Chap 1

31) How does strategic staffing differ from traditional staffing?

-Traditional staffing:
+ Tends to focus on quickly and conveniently filling an opening
+ Less reliant on a strategy
+ Lacks a commitment to ongoing progress
-Strategic staffing:
+Focuses on both short-term and long-term planning
+Maximizes return on investment
+ Has aligning the staffing strategy with the business strategy
+ Aligns with the other areas of HR
+ Aligns with the labor market
+Targeted recruiting
+ Reasonable evaluation of candidates' potential and work success possibility
+ The comparison of staffing results to predetermined objectives

32) How does staffing influence an organization's training activities, and how is staffing
influenced by an organization's training activities?

-Staffing influence an organization’s training activities:

+ Whether candidates should already possess
+If the staffing function cannot hire unskilled applicants, they can have a training for applicants.
+Identify how long employees tend to stay with the company
-Training activities influence on staffing
+ Employee retention: Effective training programs can increase employee satisfaction,
motivation, and they are more likely to stay with the organization for a long-term.
+Talent development: Training activities can identify and develop potential leaders within the
organization. As a result, the organization may be able to promote from within, reducing the
need for external hiring.
+Organizational culture: can promote the organization’s value and mission, can attract applicants
who fit for the organization’s culture.

33) How does staffing influence an organization's performance management activities, and
how is staffing influenced by an organization's performance management activities?

-Staffing influence an organization’s performance management activities:

+ Providing the raw talent that the system will manage
+ If employees don't get feedback on how they're doing, they can perform poorly or won't know
what to concentrate on. Employee retention may become challenging as a result, or employees
may need to be replaced.
-Performance management activities influence on staffing:
+ The efficiency of a staffing system is impacted by performance management systems.
Employees won't know what areas of their tasks to concentrate on or the performance standards
required of them without performance goals. They will consequently frequently perform below
expectations, and some may leave or need to be replaced, thereby slowing down the staffing
system. If highly talented individuals don't receive accurate or timely performance evaluation,
they won't work to their full potential even after being hired. If they perceive that the feedback,
they’ve been given about their performance is unfair, they will not be motivated to contribute as
much as they could.

Chap 2
47) Describe the resource-based view of the firm and how staffing can contribute to a company's
sustainable competitive advantage.
-Describe the resource-based view of the firm
+Definition: The resource-based view suggests that a company's resources and capabilities can
lead to a competitive advantage that is sustainable over time by offering customers value through
cost reduction, unique value proposition, or a combination of both.
 Creating value: An organization's recruitment programs, policies, and practices should
aim to either reduce the costs of the organization's products or services, improve the
uniqueness of the organization's products or services in the perception of customers, or
achieve both of these objectives.
 Staffing can contribute to a company's sustainable competitive advantage: staffing serves
as a “gatekeeper” by influencing the level and composition of an organization’s talent.

48) Describe the organizational and product life-cycle and explain how it can influence a firm's
choice of strategy.
-The organizational and product life-cycle has 4 stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and
declines.
+Introduction stage: when a company is forming. It's common for companies to prioritize
attracting highly skilled technical and professional staff, which may require offering
compensation packages that are at or above market rates. However, some companies that don't
have the necessary resources to attract the talent they need to start their operations may offer
prospective employees’ ownership in the company, usually in the form of company stock.
+Growth stage:
 New companies or products tend to pursue innovation and differentiation strategies.
 Because of being less established leads to higher-risk employers, they need to invest
money and resources in staffing to attract the talent they need to grow.
 They usually lack a large and strong internal talent pool, and they need to hire new
employees externally as they grow.
+Maturity stage:
 the organization’s products and services have fully evolved, and their market share
has become established
 The company’s focus then shifts to maintaining or obtaining further market share via
a cost-leadership strategy, often by streamlining operations and focusing on
efficiency
 Internal talent focus
+Decline stage:
 The companies have to face shrinking market and weaker business performance
  A company in during stage can pursue a cost-leadership strategy and allow the decline
to continue until the business is no longer profitable
 Focus on reducing labor and other costs.
 Can try to make changes to revive the product or service. If the firm chooses to try to
change its product or service, it typically adopts a specialization or differentiation
strategy.

