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SHRM-CP Competencies Questions - Part 26
1. 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 employeeβs 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 employeeβs performance will deteriorate further because of excessive negative feedback.
2. 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 noticeΒ that you never check back in with our HR customers. That's the last step in our process. Why do you skip that?'
3. 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
4. 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.
5. 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.
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 employeeβs performance will deteriorate further because of excessive negative feedback.
2. 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 noticeΒ that you never check back in with our HR customers. That's the last step in our process. Why do you skip that?'
3. 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
4. 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.
5. 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.
1. Right Answer: B
Explanation: The critical information here is that the employee is fairly new and probably does not feel that he has a valued place in the organization yet. In these cases, the employee is likely to disregard the negative feedback and try to find some other source of positive feedback.
2. Right Answer: C
Explanation: Effective feedback should be clear about what behavior needs to be changed, and the feedback should be delivered in a timely manner. The best feedback statement is 'Don't forget the last step in customer service....' It is specific about what should be done (follow up). It is timely, unlike the feedback based onΒ an observation made a month ago. It is not a generalization, like 'you never check back.'
3. Right Answer: B
Explanation: The business partner is a facilitator in the meeting, and the facilitator's role is to encourage an active and open discussion, asking follow-up questions and ensuring participation by all focus group participants. Refer to the following scenario for the next 4 questions. An HR manager began a new job at an international school in another country. On her first day, she went to the main office to introduce herself to the school's long-time principal and his recently hired executive assistant. The HR manager noticed flowers on the assistant's desk and complimented them. The assistant nervously dismissed the compliment, frowned, and said they were from the principal and that they were his way of flirting with her. The HR manager knows this is against the school's corporate gift-giving policy, which prohibits using school funds to purchase gifts for individual employees. Later, the HR manager met with the principal to discuss HR priorities. Concerned by the assistant's comments, the HR manager asked about the flowers. The principal dismissed the concerns, saying that giving gifts to recognize employees is common in that country, and angrily remarked that he is entitled to spend his discretionary budget how he wishes. After the meeting, the HR manager felt concerned about the principal making an exception to the gift-giving policy and planned to speak to the school director about the incident. That evening, the HR manager receives a voice mail from the assistant, who frantically asks her not to say anything about the flowers because she needs to keep her job.
4. Right Answer: A
Explanation: A is correct. Reviewing the policy with the principal allows for the new HR manager to begin to build the relationship and trust with the principal. Further, it allows the HR manager to ask questions to potentially see how often the principal deviates from the policy, and it helps the HR manager begin to understand local cultural norms and form a plan of how to reconcile those with alleged policy violations.
5. Right Answer: C
Explanation: C is correct. As the HR manager is new to the location, a good first step would be to determine where discrepancies exist between the policy and cultural norms and then to work on an plan to address them, if possible. A is incorrect, as this would not address the cultural differences in the location. B and D are incorrect. A standardized approach would most likely not make sense across all locations, as it would not take into account local norms and practices and may be seen as dismissing important cultural practices.
Explanation: The critical information here is that the employee is fairly new and probably does not feel that he has a valued place in the organization yet. In these cases, the employee is likely to disregard the negative feedback and try to find some other source of positive feedback.
2. Right Answer: C
Explanation: Effective feedback should be clear about what behavior needs to be changed, and the feedback should be delivered in a timely manner. The best feedback statement is 'Don't forget the last step in customer service....' It is specific about what should be done (follow up). It is timely, unlike the feedback based onΒ an observation made a month ago. It is not a generalization, like 'you never check back.'
3. Right Answer: B
Explanation: The business partner is a facilitator in the meeting, and the facilitator's role is to encourage an active and open discussion, asking follow-up questions and ensuring participation by all focus group participants. Refer to the following scenario for the next 4 questions. An HR manager began a new job at an international school in another country. On her first day, she went to the main office to introduce herself to the school's long-time principal and his recently hired executive assistant. The HR manager noticed flowers on the assistant's desk and complimented them. The assistant nervously dismissed the compliment, frowned, and said they were from the principal and that they were his way of flirting with her. The HR manager knows this is against the school's corporate gift-giving policy, which prohibits using school funds to purchase gifts for individual employees. Later, the HR manager met with the principal to discuss HR priorities. Concerned by the assistant's comments, the HR manager asked about the flowers. The principal dismissed the concerns, saying that giving gifts to recognize employees is common in that country, and angrily remarked that he is entitled to spend his discretionary budget how he wishes. After the meeting, the HR manager felt concerned about the principal making an exception to the gift-giving policy and planned to speak to the school director about the incident. That evening, the HR manager receives a voice mail from the assistant, who frantically asks her not to say anything about the flowers because she needs to keep her job.
4. Right Answer: A
Explanation: A is correct. Reviewing the policy with the principal allows for the new HR manager to begin to build the relationship and trust with the principal. Further, it allows the HR manager to ask questions to potentially see how often the principal deviates from the policy, and it helps the HR manager begin to understand local cultural norms and form a plan of how to reconcile those with alleged policy violations.
5. Right Answer: C
Explanation: C is correct. As the HR manager is new to the location, a good first step would be to determine where discrepancies exist between the policy and cultural norms and then to work on an plan to address them, if possible. A is incorrect, as this would not address the cultural differences in the location. B and D are incorrect. A standardized approach would most likely not make sense across all locations, as it would not take into account local norms and practices and may be seen as dismissing important cultural practices.
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