Explain the difference between line authority and staff authority. What type of authority do human resource managers have? (moderate; p. 4)

Answer: Authority is the right to make decisions, to direct the work of others, and to give orders. Line managers are authorized to direct the work of subordinates and are directly in charge of accomplishing the organization’s basic goals. Staff managers are authorized to assist and advise line managers in accomplishing these basic goals. Human resource managers are usually staff managers because they are responsible for assisting and advising line managers in areas like recruiting, hiring, and compensation. However, human resource managers do have line authority within their own department.

Identify five metrics used to evaluate HR performance. (moderate, p. 16)

Answer: The five metrics detailed in the text include cost per hire, absence rate, HR expense factor, time to fill, and turnover rate. There are numerous other metrics as

well such as health care costs per employee, human capital return on investment, turnover costs, and workers’ compensation costs per employee.

What is the HR Scorecard approach? Identify the ten steps in using the HR Scorecard approach to create a strategy-oriented HR system. (moderate; p. 102-109)

Answer:  The HR Scorecard is a concise measurement system that shows the quantitative standards, or “metrics” the firm uses to measure HR activities, and to measure the employee behaviors resulting from these activities, and to measure the strategically relevant organizational outcomes of those employee behaviors. The ten steps are as follows:
 
Step 1:  Define the business strategy
Step 2: Outline the company’s value chain
Step 3: Outline a strategy map
Step 4: Identify the strategically required organizational outcomes
Step 5: Identify the required workforce competencies and behaviors
Step 7: Create HR scorecard
Step 8: Choose HR Scorecard measures
Step 9: Summarize the Scorecard measures in a Digital Dashboard
Step 10: Monitor, predict, and evaluate

Explain how job analysis provides information useful in recruitment and selection, compensation, and performance appraisal. (moderate; p. 126; AACSB: reflective thinking)

Answer:  Job analysis provides information for recruitment and selection by laying out what the job entails and what human characteristics are required to perform these activities. This information helps management decide what sort of people to recruit and hire. Job analysis information is also crucial for estimating the value of each job and its appropriate compensation. A performance appraisal compares each employee’s actual performance with his or her performance standards. Managers use job analysis to determine the job’s specific activities and performance standards.

Explain why generating large applicant pools is not always desirable for a firm. What implications exist for recruitment methods? (difficult; p. 174)

An employer seeks to attract qualified applicants rather than unqualified applicants. Some recruitment methods result in large pools but the applicants are unqualified. Larger pools raise costs of correspondence and screening. It also extends the time necessary to fill vacant positions because of the additional time necessary to sort through the large pool of applicants. The implication is that managers should evaluate different recruitment methods to determine which ones work best for the firm. These methods should be evaluated in terms of the number of applicants produced and the quality of applicants.

Why is it important to select the right employees for a position? (easy; p. 210)

Answer:  First, a manager’s own performance depends in part on his or her subordinates. Second, it is costly to recruit, hire, and train employees. Third, there are legal implications to incompetent hiring. EEO laws and court decisions require nondiscriminatory selection procedures for protected groups. Courts will find employees liable when employees with criminal records or other problems take advantage of access to customers’ property to commit crimes. Hiring workers with such backgrounds without proper safeguards is called negligent hiring.

How can employers protect themselves against claims of negligent hiring? (moderate; p. 210)

Answer:  Employers can take the following steps to protect themselves against claims of negligent hiring.
Carefully scrutinize all information supplied by the applicant on the employment application.
Get the applicant’s written authorization for reference checks and check those references carefully.
Save all records and information you obtain about the applicant.
Reject applicants who make false statements of material facts or who have conviction records for offenses directly related and important to the job in question.
Keep in mind the need to balance the applicant’s privacy rights with others’ “need to know” when damaging information is discovered.
Take immediate disciplinary action if problems develop.

What are the advantages of using the work sampling technique for employee selection? (moderate; p. 225)

Answer:  The work sampling technique measures how a candidate actually performs some of a job’s basic tasks. It measures actual on-the-job tasks so it is difficult for applicants to fake answers. Work samples are more clearly related to the job being tested so the test is fair. Work sampling does not include assessment of an applicant’s personality or mental state so it cannot be considered an invasion of privacy. When designed well, work sampling tests also show better validity than other tests designed to predict performance.