect. Since 85% to 90% of employees can read at the minimum level, forcing all employees to attend the reading improvement program is a waste of time and money in lost productivity for the company. C is incorrect. This approach would gain little response from the employee population who cannot read. D is incorrect. Sending an e-mail will gain very little response from the employee population who cannot read and who may not want to be identified or singled out. Transfer of information by other employees will be limited and may apply only to supervisors.
2. Right Answer: C Explanation: C is the best response. Since the accident and insurance rates are the data and metrics presented to gain executive support for the program, these should be the primary drivers to measure program success. A is incorrect. While it is important that participants are enjoying their experiences, this alone is not a good indicator of program success. B is incorrect. This may be a violation of employee privacy. Some employees may be embarrassed to admit that they cannot read, and bringing their colleagues into the evaluation process would likely make them feel diminished. D is incorrect. This would not provide insight as to whether the program has resulted in less accidents.
3. Right Answer: A Explanation: A is the correct answer. It generates a specific organizational intervention for recruiting practices that raises the organization’s potential for long-term success. B is not acceptable, because HR should be talking to the hiring managers rather than the senior leaders. C is not acceptable, because the application of other companies’ processes may not be effective for this company. D is not acceptable, because the issue does not appear to be misunderstanding of job requirements but an inability to reach the right candidates.
4. Right Answer: B Explanation: B is the correct answer. The turnover analysis would be specific to the organization and could lead to actionable response within the organization. This option represents use of the Critical Evaluation competency. A and C are not acceptable answers, because they do not draw on any specific metric for senior leaders to observe. The industry-specific information provided by D is not as immediately actionable as the information provided by B.
5. Right Answer: A Explanation: A is the correct answer. Soliciting feedback is proactive and will allow for developmental opportunities. This represents use of the Communication competency. B identifies the cost but not the causes of or solutions to turnover. C and D are unacceptable, because they do not aim to expose the root cause of the turnover.
6. Right Answer: D Explanation: The problem with this approach is that employees have volunteered. This may attract participants who are not neutral about the program. A better approach would be to invite a randomly selected group of employees to participate and offer some nominal reward. Sample size would depend on the size of the workforce, which is not indicated here. Assessment tools and training in using them can improve reliability in ratings. The tools themselves can be validated by experienced HR staff.
7. Right Answer: B Explanation: A valid test accurately reflects the content of the job. The skills and aptitudes required for successful test performance are aligned with the skills and aptitudes required for successful job performance.
8. Right Answer: C Explanation: Validity indicates that there is linkage between test performance and job performance—that the test is measuring what it is intended to measure. A selection tool that offers high validity is important, because hiring an unqualified worker for this position would present a risk and the potential for a costly situation.
9. Right Answer: A Explanation: A is the best answer. The HR manager can add value to the VP of HR's decision making by analyzing and comparing the economic and noneconomic costs and benefits of the two approaches. B is incorrect. This is essentially expecting the VP of HR to perform the analysis herself and adding no value to the situation, HR, or the organization. C is incorrect. It shows little leadership and could be depriving the organization of a real opportunity. D is incorrect. The HR manager should present both options since the VP of HR is the decision maker.
10. Right Answer: B Explanation: B is the best answer. It is objective and focuses on business needs. A is incorrect. This would undermine the VP of HR and could have a negative impact on her working relationship with the HR manager. C is incorrect. This approach may put the VP of HR on uncomfortable and unfamiliar ground and damage trust. D is incorrect. This usurps the VP of HR's authority and could be seen as a challenge to the VP's authority, especially as the VP is new to the organization.
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