MAN 4330 Study Guide

Juan I. Sanchez, Ph.D.

Dept. of Management & Int’l Business

Florida Int’l University

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The exams emphasize the material discussed in class, including the PowerPoint lectures. Book chapters should be read, but keep in mind that the bulk of the questions come from material covered in the on-line materials and in-class discussions.

The PowerPoint lectures provide helpful outlines, cases, and examples. These slides are an invaluable study guide that should be properly supplemented with the book readings.

Most questions come from the topics, exercises, and other materials included in the content section, the group presentations, and the in-class discussions, and they may not be necessarily found on the book.

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Exam questions are especially prepared to test the student’s applied knowledge, rather than memorization. Most questions describe situations or examples to which the student should apply his/her knowledge. Answering these kinds of questions requires a good understanding of the material. Students are therefore encouraged to think about the practical applications of the material as they prepare for the exam. The “Testing your Applied Knowledge” (TAK) questions included in the PowerPoint slides are helpful in this respect.

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Given the emphasis on applied knowledge, direct answers to the questions included in the exam are not found in the book. Being able to answer these questions requires not only understanding the material, but having done some thinking regarding its practical implications.

The time allowed to take the exam is tight, at approximately 1.5 to 2 minutes per question. Trying to consult books and other materials is not only cheating, but also counterproductive. Students who attempt to do so will waste valuable time, because the answers to the questions derive from understanding and being able to apply the material.

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The extra-credit exam provide good examples of the type and format of the questions to be found on the exams.

Next, a series of “testing your applied knowledge” questions are presented. Although these are longer and more complex than the questions found in the exam, they represent the kind of “applied thinking” required by exam questions.

Testing your applied knowledge: EEOScenario: Sarah’s Surprise is a retail chain specializing in women’s lingerie. Sarah’s Surprise employs mostly female sale associates, but there are also some male employees in most stores. However, male employees are assigned to the back of the store, and are normally charged with stocking merchandise. Because sales associates work on commission, a male employee is complaining that his income can never match the one of his female coworkers, because he is not allowed to work on the sales floor. He is threatening to suit the store on the grounds of sex discrimination. Which of the following courses of action would you recommend to this company?

a. Open up 1/3rd of the sales positions to male candidates.b. Open up the sales positions to male candidates, but make sure there are enough female employees to help customers.c. Raise the base pay of stocking clerks. d. Argue that the sales position is a BFOQ that calls for female employees.

I want to make some money too!

Testing your applied knowledge: EEO

The following answers are correct:a. Open up 1/3rd of the sales positions to male candidates.b. Open up the sales positions to male candidates, but make sure there are enough female employees to help customers.c. Raise the base pay of stocking clerks. d. Argue that the sales position is a BFOQ that calls for female employees.Explanation. The company should be able to make a business case that, when it gets to women lingerie, having sufficient female salespeople helps, because many customers feel more comfortable buying women lingerie from other women. However, it’d be unreasonable to close the doors to all males, because customer preferences are not enough of a reason to declare a rigid BFOQ. Reserving 1/3rd of the positions for males would imply making gender a job requirement. Raising the base pay of stocking clerks ignores job worth and it may have a negative impact on pay structures.

I want to make some money too!

Testing your applied knowledge: EEOScenario: A cable TV company is downsizing its operations nation-wide. The company is concerned that the downsizing effort may be challenged in court on the grounds that it is discriminatory. Which one(s) of the following courses of action would you recommend to this cable company?

a. Make sure to terminate about the same number of individuals from each gender and ethnic group.b. Before you terminate anyone, offer separation packages to those who wish to resign voluntarily. c. Terminate approximately similar proportions of individuals across race and gender groups.

Stay?Go?

Testing your applied knowledge: EEO

Stay?Go?

The following answers are correct:a. Make sure to terminate about the same number of individuals from each gender and ethnic group.b. Before you terminate anyone, offer separation packages to those who wish to resign voluntarily. c. Terminate approximately similar proportions of individuals across race and gender groups.

Explanation: The 80% or 4/5ths rule deals with ratios or proportions of employees, not with absolute numbers, which may be misleading due to differences in the number of individuals that exist in the various populations (e.g., minorities outnumber non-minorities in some areas). Offering separation packages eases the transition for those who lose their job, and it reduces the likelihood that disgruntled ex-employees may sue the company, but the best employees may leave –and the worst may stay!

