The human resource function has become so important that it is no longer the function of just one department; it is a function of all managers. Most human resource functions are shared between the professional human resource manager and the other managers.

As the director of human resource management for Idle Time Gaming, Inc., Addie’s responsibilities include __________________.

Human resource management is the process of determining human resource needs and then recruiting, selecting, developing, motivating, evaluating, compensating, and scheduling employees to achieve organizational objectives.

Adam was recruiting project managers for his small business. As he finalized the job description for the position, he worried about attracting top talent. He knew the job would be challenging, but his concern was ____________. When it comes to recruiting skilled employees for his and most other small businesses, this is the area where small businesses are challenged.

Small businesses want top talent but often can’t afford corporate-level benefits or expensive recruiters to hunt down the best people.

Which agency is charged with enforcing affirmative action programs?

The EEOC is the organization charged with enforcing the provisions of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. Congress vested the EEOC with the power of enforcement to ensure that these mandates were carried out. The EEOC has become a formidable regulatory force in the administration of human resource management.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act:

Title VII prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, and other areas on the basis of race, religion, creed, sex or national origin.

Businesses want productive employees. __________ focuses on short-term skills, whereas _________focuses on increasing employees’ long-term abilities.

Training and development include all attempts to improve productivity by increasing an employee’s ability to perform. Training focuses on short-term skills, whereas development focuses on long-term abilities.

When performing a job analysis, the human resource manager will write a job description, as well as a job specification. The job specification consists of _________.

The job specification part of the job analysis consists of a statement designating the minimum academic and experience credentials required to hold the position. It is about the qualifications of the person who will be performing the job.

According to the text, the greatest advantage of hiring from within is:

Recruiting from within is less expensive and helps maintain employee morale.

9

promoting from within a company is not the best solution because employees then believe all promotions should come from within the firm

hiring an external candidate always upsets the camaraderie of an organization

companies put increasingly less emphasis on a candidate fitting the organization culture and more on individual skills

it is often difficult to find a qualified candidate that doesn’t need training after being hired

Employment tests must:

Employment tests should always be directly related to the job or else they can be legally challenged.

Once the job analysis is performed, there are several well-structured steps to the hiring process. This process includes _____________.

Steps are as follows: (1) obtaining complete applications, (2) performing initial and follow-up interviews, (3) giving employment tests, (4) conducting background investigations, (5) obtaining results from physical exams, and (6) establishing trial periods.

At a local university, over 50% of the faculty are part-time employees, who have similar credentials as full-time employees but do not have permanent positions. These employees are seldom offered benefits and are not represented by the educators’ union. HR experts would designate these professionals as __________________.

Contingent employees are part-time and sometimes seasonal workers who are employed for a short period of time. Employers will often hire contingent workers when work increases. The advantage to employers is that these employees seldom expect benefits that full-time workers receive.

Jake’s family owned a plumbing company with a reputation of excellent workmanship. When Jake joined the business, his father required that he spend several years working alongside two licensed plumbers. In business, we call Jake’s starting position a(n) ______________.

An apprentice is a person who spends several years in training at a skilled trade occupation alongside qualified workers.

When A.J. was hired by Idle Time Gaming, Inc., he accepted an opportunity to be part of the management training program. Besides on-the-job coaching, a common aspect of management development programs is ____________.

Management development most often includes one or more of these characteristics: (1) on-the-job coaching, (2) understudy positions, (3) job rotation, and (4) off-the-job training.

Companies that make a concerted effort to attract and hire a diverse workforce:

The hiring of minority groups and women strongly correlates with increasing minority and women customers, which translates into higher profits.

Decisions about promotions, compensation, additional training, or firing should all be based on:

Performance appraisals measure employee performance against established standards in order to make key decisions.

When Maggie joined Techno-Nerds, Inc., she automatically joined an employee team. Team members each had base salaries, but they were also compensated through a __________ system, where they would receive bonuses for team improvements over the last time the team’s performance was evaluated.

Gain-sharing systems base bonuses on improvement over past performance.

Maria Hernandez is a single parent with a child in elementary school. She loves her schedule because she can go in any time before 10 a.m. that is convenient for her, as long as she is there at the job during the core hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Maria enjoys a schedule known as:

Flextime plans give employees some freedom to choose their work hours, as long as they work the required number of hours or complete their assigned tasks. Many flextime plans require employees to be present for a designated core time.

There are several disadvantages for an organization that allows employees to work from home. One such disadvantage is:

Working from home makes it more difficult for managers to appraise job performance.

The effect of downsizing and the resulting flatter corporate structures is that:

With flatter corporate structures, more employees are being moved over to a new position instead of promoted up.