PHR / SPHR Professional Exam: Business Management and Strategy | Practice Test / Quiz / MCQs

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PHR / SPHR Professional Exam: Business Management and Strategy

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While the HR role traditionally was one of a transactional administrative nature, it has now grown and shifted into an area of responsibility and focus as a strategic element to an organization’s competitive advantage. The role of HR now encompasses: strategic business planning, change facilitation, and employee advocacy. The greatest way of showing that the HR function is strategic is through the partnering with organizational management as an internal business consultant. A true business consultant presents all the factual data and necessary information, along with recommendations from... Show more

The greatest way of showing that the HR function is strategic is through the partnering with organizational management as an internal business consultant. A true business consultant presents all the factual data and necessary information, along with recommendations from their broader perspective in an effort to help their client reach a decision. For the HR professional, that includes presenting credible data, understanding all functions of the organization, aligning HR initiatives with the organization’s strategy, and knowing how to monitor and measure the results.

The Business Management and Strategy area of the HRCI exam is heavily emphasized on the SPHR exam with 29 percent of the test questions focused in this functional competency area.

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PHR / SPHR Professional Exam: Business Management and Strategy

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1. Which of the following is a legal consequence of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?

Organizations are allowed to conduct their own stock appraisal.CEOs may be punished, including jail time, for fraudulent financial reports.Shareholders are prevented from suing the company.Audit firms must alternate every two years.

2. A balance sheet shows:

The income and expenses over a defined period of timeAmount of equity owned by investorsHistorical budgetingTaxes paid last year

3. Which is the most important foundational issue of organizational effectiveness?

EthicsRewardsPoliciesGovernance

4. Which of the following actions taken by HR Manager Chris is the most ethical?

Deleting low-paying companies from salary survey results of HR positionsReferring a qualified friend for a vacant position at the companyNot standing up and voicing displeasure about a discriminatory decision made by a superiorWorking exclusively with a technical contracting agency for the IT group to qualify for a random prize drawing for customers

5. The role of human resource management has changed over the last few decades because more focus is now placed on

Finding people with qualifications in high technology that can meet today’s challengesRecruiting and less focus on paperworkSupporting the executive suite and the programs that the officers want implementedStrategic management of the organization and less focus on labor relations

6. The matrix type of organizational structure is uniquely suited to managing a group of activities that are:

Diverse and unrelatedNarrow in focus and unrelatedDiverse and interrelatedNarrow and interrelated

7. Management skills have been identified over a long period of time through the work of

Studies such as the Management Progress Study conducted by American Telephone and Telegraph beginning in 1956 and continuing over the next 30 yearsIBM’s study of management individuals that lasted for 35 yearsVarious universities around the country and their studies of manufacturing plantsVarious consulting firms across the country and their studies of university environments

8. Financial contributions from the HR department are important because

Training and staffing are the easiest areas to cut and gain back budget.Executives expect the HR department to be the most flexible in budget terms.Every strategic decision must contribute to the financial performance of the organization.There is little impact from reducing the HR department’s budget.

9. Colin is the HR manager at a tax preparation firm. During the tax season, Colin contracts with a temporary agency for seasonal help. The seasonal workers receive payroll checks from the temporary agency and not Colin’s organization. What type of contract will Colin sign with the temporary agency for the seasonal workers?

Seasonal contractTemporary contractThird-party contractDirect contract

10. Yoko’s organization is acquiring another smaller company. What is the first step for her HR department to be involved with?

Eliminate the redundant positions.Review the collective bargaining agreements that exist.Survey the existing workforce of both companies.Assurance of OSHA compliance.

11. Which of the following is not part of a SMART goal?

RelevantTime boundStrengthMeasurable

12. Mikayel is the shipping and receiving manager at your Russian parts plant. He has experienced problems with getting shipments through Customs for timely delivery to the United States. His contact at Customs informs him that he can expedite the shipments if Mikayel would pay him a gratuity for his service in cash. Your organization’s ethics clearly state that bribes are considered unethical behavior; however, this “gratuity” seems to be in the best interest of the organization. What is your best course of action?

Adhere to the organization’s no-bribe ethics policy and seek other solutions for the shipment delay issue.Ask executive management for “special outside-of-policy” authorization.Report the bribe incident to the local Russian Customs head officer.Authorize Mikayel to make the payments out of petty cash.

13. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) provide HR managers with special problems of cultural differences. In order to make sure that the cultures don’t clash after the merger, the HR manager should

Conduct meetings with key players from each organization to outline the cultural values of each organization and determine how best to protect them in the blended employer unit.Assign a subordinate to monitor the complaint levels and report on problems that are being addressed.Provide written complaint forms to all employees and express a willingness to listen to any comments the employees have to make about the merger.Send memos to department heads that specify the new cultural characteristics and express the expectation that the department heads will “make it happen.”

14. A balance sheet shows:

Amount of equity owned by investorsHistorical budgetingThe income and expenses over a defined period of timeTaxes paid last year

15. A statement that describes what the organization does and its customer base is a:

Statement of positionVision statementLofty statementMission statement

16. In an organizational structure, what is centralized?

The degree to which decisions are made by committees.The degree to which decision-making authority is restricted to senior management.The hierarchical division of labor that distributes formal authority and establishes how critical decisions will be made.The degree to which decision-making authority is given to lower levels in an organization’s hierarchy.

17. Colin is the HR manager at a tax preparation firm. During the tax season, Colin contracts with a temporary agency for seasonal help. The seasonal workers receive payroll checks from the temporary agency and not Colin’s organization. What type of contract will Colin sign with the temporary agency for the seasonal workers?

Third-party contractSeasonal contractDirect contractTemporary contract

18. The AB Trucking Co. is expanding its routes and hiring more people. Those changes will mean that employees will have to take on different work assignments. How should the HR manager handle those changes with the workforce?

Explain the coming changes to all employees and solicit their help in deciding how to assign the new routes. Prepare a project plan and make sure everyone has a chance to see it before the implementation date.Explain the coming changes and let the employees discuss among themselves how they want to assign routes to the workforce.Explain the coming changes and let the senior executives handle the questions about how new job assignments will be made.Explain the coming changes and tell the truckers that assignments will be made based on seniority. The new people will be assigned last.

19. Mikayel is the shipping and receiving manager at your Russian parts plant. He has experienced problems with getting shipments through Customs for timely delivery to the United States. His contact at Customs informs him that he can expedite the shipments if Mikayel would pay him a gratuity for his service in cash. Your organization’s ethics clearly state that bribes are considered unethical behavior; however, this “gratuity” seems to be in the best interest of the organization. What is your best course of action?

Report the bribe incident to the local Russian Customs head officer.Ask executive management for “special outside-of-policy” authorization.Authorize Mikayel to make the payments out of petty cash.Adhere to the organization’s no-bribe ethics policy and seek other solutions for the shipment delay issue.

20. Which of the following is not part of a SMART goal?

RelevantTime boundStrengthMeasurable

21. Complex project management is made easier through the use of

Gaunt PERK planning chartsPARK/ITEM planning chartsPERT/CPM planning chartsPACK/CWA planning charts

22. Yoko’s organization is acquiring another smaller company. What is the first step for her HR department to be involved with?

Eliminate the redundant positions.Assurance of OSHA compliance.Review the collective bargaining agreements that exist.Survey the existing workforce of both companies.

23. Management skills have been identified over a long period of time through the work of

Studies such as the Management Progress Study conducted by American Telephone and Telegraph beginning in 1956 and continuing over the next 30 yearsVarious universities around the country and their studies of manufacturing plantsVarious consulting firms across the country and their studies of university environmentsIBM’s study of management individuals that lasted for 35 years

24. The AB Trucking Co. is considering outsourcing its HR, accounting, and safety functions to vendors. What considerations should be given to issues impacting that decision.

How all the compliance work can be done by someone elseHow much money can be saved and what workload can be eliminated from the company executivesHow the employees will reactHow the decision will fit into the organization’s strategic plan and whether it will be cost effective

25. When the AB Trucking Co. makes its organizational changes, it plans to alter its reporting relationships. If it elects to have each supervisor report to an operations manager and also to a financial manager, what type of organizational structure will AB Trucking Co. be using?

Matrix. A perfect example when multiple reporting relationships exist for certain jobs.Work specialization. Because there are multiple reporting relationships, the specialization of each will increase.Formalized. A firm structure that can be charted, regardless of how many reporting lines exist from one job to another.Span of control. The span of control will be exceedingly easier to manage with multiple reporting relationships.

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