If sustainable competitive advantage depends on work-force skills.American firms have a problem. Human-resource management is no

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问题 If sustainable competitive advantage depends on work-force skills.American firms have a problem.
Human-resource management is not traditionally seen as central to the competitive survival of thefirm in the United States.Skill acquisition is considered an individual responsibility.Labor issimply another factor of production to be hired-rented at the lowest possible cost-much as onebuys raw materials or equipment.
The lack of importance attached to human-resource management can be seen in the corporatehierarchy.In an American firm the chief financial officer is almost always second in comman@D@Thepost of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job,off at the edge of thecorporate hierarchy.The executive who holds it is never consulted on major strategic decisions andhas no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer(CEO).By way of contrast,in Japan the head ofhuman-resource management is central-usually the second most important executive,after theCEO,in the firm’s hierarchy.
While American firms often talk about the vast amounts spent on training their work forces,infact they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms.Themoney they do invest is also more highly concentrated on professional and managerial employees.
And the limited investments that are made in training workers are also much more narrowly focusedon the specific skills necessary to do the next job rather than on the basic background skills thatmake it possible to absorb new technologies.
As a result,problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive.If Americanworkers,for example,take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stationsthan workers in Germany(as they do),the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany thanit is in the United States.More time is required before equipment is up and running at capacity,and the need for extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speedwith which new equipment can be employe@D@The result is a slower pace of technological change.
And in the end the skills of the population affect the wages of the top half.If the bottom half can’teffectively staff the processes that have to be operated,the management and professional jobs thatgo with these processes will disappear.
Which of the following applies to the management of human—resources in Americancompanies?______.

选项 A、They hire people at the lowest cost regardless of their skills.
B、They see the gaining of skills as their employees’own business.
C、They attach more importance to workers than equipment.
D、They only hire skilled workers because of keen competition.

答案B

解析 细节判断题。本题问美国公司人力资源管理的情况。根据题干,问题指向第一段第二、三两句话:在美国公司看来,人力资源管理对公司在市场竞争中能否生存并不是非常重要的,学习技术被看成是工人个人的事情,因此选项B是正确答案。B中gaining ofskills对应原文skill acquisition,their employees’own business对应individual responsibility。本段最后一句话说美国公司认为应该以尽可能低的价格雇佣工人,但并没有说可以不考虑工人的技术水平,所以A项错;最后一句话也提到美国公司就像购买原料和设备一样雇佣员工,可见其并不重视工人,所以C错;D文章没有提到。
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