PHR Certification Exam 367 Questions with Verified Answers
Accounts Payable - CORRECT ANSWER Money an organization owes its vendors and
... [Show More] suppliers.
Accounts Receivable - CORRECT ANSWER Money an organization's customers owe the organization.
Action Plans - CORRECT ANSWER Detailed steps a unit, department, or team will take in order to achieve short-term objectives.
Amendment - CORRECT ANSWER Modification or the Constitution or a law; modification may be either formal (written) or informal (unwritten).
Assets - CORRECT ANSWER Financial, physical, and sometiems intangible properties an organization owns.
Balance Sheet - CORRECT ANSWER Statement of a firm's financial position at a particular time.
Balanced scorecard - CORRECT ANSWER Measurement approach that provides an overall picture of an organization's performance as measured against goals in finance, customers, internal business processes, and learning and growth.
Bill - CORRECT ANSWER Proposal presented to a legislative body for possible enactment as a law.
Break-even analysis - CORRECT ANSWER Analysis that shows point in time at which total revenue associated with a program is equal to the total cost of the program.
Business Case - CORRECT ANSWER Description of an organizational challenge and possible alternative solutions, arguing for specific solution.
Capacity - CORRECT ANSWER To an operations department, the ability to yield output.
Cash flow statement - CORRECT ANSWER Record of how much cash is flowing into and out of an organization, including its sources or destinations.
Centralization - CORRECT ANSWER Degree to which decision-making authority is restricted to higher levels of management in an organization.
Code of ethics - CORRECT ANSWER Principles of conduct within an organization that guide decision making and behavior.
Consumer price index - CORRECT ANSWER Measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for goods and services.
Control - CORRECT ANSWER To an operations department, an after-the-fact evaluation of a company's ability to meet its own specifications and its customers' needs.
Correlation - CORRECT ANSWER Measure that indicates the relationship between two variables.
Cost-benefit analysis - CORRECT ANSWER Ratio of value created to cost of creating that value; allows management to determine the financial impact particular activities and programs have on an organization's profitability.
Decentralization - CORRECT ANSWER Degree to which decision-making authority is given to lower levels in an organization's hierarchy.
Departmentalization - CORRECT ANSWER Way an organization groups jobs to coordinate work.
Divestiture - CORRECT ANSWER Sale by a company of an asset that is not performing well, that is not core to the company's business, or that is worth more as a separate entity.
Divisional structure - CORRECT ANSWER Organizational structure in which segments ae separated by product, customer or market, or region.
Due diligence - CORRECT ANSWER Process of conducting an intensive investigation of an organization as one of the first steps in a pending merger or acquisition.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) - CORRECT ANSWER Act that makes it unlawful to intercept messages in transmission, access stored information on electronic communication services, or disclose this information.
Enterprise management - CORRECT ANSWER Integrated processes and tools to allow information sharing and process management across functions, sometimes even with external partners, such as suppliers.
Environmental scanning - CORRECT ANSWER Process that involves a systematic survey and interpretation of relevant data to identify external opportunities and threats.
Equity - CORRECT ANSWER Amount of owners' or shareholders' portion of a business.
Ethics - CORRECT ANSWER System of moral principles and values that establish appropriate conduct.
Extended organization - CORRECT ANSWER Alliance between organizations to create processes and information channels that allow communication and collaboration.
Financial ratios - CORRECT ANSWER Calculations designed to describe an organization's financial health and performance from various perspectives.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) - CORRECT ANSWER Prohibits American companies from making corrupt payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business.
Formula budgeting - CORRECT ANSWER Form of budgeting in which an average cost is applied to comparable expenses and general funding is changed by a specific amount.
Functional structure - CORRECT ANSWER Organizational structure that defines departments by what services they contribute to the organization's overall mission.
Gantt chart - CORRECT ANSWER Project planning tool that graphically displays activities of a project in sequential order and plots them against time.
Generation X - CORRECT ANSWER Group of people born roughly between the years of 1965 - 1980
Generation Y - CORRECT ANSWER Group of people born after 1980.
