SHRM SHRM-SCP Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

SHRM SHRM-SCP Online Questions & Answers

• Question 331:

  The C-Suite of a company with 600 employees intends to hire 150 employees in the next 12 months. The Chief Operating Officer and the HR Director are both responsible for the expansion initiative. The company headquarters is located in a small underdeveloped city. The local school system is slightly above the state average in terms of funding and graduation levels. The local economy is based on small businesses and manufacturing. The wage base in the city is significantly lower than that of the nearest larger city. The HR director is concerned about the ability to attract new candidates. The new positions will be administrative, business development, technical, and managerial. The HR director intends to propose that some current employees can be developed for promotion. The HR staff of two employees is excited about the project.

  Which tactic should the HR director take to effectively recruit outside the local market upon realizing that the company will not be able to find qualified candidates locally, particularly for specialized positions?

  A. Hire a staffing agency to find suitable candidates for the specialized positions.
  B. Engage in a job analysis and job evaluation for the specialized positions to ensure competitiveness
  C. Explore the options of near-shoring and co-sourcing to fill the positions
  D. Revert to the C-suite for an executive decision specific to the specialized positions.
  A. Hire a staffing agency to find suitable candidates for the specialized positions.

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  The best option is to hire a staffing agency to find suitable candidates for the specialized positions. The other alternatives do not provide a solution to the need to recruit for the specialized positions. Near- shoring happens when an organization decides to transfer work to companies that are less expensive and geographically closer. Co-sourcing is a partnership between a customer and an outside vendor, a professional service provider. A company chooses the vendor, which works with and often alongside but doesn't replace the existing staff.

• Question 332:

  What term best describes a corporate culture that focuses on meeting the technical requirements of regulations?

  A. Compliance culture
  B. Ethical culture
  C. Sustainability culture
  D. Values-based culture
  A. Compliance culture

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  Compliance in CSR Maturity Curve - In the compliance stage, organizations assume a defensive posture and sees social responsibility as a reluctant cost of doing business. Integration in CSR Maturity Curve - In the integration stage, CSR is integrated into the regular functioning of the business. These organizations have redesigned their products, services, processes and procedures to be more responsible and sustainable. Transformation in CSR Maturity Curve - In the transformation stage, an organization has redefined itself, its strategy, and its brand to reflect a commitment to CSR.

• Question 333:

  Which HR task is typically required by a multidomestic corporation?

  A. Facilitating knowledge exchange throughout the organization
  B. Building a common corporate culture across all operations and management.
  C. Coordinating HR activities between headquarters and the international offices
  D. Tight administrative control on global operations to maintain standardization
  C. Coordinating HR activities between headquarters and the international offices

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  A multidomestic strategy is a strategy by which companies try to achieve maximum local responsiveness by customizing both their product offering and marketing strategy to match different national/local conditions. In a multidomestic corporation, the headquarters is in the home country, but the subsidiaries have greater autonomy to make decisions. Foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations in multi- domestic industries are relatively independent from the headquarters. At this stage, HR is involved in coordinating HR activities with the goal of consistency with core HR standards while remaining flexible with local laws and cultures.

• Question 334:

  How should Chi-Chi handle a strategy session with business partners from a universalism culture?

  A. Be flexible with time and procedures
  B. Provide clear directives at the beginning of the session
  C. Be comfortable both with ambiguity and pragmatism
  D. Be affective, social and focus on building relationships.
  B. Provide clear directives at the beginning of the session

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  In universalism cultures, people place a high importance on laws, rules, values, and obligations - rules come before relationships. In particularist cultures, people's response to a situation may change, based on what's happening in the moment, and who's involved.

• Question 335:

  In the contingency theory of leadership, which factor refers to the degree of confidence, trust, agreeableness, and respect that team members have in their leader?

