business managment data bank

Case 1.3

Your company sells high-tech products throughout the world and is focusing on a differentiation strategy. The business environment for the company is volatile, rapidly changing, and highly complex. The company is highly entrepreneurial and has a strong moral commitment to quality products, employee job satisfaction, and contributing to the surrounding community. Finally, the management team has decided to create a common company culture among the various national and international subsidiaries to reduce cultural differences and tensions.

101. Refer to Case 1.3. Which of the following HR strategies would support the

company’s business strategy?

a) Explicit job descriptions.

b) Self-managing work teams.

c) Intense supervision of labor.

d) Emphasis on technical qualifications and skills.

e) Job-based pay.

102. Refer to Case 1.3. The entrepreneurial climate and moral commitment are elements

of this firm’s:

a) organizational culture.

b) market posture.

c) organizational structure.

d) overall management philosophy.

e) globalization strategy.

103. Refer to Case 1.3. The company’s efforts at building a common culture relate to

the strategic HR choice regarding:

a) employee relations.

b) training and development.

c) staffing.

d) work flows.

e) international management.

104. Refer to Case 1.3. The company’s differentiation strategy is an example of a(n):

a) HR tactical plan.

b) corporate strategy.

c) emergent strategy.

d) business unit strategy.

e) organizational personality characteristic.

Case 1.4

Crowe, Inc. has been a powerful steel producer for the last 15 years and sees only positive prospects in the future. The company provides employees with long-lasting careers and has only recently seen the potential to lose a significant number of workers. The company is very stable and has an elaborate system for providing employees with promotions and transfers to higher levels within the company. Crowe has a very secure position within its industry and has no need to extend its production and services into different industries.

However, some discontent has arisen among lower-level employees. Several employees were fired for on-the-job ethical violations. Those employees let go, in turn, convinced nearly 100 other employees to threaten to leave unless the policies regarding ethical violations are revised. In light of this event, Crowe’s HR department has decided to implement some strategies to curb former employees from causing others to leave, one of these being that in the instance that any exiting employee convinces another to leave the company, the company will take back the small stock option given to him/her.

Prior to this, the company’s atmosphere was very congenial and featured camaraderie between employees at all levels. Now, there has been a noticeable negative shift in the attitude of the workers toward Crowe authority. Many employees are now filing more grievances against the management. Some noticeable hostility has also arisen from employees toward upper-level management.

105. Refer to Case 1.4. When Crowe’s employees were fired, this was an example of:

a) unfair disciplinary practices.

b) organizational strategies.

c) the creation of common bonds.

d) employee separations.

e) outsourcing.

106. Refer to Case 1.4. Crowe’s strategy to handle exiting employees who incite others to quit is what type of strategy?

a) An emergent strategy.

b) An intended strategy.

c) A staffing strategy.

d) An employee separation strategy.

e) An organizational strategy.

107. Refer to Case 1.4. Crowe could be best described as a:

a) defender.

b) evolutionary business.

c) prospector.

d) reactive corporation.

e) company with distinctive competencies.

108. Refer to Case 1.4. The corporate strategy that Crowe would most likely espouse is:

a) an evolutionary strategy.

b) a business unit strategy.

c) a decentralizing strategy.

d) a cost-cutting strategy.

e) a steady state strategy.

109. Refer to Case 1.4. The reactions of employees at Crowe show a change in the company’s:

a) centralization efforts.

b) organizational challenges.

c) staffing practices.

d) environment.

e) organizational culture.

TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS

110. A human resource tactic refers to a firm’s deliberate use of human resources to gain

and maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

111. The American workforce is getting younger as more and more Generation Xers

enter the marketplace.

112. More and more U.S. companies are forming global alliances and trying to develop

worldwide cultures in order to smooth over differences among employees.

113. The manufacturing sector is now growing more rapidly than the service sector in the

U.S. economy.

114. Providing job training to employees is one way to improve a firm’s competitiveness

by controlling costs.

115. TQY programs are designed to improve the quality of the processes used to produce

products and services, and that leads to improved products and services.

116. Downsizing is simply one form of organizational restructuring.

117. Companies always retain more employees during robust economic times than

during times of economic challenge.

118. The SBA’s definition of a small business varies depending on the business. For

example, both a wholesale company with less than 100 employees and a

manufacturing firm with a maximum of 1,500 employees are considered small

businesses.

119. 99.8% of small businesses in the U.S. have less than 100 employees.

120. 90% of all small businesses fail within their first three years.

121. Norms, rules of the game, organizational climate, etc., are elements of an

organization’s structure.

122. A company’s managerial control is a key element of organizational culture.

123. A significant technology issue for HR is the proper use of the data that its information systems generate.

124. Companies are allowed to monitor their employees’ use of the Internet for when,

how, and why the workers are using it.

125. When managers seek to increase employee productivity, they need to look at

employees’ abilities and their motivation to work, as well as technical processes.

126. Job security is becoming stronger with the rise in technology and very positive HR practices.

127. An important benefit of HR strategic planning is the encouragement of line

managers’ participation, since they are ultimately responsible for implementing

HR strategies.

128. HR strategies that work for one company in an industry will work just as well for

another company in the same industry as business environments tend to be similar

among the firms within industries.

129. Emergent strategies provide organizations with a sense of purpose and a guide for

allocating resources.

130. Work flow refers to how a specific task is organized to meet the production of

service goals of a firm.

131. The Cola Corporation controls a bottle factory, a root beer brewery, and a bottling

plant. This mix of businesses on the part of Cola Corp. is referred to as the

business unit strategy.

132. A corporation that values centralization, long-term career development, and

internal grooming of employees has probably adopted a steady state strategy.

133. HR strategies need to fit a firm’s overall management philosophy but may largely

ignore the company’s market posture and production processes, since those are line

management responsibilities and HR has little impact on them.

134. When discussing the relationship of the HR department with management, one

should remember that the role of the HR department is to assume full

responsibility for HR policies and practices in order to empower managers to

better do their jobs.