Gross domestic product (GDP) - CORRECT ANSWER Estimate of the total value of goods and services produced in a country in a given year.
Gross profit margin - CORRECT ANSWER Ratio of gross profit to net sales.
HR audit - CORRECT ANSWER Process to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of HR programs and positions.
Human capital - CORRECT ANSWER Combined knowledge, skills, and experience of a company's employees.
Human resource information system (HRIS) - CORRECT ANSWER Systematic tool for gathering, storing, maintaining, retrieving, and revising HR data.
Human resource management (HRM) - CORRECT ANSWER Design of formal systems in an organization that ensure the effective and efficient use of human capital to accomplish organizational goals.
Income statement - CORRECT ANSWER Statement comparing revenues, expenses, and profits over a specified period of time, usually a year or a quarter.
Incremental budgeting - CORRECT ANSWER Form of budgeting in which the prior budget is the basis for allocation of funds.
Inventory - CORRECT ANSWER To an operations department, an organization's major asset after physical buildings and equipment.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) - CORRECT ANSWER Quantifiable measures of performances used to gauge progress toward strategic objectives or agreed standards of performance.
Liabilities - CORRECT ANSWER Organization's debts and other financial obligations.
Line units - CORRECT ANSWER Work groups that conduct the major business of an organization.
Long-term objectives - CORRECT ANSWER Specific results, to be accomplished in three to five years, that an organization seeks to achieve in pursuing its mission.
Marketing - CORRECT ANSWER Process of planning, pricing, promoting, and distributing goods and services to satisfy organizational objectives.
Matrix structure - CORRECT ANSWER Organizational structure that combines departmentalization by division and function to gain the benefits of both.
Mean - CORRECT ANSWER Average score or value in a set of data.
Median - CORRECT ANSWER Middle point above and below which 50% of scores in a set of data lie.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) - CORRECT ANSWER Combination of two separate firms either by their joining together as a relative equals (merger) or by one acquiring the other (acquisition).
Mid-term objectives - CORRECT ANSWER Serve a purpose similar to short-term objectives but are completed in one to three years.
Mission statement - CORRECT ANSWER Specifies what the organization does, who its customers are, and the priorities it has set in pursuing its work.
Mode - CORRECT ANSWER Value that occurs most frequently in a set of data.
Net profit margin - CORRECT ANSWER Ratio of net income (gross sales minus expenses and taxes) to net sales.
Normal distribution - CORRECT ANSWER Expected distribution given a random sampling across a large population.
Offshoring - CORRECT ANSWER Relocation of processes or functions from a 'home' country to another country.
Percentile - CORRECT ANSWER Specific point in a distribution of data that has a given percentage of cases below it.
Population - CORRECT ANSWER Group of persons or objects or a complete set of observations or measurements about which one whishes to draw conclusions.
Primary research - CORRECT ANSWER Involves data that is gathered firsthand for a specific evaluation.
Product - CORRECT ANSWER Whan an organization sells to make a profit.
Program evaluation and review technique (PERT) chart - CORRECT ANSWER Project management tool used to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within a project.
Project - CORRECT ANSWER Series of tasks and activities that has a stated goal and objectives, a schedule with defined start and end dates, and a budget that sets limits on the use of monetary and human resources.
Promotion - CORRECT ANSWER Techniques for communicating information about products to consumers.
Public comment period - CORRECT ANSWER Time allowed for the public to express its views and concerns regarding an action of a regulatory agency.
Qualitative analysis - CORRECT ANSWER Based on research that supplies non-numeric data, for example, through the use of interviews, open-ended survey questions, and other methods that gather attitudes, opinions, and feelings.
Quantitative analysis - CORRECT ANSWER Seeks to obtain easily quantifiable data on a limited number of measurement points.
Quorum - CORRECT ANSWER Number of members of an organization that have to be present before official business may be conducted.
Range - CORRECT ANSWER Distance between highest and lowest scores in a set of data.
Regression analysis - CORRECT ANSWER Statistical method used to predict a variable from one or more predictor variables.