Testing your applied knowledge: Affirmative Action

Scenario: Occaluchee County wants to have an internal promotion in the road maintenance area. The AA plan includes increasing female representation in management by 20% in the next five years. The internal job announcement requires 5 years of road maintenance experience, plus a college degree (preferred). There are three candidates. Jane Road has 7 years of experience and a college degree. Joe Bitterways has a college degree and 11 years of experience. Jim Deadend has 20 years of experience, but no degree. In the panel interview, Jim Bitterways received a rating of 5 (5 = highly qualified), Jane Road received a 4, and Jim Deadend also a 4. Which decision(s) would you recommend to the county?

a. hire Mr. Bitterways, who is the highest scoring candidate.b. hire Ms. Road.c. have Mr. Bitterways and Ms. Road go through a 2nd interview. d. offer the job to Mr. Bitterways and, if he doesn’t take it, offer it to Mr. Deadend (being male is a BFOQ in road maintenance).

Joe?Jane? Jim?

Testing your applied knowledge: Affirmative Action

The correct answer is:

a. hire Mr. Bitterways, who is the highest scoring candidate.

b. hire Ms. Road.

c. have Mr. Bitterways and Ms. Road go through a 2nd interview.

d. offer the job to Mr. Bitterways and, if he doesn’t take it, offer it to Mr. Deadend (being male is a BFOQ in road maintenance).

Explanation: The differences in years of experience and interview ratings do not make these applicants significantly different from each other. The AA goal should allow the company to give preferential treatment to the female, especially if females were not represented among the interview panelists!

Joe?Jane? Jim?

Position Average earnings

Women Men %Women %Men Store manager $89,300 $105,700 14% 86% Co-manager $56,300 $59,500     22.8% 77.2% Asst. manager $37,300 $39,800 35.7% 64.3% Mgt. trainee $22,400 $23,200 41.3% 58.7%Cashier $13,800 $14,500     92.5% 7.5%

Testing your applied knowledge: Pay Discrimination?

Consider the following salary figures for a retail chain. Based on these data, is this employer managing the risk of a discrimination lawsuit adequately?

a. Yes, the data show no adverse impact by gender.

b. No, the data show adverse impact by gender.

c. Can’t tell based on just these data

Position Average earnings

Women Men %Women %Men Store manager $89,300 $105,700 14% 86% Co-manager $56,300 $59,500     22.8% 77.2% Asst. manager $37,300 $39,800 35.7% 64.3% Mgt. trainee $22,400 $23,200 41.3% 58.7%Cashier $13,800 $14,500     92.5% 7.5%

Testing your applied knowledge: Pay Discrimination?

a. Yes, the data show no adverse impact by gender.

b. No, the data show adverse impact by gender.

c. Can’t tell based on just these data

Explanation: Without data on the number of applicants, it’s difficult to make a judgment. However, these data violate the 4/5ths or 80% rule, and therefore they may suffice to shift the burden of proof to the employer.

Testing your applied knowledge: FLSA

I wish I could pay you overtime, but…

Scenario: You are a manager working for a local bank. Your bank tellers are behind schedule, and you need to meet an important deadline next week. However, you have already exceeded your overtime budget for this year by 5%. Which one(s) of the following courses of action conform to the FLSA provisions?

a. Ask your employees to work extra hours and take comp time instead of paid overtime.b. Ask for volunteers who are willing to work overtime and not receive overtime pay.c. Ask supervisors to stay late and complete the bank tellers’ work. d. Ask employees to work overtime at 1.5 times their regular compensation.

Testing your applied knowledge: FLSA

The correct answer is:a. Ask your employees to work extra hours and take comp time instead of paid overtime.b. Ask for volunteers who are willing to work overtime and not receive overtime pay.

c. Ask supervisors to stay late and complete the bank tellers’ work.d. Ask employees to work overtime at 1.5 times their regular compensation.

Explanation: The FLSA was enacted to ensure that employees receive adequate compensation for overtime work; 1.5 times is the legal rate for overtime. Asking for volunteers to work without receiving overtime pay may backfire when these or other employees complain, and the company may be liable for back-pay plus interest! Supervisors are exempt because of the nature of their responsibilities; asking them to take over non-exempt jobs will run against the same reason they were made exempt, and thus they may claim overtime pay.

I wish I could pay you overtime, but… Don’t!

