1. An organisations human resources are almost always the key ingredient for its success.

TRUE/FALSE

• An organisation’s human resources are almost always the key ingredient for its success.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Introduction

• It is not important for human resources to be managed so that equity is given a high degree of

importance.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Introduction

• Australia developed a wages and working conditions system the same as in the United Kingdom

and the Unites States, based on mandated conditions.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Origins of, and influences on, HRM

• In Australia, prior to World War II, personnel management functions were largely handled by line

managers.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Stages in the development of HRM

• During World War II, skilled workers were hard to recruit prompting an increased provision of

welfare services to employees.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Stage two (1940s–mid-

1970s): welfare, administration, staffing and training

• The Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 legislated the establishment of Australia’s industrial

relations structure at a national level.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Stage two (1940s–mid-

1970s): welfare, administration, staffing and training

• HRM recasts employees as human resources who are vital organisational assets possessing

knowledge, skills, aptitudes and future potential.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Stage three (mid-1970s–

late 1990s): HRM and SHRM

• HRM focuses on short-term, reactive, ad-hoc and marginal planning.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Stage three (mid-1970s–

late 1990s): HRM and SHRM

• Regardless of what that the future holds for SHRM, HRM roles will likely remain unchanged.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Stage four (2000

onwards): SHRM into the future

Chapter 1 (Human Resource Management Strategy and Practice, 9th Australian Edition 9e Alan Nankervis, Marian Baird, Jane Coffey, John Shields) (Test Bank, For Complete File, Download link at the end of this File) 1 / 4

• The employment contract consists of two contracts: the legal contract and the social contract.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: The changing employment contract – legal, social and psychological

• Due to their emphasis on the management of the workforce, HRM theories are fundamentally

unitarist, meaning that authoritarian management is the norm and union membership is also often low.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: HRM – a unitarist or pluralist approach to the employment relationship?

• Differing national or industry environments are reflected in both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ HRM

approaches.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: ‘Hard’ or ‘soft’ HRM?

• ‘Soft’ HRM is focused on the measurement and management of employee costs and outcomes for

organisational benefit.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: ‘Hard’ or ‘soft’ HRM?

• SIHRM has expanded to include not only multinational enterprise but also comparative HRM

(between countries) and the management of expatriates.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Strategic international human resource management

• HR practitioners will operate exclusively at the operational level in an organisation.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: HRM: Roles and functions

• The focus of HRM is the management of employees for the organisation’s benefit.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Introduction

• Globalisation is of importance mainly to the marketing and financial aspects of a business

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Introduction

• An Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (similar to the EU)

would provide challenges and opportunities in relation to the attraction, retention and mobility of talented workers.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Introduction

• Personnel management has its origins in Australia.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Origins of, and influences on, HRM

• From a personnel management perspective, the evaluation of personnel management outcomes is

based on maximising the utilisations of human resources.

• / 4

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Stage three (mid-1970s–

late 1990s): HRM and SHRM

• Employees as stakeholders of the organisation are seeking competence and commitment.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Stage four (2000

onwards): SHRM into the future

• To survive, HR must demonstrate that it is adding value to key stakeholders – employees,

customers, line managers and shareholders.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Stage four (2000

onwards): SHRM into the future

• The purpose of the legal contract between an employer and employee details the employee’s rights

and responsibilities.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: The changing employment contract – legal, social and psychological

• Practical application of the psychological contract might include health and safety; work–life

balance; employee wellbeing, counselling and support policies and programs.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: The changing employment contract – legal, social and psychological

• The ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason

with emotion, and regulate emotion in oneself and others is call cognitive intelligence.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: The changing employment contract – legal, social and psychological

• The Global Financial Crisis revealed that organisations had forgotten to look at how people

actually behave.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: The changing employment contract – legal, social and psychological

• HRM can be simply defined as the convergence of three factors – human beings, resources and

management.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: HRM & SHRM – Evolving concepts and models of HRM

• In the Harvard model of HRM, commitment, competence, congruence and cost-effectiveness are

HRM outcomes.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: HRM & SHRM – Evolving concepts and models of HRM

• From a pluralist perspective, the employer and employee interests are shared and therefore there is

no need for conflict.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: HRM – a unitarist or pluralist approach to the employment relationship? 3 / 4

• From pluralist view, conflict is inevitable between employers and employees.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: HRM – a unitarist or pluralist approach to the employment relationship?

• ‘Soft HRM’ is focused on the measurement and management of employee costs and outcomes for

organisational benefit.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: ‘Hard’ or ‘soft’ HRM?

• Off-shoring, such as call centres, has received negative feedback from customers and unions.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Business strategy and HRM

• An interactive approach to integration of HR and business strategy involves two-way

communication between HRM and corporate planning in which HRM contributes to, and then reacts to, overall strategies.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Business strategy and HRM

• HRM strategy is primarily focused on the internal environment of the organisation.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Business strategy and HRM

• A cost reduction strategy can translate into HRM strategy as minimal employee training and

development.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Business strategy and HRM

• Some guarantee of employment security can be an important HRM strategy where the organisation

has a quality improvement strategy.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: Business strategy and HRM

• SHRM involves including line managers in the HRM policy-making process.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: SHRM

• SHRM has been criticised for having a ‘hard’ rather than ‘soft’ HRM focus.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy TOP: Critics of SHRM

• Seventy per cent of senior HR professionals in Australia report directly to a CEO.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate TOP: The HRM community, its competencies, and the role of HR professional associations

• The HRM community is the group or ‘community’ formed by HRM professionals, middle and line

managers, and sometimes external service providers.

• / 4