Regulation - CORRECT ANSWER Rule or order issued by a government agency; often has the force of law.
Reliability - CORRECT ANSWER Ability of an instrument to measure consistently.
Request for proposal (RFP) - CORRECT ANSWER Written request asking vendors to propose solutions and prices that fit a customer's requirements.
Research and development (R&D) - CORRECT ANSWER That part of an organization charged with designing and developing products, processes, and services to meet market needs.
Resolution - CORRECT ANSWER Legislative measure limited in effect to either the Congress or one of its chambers.
Return on investment (ROI) - CORRECT ANSWER Ratio of incremental value (value received minus cost to create value) of an investment to its cost multipled by 100%; measures the economic return on a project or investment.
Sales - CORRECT ANSWER Business function responsible for selling an organization's product to the marketplace.
Sample - CORRECT ANSWER Portion of a population used to draw conclusions regarding an entire population.
Sarbanes - Oxley Act (SOX) - CORRECT ANSWER Act that changed corporate governance and reporting standards and underscored board of director's responsibility to help ensure financial accountability, accuracy, and compliance.
Scheduling - CORRECT ANSWER To an operations department, the act of detailed planning; based upon incoming orders, order history, and forecasts of future demand.
Secondary research - CORRECT ANSWER Uses data already gathered by others and reported in various sources.
Short-term objectives - CORRECT ANSWER Milestones that must be achieved, usually within six months to one year, in order to reach long-term objectives.
Span of control - CORRECT ANSWER Refers to the number of individuals who report to a supervisor.
Staff units - CORRECT ANSWER Work groups that assist line units by providing specialized services, such as HR.
Standard deviation - CORRECT ANSWER Measure that indicates how much scores in a set of data are spread out around a mean or average.
Standards - CORRECT ANSWER For an operations department, provide the yardstick by which the amount and quality of output are measured.
Strategic business management - CORRECT ANSWER Processes and activities used to formulate HR objectives, practices, and policies.
Strategic planning - CORRECT ANSWER Process that helps an organization focus on how to succeed in the future by evaluating the organization's current status, where it would like to be, and how to get there.
Strategies - CORRECT ANSWER Provide the direction that enables an organization to achieve its long-term objectives.
Supply chain - CORRECT ANSWER Network that delivers products and services from raw materials to end customers through an engineered flow of information, physical distibution, and cash.
SWOT analysis - CORRECT ANSWER Process for evaluating an organization's current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Validity - CORRECT ANSWER Ability of an instrument to measure what it is intended to measure.
Values - CORRECT ANSWER Describe what is important to an organization, dictate employee behavior, and create the organization's culture.
Veto - CORRECT ANSWER Action of canceling or postponing a decision or bill.
Vision statement - CORRECT ANSWER Vivid, guiding image or an organization's desired future.
Zero-based budgeting - CORRECT ANSWER Form of budgeting that requires that expenditures be justified for each new period.
ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) - CORRECT ANSWER Amendments to Americans with Disabilities Act covering the definition of individuals regarded as having a disability, mitigating measures, and other rules of construction to guide the analysis of what constitutes a disability.
Adverse impact - CORRECT ANSWER Occurs when the selection rate for an employment decision works to the disadvantage of a protected class; also known as disparate impact.
Affirmative action (AA) - CORRECT ANSWER Practice in which employers make efforts to increase the presence of women, miniorities, covered veterans, and disabled individuals in the workplace and take positive steps to correct their underutilization.
Affirmative action plans (AAPs) - CORRECT ANSWER Written plans that outline an organization's programs, policies, and procedures for proactively ensuring equal opportunity in all aspects of employment, such as recruiting, hiring, training, promoting, and compensating.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) - CORRECT ANSWER Act that prohibits discrimination in employment for persons age 40 and over.
Albemarle Paper v. Moody - CORRECT ANSWER 1975 court ruling that items used to validate employment requirements must be job related.
Alternative staffing - CORRECT ANSWER Use of alternative recruiting sources and workers who are not regular employees; also know as flexible staffing.
