Human Resource Management Functions Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Job specification is a statement of the standard of personnel, and it designates the qualities required for an acceptable performance of the job, such as education, skills, experience and personal traits. Job identification gives the job title, job recruitment is the process of searching for candidates, and job design is the way the tasks are organised, so only job specification matches the question.

Answer: C

Promotion is an internal source of recruitment, because a vacancy is filled from among the existing employees by moving one to a higher post. Private placement agencies and consultants, the employment exchange and campus recruitment are all external sources, because the candidates come from outside the organisation.

Answer: A

PIP tests seek to measure one's personality, interest and preferences. They are psychological tests used in the selection process to find out how suited a candidate is to a job from the point of view of personality traits, interests and preferences. The other options replace one or more of the words with performance, progress, perseverance or intelligence, which do not form the set that PIP stands for.

Answer: A

Projective tests expect the candidates to interpret problems or situations, and the responses to the stimuli depend on the individual's own values, beliefs and motives, which are projected onto the ambiguous material. PIP tests measure personality, interest and preferences, lie-detector tests measure physiological reactions while a person answers questions, and forensic tests relate to scientific examination of evidence.

Answer: A

The Thematic Apperception Test and the Rorschach Ink Blot Test are projective tests. In both, the candidate is shown ambiguous pictures or ink blots and asked to describe what he sees or to tell a story, and the answers reveal his personality, motives and attitudes. PIP tests, lie-detector tests and forensic tests are different kinds of tests.

Answer: C

Placement is the process of assigning a specific job to each of the selected candidates, that is, putting the right person on the right job. Recruitment is the search for and attracting of candidates, induction is the introduction of the new employee to the organisation, and job analysis is the study of the duties and requirements of a job. Only placement matches the description.

Answer: B

Induction is concerned with introducing or orienting a new employee to the organisation, so that he becomes familiar with the people, policies, rules and working conditions. Recruitment is the process of attracting candidates, placement is the assignment of a job to a selected candidate, and job analysis is the study of the duties of a job. Only induction is about orienting a new employee.

Answer: B

The idea that people should be regarded as assets and not as variable costs was emphasised in Human Resource Management. HRM treats employees as a resource whose development brings long-term returns.

Personnel Management and Personnel Administration are wrong because they treated labour mainly as a cost to be administered, with a focus on record keeping and welfare. Public Administration is wrong because it is a wider field of government administration and not a view of personnel as assets.

Answer: C

Job analysis includes job description and job specification. Job description records the duties, tasks and responsibilities of a job, while job specification states the qualifications, skills and traits needed in the person who fills it.

Job enlargement and job enrichment are not parts of job analysis. They are methods of job design that change the content of work. Hence the options containing them are wrong, and All of the above is wrong because it includes them.

Answer: D

A test which measures what it is intended to measure is a valid test. Validity is the extent to which a test actually assesses the trait or ability it was designed for, such as a selection test that predicts job performance.

A reliable test is wrong because reliability means consistency of results on repetition. A standardised test is wrong because it concerns uniform conditions of administration and scoring. An objective test is wrong because it concerns freedom from the scorer's judgement, not what is measured.