Question 1

A mid-sized government contractor is in the decline phase of its organizational life. The founder and CEO is a former military pilot who started the company ten years ago. The company grew quickly from five employees to 400. The primary business contracts have been for the aerospace and submarine industries. During times of conflict, the company's business contracts tripled in size to $1 billion. Now that conflicts have subsided, the government has announced a 30% reduction in the number of airplanes and submarines to be produced. Orders from other customers have also decreased. The company's economic outlook is poor.

The CEO debates several strategic options for survival and decides that cutting costs throughout the company is the best option. Since wages and benefits are the largest budget items, the CEO solicits help from the vice president of HR. The VP is concerned and advises the CEO that simple, across-the-board cuts could severely and adversely impact the company.

Many employees are afraid of losing their jobs. The most talented employees are already leaving the company to go to the competition. The VP suggests strategically assessing each business unit and then deciding to grow, maintain, or shut down each one. The CEO asks the VP to prepare a report on the strategic options of downsizing the company and to determine the impact each option would have on the employee population.

In one of the options, the VP suggests downsizing the employee population to save money. Which method should be used for determining which employees stay and which employees leave?

Options :

A : Require department heads to separate employees with poor performance records.

B : Have HR research hire dates and separate employees based solely on seniority.

C : Separate employees based on a needs analysis of the restructured company.

D : Ask legal counsel to separate employees based on performance and seniority.

Answer: B

Question 2

Diversity and inclusion efforts in an organization appear to lack the full support of several executive managers. Which step might HR take?

Options :

A : Engage women and minorities to lobby for diversity and inclusion.

B : Persuade managers individually about diversity and inclusion.

C : Make a business case for diversity and inclusion.

D : Make a legal case for diversity and inclusion.

Answer: C

Question 3

An organization has announced that no salary increases above 1.5% will be allowed and budgets should be set accordingly. What would be a likely impact on HR's budget?

Options :

A : Increased budget for additional benefit programs

B : Reduced HR head count and internal HR development

C : Postponement of employee online self-service center

D : Decreased recruiting and hiring costs

Answer: A

Question 4

A cross-functional team analyzes the customer experience in comparison to upcoming product development initiatives. One set of recommendations from this team identifies several changes to manufacturing and shipping processes that could reduce the overall delivery cycle time by 10%. If the organization decides to act on this team's recommendations, which action should HR take that would best promote implementation of this process change?

Options :

A : Changing the culture to one that values rules

B : Confirming the team-s understanding of customer interests

C : Identifying possible skill gaps created by the new processes

D : Explaining the senior leaders' rationale for new processes

Answer: C

Question 5

Which initiative would have a long-term effect on increasing the number of women in executive positions?

Options :

A : Adopting a work-from-home policy

B : Expanding salary bands and incentive programs

C : Conducting focus groups with the executives

D : Establishing mentor groups and training programs

Answer: D