Question 1

In a 360-degree evaluation and feedback system,which of these does not rate the skills and performance of an individual?
A) superiors
B) family
C) direct reports
D) colleagues

Accepted Answer

To address the limitations of the traditional approach, many organizations use 360-degree evaluation and feedback systems. Here, superiors, direct reports, colleagues, and even internal and external customers rate the performance of an employee.

Question 2

Another example of social relationships causing human capital mobility is the _______ of talent from an organization to form __________.
A) stability; bail-outs
B) emigration; bail-outs
C) relocation; new business units
D) emigration; start-up ventures

Accepted Answer

Another example of social relationships causing human capital mobility is the emigration of talent from an organization to form start-up ventures.

Question 3

QFQ,Incorporated desires to have the most qualified people in every position throughout its organization.This is an example of a concern for
A) decreasing labor intensive training.
B) developing social networks.
C) leveraging organizational structure.
D) developing human capital.

Accepted Answer

It is not enough to hire top-level talent and expect that the skills and capabilities of those employees remain current throughout the duration of their employment. Rather, training and development must take place at all levels of the organization, which is considered developing human capital.

Question 4

In order to take advantage of investment in human capital,a firm should
A) rotate workers through functions in the company as quickly as possible.
B) keep employees in the same position forever.
C) refrain from training individual employees.
D) establish practices that will enhance employee retention.

Accepted Answer

Since attracting and developing talent represent an investment to a firm, it is necessary to ensure the third step is also done to fully leverage the human capital. A firm must also retain the talent.

Question 5

Attracting and retaining human capital is a challenge for many firms today.Firms experiencing high turnover should
A) focus on increased recruiting.
B) decrease money spent on human capital.
C) adopt effective retention strategies.
D) make their work environment less stimulating.

Accepted Answer

Stepped-up recruiting is a poor substitute for weak retention. Leaders can either provide the work environment and incentives to keep productive employees and management from wanting to bail out, or they can use legal means such as employment contracts and non-compete clauses.

Question 6

Social capital is a source of strength to many firms.Firms leverage their social capital in an effort to create competitive advantages.The social capital of a firm is based on the
A) individual abilities of employees.
B) allocation of the financial resources of the firm.
C) knowledge of an individual.
D) relationships among the employees of the firm.

Accepted Answer

In the knowledge economy, the development of social capital (the friendships and working relationships among talented individuals) gains importance, because it helps tie knowledge workers to a given firm.

Question 7

Today,the loyalty of a knowledge worker to his or her employing firm has __________ compared to his or her loyalty to his or her profession and colleagues.
A) increased
B) remained the same
C) decreased
D) no correlation when

Accepted Answer

The rise to prominence of knowledge workers as a vital source of competitive advantage is changing the balance of power in organizations today. Knowledge workers place professional development and personal enrichment (financial and otherwise) above company loyalty.

Question 8

The least effective way to retain human capital is to
A) encourage employee identification with organizational mission and goals.
B) provide employees with a challenging and stimulating work environment.
C) require employees to sign agreements that prevent them from working for competitors in the future.
D) provide employees with financial and nonfinancial rewards and incentives.

Accepted Answer

For retention of talent, greater efforts should be directed at a good work environment and incentives, although employment contracts and non-compete clauses may sometimes have their place.

Question 9

Managing a knowledge intensive workforce is very challenging.The best way for a firm to manage its workforce is to
A) retain knowledge workers.
B) balance efforts in the attraction, selection, and retention of top talent.
C) attract the brightest employees.
D) ensure that it pays higher salaries than its rivals.

Accepted Answer

Attracting, developing, and retaining human capital are highly interrelated activities, like a three-legged stool. If one leg is weak or broken, the stool collapses. To illustrate such interdependence, poor hiring impedes the effectiveness of development and retention processes. In a similar vein, ineffective retention efforts place additional burdens on hiring and development.

