HRM Basic MCQs

Solved HRM Basic MCQs with answers and explanations. Free practice questions for PPSC, FPSC, CSS and other government job exams on FreeSekho.

1. 1. Human Resource Management is described as a multidisciplinary organizational function that draws its theories and ideas from management, psychology, sociology and:

   1. Economics ✓
   2. Astronomy
   3. Geology
   4. Architecture

2. 2. According to the text, any organization has three basic components, namely people, purpose and:

   1. Technology
   2. Profit
   3. Capital
   4. Structure ✓

3. 3. Which writer defined personnel management as the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the performance of the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance?

   1. Dale Yoder
   2. Edwin B. Flippo ✓
   3. Peter Drucker
   4. Rensis Likert

4. 4. HRM has been said to have gained wide acceptance in both academic and commercial circles since the:

   1. Late 1990s
   2. Mid 1980s ✓
   3. Mid 1960s
   4. Early 1920s

5. 5. Which of the following is listed among the seven interlinked functions of HR management, alongside staffing, total rewards and employee and labor relations?

   1. Inventory control
   2. Tax assessment
   3. Product costing
   4. Equal employment opportunity ✓

6. 6. The aim of the staffing function of HRM is to:

   1. Negotiate the terms of the collective agreement
   2. Maintain the statutory records of the enterprise
   3. Fix the wage rate for every category of job
   4. Provide a sufficient supply of qualified individuals to fill jobs in the organization ✓

7. 7. Which of the following is identified in the text as one of the new roles of HR in the new millennium?

   1. Confining itself to payroll and benefits administration
   2. Avoiding involvement in strategy execution
   3. Restricting itself to disciplinary proceedings
   4. Becoming a change agent that builds the organization's capacity to embrace change ✓

8. 8. Who defined HRP as the process by which management determines how the organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position?

   1. Vetter ✓
   2. Flippo
   3. Beach
   4. Gordon Mc Beath

9. 9. According to Gordon Mc Beath, human resource planning is concerned with two things: planning of manpower requirements and:

   1. Planning of production schedules
   2. Planning of marketing campaigns
   3. Planning of manpower supplies ✓
   4. Planning of capital expenditure

10. 10. Human resource planning is described in the text as a process consisting of how many phases?

    1. Four ✓
    2. Five
    3. Three
    4. Six

11. 11. In the HRP process, the systematic monitoring of the external forces influencing the organization is known as:

    1. Environmental scanning ✓
    2. Demand forecasting
    3. Succession planning
    4. Job evaluation

12. 12. Which of the following is listed as a technique used for HR demand forecasting?

    1. Delphi technique ✓
    2. Hot stove rule
    3. Halsey plan
    4. Paired comparison

13. 13. Which of the following is identified as a barrier to effective human resource planning?

    1. Complete availability of up-to-date organizational records
    2. Perfect compatibility of HR data with financial data
    3. Non-involvement of operating managers in the planning effort ✓
    4. Strong support from top management

14. 14. According to Flippo, the immediate products of job analysis are:

    1. Job rotation and job enlargement
    2. Job description and job specification ✓
    3. Job grading and job costing
    4. Job evaluation and job enrichment

15. 15. A written record of the duties, responsibilities and requirements of a particular job, concerned with the job itself and not with the job holder, is called a:

    1. Job specification
    2. Job description ✓
    3. Job evaluation
    4. Job design

16. 16. A statement of the minimum acceptable human qualities necessary to perform a job properly is known as a:

    1. Job summary
    2. Job identification
    3. Job description
    4. Job specification ✓

17. 17. According to the text, which attributes must be classified as essential, desirable and contra indicators?

    1. The stages of collective bargaining
    2. The characteristics listed in a job specification ✓
    3. The steps of the HRP process
    4. The methods of wage payment

18. 18. Which method of collecting job analysis data requires the job analyst to actually perform the job under study to gain first-hand experience?

    1. Participant diary method
    2. Job performance method ✓
    3. Technical conference method
    4. Questionnaire method

19. 19. Which method of collecting job analysis data utilizes supervisors with extensive knowledge of the job but often overlooks the incumbent worker's own perception of the job?

    1. Critical incidents method
    2. Observation method
    3. Technical conference method ✓
    4. Interview method

20. 20. Robertson and Smith (1985) suggested how many principles of job design?

    1. Three
    2. Five ✓
    3. Four
    4. Seven

21. 21. Which job design technique involves a horizontal loading or expansion of the job by increasing the number of tasks performed, without increasing job depth?

