News >> Browse Articles >> Business News
Answers to Quiz: What's Your HR IQ?
HRPeople
May 26, 2009
1. The very first Civil Rights Act was passed on:
a. April 6, 1866
b. January 1, 1981
c. July 2, 1964
d. September 9, 1957
Answer: a) April 6, 1866
2. Under the FLSA, non-union, non-exempt workers are entitled to overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. The overtime is calculated at 1.5 times the:
a. Minimum wage
b. Mandatory Overtime Rate
c. Regular Rate
d. Prevailing Wage
Answer: c) Regular Rate
3. Guido Langostino, a salesman for“We Catch U,” a vendor of anti-theft, pre-employment, testing products has called upon the HR Manager of Dollar Days department store to promote the efficiency of using their product to predict which candidates are most likely to steal from the store should they be hired. The HR Manager wants to see some statistics on the test. Guido is happy to show her the validity and reliability tests that show a strong correlation to catching “5-finger discount” employees. The strong correlation coefficient relating to shoplifting behavior would be which of the following:
a. -1
b. .1
c. .88
d. -.88
Answer: c) .88
4. “Validity,” in a selection test, refers to the:
a. Consistency of the predictor actually testing the desired construct
b. Candidate scoring nearly the same score if re-tested
c. Correlation between a test score and the predictor
d. Correlation between a predictor and actual job performance
Answer: d) Correlation between a predictor and actual job performance.
5. Bob, the CEO of Boble Head Industries just returned from having lunch with Tim, the CEO of Limber Timber, who had great success in implementing a new compensation program using an individual pay-for-performance system. Bob called Sarah, the SVP of HR to his office and told her to immediately implement the same pay plan. Sarah’s initial concern should be:
a. How easy is the Limber Timber pay plan to administer?
b. How expensive is the Limber Timber pay plan and can Boble Head afford it?
c. Does the pay plan reward the appropriate employee actions?
d. Does the Limber Timber pay plan fit the business strategies and culture of Boble Head?
Answer: d) Does the Limber Timber pay plan fit the business strategies and culture of Boble Head?
6. “_______________” is the extent to which a test “predictor” repeatedly produces the same results.
a. Reliability
b. Predictability
c. Consistency
d. Test Validity
Answer: a) Reliability
7. “Goalsharing” and “Gainsharing” are performance compensation incentives based on _____________ achievements.
a. Industry
b. Group
c. Organizational
d. Individual
Answer: b) Group
8. Employment laws and regulations concerning discrimination include training. Which of the following is the primary focus of such laws and regulations?
a. The criteria used to select participants for training programs
b. How diverse is the training content
c. How diverse is the mentor group
d. Ensuring two times as much money is allocated for training protected groups as is allocated for non-protected groups
Answer: a) The criteria used to select participants for training programs.
9. Redneck Enterprises, is an American manufacturer of western apparel. They have recently expanded into South America, especially Brazil and Argentina, where they have larges sales forces. Before sending a new salesperson to its operations in South America, the employee is first given courses in Brazilian and Argentine history and culture. This enables the American workers to more easily adjust to living in South America. This type of training is known as the ______________ component of international competency training.
a. Behavioural
b. Emotional
c. Conceptual
d. Cognitive
Answer: d) Cognitive
10. Roshanda, the supervisor of a call center, while reviewing her tapes of the call-monitoring system for the day, runs across a tape of Ken, an older married man with six children, having “phone-sex” with Barbie, a newly hired, cute, 17 year old, who likes to wear tight, figure-revealing clothes. Roshanda should first do the following:
a. Reprimand Barbie for enticing Ken with her hot body and revealing clothes
b. Reprimand Ken for being such a creepy, old man
c. Transcribe the conversation and reprimand Ken and Barbie, each for their participation in the unseemly conversation.
d. Preserve the recording and immediately report the incident to HR so they can report Ken and the conversation to law enforcement.
Answer: d) Preserve the recording and immediately report the incident to HR so they can report Ken and the conversation to law enforcement.