Amerians with Disabilities Act (ADA) - CORRECT ANSWER Act that prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability because of his/her disability.
Aptitude tests - CORRECT ANSWER Tests that measure the general ability or capacity to learn or acquire a new skill.
Assessment centers - CORRECT ANSWER Method of evaluating candidates using content-valid work samples of a job; typically for managerial positions.
Availability analysis - CORRECT ANSWER Analysis in which organization considers internal and external availability in determining theoretical availability of minorities and women for established job groups.
Behavioral interview - CORRECT ANSWER Type of interview that focuses on how applicant previously handled real situations.
Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) - CORRECT ANSWER Situation in which religion, sex, or national orgin is reasonably necessary to carry out a particular job function in the normal operations of an organization.
City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Company - CORRECT ANSWER 1989 Court ruling that the numerical quota system of Richmond, VA was unconstitutional because the city had not laid the proper groundwork and had not adequately identified or documented discrimination.
Civil Rights of 1964 - CORRECT ANSWER First comprehensive US law making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national orgin.
Civil Rights Act of 1991 - CORRECT ANSWER Act that expands the possible damage awards available to victims of intentional discrimination to include compensatory and punitive damages; gives plaintiffs in cases of alleged discrimination the right to a jury trial.
Closed questions - CORRECT ANSWER Questions that can usually be answered with yes or no.
Co-employment - CORRECT ANSWER Situation in which an organization shares responsibility and liability for their alternative workers with an alternative staffing supplier; also known as joint employment.
Cognitive ability tests - CORRECT ANSWER Tests that assess skills the candidate has already learned.
Competency model - CORRECT ANSWER Set of competencies that together make up a profile for success for a paticular job.
Compliance evaluation - CORRECT ANSWER Evaluation that requires an organization to provide details on and documentation of its affirmative action plan.
Concurrent validity - CORRECT ANSWER Type of criterion-related validity determined by relating the test scores of a group of test takers who take a test (test A) to some other criterion measure (test B) that is administered at the same time.
Congressional Accountability Act - CORRECT ANSWER Act that identifies selected federal employee relations and civil rights legislation enacted by Congress that applies to employees of Congress.
Construct validity - CORRECT ANSWER Extent to which a selection device measures the theoretical construct or trait (e.g., intelligence or mechanical comprehension).
Constructive discharge - CORRECT ANSWER Occurs when an employer makes working conditions so intolerable that an employee has no choice but to resign.
Consumer Credit Protection Act - CORRECT ANSWER Act that limits the amount of wages that can be garnished or withheld in any one week by and employer to satisfy creditors.
Content validity - CORRECT ANSWER Degree to which an interview, test, or other selection device measures the knowledge, skills, abilities, or other qualifications that are part of the job.
Corporate management compliance evaluation (CMCE) - CORRECT ANSWER Evaluation designed to ensure that qualified minorities and women do not encounter artificial barriers to future advancement into mid-level and senior corporate management.
Criterion-related validity - CORRECT ANSWER Refers to the link between a selection device and job performance.
Cultural noise - CORRECT ANSWER Failure to recognize responses of a candidate that are socially acceptable rather than factual.
Delphi technique - CORRECT ANSWER Forecasting technique that progressively collects information from a group without physically assembling the contributors.
Directive interview - CORRECT ANSWER Type of interview in which interviewer poses specific questions to a candidate and keeps control.
Disability - CORRECT ANSWER Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits major life activities.
Disparate impact - CORRECT ANSWER Occurs when the selection rate for an employment decision works to the disadvantage of a protected class; also known as adverse impact.
Disparate treatment - CORRECT ANSWER Occurs when protected classes are intentiionally treated differently from other employees or are evaluated by different standards.
Ellerth v. Burlington Northern Industries - CORRECT ANSWER Court ruling that distinguished between supervisor harassment that results in tangible employment action and supervisor harassment that does not.
Employee Polygraph Protection Act - CORRECT ANSWER Act that generally prevents employers engaged in or affecting interstate commerce from using lie detector tests either for preemployment screening or during the course of employment, with certain exemptions.