    1. Job enrichment
    2. Job evaluation
    3. Job simplification
    4. Job enlargement ✓

22. 22. The concept of job enrichment has been derived from which theory of motivation?

    1. Maslow's need hierarchy theory
    2. Vroom's expectancy theory
    3. Herzberg's two-factor theory ✓
    4. McClelland's achievement theory

23. 23. According to Edwin B. Flippo, recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and:

    1. Testing them against the job specification
    2. Training them for future responsibilities
    3. Stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organisation ✓
    4. Placing them on suitable jobs

24. 24. In the human resource acquisition process described in the text, recruitment is preceded by human resource planning and job analysis, and is immediately followed by:

    1. Selection ✓
    2. Placement
    3. Orientation
    4. Performance appraisal

25. 25. In the context of recruitment, sources refer to the locations where prospective employees are available, whereas methods refer to:

    1. The criteria used for final selection
    2. The terms offered in the employment contract
    3. The tests applied to shortlisted applicants
    4. The ways of establishing links with prospective employees ✓

26. 26. Sending recruiters to colleges and technical schools, and setting up manned exhibits at fairs, are examples of which category of recruitment methods?

    1. Internal methods
    2. Direct methods ✓
    3. Third-party methods
    4. Indirect methods

27. 27. An advertisement in which the identity of the recruiting firm is concealed and only a box number is given is called a:

    1. Blind advertisement ✓
    2. Display advertisement
    3. Classified advertisement
    4. Situation-wanted advertisement

28. 28. The two basic philosophies of recruitment identified in the text are:

    1. Internal and external
    2. Direct and indirect
    3. Positive and negative
    4. Traditional and realistic ✓

29. 29. Because each step of selection must be successfully cleared before an applicant proceeds to the next, the selection process is described as the:

    1. Forced distribution technique
    2. Functional job analysis technique
    3. Successive hurdles technique ✓
    4. Assessment centre technique

30. 30. Rejecting a candidate who would later have performed successfully on the job is described as a:

    1. Correct decision
    2. Accept error
    3. Reject error ✓
    4. Halo effect

31. 31. Hiring an applicant who subsequently performs poorly on the job is described as an:

    1. Leniency bias
    2. Accept error ✓
    3. Reject error
    4. Central tendency error

32. 32. According to the principles of placement given in the text, which of the following should be the guiding rule?

    1. Man first, job next
    2. Seniority first, merit next
    3. Pay first, performance next
    4. Job first, man next ✓

33. 33. The ongoing process of instilling in all new employees the prevailing attitudes, standards, values and patterns of behaviour expected by the organisation is called:

    1. Placement
    2. Socialization ✓
    3. Adjudication
    4. Job specification

34. 34. Training is described in the text as a process that bridges the gap between:

    1. What the employer offers and what the union demands
    2. What the employee has and what the job demands ✓
    3. What the market pays and what the firm can afford
    4. What is planned and what is budgeted

35. 35. Training that takes place in a normal working situation, using the actual tools, equipment and materials that trainees will use when fully trained, is called:

    1. Vestibule training
    2. Off-the-job training
    3. Sensitivity training
    4. On-the-job training ✓

36. 36. Which type of training is stated to be more effective in inculcating concepts and ideas because it allows people to concentrate away from the work situation?

    1. Job instruction training
    2. Off-the-job training ✓
    3. Apprenticeship training
    4. On-the-job training

37. 37. Which of the following is one of the four techniques of on-the-job development listed in the text?

    1. Job Instruction Technique (JIT) ✓
    2. Management games
    3. Sensitivity training
    4. Case study

38. 38. The first step of the training design process is to:

    1. Select and train the trainers
    2. Conduct a needs assessment to identify whether training is needed ✓
    3. Create a suitable learning environment
    4. Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the programme

39. 39. Mentoring is described in the text as an ongoing relationship that is developed between:

    1. An employee and an external customer
    2. A senior and a junior employee ✓
    3. A trade union and management
    4. Two employees of the same grade

40. 40. Which executive development method is recommended in the text for developing decision-making skill?

