Multiple Choice Quiz

1. Definitions of HRM tend to assume that:

  1. HRM is a strategic perspective on people management
  2. That an organisation’s sustained competitive advantage will only be secured by an investment in your people
  3. It is essential to secure a highly skilled and committed workforce
  4. All of the above

Answer: 

d. All of the above

2. Ulrich & Brockbank’s (2005) HR Leader Model proposes the following roles for HRM:

  1. Strategic Partner, Human Capital Developer, Employee Advocate and Functional Expert
  2. Conformist Innovator, Deviant Innovator, Problem Solver and Change Agent
  3. Regulator, Handmaiden, Advisor and Change Maker
  4. Adapter, Consultant, Synergist and Champion

Answer: 

a. Strategic Partner, Human Capital Developer, Employee Advocate and Functional Expert

3. ‘Hard HRM’ refers to HR policies and practices that:

  1. Focus on gaining the commitment and engagement of employees
  2. Focus on setting targets and measuring employees’ performance
  3. Are difficult for employers to initiate
  4. Help develop a robust and tenacious workforce

Answer:

b. Focus on setting targets and measuring employees’ performance

4. ‘Soft HRM’ refers to HR policies and practices that:

  1. Focus on the control and coordination of employees’ work
  2. Emphasise employees’ compliance with organisational rules and regulations
  3. Focus on developing employees’ intrinsic motivation at work
  4. Promote a weak and feeble workforce

Answer: 

c. Focus on developing employees’ intrinsic motivation at work

5. Scientific Management proposes that greater workplace efficiency will be promoted by:

  1. Mechanising the workplace, simplifying and routinising work and closely aligning pay with individual productivity outputs
  2. Mechanising the workplace, simplifying and routinising work and closely aligning pay with team-based productivity outputs
  3. Developing cross-functional teams and providing employees with greater decision-making responsibility and ownership
  4. Providing a greater role for Research and Development in organisations. 

Answer: 

a. Mechanising the workplace, simplifying and routinising work and closely aligning pay with individual productivity outputs

6. Critical perspectives on HRM suggest that:

  1. HRM is just a new name for traditional management practices
  2. HRM is principally about gaining the control and compliance of employees against the strategic goals of the organisation
  3. Empirical evidence for the positive outcomes of HRM is limited and thus the ‘reality’ of HRM in practice is limited.
  4. All of the above

Answer:

d. All of the above

7. HR outsourcing:

  1. Is about setting up your HR function in a foreign country
  2. Is about reducing the costs of the HR function
  3. Is an HR organising model that seeks to support both the strategic and operational roles of HRM
  4. All of the above

Answer:

c. Is an HR organising model that seeks to support both the strategic and operational roles of HRM

8. PESTEL refers to the:

  1. Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Educational and Legal environment factors that affect a business and its HR policies and practices
  2. Political, External, Social, Technological, Educational and Legal environmental factors that affect a business and its HR policies and practices
  3. Political, Economic, Scientific, Technological, Educational and Legal environmental factors that affect a business and its HR policies and practices
  4. Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors that affect a business and its HR policies and practices

Answer:

d. Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors that affect a business and its HR policies and practices

9. The ‘triple bottom line’ refers to an organisation’s:

  1. Economic, HR and CSR performance
  2. Economic, Social and Environmental performance
  3. Business, HR and Environmental performance
  4. Social, Environmental and Sustainability performance

Answer:

b. Economic, Social and Environmental performance

10. The CIPD suggest that HR professionals require the following skills/traits to be a successful HR practitioner:

  1. Curious, decisive, collaborative, credible
  2. Autocratic, egoistic, autonomous, risk taking
  3. Affable, generous, easy going, caring
  4. Risk averse, introverted, conforming, agreeable 

Answer:

a. Curious, decisive, collaborative, credible