49) What is a firm's talent philosophy and how is it important to staffing?

- An organization’s talent philosophy is a system of beliefs about how its employees should be
treated. It reflects how an organization thinks about its employees.
-A well-defined talent philosophy is essential to effective staffing because it provides a clear
framework for decision-making and helps ensure that the company's staffing practices are
aligned with its overall strategy and culture. It can also serve as a powerful tool for attracting and
retaining top talent by communicating the company's commitment to employee development and
providing a sense of purpose and direction to the workforce. Moreover, a talent philosophy can
help the company establish a consistent employer brand and reputation in the job market, which
is increasingly important in attracting and retaining skilled employees. By creating a positive and
supportive work environment and investing in employee development, a company can
distinguish itself from competitors and build a strong employer brand that attracts the right
talent.

Chap 4
42) What is a job rewards analysis and how is it used in staffing?
-Definition: Job rewards analysis is basically job analysis technique that identifies the intrinsic
and extrinsic rewards of a job
 Intrinsic rewards: nonmonetary rewards components from the organization’s culture and
from the work
 Extrinsic rewards: monetary value such as base pay, bonuses, and benefits.
- How it is used in staffing
+First, determine exactly what attracts job candidates and why incumbents enjoy their work.
+Then craft a message to clearly state what makes your company the obvious choice over the
competition

43) Define the three criteria for employee value propositions: magnitude, mix, and
distinctiveness.
-The employee value proposition is the balance between the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards an
employee receives by working for a particular employer in return for the employee’s job
performance.
+Magnitude: refers to a reward package that is neither too small nor too large in economic terms.
+Mix: refers to the composition of the reward package matching the needs and preferences of
applicants or employees.
+Distinctiveness: refers to the uniqueness of a reward package.

Chap 5
43) Describe the five steps in the workforce planning process.
1. Identify the firm’s business strategy: A firm’s strategic vision, mission, and strategy affect its
current and future staffing requirements by influencing the types and numbers of employees
needed.
2. Articulate the firm’s talent philosophy and strategic staffing decisions: the differences in
commitment such as promoting workers, retaining, … All the elements affect on the nature of
labor supply on firm’s operation in the future and choosing a type of employees they need. It is
essential to figure out them when forecasting and planning.
3. Conduct a workforce analysis: Forecast both labor demand and labor supply and identify any
gaps between the two.
4. Develop and implement action plans: Action plans are created to solve the gaps between labor
demand and labor supply forecasts. They should be consistent with the firm’s talent philosophy,
and can include short- and long-term recruiting, retention, compensation, succession
management, and training and development plans.
5. Monitor, evaluate, and revise the forecasts and action plans: Evaluate how effective the firm’s
workforce plan has been in terms of meeting the company’s recruiting and hiring goals. The
firm’s forecasts and action plans need to change when the business environment changes.

44) What are talent inventories and replacement charts, and how are they used in forecasting
labor supply?
a) Talent inventories
-Definition: An employee's abilities, competences, education, training, languages spoken, prior
performance ratings, and prospects of promotion are listed in detail in talent inventories, which
are records or databases.
+A talent inventory can be an effective tool for quickly placing the appropriate talent where it is
needed.
-How they are used:
+Talent inventories are a valuable tool for HR professionals to manage an organization's
workforce strategically. By having a comprehensive understanding of the existing talent pool,
they can make informed decisions about recruitment, training and development, and succession
planning to ensure the organization has the talent it needs to achieve its goals.
+For example:
Employee name Job tittle Department Skills and Training
qualifications completed
John Smith Sale manager Sale associate Communication Sales
skill, leadership Techniques
skill, strategic Workshop
thinking, data
analysis

b) Replacement charts
-Definition: On the other hand, a replacement chart is a visual representation of the
organization's hierarchy, which shows the names and positions of current employees along with
potential replacements for each position
-How they are used:
+It graphically displays each prospective employee for a position and lists their strengths, current
performance, promotion readiness, and areas for improvement.

