The University of the South Pacific

Faculty of Business and Economics

School of Management and Public Administration
MG 106F2F – Introduction to Human Resource Management

Mid Semester Test , Semester 1, 2013

Time allowed: One Hour

(An extra ten minutes is allowed for reading this paper.)

Instructions
1. Write down your names, ID number and other required details in the space provided in
the Answer Book.
2. There are three sections in paper and all sections are compulsory.
3. Answers to all questions are to be written in the Answer Book.

Summary of the questions

Sections Guidelines Total

Marks
A There are ten objective type multiple-choice questions. All 5
questions are compulsory
B There are ten objective type True and False type questions. 5
All questions are compulsory
C There are three Short Answer type questions in this section. 10
All three questions in this section is compulsory

Total 20

Section A

1
Circle the letter that best represents the answer in each case.
[5 marks]

1. Managers and economists traditionally have seen human resource management as: 
A. a source of value to their organization.
B. a necessary expense.
C. an asset.
D. an essential component of a high-performance work system.

 
2. Which of the following decisions cannot be classified under HRM? 
A. Analyzing and solving problems from a profit-oriented point of view
B. Assessing costs or benefits of recruitment and training
C. Using planning models that include realistic, challenging, specific, and meaningful
goals
D. Emphasizing the strategic importance of expendable employees

3. Which one of the following terms describes the best possible fit between a company's
social system and its technical system? 
A. Outsourcing
B. Self-service system
C. High-performance work system
D. Total quality management

4.  How can HRM practices help employee empowerment? 

A. Jobs must be designed such that decision control remains with managers.
B. Pay and other rewards should reflect employees' loyalty to the organization.
C. Managers should provide feedback only during the employee performance review.
D. Mangers should encourage employees to communicate with staff throughout the
organization

5. Reengineering involves:
A. practice of another company providing services
B. surgically reducing the workforce by cutting down of unproductive workers
C. two companies joining forces to have a greeter market share
D. a complete review of organization’s critical work processes to make them
efficient

6. Which one of the following is not true about the role of the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration?

2
 A. posts records of accidents and illness in organisations.
B. conducts on site inspections
C. violations of OHS practices are discussed with employers
D. monitors violations of OHS practices and follows it with employers in correcting these
violations

7.  Why do complaints of age discrimination grow when the economy is slow? 

A. Older employees provide a tremendous pool of potential.
B. Companies are forced to retain their best talent during times of recession.
C. Companies try to save labor costs by laying off older workers.
D. Companies try to provide more opportunities to younger workers.

8.  Quid pro quo harassment is: 

A. promising benefits in return for a sexual favor.
B. mocking an individual's sexual orientation.
C. making hiring decisions based on the gender of the applicant.
D. creating a fatal and hazardous work environment.

9.  The first step in the human resource planning process is: 

A. forecasting.
B. goal setting.
C. program implementation.
D. program evaluation

10.  Why is hiring new employees for every labor shortage not preferable? 

A. The process is fast and can result in high human suffering.

B. It forces older employees to retire though they may not want to retire soon.
C. Selecting new employees attracts too many discrimination law suits.
D. When the shortage becomes surplus, the organization may have to lay off
employees.

Section B

3
Write either True or False for each of the statements given below.
[5 marks]

1. An employee being easily retained is a necessary quality of human resources. False.

2. The planned effort to enable employees to learn job-related knowledge, skills, and
behavior is known as employee development False

3. In some organizations, employees evaluate their own performance, and often, peers and
subordinates participate, too. True

4. The globalization of the world economy and the development of e-commerce have
reinforced the implementation of a 40-hour workweek. FALSE

5. Under the "new" psychological contract, organizations expect employees to contribute

time, effort, skills, abilities, and loyalty in return for job security and opportunities for
promotion within the organization.  FALSE

6. A major safety challenge with young workers is that they are normally fearful in
challenging authority on safety issues. True

7. Civic Virtue” is a form of organisational citizenship behaviour which involves activities

such as volunteering for community programmes to represent the company. True

8. Managers promoting cooperation with vendors, suppliers and customers to control cost
illustrates a core value of Total Quality Management True

9. A transitional matrix is a statistical procedure used for the purpose of forecasting demand
for labor. False.

10. Although downsizing has an immediate effect on costs, much of the evidence suggest that
it hurts long term organizational effectiveness True

Section C

4
Write approximately half a page to answer each of the following questions.

Question 1

Identify any four contributions HRM makes towards organizational effectiveness. How can
management ensure that their HR practices are ethical in nature?

Any four of the following list will do

(a) Using the skills and abilities of the workforce efficiently.

(b) Providing well-trained and motivated employees.
(c) Helping employees achieve job satisfaction and self-actualization.
(d) Developing and maintaining a quality of work life that makes employment in the
organization desirable.
(e) Communicating HRM policies to all employees.
(f) Helping to maintain ethical policies and socially responsible behavior.
(g) Managing change to the mutual advantage of individuals, groups, the enterprise, and the
public.

Ethical

HRM practices must result in the greatest good for the largest number of people

Employment practices must respect the basic human rights of privacy, due process, consent and
free speech

Managers must treat employees and customers equitably and fairly

[3 marks]

5
Question 2

Alternative work arrangements are methods of staffing other than the traditional hiring of
fulltime employees. Identify any three forms of alternative work arrangement leant in the course.
Explain any two disadvantages of this nontraditional employment relationship.

Alternative work arrangements are methods of staffing other than the traditional hiring of full-
time employees. There are a variety of methods including the following:
Independent contractors, On-call workers, Temporary workers and Contract company workers,
casual and part time workers

There is some debate about whether nontraditional employment relationships are good or bad.
Some labor analysts argue that alternative work arrangements are substandard jobs featuring low
pay, fear of unemployment, poor health insurance and retirement benefits, and dissatisfying
work.

[4 marks]

Question 3

Define the term outsourcing. Explain any two challenges of outsourcing organization’s non- core
activities to external vendors.

Many organizations are increasingly outsourcing business activities. Outsourcing refers to the
practice of having another company-a vendor, third-party provider, or consultant-provide
services

Some challenges of outsourcing are:

- Quality control problems
- Security violations
- Poor customer service
- Lower wages
- May result in imitating companies secret formulas which results in loss of
competitiveness

[3 marks]