DSST Human Resource Management study guide
DSST Human Resource Management · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The DSST Human Resource Management exam is a credit-by-examination option for students who already understand the fundamentals of managing people at work. It is aimed at candidates who want college credit for a lower-level human resource management course without sitting the course, and it is accepted by many institutions that recognize the DSST program. The DSST Human Resource Management study guide has 7 sections and about 3,437 words.
01Overview of the Human Resource Management Field
The overview domain asks you to place HRM inside the organization: which HR activities exist, who performs them, how the function is structured, and how it is measured. Items here are definitional and structural rather than computational, so precision about roles, authority, and HR's strategic versus administrative split earns the marks.
434 words, about 2 min02Human Resource Planning
Human resource planning-workforce planning-matches the number and mix of people the organization will need against the number and mix it will have. Questions test the forecasting techniques, the gap calculation, and the choice of action program when a surplus or a shortage appears.
413 words, about 2 min03Staffing, Training and Development
This domain follows people into and through the organization: recruitment, selection, socialization, training, and development. Items test definitions, the validity logic behind selection tools, and the sequence of training design.
441 words, about 2 min04Performance Appraisals
Appraisal items test why we appraise, what we measure, which method fits which job, and which rating error a scenario illustrates. Appraisals serve administrative uses (pay, promotion, transfer, discipline, retention) and developmental uses (feedback, coaching, training needs).
409 words, about 2 min05Compensation Issues
Compensation items test pay equity logic, job evaluation, pay structure mechanics, required versus discretionary benefits, and FLSA overtime arithmetic. Equity theory drives pay design: internal equity (fairness across jobs, built through job evaluation), external equity (market competitiveness, from pay surveys), individual equity (differences among people in the same job), and procedural equity (fairness of the process used).
424 words, about 2 min06Safety and Security Issues
Safety items center on the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, recordkeeping, and hazard control; security items cover violence, access, screening, and substance abuse programs. The General Duty Clause requires a workplace free of recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm.
428 words, about 2 min07Employment Law (Personnel Legislation and Regulation)
Law items test coverage thresholds, protected classes, the theory of discrimination (disparate treatment versus disparate impact), and which statute governs a scenario. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination in hiring, pay, terms, and conditions based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin for employers with 15 or more employees, and creates the EEOC.
888 words, about 4 min