    1. Role playing and sensitivity training
    2. Special courses and specific reading
    3. In-basket exercises, business games and case studies ✓
    4. Job rotation and multiple management

41. 41. Role playing and sensitivity training are recommended in the text mainly for developing:

    1. Job knowledge
    2. Organizational knowledge
    3. Decision-making skill
    4. Interpersonal skill ✓

42. 42. Job rotation and multiple management are prescribed in the text for developing:

    1. Organizational knowledge ✓
    2. Decision-making skill
    3. General knowledge
    4. Interpersonal skill

43. 43. An executive development technique in which a trainee serves as an assistant or special assistant to an executive and learns through experience, observation and guidance is called:

    1. Management games
    2. Sensitivity training
    3. Multiple management
    4. Understudy ✓

44. 44. Which executive development method exposes junior and middle level managerial personnel to the types of decisions taken at higher levels of the organization?

    1. Multiple management ✓
    2. Coaching
    3. Group discussion
    4. Lectures

45. 45. Which writer defined performance appraisal as the systematic, periodic and impartial rating of an employee's excellence in matters pertaining to his present job and his potential for a better job?

    1. Rensis Likert
    2. Peter Drucker
    3. Edwin B. Flippo ✓
    4. Dale Yoder

46. 46. The two aspects of performance appraisal described as most important in the text are that it should be:

    1. Systematic and objective ✓
    2. Quantitative and anonymous
    3. Confidential and periodic
    4. Informal and flexible

47. 47. Which is described in the text as the oldest and simplest method of performance appraisal, in which employees are ranked from best to worst on a given criterion?

    1. Grading method
    2. Checklist method
    3. Ranking method ✓
    4. Essay method

48. 48. Under the paired comparison method, the number of comparisons required for N persons is given by the formula:

    1. N squared divided by 2
    2. 2N - 1
    3. N(N - 1)/2 ✓
    4. N(N + 1)/2

49. 49. Applying the paired comparison formula, the number of comparisons required to evaluate five teachers is:

    1. 25
    2. 15
    3. 20
    4. 10 ✓

50. 50. Which method of performance appraisal was evolved to abolish the tendency of rating most employees at the higher end of the scale, on the assumption that performance conforms to a normal statistical distribution?

    1. Forced choice method
    2. Forced distribution method ✓
    3. Grading method
    4. Field review method

51. 51. In which method of appraisal is the employee rated not by his immediate superior but by another person, usually from the personnel department, on the basis of past records of productivity, absenteeism and late coming?

    1. Essay method
    2. Critical incidents method
    3. Field review method ✓
    4. Checklist method

52. 52. The concept of Management by Objectives (MBO) was coined in 1954 by:

    1. Peter Drucker ✓
    2. Edwin Flippo
    3. Rensis Likert
    4. Douglas McGregor

53. 53. The method of appraisal which combines traditional rating scales with the critical incidents method is known as:

    1. Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales ✓
    2. Cost accounting method
    3. Forced choice method
    4. Assessment centre

54. 54. The tendency of a rater to evaluate an employee on all traits on the basis of one single trait or behavioural consideration is called the:

    1. Halo effect ✓
    2. Central tendency error
    3. Recency effect
    4. Leniency bias

55. 55. The process of determining the relative worth of different jobs in an organization in a systematic and consistent manner is called:

    1. Job evaluation ✓
    2. Job enrichment
    3. Job rotation
    4. Job analysis

56. 56. The two fundamental methods of wage payment described in the text are:

    1. Time rate wage system and piece rate wage system ✓
    2. Basic wage system and fringe benefit system
    3. Reformist system and revolutionary system
    4. Individual incentive system and group incentive system

57. 57. Under section 4 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the maximum period that may elapse between two wage periods is:

    1. Fifteen days
    2. One week
    3. One month ✓
    4. Two months

58. 58. Under which wage system are workers paid according to the amount of work done or the number of units produced, at a rate settled in advance irrespective of the time taken?

    1. Time rate wage system
    2. Piece rate wage system ✓
    3. Profit sharing system
    4. Balance and debt system

59. 59. The wage system that guarantees a minimum weekly wage while also providing an alternative piece rate, with any excess paid being debited against subsequent earnings, is called the:

    1. Rowan plan
    2. Emerson plan
    3. Balance and debt system ✓
    4. Halsey plan

60. 60. Which writer defined compensation as a comprehensive term including wages, salaries and all other allowances and benefits?

