Questions and Answers of Management Human Resources

Explain the concept of diversity and equality in the workplace.
Outline the business case for a diverse workforce.
Comment on how diversity and equality should be managed.
Define the protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010.
Explain the following terms and give examples: direct discrimination; indirect discrimination; victimisation; harassment.
I have to implement a recruitment and promotion policy that attracts a broader group of people, including senior women. But how can the company engage its white male employee majority, who could feel
Explain how business strategy affects HR strategy.
Outline the major stages of the human resource planning process, and comment on the key considerations at each stage.
Assess the importance of information as a basis for decision making in the human resource planning process.
Explain what is meant by the terms ‘skills shortages’ and ‘skills gaps’. Why do they arise and what can employers do about them?
Six out of 10 engineering employers fear a growing shortage of engineers will threaten their business in the UK, research has found. A study by the Institution of Engineering and Technology
Choose three different job advertisements from three different sources (one from an Internet recruitment site, one from a newspaper and one from an employer’s corporate website). Comment on the
Describe the uses of the job description and person specification/competency profile in the recruitment process.
What approaches to recruitment can an employer adopt in order to create and project a positive public image?
Describe the aims of the selection process and describe a methodical approach that can be used to achieve these aims.
Why do employment interviews have such a low validity and what can be done to improve the validity?
Sue, the HR manager, and Mark, one of the HR assistants, were both conducting interviews of candidates for the post of sales assistant in a large media organisation. The sales assistant job would
It’s the episode of The Apprentice everyone looks forward to, when the remaining candidates face the interviewers, their CVs are scrutinised and the liars are caught red-handed. But how many people
Discuss the reasons for some line managers’ apparent reluctance to get involved in performance management and suggest ways to convince them of the value of this process to them.
What are the main advantages and disadvantages of using 360 degree appraisal?
Performance appraisals are intended to motivate employees towards greater productivity and improve communication/relations between managers and their team members. Explain why performance appraisals
Performance management is described by Armstrong and Baron (2004) as a process which ‘contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of
Describe three different approaches to performance appraisal and comment critically on the benefits to be gained from these systems.
David Cameron’s pledge to create a “Big Society” of empowered volunteers and vibrant communities generated some of the positive headlines that helped his Conservative party scrape to victory in
Many organisations do not provide an adequate induction programme for new employees. Comment critically on the benefi ts to be gained from implementing a good induction programme, and outline what
Critically evaluate the relative effectiveness of on-the-job training and off-the-job training.
Muhammad Hazim left Malaysia for Coventry and the promise of an accountancy career. Now his home nation wants him back. The fast growing southeast Asian country needs him – and thousands like him
The minimum wage alters each year. Find out how much the minimum wage actually is at the present time. How much is the rate for adults aged 21 or over?How much is the rate for those aged 18–20?What
Interview managers or employees from three organisations of your choice from different industrial sectors to establish what effect, if any, the introduction of the living wage has or would have on
Explain the process of job evaluation and comment on how a points rating job evaluation scheme can contribute to perceptions of fairness from the point of view of employees.
Fairness in pay is an objective of both employers and employees. Describe briefly the issues that need to be considered with reference to fairness, and evaluate critically the approaches that
Imagine that you are a consultant employed to select a job evaluation scheme for an organisation that employs 500 employees in a large range of clerical jobs. Write a report to the human resource
Network Rail is facing the biggest equal pay claim in its history only a week after it was found to have missed punctuality targets and amid protests that bonuses for senior male staff have topped
Interview people (friends, family or work colleagues from a range of organisations) about their own responsibilities in relation to health and safety and then about their perceptions of other
Obtain a copy of the safety policy for either your college or your workplace.a. Use this to identify the roles of various people in the organisation in relation to health and safety.b. Use the safety
Design a checklist for carrying out a safety inspection in the workplace.Use your checklist to actually carry out an inspection of a designated area either at work or in your college. Write a report
Write a short report in which you assess the impact of one piece of health and safety legislation in an organisation of your choice.
What are the characteristics of domestic, international, multinational and global firms?
What do the following terms mean: ethnocentric, polycentric, regiocentric and geocentric?
What are the different dimensions of culture (according to Hofstede et al.) and how might an understanding of these enable a manager or employee to better understand national culture?
What are the key issues associated with managing an international assignment?
When Clare Allum’s employer offered a transfer from London to Shanghai, her immediate reaction was to call her husband and say: “Let’s go.” A human resources professional at EY, the auditor
Interview both a line manager and an HR manager and try to establish what roles they play in relation to grievance and discipline handling in the workplace. How do your fi ndings compare with what we
Obtain a copy of an organisation’s discipline and grievance procedure and compare it with how we have described these processes. Identify and comment on the similarities and differences.
We recently implemented an email system that allows staff to send large group emails at the touch of a button. However, not everyone has grown used to the pitfalls – which became apparent when a
Discuss the measures that should be taken to ensure that workers who have been selected for redundancy and those who have not remain motivated at work.
Outline the circumstances that are considered to constitute fair dismissal and comment on the extent to which an organisation should be expected to avoid dismissing employees.
Barely 10 days old, Stephen Elop’s “Hello there” memo has already become a classic example of how not to fire people. It is a 1,110-word document stiff with “appropriate financial
We include here a pictorial representation of this chapter in the form of a mind map ( Figure 1.1 ). Use the key words we have included to refresh your memory of what we have covered in this chapter.
