Chapter 8 Assignment

(d) Ask your direct reports to conduct a self-evaluation of their performance.

A relatively young start-up firm in Silicon Valley has a large number of new and inexperienced managers who are very talented technically but lack managerial experience. Since the company has been growing so quickly, a number of employees have been promoted from individual contributors to managerial positions. One of the activities that the new managers are dreading is conducting their first set of performance appraisals with their direct reports. As the HR manager in the company, what would you recommend to these managers about strategies for conducting effective performance appraisals? (a) Do not compliment the employees as this will make them feel that they do not need to work on improving their performance. (b) Work with your direct reports to agree on some very general goals for improving their job performance, but do not document them. (c) Discuss opportunities for improvement with your direct reports right away and present specific evidence to backup your assessments. (d) Ask your direct reports to conduct a self-evaluation of their performance.

(c) Use a graphic rating scale.

A cross-functional team led by the chief operating officer (COO) wants to design a new performance appraisal system that emphasizes the evaluation of key traits such as "attitude" that are believed to be related to job performance. If you were the HR representative in this company, what would you say to the COO in terms of a recommendation? (a) Use a behavior observation scale. (b) Use a results-oriented system. (c) Use a graphic rating scale. (d) Use a behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS).

(b) Use behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS).

A team of HR analysts is working on the redesign of the company's performance appraisal system. One of the priorities of the team is to create a system that gets away from evaluating more subjective factors such as traits and to focus more on observable behaviors that employees exhibit that constitute different levels of job performance for various dimensions. It is also critical that the new system be viewed as being a "valid" method for evaluating job performance. Based on this situation, what type of a performance appraisal method should the team use as part of its redesign of the system? (a) Use management by objectives. (b) Use behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS). (c) Use a graphic rating scale. (d) Use a results-oriented scale.

(b) MBO only looks at results, and in nursing, factors such as concern for patients are important, too.

Haiya is a nurse, being evaluated under a management by objectives (MBO) system. Which of the following is a problem for using this system with Haiya's job? (a) MBO only looks at traits, and traits can be very difficult to measure accurately. (b) MBO only looks at results, and in nursing, factors such as concern for patients are important, too. (c) In MBOs, managers give employees objectives, which may not be accepted by those employees. (d) MBO only looks at behaviors, and in nursing, factors such as the number of people who die on a nurse's shift are important, too.

(d) Leniency

Jan Stevenson, a sales representative at a medical systems company, just received her performance appraisal from her boss, Linda Jones. Although Jan has been mostly a marginal to average performer, Linda gave Jan excellent ratings. This is an example of what type of rating error? (a) Severity (b) Central tendency (c) Halo Error (d) Leniency

(d) Recency

Jim Johnson, an accountant at an insurance company, just received his performance appraisal from his boss, Latoya Jones. Although Jim has been an excellent performer for most of the year, he made some critical mistakes the week of his performance appraisal. As a result, Latoya gave Jim average and good ratings instead of excellent ratings. This is an example of what type of rating error? (a) Central Tendency (b) Leniency (c) Halo Error (d) Recency

(d) Trait-based performance reviews are easy to develop.

LaToya is an office manager at an engineering company that recently started using graphic rating scales to evaluate employees on their traits. Which of the following is the biggest advantage of using this type of scale? (a) Trait-based performance reviews are less likely to be biased than any other types of performance reviews. (b) Traits specifically describe what actions should or should not be exhibited on the job. (c) Traits are easy to measure objectively. (d) Trait-based performance reviews are easy to develop.

(b) Critical incident reviews can be more objective than other reviews because they force managers to justify their ratings with performance criteria.

Malik just started working for a fast food restaurant that uses a critical incidents performance management system. What is an advantage of using this type of system? (a) Critical incident reviews can be more subjective than other reviews because they are based on results, not traits. (b) Critical incident reviews can be more objective than other reviews because they force managers to justify their ratings with performance criteria. (c) Critical incident reviews are more quantitative than other reviews because they include information about both good and bad behaviors. (d) Critical incident reviews are more effective at giving employees information about the results of their behaviors than are other reviews.

(b) Environmental factors

One of the star analysts at an investment banking firm has recently shown a severe drop in his performance. His manager held a meeting with him to discuss the situation and to try to figure out why his performance had slipped so significantly. In this meeting, the analyst stated that he felt that the type of projects he had been assigned recently made it difficult for him to perform well. Additionally, he felt a lack of support from the firm's management and that an excessive number of rules and procedures made it difficult for him to perform well. Based on this situation, what type of factors should the analyst's manager focus on in terms of helping him to improve his job performance? (a) Cultural factors (b) Environmental factors (c) Ability factors (d) Motivation factors

(d) Use Management by Objectives (MBO)

Senior executives at an insurance company want all managers to work with their employees and agree on mutually acceptable goals. Executives want to ensure that there is a follow-up process in place to monitor progress toward achieving these goals. Based on this situation, what type of a performance appraisal method should the executives use? (a) Use a BARS scale. (b) Use a behavior observation scale. (c) Use a graphic rating scale. (d) Use Management by Objectives (MBO)

(a) Including "likeability" as a performance criterion for evaluating the performance of leaders in the company would be a concern as this would be a problem with criterion contamination.