    1. D. Belcher
    2. Wendell French ✓
    3. Cockman
    4. L.G. Magginson

61. 61. According to the distinction drawn in the text, wages are the remuneration paid to skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled operative workforce, while salary is the remuneration of employees who provide:

    1. Seasonal labour during peak periods
    2. Mental labour, such as supervisors, office staff and executives ✓
    3. Contract labour through intermediaries
    4. Manual labour on a daily basis

62. 62. Under which incentive plan is a standard time fixed in advance, with a bonus of either 33.5 per cent or 50 per cent of the time saved paid to a worker who completes the work in less than the standard time?

    1. Halsey plan ✓
    2. Scanlon plan
    3. Rowan plan
    4. Emerson plan

63. 63. The Scanlon plan, Priestman's plan and co-partnership are classified in the text as:

    1. Individual time based systems
    2. Individual production based systems
    3. Fringe benefit schemes
    4. Group incentive systems ✓

64. 64. Taylor's differential piece rate system and Gantt's task and bonus plan are classified in the text under:

    1. Production based individual incentive systems ✓
    2. Group incentive systems
    3. Time based individual incentive systems
    4. Non-financial incentives

65. 65. Which writer defined fringe benefits as any wage cost not directly connected with the employee's productive effort, performance, service or sacrifice?

    1. Werther and Davis
    2. Burack and Smith
    3. Wendell French
    4. D. Belcher ✓

66. 66. The three closely associated areas within the scope of industrial relations are referred to as personnel management, collective bargaining and:

    1. Labour legislation ✓
    2. Human resource accounting
    3. Job evaluation
    4. Career planning

67. 67. The three parties involved in industrial relations are the employer, the employee and:

    1. The consumer
    2. The shareholder
    3. The government ✓
    4. The auditor

68. 68. An industrial dispute is defined under which enactment as any dispute or difference connected with employment, non-employment, terms of employment or conditions of labour?

    1. The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946
    2. The Trade Unions Act, 1926
    3. The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
    4. The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 ✓

69. 69. A cessation of work by a body of persons employed in an industry, acting in combination or under a common understanding, is called a:

    1. Lock out
    2. Strike ✓
    3. Gherao
    4. Boycott

70. 70. Which form of industrial dispute literally means 'to surround' and, according to the National Commission on Labour, tends to inflict physical duress on the persons affected?

    1. Lock out
    2. Boycott
    3. Gherao ✓
    4. Picketing

71. 71. Which form of industrial action is described as primarily a method of drawing public attention to a dispute, in which persons stationed at the factory gate dissuade workers from reporting for work?

    1. Sympathetic strike
    2. Picketing ✓
    3. Lock out
    4. Gherao

72. 72. The National Arbitration Promotion Board was set up by the Government of India in:

    1. July 1977
    2. July 1957
    3. July 1947
    4. July 1967 ✓

73. 73. Under which Act is a trade union defined as any combination formed primarily for regulating the relations between workmen and employers, workmen and workmen, or employers and employers?

    1. The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
    2. The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
    3. The Factories Act, 1881
    4. The Trade Unions Act, 1926 ✓

74. 74. Who described trade unions as voluntary associations of workers formed together to promote and protect their interests by collective action?

    1. N.N. Joshi
    2. V.V. Giri ✓
    3. B.P. Wadia
    4. N.M. Lokhande

75. 75. According to the classification of trade unions by purpose given in the text, the two broad types are:

    1. Intramural and extramural
    2. Reformist and revolutionary ✓
    3. Militant and fraternal
    4. Craft and general

76. 76. According to membership structure, the four types of trade unions identified in the text are craft union, staff union, general union and:

    1. Industrial union ✓
    2. Reformist union
    3. Anarchist union
    4. Predatory union

77. 77. The first national trade union organisation in India, the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), was established in:

    1. 1920 ✓
    2. 1947
    3. 1926
    4. 1918

78. 78. Who described collective bargaining as a means of joint regulation?

    1. Dale Yoder
    2. Flanders ✓
    3. R.A. Lester
    4. V.V. Giri

79. 79. Which type of collective bargaining is described as the most common and as involving zero-sum negotiation, where one side wins and the other loses?

    1. Distributive bargaining ✓
    2. Concessionary bargaining
    3. Productivity bargaining
    4. Integrative bargaining

80. 80. Which type of collective bargaining resembles a problem-solving session in which both sides seek mutually beneficial alternatives?

    1. Composite bargaining
    2. Concessionary bargaining
    3. Distributive bargaining
    4. Integrative bargaining ✓

81. 81. Bargaining in which a union gives back to management some of what it gained in previous negotiations, usually to help reduce operating costs and prevent layoffs, is called:

    1. Distributive bargaining
    2. Concessionary bargaining ✓
    3. Coalition bargaining
    4. Integrative bargaining

82. 82. Which of the following is listed in the text as a feature of collective bargaining?