  A. Situational favorableness
  B. Leader-member relations
  C. Preferred coworker scale
  D. Leader's interaction power
  B. Leader-member relations

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  The contingency theory of leadership supposes that a leader's effectiveness is contingent on whether or not their leadership style suits a particular situation. According to this theory, an individual can be an effective leader in one circumstance and an ineffective leader in another one.

  Under Fiedler's model, there is a need to determine situational favorableness by evaluating three distinct factors:

  Leader-Member Relations - This factor involves the amount of trust and confidence that your team members have in you. If you are trusted and well-liked by your entire team, your influence will increase and your workplace will become a more favorable situation.

  Task Structure - This factor relates to whether the tasks your team completes are clear and structured or vague and unstructured. Unstructured tasks do not have a well-specified plan of action and would be considered unfavorable.

  Leader's Position Power - This is the amount of power a leader has over their team and involves whether or not they have the authority to give out rewards or punishment. Typically, the more power you have, the more favorable your situation.

• Question 336:

  As VP of HR, you are helping your company's executive committee plan a highly experimental manufacturing process. It will be employing unusual nontraditional technology and work structure to produce an innovative product. There is a significant possibility that the venture will fail, however, if it is successful, the profits will be immense. Your company has manufactured a related product line for over 50 years using traditional methods. With your knowledge of organizational culture, you suggest that:

  A. it would be best to try this process in an existing plant with senior employees selected to form the core workforce.
  B. since this is a new manufacturing process, the appropriate HR policies and procedures will not be apparent until the plant is actually up and running
  C. although a new location would be best, it is important that HR policies and procedures promote the organization's traditional and unique culture in the new plant.
  D. it would be best to try this process with new employees in a separate location with new HR policies and procedures.
  D. it would be best to try this process with new employees in a separate location with new HR policies and procedures.

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  The best option will be to establish this nontraditional process in a separate location with new HR policies and procedures that are aligned with the innovation and unique nature of the manufacturing process.

• Question 337:

  At a strategy retreat, the consultant states that the business world has the following characteristics; multiple decision factors, an unprecedented rate of change, a lack of clarity about events and an uncertainty about the present business circumstance. The acronym that best encapsulates what the consultant is referring to is?

  A. ADDIE
  B. AGILE
  C. VUCA
  D. KRI
  C. VUCA

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  VUCA is an acronym which stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. The term was established by the U.S. Army war college in the Cold War era. Since that time, it has been applied to business, particularly as it applies to development of strategies. For HR managers, VUCA means a fundamental change in the hiring, development and support of employees and leaders.

• Question 338:

  The board of directors of a construction equipment conglomerate has approved the change of its HR structure to be ___________. In this new structure, the Headquarters HR function will be staffed with subject matter experts who craft policies while other HR practitioners will be located within different locations to implement these policies.

  A. centralized
  B. dedicated
  C. decentralized
  D. functional
  D. functional

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  In the functional HR structure, headquarters HR is staffed with specialists who determine HR strategies and policies while HR generalists who are located within divisions or business units or locations implement these strategic policies, adapt them as needed, and are responsible for employee communication. Note that the functional HR structure allows for some modification of Headquarters HR- crafted policy by the HR generalists in the business units.

• Question 339:

  Which business process requires HR to consider local regulations rather than global standards?

  A. Employee relations
  B. 360-degree reviews
  C. Talent management
  D. HRIS support
  A. Employee relations

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  Employee relations involves managing workplace policies and disputes that are governed by local labor laws and regulations, requiring adherence to regional legal standards rather than a universal global approach.

• Question 340:

  What budgeting method categorizes according to enterprise undertakings as opposed to standard departments?

  A. Zero-based budgeting
  B. Formula-based budgeting
  C. Capital budgeting
  D. Activity-based budgeting
  D. Activity-based budgeting

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  Activity-based budgeting records, researches, and analyzes activities that lead to costs for a company and thereafter prepares the budget based on the result. With activity-based budgeting, corporate activities are thoroughly analyzed to predict costs. With zero-based budgeting, all expenses must be justified for each new period.