Employment branding - CORRECT ANSWER Process of positioning an organization as an 'employer of choice' in the labor market.
Employment contract - CORRECT ANSWER Agreement between an employer and an employee that explains the employment relationship.
Employment offer - CORRECT ANSWER Makes the hiring decision official; should immediately follow the final decision to hire a candidate; formally communicated through an offer letter.
Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) - CORRECT ANSWER Protects employer against claims by workers that their legal rights as employees of the organization have been violated.
Employment-at-will - CORRECT ANSWER Common-law principle stating that employers have the right to hire, fire, demote, and promote whomever they choose for any reason unless there is a law or contract to the contrary and employees have the right to quit a job at any time.
Essential functions - CORRECT ANSWER Primary job duties that a qualified individual must be able to perform, either with or without accommodation; a function may be considered essential because it is required in a job or because it is highly specialized.
e-Verify - CORRECT ANSWER Internet-based verification system that allows employers to verify the employment eligibility of their employees regardless of citizenship.
Executive search firms - CORRECT ANSWER External recruiting method; firms seek out candidates, usually for executive, managerial, or professional positions.
Exit interview - CORRECT ANSWER Interview conducted when an employee is terminating with an organization in which employee is asked to share views on selected issues.
Expatriates - CORRECT ANSWER Collective term for employees sent abroad to work in a country other than where they live.
Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACT) - CORRECT ANSWER Act that provides some relief to employers using third parties to conduct workplace investigations.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) - CORRECT ANSWER Act that protects privacy of background information and ensures that information supplied is accurate.
Faragher v. City of Boca Raton - CORRECT ANSWER Court ruling that distinguished between supervisor harassment that results in tangible employment action and supervisor harassment that does not.
First - impression error - CORRECT ANSWER Tyoe of interviewer bias in which interviewer makes snap judgments and lets first impression (either positive or negative) cloud the interview.
Fishbowl interview - CORRECT ANSWER Interactive type of group interview that helps employer learn how individual interacts with others to solve business - related issues as well as individuals' depth of analytical skills and natural abilities as a leader or team player.
Flexible staffing - CORRECT ANSWER Use of alternative recruiting sources and workers who are not regular employees; also known as alternative staffing.
Garnishment - CORRECT ANSWER Occurs when a creditor obtains a court order requiring an employer to attach an employee's earnings in order to pay back a debt.
Gender - CORRECT ANSWER Refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.
General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc., v. Cline - CORRECT ANSWER Case in which Supreme Court held that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act does not protect younger workers, even if they are over age 40, from workplace decisions that favor older workers.
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) - CORRECT ANSWER Act that prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of their genetic information in both employment and health insurance.
Glass ceiling - CORRECT ANSWER Invisible barrier that blocks minorities and women from attaining senior executive positions.
Gratz v. Bollinger - CORRECT ANSWER Case in Supreme Court held that University of Michigan's undergraduate admission program was not sufficiently 'narrowly tailored' to consider race as a factor in admission decisions in order to achieve goal of diverse student body.
Griggs v. Duke Power - CORRECT ANSWER 1971 case that recognized adverse impact discrimination.
Grutter v. Bollinger - CORRECT ANSWER Case in which Supreme Court held that University of Michigan's law school admission program was sufficiently 'narrowly tailored' to consider race as a factor in admission decisions in order to achieve goal of diverse student body.
Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. - CORRECT ANSWER Court ruling that established 'reasonable person' standard in a sexual harassment case.
Honesty/integrity tests - CORRECT ANSWER Measures of applicants' propensity toward undesirable behaviors such as lying, stealing, taking drugs, or abusing alcohol.
Host - country nationals (HCNs) - CORRECT ANSWER Employees working in their own countries; also known as local nationals.
Hostile environment harassment - CORRECT ANSWER Occurs when sexual or other discriminatory conduct is so severe and pervasive that it interferes with an individual's performance; creates an intimidating, threatening, or humiliating work environment; or perpetuates a situation that affects the employee's psychological well-being. [Show Less]