45) Discuss the different ways in which a firm can deal with temporary employee surpluses.
- Using temporary or contingent workers who are the first to be let go when business slows can
serve to establish a buffer around essential permanent staff if slowdowns are cyclical or occur
regularly.
-Another option for handling a short-term employee surplus is temporary layoffs, but they
frequently need to last longer than six months in order to be financially viable due to severance
costs,45 higher unemployment insurance premiums that the businesses must pay, temporary
productivity declines in the company's remaining workforce, and the process of rehiring and
retraining.
-Alternatives to layoffs include across-the-board salary cuts or a reduction in work hours, or
reallocating workers to expanding areas of the business.

Chap 6
50) Explain the role of geographic targeting in the sourcing process.
-Definition: Geographic targeting, or sourcing recruits based on where they live, is also
commonly done by organizations.
-The role of geographic targeting:
+Focus on the local labor market, labor markets in locations like the organization’s location in
terms of city size, cost of living, cultural opportunities, and other characteristics, and individual
likely to find the organization’s location attractive. Thus, organization can have opportunities to
find a promising supply chain.
+ Help an organization to manage its retention rates.

51) What is global sourcing? Explain in brief the primary challenge of global sourcing.
-Global sourcing: is the sourcing of employees on a global basis.
-The primary challenge of global sourcing:
+The need to balance between two competing objectives: integration and differentiation.
Integration is the coordination of a single, worldwide hiring plan that gives the business
sufficient control over its regional activities. Differentiation refers to the requirement to respect
and acknowledge the diversity of local cultures as well as the cultural expectations of a
company's employees.
+Example: Clothing company based on U.S that sources raw materials such as cotton in India,
fabric woven in China and then produce goods in Cambodia before exporting them back to the
U.S. In this example, the clothing company is saving costs and specializing expertise available in
different countries to produce a high-quality product at a competitive price. However, they have
to cope with challenges of managing product lines, quality control, language barriers, and so on.

Chap 7
40) What are recruiter profiles and how are they used in staffing?
-Recruiter profiles: The effectiveness of recruiting can be improved by knowing the traits of
recruiters who are most likely to draw in the right candidates, whether they are inside or external
to the organization. Making a reviewer profile of the specific recruiters who have historically
been the most successful is one approach to achieve this. Organizations can monitor how
applicants respond to various recruitment techniques and messages over time and profile the
qualifications, traits, and backgrounds of their most successful recruiters for various positions.
=> Overall, A recruiter profile might include information about the educational background,
work experience, and professional skills that are required for a recruiter to be able to effectively
source, screen, and place candidates in job roles.
-They are used in staffing:
+To help ensure that recruiters are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to
successfully match job candidates with open positions.
+They are used to measure performance and career development helping recruiter know skills or
knowledges to be enhanced.
-Example: A recruiter profile of sales associates should include knowledge of accounting skills
and experience in recruiting for sales positions.

41) What is an organization's employer image and why is it relevant to staffing?

-Organization’s employer image:
+Image: based on a general impression based on both feelings and facts. An organization’s
image is often reflected by someone who thinks about a specific company.
+Therefore, an organization’s employer image reflects its reputation in the eyes of current
employees, as well as the general public.
-It is relevant to staffing because:
+ Organizational images can influence recruiting outcomes.
+Employer image is a subgroup in organization image. Employer image can have a significant
impact on an organization's ability to attract and retain top talent. A positive employer image can
make it easier for an organization to attract high-quality candidates, while a negative employer
image can make it more difficult to attract and retain talent.