    1. It is conducted exclusively through third-party adjudication
    2. It is compulsory and imposed by statute on both parties
    3. It is a one-time event that ends when the agreement is signed
    4. It is a continuous process that includes implementation of the agreement and further negotiations ✓

83. 83. Which writer stated that discipline is obedience, application, energy and outward mark of respect?

    1. Peter Drucker
    2. Elton Mayo
    3. Henri Fayol ✓
    4. Douglas McGregor

84. 84. The aspect of discipline that uses fear as a force to enforce rules, with strict punishment for defiance, is termed the:

    1. Preventive aspect of discipline
    2. Negative aspect of discipline ✓
    3. Corrective aspect of discipline
    4. Positive aspect of discipline

85. 85. Non-compliance with the formal and informal rules and regulations of an organization is termed:

    1. Conciliation
    2. Adjudication
    3. Arbitration
    4. Indiscipline ✓

86. 86. The four characteristics of McGregor's Hot Stove Rule are advance warning, immediate effect, consistency and:

    1. Confidentiality
    2. Public reprimand
    3. Impersonal approach ✓
    4. Progressive severity

87. 87. The Code of Discipline for Indian industry was framed following the Indian Labour Conference held in New Delhi in:

    1. July 1967
    2. July 1947
    3. July 1957 ✓
    4. July 1962

88. 88. Research into human resource accounting began in the 1960s with the work of:

    1. Rensis Likert ✓
    2. M.N. Baker
    3. S.K. Chakraborty
    4. Eric Flamholtz

89. 89. Eric Flamholtz divided the development of human resource accounting into how many stages?

    1. Five ✓
    2. Four
    3. Six
    4. Three

90. 90. The historical cost model of human resource valuation, in which actual costs of recruiting, selecting, hiring, training and developing employees are capitalized and amortized, is also known as the:

    1. Standard cost method
    2. Opportunity cost method
    3. Original cost or outlay cost method ✓
    4. Replacement cost method

91. 91. Which human resource valuation model was suggested by Hekimian and Jones and determines the value of an employee in his alternative use?

    1. Replacement cost model
    2. Stochastic rewards valuation model
    3. Historical cost model
    4. Opportunity cost model ✓

92. 92. The present value of future earnings model of human resource valuation, also known as the compensation model, was developed by:

    1. Flamholtz
    2. David Watson
    3. Lev and Schwartz ✓
    4. Hekimian and Jones

93. 93. According to the text, HR managers in every society are influenced by three repositories of ethical values, namely religion, culture and:

    1. Geography
    2. Economics
    3. Law ✓
    4. Technology

94. 94. The common thread said to run through all the value systems that shape ethics is the idea of:

    1. Profit maximisation
    2. Competitive advantage
    3. Reciprocity or mutual help ✓
    4. Hierarchical authority

95. 95. The ethical approach which holds that the right action is the one producing the greatest balance of good over harm is known as the:

    1. Common good approach
    2. Rights approach
    3. Virtue approach
    4. Utilitarian approach ✓

96. 96. Which of the five sources of ethical standards is attributed to Aristotle and other Greek philosophers, holding that all equals should be treated equally?

    1. The fairness or justice approach ✓
    2. The utilitarian approach
    3. The virtue approach
    4. The rights approach

97. 97. The concept of Total Quality Management is based on the fourteen principles of:

    1. Henri Fayol
    2. Frederick Taylor
    3. W. Edwards Deming ✓
    4. Peter Drucker

98. 98. Which quality improvement approach, described in the text as using rigorous analytical tools with leadership from the top, aims at defect free products or services at minimum cost?

    1. Job enrichment
    2. Collective bargaining
    3. Assessment centres
    4. Six sigma ✓

99. 99. The fundamental difference between HRIS and e-HR identified in the text is that HRIS is directed mainly towards the HR department itself, whereas e-HR targets:

    1. Trade union office bearers only
    2. Shareholders and investors
    3. Employees and management outside the HR department ✓
    4. External auditors and regulators

100. 100. According to the text, the major goals of e-HRM are mainly to improve HR's administrative efficiency and to achieve:

     1. Longer bid validity
     2. Increased overtime
     3. Higher union membership
     4. Cost reduction ✓