11. Of the following, which is likely to be the most protected due to employee privacy regulations and laws?
a. Monitoring employee blogs
b. Listening to employee’s phone conversations
c. Reading an employee’s business e-mail and learning she is having an affair
d. Monitoring the video cameras in the employee changing room
Answer: d) Monitoring the video cameras in the employee changing room
12. The court ruling that established requirements for employers to ensure pre-employment tests are sufficiently “job related” to survive a legal challenge of being discriminatory was:
a. Taft v. Hartley
b. Davis v. Bacon
c. Albemarle Paper v. Moody
d. LaGuardia v. Jones
Answer: c) Albemarle Paper v. Moody
13. Interview questions that are developed from the same knowledge area are representative of which type of interview styles?
a. Non-directive Interview
b. Patterned Interview
c. Structured Interview
d. Stress Interview
Answer: b) Patterned Interview
14. _______________ validity would be the most useful type of validity to use when assessing personality characteristics that contribute to success.
a. Construct
b. Criterion
c. Convergent
d. Discriminant
Answer: a) Construct
15. Jane Deer, an agricultural, heavy equipment manufacturer is experiencing a downturn in sales. As a result, management wants to downsize. In the southern plant the company is offering assembly-line workers an early retirement package. In the north-western plant, Jane Deer needs to lay off only a few agricultural scientists. The company does not offer an early retirement package to the scientists. Is this discrimination between the two groups being laid off legal?
a. No, scientists, because of such educational requirements tend to be older workers and Jane Deer will be liable for illegal discrimination under the ADEA.
b. Yes, since the company is trying to survive in a bad economy, it is undergoing a severe hardship.
c. No, discrimination is always illegal, the company must treat both groups equally.
d. Yes, Jane Deer has the right to use voluntary retirement incentives as it wishes.
Answer: d) Yes, Jane Deer has the right to use voluntary retirement incentives as it wishes.
16. A hiring manager, has a distinct bias against hiring women. As a result, he has developed a series of interview questions that disqualify women at a much higher rate than the same question disqualifies men. This interview creates a ________________ in regards to women.
a. Hostile work environment
b. Disproportionate response
c. Disparate impact
d. Disparate treatment
Answer: c) Disparate impact.
17. In _____________________________ and _____________________, two discrimination cases, it was ruled that an employer must promptly correct harassing behaviour and exercise reasonable care in preventing sexual harassment or it will face vicarious liability. In addition, it was ruled that an aggrieved employee cannot unreasonably fail to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer to otherwise prevent harm.
a. Burlingame Industrial Supply v. Bellworth AND Farralon v. Almond Roca Industries
b. Birmingham Alabama v. Meller AND Faragut v. Boca-Boca Burgers
c. Burlington Industries v. Ellerth AND Faragher v. City of Boca Raton
d. Worthington Metals v. Farralon AND Bellworth v. City of Santa Rosa
Answer: c) Burlington Industries v. Ellerth AND Faragher v. City of Boca Raton
18. Raymond Industries received 625 applications for the position of HR Generalist. Of the 625 applications only 156 were qualified. What is the yield ratio?
a. 15 %
b. 23 %
c. 27%
d. 25 %
Answer: d) 25 %
19. In recent years, U. S. multinational companies have been experiencing an increase in civil lawsuits from foreign residents for such things as wrongful death; aiding & abetting; and extrajudicial killings because of an obscure, old law known as:
a. The Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789
b. The Piracy Protection Provisions of the Naval Maritime Act of 1847
c. The Seafarer’s Safety Assurance of the United Nations
d. The Napoleon Torte Act of Paris, 1902
Answer: a) The Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789.
20. Recently, in Brussels, a year-long dispute and talks, between the European Parliament and the EU member states, over how many hours employees in the EU should be allowed to work ended in a stalemate. As a result, the U.K. and other European countries will keep their right to let workers “opt out” of the rule that caps the work week at 48 hours. This rule is known as the _________________________.
a. Workers’ Work Week Protection Act
b. EU Workers’ Wellness Workplace Act
c. Cap and Trade
d. Working Time Directive
Answer: d) Working Time Directive.