Identify at least three issues that currently engage the attention of people managers. Explain why each of these is important.
Cloud-based software and services, social networks and big data are transforming how companies’ human resources (HR) departments operate, reshaping such activities as recruitment, employee
Describe the two main philosophical approaches underlying management–employee relations and comment on how these approaches affect employee involvement initiatives.
Explain the relationship between employee involvement, employee commitment, engagement and high-performance working.
Describe the principal employee involvement categories and practices.
What can an organisation do to ensure that its workers are fully engaged?
If you have room left in your 2015 diary, then volunteer. If you feel overwhelmed by work – the main reason UK citizens claim they cannot devote time to a good cause – then volunteer. It will
What does the term ‘employment relationship’ mean?
What are the differences between an ‘employee’, ‘worker’ and ‘self-employed person’?
What should a contract of employment contain?
Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Group, has told 170 staff working for its head office that they can take as much annual leave as they like, providing it will not damage the
Explain how demographics and workforce diversity have had an impact on the organization in which you are working or one in which you have worked. What policies or practices did managers or HR in the
Working alone or with a small group of classmates, interview an HR manager and prepare a short essay regarding his or her role in strategy formulation and implementation.
Describe the role of HR in strategy formulation and strategy implementation.
Explain how changing economic and competitive pressures have had an impact on the organization in which you are working or one in which you have worked. How has your business responded to these
Review job ads for five senior HR roles on job posting websites or corporate websites.Identify common competencies required for those roles as per the ads. Contrast these required competencies (both
Prepare an orientation checklist for your current or most recent job.
"A well-thought-out onboarding program is especially important for employees (like many recent graduates) who have had little or no work experience." Explain why you agree or disagree with this
Briefly describe each of the five aspects of the new approach to career development.
Describe the transformation that HR underwent over the years. Discuss how changes in internal and external factors contributed to the evolution in HR.
Describe how the external environment influences HR.
A firm has requested your assistance in ensuring that their multigenerational workforce functions effectively as a team. What strategies and/or programs would you recommend? Why?
Review job ads for five executive roles (such as CEO, vice-president, or president) on job posting websites or corporate websites. Identify common competencies required for those roles as per the
Differentiate between organizational culture and organizational climate.
Choose a non-HR role you have had in your previous jobs. Identify how you have used the core competencies of HR professionals in that role, and how it affected your job performance.
According to a 2012 study of the world's most attractive firms (released by Universum), the top 10 employers for career seekers with a business background were (in priority order): Apple, Google,
Describe the multiple jurisdictions related to employment legislation affecting HRM in Canada
Using the sample Balanced Scorecard template provided by your professor, in pairs, develop a balanced scorecard measure for a hypothetical company in the retail urban clothing sector. This company
Describe the six core competencies required of HR professionals. Identify how these competencies are also embedded in the roles of line managers, senior managers, and Clevel executives in an
Explain how HR has become professionalized and describe the value of this professionalism.
Working individually or in groups, and using the HRSDC website, find the National Occupational Classification (NOC) job description for both a university professor and a college professor. Compare
Working individually, prepare a job description (including job specifications) for a position that you know well, using the job analysis questionnaire in this chapter. Once you have done so, exchange
Working in groups of three or four, identify the jobs that have been or are held by students in your group. Select one job to analyze. Use the job analysis questionnaire provided in the chapter to
You were recently asked to identify one employee you manage as a top performer to align with a new company program offering top performers intensive management skills training. The employees you
How much time, effort, and money should firms devote to helping ”surviving” employees deal with downsizing? With mergers and acquisitions?
Form teams of three or four people. Your instructor will assign you a position on the following statements: "All employees in an organization should be aware of their personal standing with respect
Suppose a manager has already made up his or her mind about who will be selected for an internal position. But an internal job posting and subsequent interviews have shown another equally qualified
Go to your university's or college's career centre and gather information on all the services they provide. How many companies come to recruit students through the centre each year? What services
Is it ethical to use personal information on social networking sites to assess job candidates?
Given the importance of networking to recruitment success, organize the class around core jobs that students would like to have. In each group, brainstorm sources of networking. Poll the group to
Considering the current economic situation and using the following list of jobs, identify all of the sources that could be used to recruit qualified applicants:Registered Nurses to work in the
As the company recruiter, how would you handle a request from the CEO that you hire her son for a summer job, knowing that, given current hiring constraints, the sons and daughters of other employees
Explain the differences among criterion-related validity, content validity, and construct validity.
If you were asked to design an effective selection process for retail sales representatives working on a 100 percent commission basis, which of the steps described in this chapter would you include
Design a semi-structured interview questionnaire for a position with which you are extremely familiar, basing the candidate-specific questions on your own résumé. Ensure that behavioural,
As the HR manager, how much feedback should you provide to those individuals not selected for a position?
Describe five different types of testing that may be used in the selection process and give an example of each.
Assume that you have just been hired as the employment manager in a small manufacturing firm that has never done any selection testing. Write a memorandum to the CEO describing the types of tests
Create an offer of employment for the successful customer-service representative at a call centre, outlining the terms and conditions of employment. Keep in mind that a copy of the letter should be
Describe any four activities involved in a management assessment centre.
Describe strategies that you could use to: (a) Establish rapport with an extremely nervous candidate; (b) Het an interviewee who is rambling “back on track”; (c) Vlarify a

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