Lesson 3.6.1

3.6.1 Setting human resource objectives Quiz: AQA Business, Unit 6

20 questions

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Lesson 3.6.1, Setting human resource objectives: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Business (7132), Unit 6: Human resource management, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. A hard HRM approach focuses on:

    • Treating employees as a resource to be managed for cost-effective use, with an emphasis on numbers and control
    • Involving staff in every decision through trade unions
    • Developing employees' commitment through open communication and trust
    • Building wellbeing through flexible working and social events

  2. A soft HRM approach focuses on:

    • Using short-term contracts to remove employment rights
    • Setting strict numerical targets with penalties for under-performance
    • Developing employees as valued assets through commitment, communication and development
    • Minimising labour costs by cutting headcount in each department

  3. Employee engagement refers to:

    • The number of hours an employee spends at work each week
    • The number of days of sickness taken in a year
    • The formal contract an employee signs at hiring
    • The level of emotional and intellectual commitment employees bring to their work

  4. Talent development means:

    • Identifying and growing employees' skills and potential to meet future business needs
    • Reducing the number of employees to lower costs
    • Recruiting only people with qualifications from top universities
    • Paying the highest salaries to attract staff from competitors

  5. Which is an HR objective related to diversity?

    • Reducing the number of job titles in the business
    • Limiting training to senior managers only
    • Keeping all staff in one geographic location
    • Ensuring the workforce reflects a range of backgrounds and perspectives

  6. Alignment of employee and employer values means:

    • Removing all employee input from decision making
    • Requiring all employees to hold the same job title
    • Ensuring employees are paid the same as managers
    • Ensuring employees share the organisation's core beliefs and purpose so that their behaviour supports it

  7. Which two approaches are methods of achieving human resource objectives?

    • Soft and hard HRM approaches
    • Autocratic and laissez-faire approaches
    • Piece rate and commission approaches
    • Recruitment and redundancy approaches

  8. A business's objective is to increase staff commitment and enthusiasm for their work. Which HR objective is this?

    • Employee engagement
    • Diversity
    • Number of employees
    • Talent development

  9. A business plans to double its graduate intake to develop future managers. Which HR objective does this mainly serve?

    • Diversity
    • Talent development
    • Alignment of values
    • Reducing headcount

  10. A firm cuts staff numbers to the minimum and monitors output strictly. Which approach does this illustrate?

    • Soft HRM
    • Employee empowerment
    • Hard HRM
    • Team working

  11. A firm runs regular team briefings and asks staff for their ideas. Which approach is it using?

    • Soft HRM
    • Piece rate payment
    • Redundancy programme
    • Hard HRM

  12. Why may an objective of aligning employee and employer values improve performance?

    • Staff who believe in the organisation's purpose are more likely to act in ways that support its goals
    • Employees with aligned values are always cheaper to employ
    • Shared values remove the need for any supervision in every case
    • Values alignment reduces wages automatically

  13. A business plans to move 200 jobs from a city to a town with lower wages. Which HR objective is most affected?

    • Employee engagement
    • Talent development
    • The number and location of employees
    • Diversity

  14. Why might a business set a training objective?

    • To reduce all employee wages through skill-based pay
    • To remove the need for any recruitment
    • To prevent employees from ever leaving for competitors
    • To ensure employees have the skills needed to meet current and future business needs

  15. A business sets a target for 40% of new managers to come from under-represented groups. What is the main purpose?

    • To broaden perspectives and the talent pool in decision making
    • To lower the cost of recruitment in every case
    • To avoid any need for performance management
    • To guarantee higher sales in all markets

  16. Evaluate: what is the strongest argument that soft HRM can be more effective than hard HRM in the long term?

    • Hard HRM cannot produce any results at all
    • Soft HRM removes the need for any training or development
    • Soft HRM always cuts costs more than hard HRM
    • Committed employees may stay longer and produce better quality, though the approach can be slower and costlier to sustain

  17. A firm has 1,000 staff and aims to grow its workforce by 15% next year. How many staff will it need?

    • 1,500 staff
    • 1,150 staff
    • 1,015 staff
    • 1,100 staff

  18. Evaluate: why might HR objectives of diversity and alignment of values conflict?

    • Diversity means employees have identical values by definition
    • Insisting on a single set of values may limit the range of backgrounds and views welcomed
    • The two objectives never conflict in any business
    • Alignment of values requires the business to reduce its workforce

  19. A firm wants to raise engagement from 60% to 75% of staff. What is the change in percentage points and the relative rise?

    • 75 percentage points, a relative rise of 25%
    • 15 percentage points, a relative rise of 25%
    • 15 percentage points, a relative rise of 15%
    • 10 percentage points, a relative rise of 15%

  20. Evaluate: what is the most important risk of setting HR objectives that focus only on reducing headcount?

    • Headcount reduction always raises engagement and productivity
    • Headcount has no effect on skills or knowledge
    • Losing skills and knowledge needed for growth, which can harm long-term performance and engagement
    • Headcount reductions are always illegal for any business

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