Chap 9:
46) What are the different types of fit and when would each be most important to assess?
a) The person-job fit
-Person -job fit is the fit between a person’s abilities and the demands of the job and the fit
between a person’s desires and motivations and the attributes and rewards of a job.
- Person-job fit is most important to assess during the hiring and selection process of a job
candidate. A good person-job fit leads to better job effort, while a poor person-job fit has the
staffing effort cannot be considered successful.
b) The person-group fit
- Person-group fit (or person-team fit) is the match between an individual and his or her work
group, including the supervisor. Good person-group fit means that an individual fits with the
goals, work styles, and skills of coworkers.
- Person-group fit recognizes that in many jobs, interpersonal interactions with group members
and teammates are important in getting the work done. Person-group fit leads to improved job
satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to stay with the company. Because
teamwork, communication, and interpersonal competencies can be as critical to team
performance as team members’ ability to perform core job duties, person-group fit can be
particularly important when hiring for team-oriented work environments.
c) The person-organization fit
- Person-organization fit is the fit between an individual’s values, beliefs, and personality and the
values, norms, and culture of the organization.
- The person-organization fit would be most important when it needs to identify those applicant
qualifications, competencies, and traits that relate to the organization’s strategy, values, and work
processes. Individuals whose work styles are inconsistent with the organization’s culture,
business strategy, and work processes are not likely to be as successful as individuals who are
good fits in these ways.
d) The person-vocation fit
- The fit between a person’s interests, abilities, values, and personality and his or her chosen
occupation, regardless of the person’s employer.
- Companies that would like to develop their own future leaders, or smaller organizations that
need employees to fill more than one role, may be able to use applicants’ vocational interests to
determine whether they would be a good fit. Organizations may better retain these valued career
changers by understanding their vocational preferences and designing career tracks or career
changes. If the measure is successful, valued employees who would otherwise be likely to leave
the organization to pursue a different type of vocation may be able to pursue multiple vocations
without leaving the company.
e) The complementary and supplementary fit
- Complementary fit is when a person adds something that is missing in the organization or work
group by being different from the others, typically by having different skills or expertise.
- Supplementary fit occurs when a person has characteristics that are similar to those that already
exist in the organization.
- Both complementary and supplementary fit are important as together they help to ensure
that new hires will not only fit in with the work group and organization but also bring new skills
and perspectives that will enhance the work group’s and organization’s performance.

47) Compare and contrast structured and unstructured interviews.

Elements Structured interviews
Definition interviews when candidates are
subjected to a series of
standardized, work-related
inquiries with predetermined
scores for various responses
Questions the same questions are asked in
the same way for all applicants,
and because raters are trained to
consistently use the same rating
scales to evaluate answers,
structured interviews tend to be
quite reliable and valid
Purpose - Structured interviews are used to - To gather more qualitative
assess specific job-related skills,
abilities, and knowledge, as well
as the candidate's fit with the job
Unstructured interviews
questions that vary from
candidate to candidate and that
differ across interviewers
The interview questions are
often casual and open ended
(e.g., “tell me about yourself”)
and can be highly speculative
(e.g., “What do
you see yourself doing in five
to ten years?”)
and subjective information
about the candidate's
background, experience, and
 requirements and organizational
culture.
- They are also used to ensure that
each candidate is asked the same
questions, which can help
eliminate bias and provide a fair
and objective evaluation.
Reliability more reliable
Flexibility Structured interviews are less
flexible than unstructured
interviews because the questions
are predetermined
personality
- They are often used to build
rapport with the candidate and
to gain a more in-depth
understanding of their
motivations and goals.
less reliable
Unstructured interviews are
more flexible than structured
interviews because the
interviewer can adjust the
questions based on the
candidate's responses and
follow-up on interesting or
relevant topics that come up
during the conversation.

Chap 10
46) How can internal assessment enhance a firm's strategic capabilities?
- Matching a company's talent with its vision, goals, and business strategy positions the company
to compete and succeed in the market.
+ A corporation must examine its current personnel with an eye toward the future in order to plan
and prepare for its future business needs. This involves their willingness and aptitude to learn
and adapt to new situations.
+Furthermore, a corporation cannot know what training to provide employees without first
assessing their strengths and limitations.
- After a corporation evaluates its employees, underperforming individuals with limited potential
are often quit. Meanwhile, "blocked" personnel—good employees who do not have possibilities
for advancement—are helped to improve their motivation and performance. Employees with
high potential are recognized for future development and are prepared for growth chances. Some
firms prefer to call groups of employees targeted for accelerated development “acceleration
pools” rather than “high-potential pools” because the latter term implies that employees not in
the pool are not high potential.

