SHRM-SCP practice questions, page 9 of 12, with answer review and explanations.
Question 41
At a regional power company, managers are in charge of assigning training and development opportunities to their employees. These opportunities are sponsored by the company, and employees are entitled to their regular pay while attending training and development sessions. Recently, there has been a growing number of complaints that managers were engaging in favoritism by only assigning these training and development opportunities to their favorite employees. Favoritism violates company policy, which states that all employees must be given equal opportunities. The HR director aims to address this issue. Senior leaders at the company express a desire to eliminate training and development opportunities because they have become too costly for the company. What should the HR director do?
Conduct a cost-benefit analysis on providing training and development opportunities to employees.
Analyze industry trends on the relationship between business performance and training and development opportunities.
Survey employees on their perceived effectiveness of training and development in improving their performance.
Implement blended training approaches to decrease training costs.
Question 42
At a regional power company, managers are in charge of assigning training and development opportunities to their employees. These opportunities are sponsored by the company, and employees are entitled to their regular pay while attending training and development sessions. Recently, there has been a growing number of complaints that managers were engaging in favoritism by only assigning these training and development opportunities to their favorite employees. Favoritism violates company policy, which states that all employees must be given equal opportunities. The HR director aims to address this issue. Upon reviewing employee training records, the HR director finds that some managers disproportionately assign training and development opportunities to female employees over male employees. How should the HR director handle this?
Check whether this practice has violated any local laws regarding gender discrimination.
Remind those managers of the company policy that all employees must be afforded equal opportunities.
Further evaluate the training records to figure out how many managers actually engage in this behavior.
Interview managers who engage in this behavior to understand their criteria for assigning training.
Question 43
An HR department at a midsize company hosts regular manager meetings to provide updates regarding company structure practices, and policies. During the recent meeting, the HR director notified all managers of the company's new code of conduct policy and plans for an upcoming training about the policy. The policy explicitly states that managers must not form personal relationships with their direct reports. The HR director explains that the policy was created because concerns about fairness related to promotions and rumors about favoritism were beginning to cause conflict within some departments. Some of the managers express that training is not necessary, but they all agree to attend it. A few days after the training, the HR director receives a complaint from an HR employee who claims to have seen a manager and one of the manager’s direct reports at a restaurant. The HR director was already concerned about this manager's judgment because the manager approved a promotion for the same direct report even though the direct report has documented performance-related issues. The HR director discusses the issue with the manager. In response, the manager criticizes the new policy and insists the relationship did not impact the direct report's promotion recommendation. The manager also states that the training was unclear and that other managers have the same opinion. Several employees heard of the manager's personal relationship with the direct report. They approach the HR director with concerns that the direct report may have been unfairly promoted. How should the HR director respond to these concerns?
Ask the direct reports to provide any evidence they may have that supports their suspicions.
State that HR cannot disclose any information on the reasons for promotion at this time.
Tell the direct reports that the HR director will share their concerns with the leadership team.
Request that the direct reports stop spreading rumors about the promotion.
Question 44
An HR department at a midsize company hosts regular manager meetings to provide updates regarding company structure practices, and policies. During the recent meeting, the HR director notified all managers of the company's new code of conduct policy and plans for an upcoming training about the policy. The policy explicitly states that managers must not form personal relationships with their direct reports. The HR director explains that the policy was created because concerns about fairness related to promotions and rumors about favoritism were beginning to cause conflict within some departments. Some of the managers express that training is not necessary, but they all agree to attend it. A few days after the training, the HR director receives a complaint from an HR employee who claims to have seen a manager and one of the manager’s direct reports at a restaurant. The HR director was already concerned about this manager's judgment because the manager approved a promotion for the same direct report even though the direct report has documented performance-related issues. The HR director discusses the issue with the manager. In response, the manager criticizes the new policy and insists the relationship did not impact the direct report's promotion recommendation. The manager also states that the training was unclear and that other managers have the same opinion. Which action should the HR director take first to reduce favoritism from managers when making promotion decisions in the future?
Collaborate with managers to develop objective criteria for promotion decisions.
Hire an external consultant to further tram managers on the code of conduct and ethical practice.
Remind managers in writing of the company's expectations for fair employee treatment.
Mandate that managers provide comprehensive justification for promotion.
Question 45
An HR department at a midsize company hosts regular manager meetings to provide updates regarding company structure practices, and policies. During the recent meeting, the HR director notified all managers of the company's new code of conduct policy and plans for an upcoming training about the policy. The policy explicitly states that managers must not form personal relationships with their direct reports. The HR director explains that the policy was created because concerns about fairness related to promotions and rumors about favoritism were beginning to cause conflict within some departments. Some of the managers express that training is not necessary, but they all agree to attend it. A few days after the training, the HR director receives a complaint from an HR employee who claims to have seen a manager and one of the manager’s direct reports at a restaurant. The HR director was already concerned about this manager's judgment because the manager approved a promotion for the same direct report even though the direct report has documented performance-related issues. The HR director discusses the issue with the manager. In response, the manager criticizes the new policy and insists the relationship did not impact the direct report's promotion recommendation. The manager also states that the training was unclear and that other managers have the same opinion. Which action should the HR director take first to address the claim that other managers believe the training on the code of conduct policy was unclear?
Send an email to all managers to solicit detailed feedback about the training.
Implement a survey to collect feedback on the effectiveness of the training from the managers.
Offer to meet individually with each manager who needs clarification regarding the training.
Hire an external trainer to review the alignment of the policy with the training content.