Chapter 5- Strategic Workforce Planning
Q1-Which of the following strategic workforce planning aims to achieve?
A. Reducing marketing costs
B. Preventing overstaffing and understaffing
C. Increasing inventory levels
D. Enhancing customer loyalty programs
Q2- How can strategic manpower planning guarantee that the company is ready for changes
in the external environment?
A. By focusing solely on current demand
B. By reacting to changes as they happen
C. By anticipating and planning for various scenarios
D. By ignoring external factors
Q3-Company ABC is dealing with excessive operating costs as a result of inventory
problems and excess production. In order to solve this challenge, what strategic workforce
planning target should they prioritise?
A. Ensuring the right employees are in the right places at the right times
B. Providing direction and coherence to HR activities
C. Preventing overstaffing and understaffing
D. Ensuring responsiveness to environmental changes
Q4: XYZ is finding it difficult to satisfy client demand and is losing out to rivals for possible
future business. Which strategic workforce planning goal would enable them to deal with this
issue?
A. Ensuring the organization has the right employees with the right skills at the right
times
B. Providing direction and coherence to HR activities
C. Ensuring the organization's financial resources are optimally deployed
D. Uniting the perspectives of line and staff managers
Q5-Which forecasting technique entails senior management setting aside a certain sum for
employee payroll expenses and then distributing the funds around the hierarchy?
A. Unit forecasting
B. Top-down forecasting
C. Bottom-up planning
D. Regression analysis
Q6- XYZ aspires to be extremely adaptable to shifts in the market and client needs. Which
method of workforce planning works best for them?
A. Top-down forecasting
B. Regression analysis
C. Unit forecasting
D. Markov analysis
Q7- Which mathematical method describes the likelihood that an employee would remain in
their current position, move to a new one, or leave the company in order to evaluate
employee mobility within an organisation?
A. Linear programming
B. Markov analysis
C. Multiple regression
D. Skills inventory
Q8- What possible problem with the unit forecasting approach in aggregate planning could
there be in the absence of a control and accountability mechanism?
A. Underestimation of employee needs
B. Overestimation of employee needs
C. Inefficient allocation of payroll budget
D. Difficulty in integrating new technologies
Q9-Which of the following is NOT a factor that should be considered when forecasting the
demand for employees?
A. Competition for retention of existing employees
B. Changes in production or provision of services
C. Employee satisfaction surveys
D. New quality or customer service initiatives
Q10-Company PQR works in a fiercely competitive market and must strike a balance
between cost-effectiveness and client reaction. Which workforce planning strategy should
they implement?
A. Purely top-down forecasting
B. Purely unit forecasting
C. A combination of top-down and unit forecasting
D. Regression analysis
Q11-Company STU is facing substantial technical developments that will necessitate the
acquisition of new skills by its workers. Which measure should they take to guarantee they
have the necessary skills?
A. Implementing a skills inventory and updating it annually
B. Increasing the payroll budget for hiring
C. Reducing current employee turnover
D. Using Markov analysis to predict employee mobility
Q12-What is a primary drawback of top-down forecasting in workforce planning?
A. It is too responsive to the needs of the marketplace.
B. It allocates HR costs within a strict budget but may ignore actual demand.
C. It requires complex mathematical models to implement.
D. It relies on the judgment of lower-level managers.
Q13 VWX is a big organization which is experiencing a temporary personnel shortage due to
a sudden rise in demand. What strategy should they take to handle this issue?
A. Laying off current employees
B. Implementing a hiring freeze
C. Hiring temporary employees
D. Offering early retirement incentives
Q14-What is a primary criticism of existing succession planning models?
A. They are too focused on lower-level positions.
B. They do not align with ongoing and evolving business needs.
C. They rely too heavily on external hires.
D. They do not provide enough development opportunities for high-potential employees.
Q15-Which of the following best describes the role of a replacement chart in succession
planning?
A. It identifies potential external candidates for key positions.
B. It maps out the career development plans for all employees.
C. It identifies key positions and potential internal successors.
D. It sets a budget for employee training and development.
Answer: C. It identifies key positions and potential internal successors.