49) What is the nine box matrix and how is it best used?
-The nine box matrix: a combined assessment of an employee’s performance and potential.
+ The nine box matrix plots three levels of current job performance horizontally: exceptional
performance, fully performing, and not performing.
+Vertically, three levels of performance potential are plotted: eligible for promotion, room for
growth in current position, and not likely to grow beyond current position.
- The nine box matrix is a tool for displaying employee judgments, not for making those
assessments. It can assist businesses in understanding the overall strength of their workforces,
but only if the employees are evaluated appropriately in the first place.
Chap 11
46) List and describe two ways of combining candidates' scores on multiple assessments and
discuss when each is most appropriate to use.
a) The multiple hurdles approach
-Definition: In this scoring approach, candidates are required to achieve a passing score on an
assessment before they can proceed to the next stage of the selection process.
- The multiple hurdles approach is most appropriate to use when: the cost of an employee’s poor
performance is high

b) The compensatory approaches

-Definition: This approach allows candidates to compensate for low scores on some assessments
by achieving high scores on other assessments.
b.1) Unit weighting
-Each assessment is assigned the same weight, and the scores are combined to give an overall
score.
b.2) Rational weighting
-Definition: This refers to a weighting method in which experts assign a subjective weight to
each assessment score based on their judgment of the assessment's relevance to the job.
b.3) Statistical weighting
-Definition: This refers to a technique where statistical methods like multiple regression are used
to give varying importance or weight to different assessment scores.
-The compensatory approach is most appropriate to use when:

 The job requires a broad range of skills and abilities.

 The selection process involves multiple assessments that measure different aspects of job
performance.
 There is a possibility that a candidate who is weak in one area may compensate for that
weakness in another area.
 The assessments used in the selection process are reliable and valid measures of the skills
required for the job.

47) What is an employment contract? Describe three things an employment contract must
contain to be legally binding.
- An employment contract is an agreement between an employer and an employee that specifies
the employee's employment rights, responsibilities, and duties.
- Three things an employment contract must contain to be legally binding.
+An offer: An offer contains the employer's proposed terms and conditions of employment, as
well as any specified requirements for accepting the offer, such as a deadline. The terms of a job
offer must be specific and certain, allowing the job candidate to reasonably believe that the
company will be obligated by the offer on the terms proposed.
+ An acceptance: An acceptance is a clear expression of the accepting party’s agreement to the
terms of the offer. The offer must be accepted as specified in the offer, and not propose any
changes. If the offer requires written acceptance by a certain date, the acceptance must be on
time and in writing to be valid.
+ Consideration: is the bargained-for exchange between the contract parties. In other words,
something of value must pass from one party to the other for consideration to have occurred.
Each party to the contract must gain some benefit from the agreement and incur some obligation
in exchange for that benefit. Typically, this involves an exchange of labor for pay.

48) Imagine you are the HR manager in a firm who is in the final step of recruiting for a high
level post. The final job offer has been extended to the most desired candidate and you are
awaiting a response. What would you do in this situation to ensure a good hire?
As I am a HR manager, to ensure a good hire in the final step of recruiting for a high level post, I
can make a maximum job offer. By doing so, I was able to expand the candidate to the final
round with the final offer. At that time, the finalists were informed that this was the company's
best job invitation and that no more negotiations were possible. Therefore, the finalist may feel
that our company is doing its best to pay or proceed with the offer fairly, the company is
expressing its sincere interest in the finalist and, I hope, reduce, or eliminate any negative
feelings that might result from the offer being below what the finalist expected.
Furthermore, I believe that making a maximum job offer can help quickly fill a position or
involve top finalist to join the company.