Question 10

What is a major reason for Nokia to lose its competitive edge in the cell phone business?
A) The team consisted of scientists from around the world.
B) The team consisted of only Finnish scientists.
C) All of the work required diverse skill sets.
D) Each scientist worked alone, separate from colleagues.

Accepted Answer

When given the choice, people will often choose to collaborate with others they know well or who have similar backgrounds, yet static groups breed insularity and may suffocate innovation. Take the former executive team at Nokia as an example. The team was 100 percent Finnish and had worked closely together for more than a decade. Many believe this homogeneity explains why Nokia failed to see the smartphone threat emerging from Silicon Valley.

Question 11

Firms must compete for top talent.In attracting and selecting employees,firms must strive to select the best fit for both the employee and the firm.In an effort to reduce wasted time and effort in interviewing too many candidates while assuring a good candidate pool,a firm should
A) run employment ads in the newspaper.
B) use a pre-interview quiz.
C) only let lower level employees interview job candidates.
D) refrain from hiring by referrals from present employees.

Accepted Answer

Alan Cooper, president of Cooper Software, Inc., cleverly uses technology to hone in on the problem-solving ability of his applicants and their attitudes before an interview even takes place. He has devised a Bozo Filter, an online test that can be applied to any industry. Before you spend time on whether job candidates will work out satisfactorily, find out how their minds work.

Question 12

Two software engineers working together on a computer code share their _______ knowledge in order to create new knowledge.
A) explicit
B) theoretical
C) tacit
D) easily reproduced

Accepted Answer

New knowledge is constantly created through the continual interaction of explicit and tacit knowledge. Consider two software engineers working together on a computer code. The computer code is the explicit knowledge. By sharing ideas based on the experience of each other, that is, their tacit knowledge, they create new knowledge when they modify the code.

Question 13

Maintaining a competitive workforce is very challenging in the current economy.The role of evaluating human capital,in recent years,has
A) remained the same.
B) increased.
C) become less important.
D) decreased.

Accepted Answer

In the current environment, collaboration and interdependence are vital to organizational success. Individuals must share their knowledge and work constructively to achieve collective, not just individual, goals. Traditional systems evaluate performance from a single perspective (i.e., top down) and generally do not address the softer dimensions of communications and social skills, values, beliefs, and attitudes.

Question 14

The text discusses three areas a firm must be concerned with in order to keep their best and brightest employees from leaving.These include all of the following except
A) hiring/selecting.
B) developing.
C) sorting/absorbing.
D) retaining.

Accepted Answer

Hiring is the first process in which all successful organizations must engage to build and leverage human capital. Firms must also develop employees to fulfill their full potential to maximize joint contributions, and provide the working environment and intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to retain their best and brightest.

Question 15

Many companies use referrals by current employees as a source for new hiring and even monetarily reward them because
A) it is less expensive than the fees paid to headhunters.
B) current employees normally are careful in recommending someone due to their personal credibility.
C) it is a good test of employee loyalty.
D) current employees are careful in their recommendations; it is less expensive than the fees paid to headhunters.

Accepted Answer

GE Medical Systems offers a monetary reward for referrals, but it is peanuts compared to the fees that it typically pays to headhunters for each person hired. When someone refers a former colleague or friend for a job, his or her credibility is on the line. Thus, employees will be careful in recommending people for employment, unless they are reasonably confident that these people are good candidates.

Question 16

In an effort to capture key employees from competitors,firms may attract the symbolic leader of a group within a competing firm and hope others will follow.This has been termed
A) the Columbus effect.
B) knowledge integration.
C) the Pied Piper effect.
D) strategically competitive hiring.

Accepted Answer

In The Wall Street Journal, Bernard Wysocki described the increase in a type of Pied Piper effect, in which teams or networks of people are leaving one company for another. The trend is to recruit job candidates at the crux of social relationships in organizations, particularly if they are seen as having the potential to bring with them valuable colleagues.