The CEO at an entertainment company wants to create a performance appraisal system for senior leaders. He would like the appraisal method to measure the following performance criteria: visioning, enabling others, decisiveness, and likeability. The vice president has contacted the vice president of HR to get her reactions to this idea. What should the vice president of HR say in response? (a) Including "likeability" as a performance criterion for evaluating the performance of leaders in the company would be a concern as this would be a problem with criterion contamination. (b) This would not be an effective way to appraise performance of leaders in the company as the ratings would be entirely subjective. (c) This would be an effective way to appraise the performance of leaders in the company. (d) This would not be an effective way to appraise the performance of leaders in the company as it would be too complicated to implement.

(d) The employees do not have clear performance objectives at the beginning of the performance period.

The manager of a group of marketing specialists at a retail company is known as an individual who thinks that performance appraisals are a waste of time. On all of the performance appraisals that she conducted last year, she only completed the quantitatively based rating scale, and she did not give any of her employees goals for the upcoming year. It is again time for her to conduct performance reviews, and HR is concerned about the quality of the reviews that she will complete. Based on this situation, which of the reasons why performance appraisals fail could be an issue for this manager? (a) Manager may not be trained at evaluation or giving feedback. (b) Inconsistent ratings among supervisors or other raters. (c) Inflated ratings because she may not want to deal with "bad news." (d) The employees do not have clear performance objectives at the beginning of the performance period.

(c) The manager may not be able to observe employee performance or have all of the information needed to conduct effective performance appraisals.

The manager of a team of software engineers at a healthcare company maintains a very strategic, high-level approach to running his unit. He spends most of his time meeting with senior executives, key suppliers, and clients trying to work out major deals for his company. As a result, he does not interact with his team very much regarding team issues. Team meetings are rare as well. Based on this situation, which of the reasons why performance appraisals fail could be an issue for this manager? (a) The performance standards may not be clear. (b) No follow-up or coaching after the review. (c) The manager may not be able to observe employee performance or have all of the information needed to conduct effective performance appraisals. (d) There may be an overemphasis on uncharacteristic information.

(b) Follow up day to day with the direct report.

The marketing director at a consumer products company has a direct report who is experiencing some performance issues related to meeting performance expectations, getting work done on time, and professionalism in dealing with colleagues and clients. The marketing director has requested a meeting with you, her HR representative, to get some advice on how to handle her situation. What would you recommend to her? (a) Inform the direct report that you need to put him on probation and that he will be terminated if his performance does not improve. (b) Follow up day to day with the direct report. (c) Send the direct report to a training program on empowerment and job success. (d) Inform the employee that you will give him a 20 percent bonus if he shows improvement in performance in the next 12 months.

(c) Invite participation from the direct report.

The vice president of finance at a commercial bank has a direct report who is experiencing some performance issues related to meeting performance expectations, quality of work, and attitude. The vice president of finance has requested a meeting with you, her HR representative, to get some advice on how to handle his situation. What would you recommend to him? (a) Send the direct report to a training program on empowerment and job success. (b) Inform the direct report that you need to put her on probation and that she will be terminated if her performance does not improve. (c) Invite participation from the direct report. (d) Inform the employee that you will give her a 20 percent bonus if she shows improvement in performance in the next 12 months.

(a) Implement a calibration process to enhance the consistency of their performance evaluation ratings of the director of marketing.

Three senior executives recently conducted independent performance evaluations of the director of finance. Unfortunately, when they compared their evaluations, they found that they were not at all consistent with each other. If you were the vice president of HR in this situation, what action would you recommend to these executives? (a) Implement a calibration process to enhance the consistency of their performance evaluation ratings of the director of marketing. (b) Give all three sets of performance evaluation ratings to the director of finance and do not attempt to adjust them. (c) Use the performance evaluation ratings from the executive who gave the employee the lowest ratings. (d) Use the performance evaluation ratings from the executive who gave the employee the highest ratings.

(a) Employees must be given clear, written job standards in advance of their performance reviews. (c) Performance ratings must be job-related.

You have been hired by the CEO of a food products company that is struggling with its performance management system for individual contributors who work in its 12 food processing facilities. The biggest concerns are that the CEO has to implement a performance appraisal system that is compliant with all laws and regulations, and how to follow best practices with regard to performance management. Based on this situation, what are the most important recommendations you can make to the CEO? Select all that apply. (a) Employees must be given clear, written job standards in advance of their performance reviews. (b) The performance reviews should be conducted by HR representatives. (c) Performance ratings must be job-related. (d) Employees should be given a copy of the same performance evaluation form that their manager will complete on them and rate themselves using it with the overall average score between the employee and their manager being the basis for the official performance evaluation rating for that employee.

(a) The firm's HR department should review the performance evaluations to see if minority group members are being adversely affected by the process. (d) An appeals procedure should be established to enable employees to express their disagreement with the evaluations.

You have been hired by the CEO of an investment banking firm that is struggling with its performance management system for business analysts who work in its New York office. The biggest concerns that the CEO has is how to implement a performance appraisal system that is compliant with all laws and regulations, and how to follow best practices with regard to performance management. Based on this situation, what are the most important recommendations you can make to the CEO? Select all that apply. (a) The firm's HR department should review the performance evaluations to see if minority group members are being adversely affected by the process. (b) Require all managers to restrict the range of their performance ratings of employees so that most scores are "average." (c) The performance reviews should be conducted four times a year. (d) An appeals procedure should be established to enable employees to express their disagreement with the evaluations.