Chap 12
48) How is orientation different from socialization?
Aspects Orientation (onboarding)
Definition - The process of completing new
hires’ employment-related
paperwork and familiarizing them
with their jobs, coworkers,
workspaces, work tools, and the
company’s policies and benefit
Main goal -Orienting new employees can
shorten the time it takes for them
to reach the breakeven point,
when they stop costing the
company money and begin
providing a return on the
company's investment in them.
- To introduce new employees to
the organization and their job
responsibilities, policies, and
procedures.
Time frame Typically occurs during the first
few days or weeks of
employment.
Ex: The Starbucks Support Center
Socialization
- a long-term process of planned
and unplanned, formal and
informal activities and
experiences through which an
individual acquires the
attitudes, behaviors, and
knowledge needed to
successfully participate as
an organizational member and
learns the firm’s culture
The major purpose of
socialization is to familiarize
new employees with the
organization's culture, which
includes the company's
conventions, beliefs, behavior
patterns, rituals, language, and
traditions.
-Continuous process that takes
place over an extended period of
time.
- A company's culture provides a
 then offers both self-guided and framework for employees to
supported analyze and comprehend their
orientation activities, including a day-to-day work experiences.
two-day program in which new
hires learn about the company’s
mission statement, history, and
future goals as well as the firm’s
products and skills related to the
“art of espresso,” which
employees need to know to do
their jobs well
Outcomes Employees understand their job Employees integrate into the
duties and are equipped to organizational culture,
perform them. understand and uphold its
values, and become committed
to the organization.

49) List and describe the six types of turnover.

-Voluntary turnover: Voluntary turnover occurs when an employee chooses to leave the
organization for personal or professional reasons. The methods of voluntary turnover include a
written or verbal resignation, not reporting for work as assigned, failing to return from an
approved leave of absence at the end of the leave, or retirement.
-Involuntary turnover: occurs when a business asks an employee to leave due to circumstances
such as poor performance, incapacity, or death, or the firm's restructuring, downsizing, merger,
or acquisition.
-Functional turnover: is the departure of poor performers
-Dysfunctional turnover: refers to the departure of effective performers who the organization
would have chosen to retain.
-Avoidable turnover: is turnover that an employer could have prevented by addressing its root
cause. Low pay, employee dissatisfaction, and poor work and life balance issues can all cause
avoidable turnover. These factors will be discussed in more detail in the next section.
-Unavoidable turnover: is turnover that the employer could not have avoided. This turnover can
be caused by resignations due to an employee becoming a parent, a serious sickness or death, or
a spouse obtaining another job that requires the family to relocate.

50) Describe some alternatives to layoffs.

-Attrition: is the normal reduction of a firm’s workforce due to the retirement, death, or
resignation of employees.
-Hiring freeze: a policy whereby no new employees are hired for a certain period of time.
=> Attrition and hiring freezes can protect the jobs of survivors, but there needs to be a plan in
place to redistribute the work among them to avoid their being chronically overworked
-Early retirement and buyout incentives are a good way to achieve attrition and are often
well received by employees. Companies often fund early retirement and buyout incentives with
money they save during hiring freezes.
- Encourage employees to take a leave without pay: Leaves without pay can appeal to some
employees who need to complete their education, care for family, or transition to another career.
When the company wants to downsize to cut its costs rather than meet a mandated reduction in
the number of employees, this can be a good strategy.
-Flexible work arrangements with retention strategies can also be used to downsize a company’s
workforce without resorting to layoffs. The agreements can reduce absenteeism and attrition,
improve a company's capacity to attract and retain talent, and boost employees' health, morale,
and productivity by allowing them to attain a better work-life balance.
-Reducing their work hours/pay: This way, all the employees share the pain of the cutback but no
one loses his or her job.

51) Assume you are a high-ranking manager in a firm who has to discharge a middle-ranking
employee. Plan how you would go about this task. Who are the other members of the
organization whom you would involve?
As a manager, I should review the employees’ job performance records and ensure that they have
valid and documented reasons for the termination.

When an employee is informed that he or she is being fired, my key responsibility as a manager
is to be respectful but direct in informing the employee that he or she has been terminated and
providing a reason.

Then, I should inform the personnel department and inform them of the employees’ decision to
terminate the contract. Personnel may provide guidance on the legal and ethical aspects of the
termination process.

I will hold a private meeting with employees to announce their decision to terminate their
contract. During the meeting, the manager should explain the reason for the termination, provide
any relevant documents, and answer any questions that employees may have.

A human resources professional should write a simple letter that outlines the employee's date of
discharge. For example, a human resource expert can name me as an approver, I should provide
support to employees during this difficult time, such as providing new job support services,
helping them register for unemployment benefits or providing recommendations for future
employment opportunities.

I should inform other members of the organization who need to know about the termination of
contracts, such as supervisors, colleagues, and customers of employees.