Free SHRM SHRM-CP Exam Questions

When would a return on investment (ROI) analysis be an effective metric?

The IT director of a research organization has created an innovative software application that enables researchers around the world to conduct research more efficiently. The application has been a great success; it has won several awards and has received recognition from industry leaders. Over time, the IT director has bragged about the success of the program, stating that no one else could have come up with this idea.

Even though the organization's mission is to be a learning organization with a strong commitment to knowledge sharing, the IT director has refused to share knowledge of the application with anyone else in the organization for fear of losing power and control. The organization's leadership won't confront the IT director about this because there is no contingency plan if the IT director were to get upset and quit. While the IT team reports to the IT director, the IT director has no direct supervisor.

Recently, the HR manager received a verbal complaint that the IT director openly yelled at the IT team during a meeting—intimidating staff and making them feel worthless. Upon examining the issue, the HR manager learns that the IT director constantly overworks employees and treats them in an intimidating manner. The HR manager discovers that the IT director has created a culture of being uncollaborative by explicitly telling the rest of the IT team not to share any of the department's secrets. Furthermore, the IT team has been told to lie about the status of certain projects by stating that work is being done when in fact it is not.

Based on the initial discoveries of the HR manager, which action(s) should be taken against the IT director?

A global consulting firm hires a director of business development from outside the organization, much to the disappointment of one of the managers in the department, who also applied for the position.

This manager complains bitterly about the decision to go outside of the firm, and he continues to exhibit disruptive and angry behavior. He feels that he has been unfairly treated, since he believes that he has more experience than the newly hired director.

Two months later, the new director of business development has made changes that most of her team are quite excited about. Unfortunately, this does not include the disappointed manager. He openly criticizes the director's ideas, even escalating this criticism to the CEO. He comes to HR to discuss his options in the company.

The new director has also come separately to HR regarding the continued hostility from this manager and also about a new employee on the global sales team, who tends to stay to herself and does not interact with the rest of the team. The new sales employee has no problems with attaining her sales goals, but the director does not see her as a "team player" and asks the HR manager for assistance with how best to deal with both of these situations.

What response should the HR manager provide to the disappointed and angry manager?

A company with a specialty product that has gained rapid popularity with hospitals has grown quickly from 15 employees to 300 in a one-year period. The organization expects to continue to grow by several hundred employees per year for the foreseeable future.

The president's secretary has been handling all human resources matters, and the accounting department has been handling payroll. The supervisors have been making their own human resources decisions regarding recruitment, employee relations, discipline, and rewards, with various levels of success.

The president pays little attention to the day-to-day operations of the business and focuses his attention on marketing and publicity. He decides that it is now necessary to hire an HR director to lead and manage the HR function. The supervisors are resistant to having a formal HR function in the company, believing that it will create unnecessary work and affect their ability to effectively manage the organization.

During the interview process, the president indicates that there are a number of areas in need of focused attention, as the organization does not have job descriptions or a formal compensation structure and benefits are the same as when the company started.

On the HR director's first day, there is no formal onboarding process. The president suggests that a good starting point for the HR director is to create a plan and catch up on the recruiting requests for the growing company. He then walks the HR director to her new office, offers to help with any questions, and walks away.

In order for the HR director to effectively develop relationships, which action should she take first?

An organization fears that it has become less competitive. Which should an OED assessment of this issue identify?