21. The value chain for measuring any HR action is comprised of four parts according to Jac Fitz-end. These four parts in their proper order are:
a. Process, purpose, outcome, impact
b. Purpose, process, impact, outcome
c. Process, outcome, impact, value added
d. Purpose, process, impact, value added
Answer: c) Process, outcome, impact, value added.
22. Professor Jerry B. Harvey discovered that the fundamental problem of contemporary organizations is the inability to cope with agreement, not conflict. Groups often form a false consensus on inappropriate goals and actions creating a scenario where the group, team, or organization is bound to fail. All of this because of the failure to voice objections. This tendency is called the __________________________________ and is something senior HR people must ensure work groups avoid.
a. Babylon Paradox
b. Abilene Paradox
c. BORG Paradox
d. St. Augustine Paradox
Answer: b) Abilene Paradox
23. Employers have the right to permanently replace workers who strike during an economic strike. This right, or doctrine, comes from a 1938 Supreme Court Decision in the NLRB v. ____________ Radio and Telegraph Co. It is also known as the “____________” Doctrine.
a. “Yellow Dog”
b. NBC
c. ABC
d. Mackay
Answer: d) Mackay
24. It is a common and useful assumption that the midpoint of a professionally developed salary survey is a close approximation of the “market rate” for a position. As a result, calculating the __________________ for a company’s employees can yield a useful analysis of where the organization’s pay lines are vis-à-vis the market place. In addition, it can give insight internally to the organization by comparing the pay practises of one supervisor to another supervisor.
a. 50th Percentile
b. Quartile Ratios
c. Statistical deviation
d. Compa-ratio
Answer: d) Compa-ratio
25. A state, in which “union shops” and “closed shops” are considered illegal and no employee has to join a union, is known as a _____________________ state.
a. Right-to-work
b. Non union
c. Yellow-Dog
d. Union Free
Answer: a) Right-to-work
26. The process by which employees vote to remove a union’s right to represent the employees is known as _______________.
a. Deauthorization
b. Deliverance & Emancipation
c. Decertification
d. Deunification
Answer: c) Decertification
27. “Weingarten rights,” [established under NLRB v. Weingarten, (1975)] are rights given to employees in a union setting where they can have a union representative present in any investigatory or disciplinary meeting. In NLRB v. E. I. Dupont (1988), it was ruled that non-union employers did not have to give Weingarten rights to non-union employees. Subsequently, in NLRB v. Epilepsy Foundation of Northeast Ohio, (2000), it was ruled that non-union employers and non-union employees do have to be given Weingarten rights. Is this still the ruling today?
a. No, this ruling was overturned in NLRB v. IBM Corp (2004).
b. Yes, this ruling was reinforced in NLRB v. IBM Corp (2004).
c. Yes, this ruling was overturned in NLRB v. IBM Corp (2004), but then subsequently reversed again in NLRB v. Kazerani (2008).
d. Yes, this ruling was reinforced in NLRB v. IBM Corp (2004), and reinforced again in NLRB v. Kazerani (2008)
Answer: a) No, this ruling was overturned in NLRB v. IBM Corp (2004).
28. The four “perspectives” of a) Learning & Growth Perspective, b) Business Process Perspective, c) Customer Perspective, and d) Financial Perspective are the core of the performance and strategic planning, management and performance metric system more commonly known as the _____________________________.
a. Situational Leadership Module
b. Management By Objectives (MBO)
c. Balanced Scorecard
d. Total Quality Management (TQM)
Answer: c) Balanced Scorecard
29. According to Peter Senge, the five disciplines of a learning organization are: 1) Personal mastery; 2) Mental models; 3) Building shared vision; 4) Team learning and 5) _____________________.
a. Total Quality Management
b. Corporate Social Responsibility
c. The Pareto Principle
d. Systems Thinking
Answer: d) Systems Thinking
30. “Phantom” stock is used in privately held companies to provide the benefits of employee ownership without the actual granting of stock. Using a valuation formula that estimates the market price of the private company’s stock, companies can use the payouts on such phantom stock to motivate and/or retain employees. It is most commonly used for which categories of employees?
a. Executives and external board members
b. High-performing sales people
c. All employees
d. “Cost Center” employees like HR
Answer: a) Executives and external board members.
