Compensation Administration - Chapter 11

In ________ ranking, raters look at a list of employees, decide who the best employee is, and cross that person's name off the list. From the remaining names, the manager decides who the worst employee is and crosses that name off the list—and so forth. A) paired-comparison B) straight C) alternation D) forced distribution

C) alternation

In situations where the nature of the task is so uncertain that it may be difficult to specify expected goals, the most appropriate rating format is A) a Management By Objectives format. B) a standard rating scale. C) a behaviorally anchored rating scale. D) an essay format.

B) a standard rating scale.

Telling raters that sometimes the work environment and system affect job performance more than the individual employee's behavior: A) makes the ratings completely accurate. B) leads to higher ratings. C) has no effect on the ratings. D) leads to lower ratings.

B) leads to higher ratings.

Which of the following is an open-ended performance appraisal format that involves the use of descriptors ranging from comparisons with other employees to adjectives, behaviors, and goal accomplishment? A) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales B) Management By Objectives C) An essay format D) Ranking

C) An essay format

Which of the following rating formats has the lowest rating errors? A) Standard rating scales B) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales C) Management By Objectives D) Ranking

C) Management By Objectives

Which of the following types of rankings would be least preferred by managers of more than 10-15 employees? A) Straight ranking B) Alternation ranking C) Paired-comparison ranking D) Forced ranking

C) Paired-comparison ranking

Among peer raters, the most objective evaluations are given by: A) workers who are friends of the ratees. B) workers who are not close friends with ratees. C) high-performing workers. D) low-performing workers.

C) high-performing workers.

A horn error occurs when an employee is: A) consistently rated higher than deserved. B) given a favorable rating on all job duties based on his or her impressive performance in just one job function. C) downgraded across all performance dimensions because of poor performance on one dimension. D) consistently rated lower than deserved.

C) downgraded across all performance dimensions because of poor performance on one dimension.

Which of the following statements is true regarding rater training? A) Training programs lasting over two hours are less successful than shorter ones. B) Rater-error training is more effective than performance-standard or performance-dimension training. C) Lectures to raters on how to improve ratings are always ineffective. D) Training to reduce halo errors and improve accuracy has been most successful.

D) Training to reduce halo errors and improve accuracy has been most successful.

Which of the following is the best appraisal format in terms of legal defensibility? A) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales B) Management By Objectives C) An essay format D) Ranking

A) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales

When a job involves very routine, mechanistic tasks, the most appropriate appraisal format is: A) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales. B) Management By Objectives. C) standard rating scales. D) alternation ranking.

A) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales.

Which of the following statements is true of leniency error? A) It is the error of consistently rating someone higher than is deserved. B) It is the error of avoiding extremes in ratings across employees. C) It is the error of downgrading an employee across all performance dimensions exclusively because of poor performance on one dimension. D) It is the error of giving better ratings to individuals who are like the rater in behavior and personality.

A) It is the error of consistently rating someone higher than is deserved.

Louie received the highest performance rating and is in the second quartile of his pay range. He received a pay increase of 8 percent. Bart also received the highest performance rating and is in the fourth quartile. Given the way most merit increase grids work, what size of pay increase would you expect Bart to receive? A) Less than 8 percent B) More than 8 percent C) 8 percent D) There is no relationship between ratings and position in pay range.

A) Less than 8 percent

In the context of performance appraisals, which of the following statements is true? A) Race has no effect on layoff decisions and performance ratings. B) All other things being equal, males are rated higher than females. C) Raters who have traditional views rate females more accurately than raters who do not have traditional views. D) The pattern of performance does not influence ratings when the overall level of performance is controlled.

A) Race has no effect on layoff decisions and performance ratings.

Teaching raters what constitutes good, average, and bad performance is ________ training. A) performance-standard B) rater-error C) performance-dimension D) Six Sigma

A) performance-standard

A major criticism of standard rating scales is that: A) raters have different definitions of scale levels. B) raters find them hard to use. C) they are expensive to develop. D) they encourage halo and horn errors.

A) raters have different definitions of scale levels.

Deming's major argument regarding performance appraisals is that: A) the work situation is the major determinant of performance. B) performance appraisals reduce teamwork. C) peer ratings are better than supervisor ratings. D) lack of training makes performance appraisals redundant.

A) the work situation is the major determinant of performance.

The most common form of outcome-based appraisal is: A) the essay method. B) Management By Objectives. C) the performance standards review. D) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales

B) Management By Objectives.

Jake's new car was dented by his employee, Steve. Ever since then, Jake has been consistently giving lower ratings to Steve during performance reviews to get back at him. Which of the following errors has been exhibited by Jake? A) Halo error B) Severity error C) Leniency error D) Clone error

B) Severity error

In which of the following jobs is it most appropriate to use behaviorally anchored rating scales? A) The job of a trainer that involves training new employees every month B) The job of a web designer that involves designing websites according to client expectations C) An assembly line job that involves tightening nuts on an engine D) A client relations job that involves bringing in new clients to a firm

C) An assembly line job that involves tightening nuts on an engine

Which of the following statements is NOT true? A) Workers who start out high in performance and then get worse are rated lower than workers who remain consistently low. B) Workers whose performance improves over time are seen as more motivated. C) Workers whose performance is consistently average are rated higher than those who perform better at the end of a rating cycle. D) Workers whose performance varies over time are seen as less motivated.

C) Workers whose performance is consistently average are rated higher than those who perform better at the end of a rating cycle.

All of the following are categories of rater training EXCEPT ________ training. A) rater-error B) performance-standard C) behavior modeling D) performance-dimension

C) behavior modeling

During the performance review of her employees, Sarah gives higher ratings to employees from her hometown, Oklahoma, as she believes that people from Oklahoma are hardworking and trustworthy. Which of the following rating errors is Sarah exhibiting? A) Severity error B) Horn error C) Spillover error D) Clone error

D) Clone error

Last year, your performance was not very good and your performance rating was below average; however, this year you have done very well by exceeding your performance goals. To your surprise, your boss gives you just an average performance rating. What error has your boss most likely committed? A) Horn error B) Halo error C) Severity error D) Spillover error

D) Spillover error

Allowing nonperformance factors to affect performance scores is known as A) a horn error. B) affirmative action. C) straight ranking. D) criterion contamination.

D) criterion contamination.