Q16- Organisation XYZ has recognised a number of high-potential workers for important
future positions, but they are worried that an evaluation of their preparedness may be biassed
due to personal reasons. What plan of action ought they to take to deal with this issue?
A. Use subjective assessments from higher-ranking managers.
B. Develop more systematic replacement charts focusing on specific skills and
competencies.
C. Increase the frequency of financial performance measurements.
D. Maintain a confidential succession plan among senior management only.
Q17-Company ABC wants to ensure a smooth transition if their CEO unexpectedly leaves.
Which approach should they take?
A. Only focusses on long-term successors.
B. Identify both short-term and long-term successors.
C. Rely solely on external candidates for the CEO position.
D. Inform all employees of the potential internal CEO candidates.
Q18- Why is it crucial to combine succession planning with hiring, training, and retention—
other HR functions?
A. To ensure that succession planning remains a secretive process.
B. To avoid the development of siloed HR activities.
C. To reduce the cost of HR functions.
D. To limit the scope of succession planning to senior management only.
Q19- There is a debate within the organisation on whether or not to disclose high-potential
individuals' status. What possible drawbacks may there be to telling these workers?
A. It may increase employee turnover.
B. It may create unrealistic expectations for advancement.
C. It may result in reduced morale among other employees.
D. It may increase training costs.
Q20- A corporation is putting a lot of effort into giving its CEO prospects a varied career
path that includes cross-functional roles and foreign exposure. Which trend is this method
reflecting?
A. Promoting specialized niche expertise.
B. Relying heavily on external CEO candidates.
C. Ensuring broader and diverse career development for internal candidates.
D. Minimizing the involvement of HR in succession planning.
Q21-Which of the following is a guideline for effective succession planning?
A. Succession plans should remain static to ensure consistency.
B. Succession planning should be tied to projected needs and competencies over the next
five years.
C. Succession planning should be limited to senior executive positions only.
D. Succession planning should exclude involvement from middle management.
Q22-An organization wants to avoid personal bias in its succession planning process. What
approach should they take?
A. Use subjective personal assessments for evaluating potential successors.
B. Focus on developing broader sets of skills and competencies.
C. Keep the succession planning process confidential among senior management.
D. Inform all employees about their potential for high-level positions.
Q23-What is the primary role of a mentor in a mentoring program within the context of
succession planning?
A. To ensure the mentee's personal satisfaction with their job.
B. To assume responsibility for the professional development of the mentee.
C. To oversee the day-to-day tasks of the mentee.
D. To evaluate the mentee's performance during annual reviews.
Q24-What are some macro-level goals that an effective mentoring program should aim to
achieve?
A. Increased mentee salary and job satisfaction.
B. Retention, knowledge transfer, and development of minority groups.
C. Reduced workload for senior management.
D. Enhanced short-term company profits.
Q25: How are succession planning and mentoring affected by an organization's culture that
rewards assimilation?
A. It ensures a diverse range of employees are promoted.
B. It perpetuates the development and succession of majority employees.
C. It helps to quickly identify high-potential employees.
D. It minimizes the need for formal mentoring programs.
Q26: What organisational approach is advised to successfully mentor and schedule
succession for individuals from varied backgrounds?
A. Implementing uniform performance standards and flexible processes.
B. Focusing on informal mentoring programs.
C. Limiting mentoring programs to senior executives only.
D. Ensuring mentors are from similar demographic backgrounds as the mentees.
Q27: What makes targeted mentoring programmes especially crucial for minorities and
women?
A. These groups are less interested in professional development.
B. They often do not see individuals like themselves in senior positions.
C. They are more likely to leave the organization regardless of mentoring.
D. They do not benefit from standard performance evaluations.
Q28- What feature unites companies that effectively coach and advance different staff
members?
A. They maintain strict bureaucratic processes.
B. They reward assimilation into existing power structures.
C. They embrace constructive conflict and egalitarianism.
D. They focus on immediate business needs rather than long-term strategy.