Question 17

Developing human capital is essential to maintaining a competitive advantage in the current knowledge economy.Efforts and initiatives to develop human capital should be directed
A) at top managers.
B) at human resource departments.
C) throughout the firm at all levels.
D) at the employees themselves.

Accepted Answer

It is not enough to hire top-level talent and expect that the skills and capabilities of those employees remain current throughout the duration of their employment. Rather, training and development must take place at all levels of the organization, which is considered developing human capital.

Question 18

Human capital and social capital are vital for superior firm performance.If a firm has strong human capital,the firm may exploit this by building social capital.This can be accomplished by
A) requiring workers to work independently of each other.
B) decreasing the interaction of departments within the firm.
C) structuring the firm with rigid departmental and employee divisions.
D) encouraging the sharing of ideas between employees in the firm.

Accepted Answer

In the knowledge economy, the development of social capital (the friendships and working relationships among talented individuals) gains importance, because it helps tie knowledge workers to a given firm. The interaction, sharing, and collaboration will create a situation in which a worker will develop firm-specific ties and be less likely to bolt for a higher salary offer.

Question 19

Tacit knowledge
A) is the same as explicit knowledge.
B) can be accessed only with the consent of the employees.
C) is found mostly at the lower levels of the organization.
D) can be codified but not reproduced.

Accepted Answer

Tacit knowledge is in the minds of employees and is based on their experiences and backgrounds. It is shared only with the consent and participation of the individual.

Question 20

New knowledge involves the continual interaction between __________ and __________ knowledge.
A) intellectual; pragmatic
B) tacit; explicit
C) theoretical; practical
D) detailed; tacit

Accepted Answer

New knowledge is constantly created through the continual interaction of explicit and tacit knowledge. Consider two software engineers working together on a computer code. The computer code is the explicit knowledge.

Quiz 4: Recognizing a Firms Intellectual Assets: Moving Beyond a Firms Tangible Resources

In a 360-degree evaluation and feedback system,which of these does not rate the skills and performance of an individual?

Another example of social relationships causing human capital mobility is the _ of talent from an organization to form ____.

QFQ,Incorporated desires to have the most qualified people in every position throughout its organization.This is an example of a concern for

In order to take advantage of investment in human capital,a firm should

Attracting and retaining human capital is a challenge for many firms today.Firms experiencing high turnover should

Social capital is a source of strength to many firms.Firms leverage their social capital in an effort to create competitive advantages.The social capital of a firm is based on the

Today,the loyalty of a knowledge worker to his or her employing firm has __________ compared to his or her loyalty to his or her profession and colleagues.

The least effective way to retain human capital is to

Managing a knowledge intensive workforce is very challenging.The best way for a firm to manage its workforce is to

What is a major reason for Nokia to lose its competitive edge in the cell phone business?

Firms must compete for top talent.In attracting and selecting employees,firms must strive to select the best fit for both the employee and the firm.In an effort to reduce wasted time and effort in interviewing too many candidates while assuring a good candidate pool,a firm should

Two software engineers working together on a computer code share their _______ knowledge in order to create new knowledge.

Maintaining a competitive workforce is very challenging in the current economy.The role of evaluating human capital,in recent years,has

The text discusses three areas a firm must be concerned with in order to keep their best and brightest employees from leaving.These include all of the following except

Many companies use referrals by current employees as a source for new hiring and even monetarily reward them because

In an effort to capture key employees from competitors,firms may attract the symbolic leader of a group within a competing firm and hope others will follow.This has been termed

Developing human capital is essential to maintaining a competitive advantage in the current knowledge economy.Efforts and initiatives to develop human capital should be directed

Human capital and social capital are vital for superior firm performance.If a firm has strong human capital,the firm may exploit this by building social capital.This can be accomplished by

Tacit knowledge

New knowledge involves the continual interaction between and knowledge.