Testing your applied knowledge: Portal to Portal Act

Scenario: Upon arriving to work, a customer service agent takes between 10 and 15 minutes to organize his desk, boot the computer, test the headphones, microphone, and other equipment. His manager claims that 15 minutes is way too much time for these preparatory tasks. Which of the following actions would you recommend to this manager?

a. Inform the employee that you will not start paying him until he actually starts answering calls from customers.b. Ask the employee to clock in after he has already prepared and tested all the equipment.c. find out what is the average time that other customer service agents take to perform these preparatory tasks.d. give the employee a verbal warning

You better hurry up and start working!

Testing your applied knowledge: Portal to Portal Act

The correct answer is:a. Inform the employee that you will not start paying him until he actually starts answering customer calls.b. Ask the employee to clock in after he has already prepared and

tested all the equipment.c. find out what is the average time that other customer service agents take to perform these preparatory tasks.d. give the employee a verbal warning

Explanation: These are probably incidental tasks dealing with necessary preparation for work; therefore, they are compensable activities under the Portal to Portal Act. However, this employee may take excessive time on these incidental tasks. Finding out what the average time (and its range or standard deviation) needed for these incidental tasks would be necessary before such a determination can be made. If a performance problem were determined, a verbal warning would be justified.

You better hurry up and start working!

Testing your applied knowledge:Method of Data Collection

Scenario: You need to analyze the three jobs listed below. Due to budget constraints, you can only use one method of data collection for each job analysis: interview, survey, or observation. Take the nature of each job into account and match them to their most suitable method of data collection.

Roofer Interview

Chief Financial Officer Survey

Senior R&D Scientist Observation

Testing your applied knowledge:Method of Data Collection

Answer: The physical nature of the roofer job lends itself to observation; the intangible nature of the CFO, together with his/her scarce time available, lend themselves to an interview; the Senior Scientist is used to describe complex issues in writing, works with lots of complex documents, and therefore should be able to describe his/her job through a survey.

Roofer Interview

Chief Financial Officer Survey

Senior R&D Scientist Observation

WHICH ONES OF THE FOLLOWING TASKS WOULD YOU CONSIDER MOST IMPORTANT?

task mean Std. deviation

Decide on the kind of strategy most likely to result in the client’s absolution.

6.5 2.5

Review witnesses’ depositions and police reports to determine inconsistencies.

3.5 3.0

Present witness and evidence on behalf of the client.

6.5 .5

Testing your applied knowledge: Task inventory

Answer: The first task is important on the average, but its large standard deviation indicates that SMEs do not agree on how important it really is. In contrast, the third task is important and every SME agrees that is the case (see its small standard deviation):

task mean Std. deviation

Decide on the kind of strategy most likely to result in the client’s absolution.

6.5 2.5

Review witnesses’ depositions and police reports to determine inconsistencies.

3.5 3.0

Present witness and evidence on behalf of the client.

6.5 .5

Scenario: During a job analysis interview, a job incumbent tells you that his job requires a great deal of “writing ability” and of “communication skills.” Would you use these terms in the list of KSAOs required for this job?

Testing your applied knowledge: Good KSAO Writing

Did I already mention that my job requires the ability to walk on water?

Answer: Terms such as “writing ability” and “communication ability”are too broad and misleading; they are missing the basic KSAO elements: “what is it, in what context, and to what level/degree/precision.” They should be specified in more concrete terms such as for instance:

Ability to register information in a standardized manner so that it can be understood by others.  Ability to put together clear and concise sentences and paragraphs when preparing a written report.

Ability to take notes describing an event so that others are able to interpret them later.

Ability to transcribe alphanumeric information in an accurate manner.

Testing your applied knowledge: Good KSAO Writing

Testing your applied knowledge: Linking Factors and Points to

Corporate Strategy

Factor Pay Grade Pay Grade

1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5

Scope and Effect 75 150 225

Personal Contacts 10 25 60

Guidelines 25 125 275

Complexity 25 150 225

Physical Demands 5 20 NA

Change the following allocation of points to reflect this corporation’s new strategic focus on customer service and quality. Note that you may add two more pay grades if you deem it necessary:

Testing your applied knowledge: Linking Factors and Points to

Corporate Strategy

Factor Pay Grade Pay Grade

1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5Scope and Effect 75 150 225 50 125 200 225 NAPersonal Contacts 10 25 60 25 75 125 175 225Guidelines 25 125 275 25 125 200 275 NAComplexity 25 150 225 25 150 225 NA NAPhysical Demands 5 20 NA 5 20 NA NA NA

Answer: it makes sense to increase the point allocation of the “Personal Contacts,” “Scope and Effects,” and perhaps “Guidelines.” More grades may be created within these factors to better differentiate relative employee contributions and career paths.