UGC-NET Human Resource Management: practice questions

Question 1 · medium

Functional job analysis rates what a worker does in relation to:

1. Skill, effort and responsibility
2. Knowledge, skills and abilities only
3. Data, people and things
4. Planning, organising and controlling

Question 2 · hard

Autonomous work groups as a job-design approach grew out of:

1. Taylor's time-and-motion studies of shovelling and pig-iron handling at Midvale and Bethlehem Steel
2. Fayol's principles of administration
3. The Hawthorne illumination experiments at Western Electric in the 1920s
4. Tavistock Institute socio-technical studies of British coal mining

Question 3 · hard

A firm reports that trainees rated a course 4.8 out of 5 and passed the end test, but supervisors see no change in field practice six months later. At which Kirkpatrick level has the programme failed, and what is the most likely cause?

1. Behaviour level; poor transfer of training, such as no support or opportunity to apply skills on the job
2. Reaction level; trainees disliked the course
3. Learning level; the trainees did not actually acquire the knowledge and skills that the course taught
4. Results level only; behaviour has already changed on the job, but the business results simply lag behind

Question 4 · hard

Pickers on a berry farm are appraised solely on kilograms picked per day, but some rows have much lower fruit load than others. Which appraisal principle is most at risk?

1. Fairness of measurement, because output reflects conditions outside the worker's control
2. Reliability of the weighing scale used at the collection point
3. Content validity of the job description, which fails to list every task a picker performs
4. Confidentiality of appraisal records

Question 5 · hard

Standard time 10 h, rate 50. A worker finishes in 4 hours. Compare Halsey (50%) and Rowan earnings.

1. Halsey 320, Rowan 350: Rowan pays more at every level of time saved
2. Halsey 350, Rowan 320: Halsey pays more because more than half the standard time was saved
3. Both pay 350 because the time saved is identical
4. Halsey 500, Rowan 500: both pay the full standard time

Question 6 · hard

Straight piece rates for harvest work correspond to which reinforcement schedule?

1. Fixed interval
2. Variable interval
3. Variable ratio
4. Fixed ratio

Question 7 · medium

India's Industrial Relations Code, 2020 consolidated earlier laws including:

1. The Companies Act and the Contract Act
2. The Minimum Support Price Act and the Seeds Act
3. The Trade Unions Act, 1926 and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
4. The Factories Act and the Essential Commodities Act

Question 8 · hard

Which condition is most important for worker participation schemes to succeed?

1. Excluding unions from all participative bodies
2. Management's genuine willingness to share information and act on employee views
3. Making participation compulsory for every worker
4. Limiting participation to welfare matters such as canteen menus and sports days

Question 9 · hard

A plantation reports rising absenteeism, turnover and accident rates after moving to 12-hour shifts in peak season. From a QWL standpoint, the most appropriate first step is:

1. Review shift length, breaks and safety with worker representatives and track the indicators
2. Introduce stricter penalties for absence and link attendance bonuses to the full 12-hour shift
3. Increase recruitment to replace leavers
4. Stop recording minor accidents so that reported rates fall and insurance premiums are kept down

Question 10 · hard

A packhouse receives many grievances about arbitrary shift allocation by one supervisor. Which response best follows good grievance-handling principles?

1. Transfer the complainants to another site
2. Tell workers to raise the issue at next year's wage negotiation, where all shift disputes are settled together
3. Investigate promptly, hear both sides, record findings, set transparent allocation rules and follow up
4. Dismiss the grievances because shift allocation is a management right that workers cannot question