Chapter 8 Questions

51. Which of the following is NOT a component of the Balanced Scorecard Approach?

a. competitors

19. Reliability in performance appraisal is measured by:

a. correlating two sets of ratings made by different raters

52. If an appraisal focuses on a narrow set of results criteria to the exclusion of other important process issues, the system may suffer from:

a. criterion deficiency

2. The federal government begin evaluating employees in 1842, when Congress passed a law mandating yearly performance review for:

a. departmental clerks

34. Which method of performance appraisal requires managers to place a certain percentage of employees into various performance categories?

a. forced-distribution method

48. One major advantage of a behaviorally anchored rating scale is that:

a. it requires a great deal of employee participation, which leads to acceptance.

41. Which rating format uses three specific behavioral descriptions relevant to each trait and then asks supervisors to evaluate whether an employee's behavior is better than, equal to, or worse than the standard for each behavior?

a. mixed-standard scale

9. All of the following are reasons why performance appraisal programs fail except:

b. There is too much employee input into the development of the appraisal program.

57. Which one of the following has not been cited as a reason for failure of performance management systems?

b. They are too simple.

69. As an appraiser, you should try to do all of the following except:

b. change the person, not the behavior.

36. If you rate an average employee's performance high because you compared the employee to poor performers, you are committing a:

b. contrast error.

27. Self-appraisals are best for:

b. developmental purposes.

31. Appraisal training for raters should focus on:

b. eliminating subjective errors

32. A performance-rating error in which the appraiser is reluctant to give employees either unusually high or unusually low ratings is referred to as a:

b. error of central tendency

56. The choice of an appraisal method should be largely based on:

b. the purpose of the appraisal.

39. Performance appraisal methods can be broadly classified as either ____, ____, or ____ approaches.

b. trait, behavioral, results

8. Developmental purposes of performance appraisal include all of the following except:

b. validating selection procedures

4. One study showed that organizations with strong performance management systems are ____ more likely to outperform their competitors in the areas of revenue growth, productivity, profitability, and market value

c. 40-50 percent

10. In _____ the U.S. Supreme Court found that employees had been ranked against a vague standard, open to each supervisor's own interpretation.

c. Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody

7. In _____, for example, the Supreme Court ruled that performance appraisals were subject to the same validity criteria as selection procedures.

c. Brito v. Zia

13. Which of the following is NOT an advantage of the trait method of appraisals?

c. High potential for rating errors

50. A performance appraisal approach designed to measure how frequently employees exhibit certain behaviors is:

c. a behavior observation scale.

77. Reasons for not using peer appraisals more frequently all the following except:

c. adverse court decisions

45. If your primary objective for a performance appraisal is to give employees developmental feedback, which of the following appraisal methods should you use?

c. behavioral

30. TQM and team appraisal are complementary because:

c. both focus on performance as a whole, rather than on the individual

43. The primary limitation of the forced-choice method of appraisal is:

d. the cost of establishing and maintaining its validity.

20. Performance appraisals must meet legal requirements because:

d. they are used as a basis for HRM actions and decisions

68. Tips for using criticism constructively includes all of the following except:

d. use the "sandwich technique"

11. Goal setting has been shown to improve employee performance, typically ranging from _____.

a. 10 to 25 percent

46. What is step one of the MBO process?

a. Develop organization goals and metrics

17. Which of the following is NOT a frequently cited reason as to why performance appraisal systems may not be effective.

a. adequate preparation on the part of management

54. The appraisal system based on the concept that learning helps organizations improve their internal processes and allows individuals to see how their performance ties in with the firm is:

a. balanced scorecard approach

55. The appraisal system that takes into account financial, customer, processes, and learning categories is called:

a. balanced scorecard approach

65. The type of appraisal interview that seeks to stimulate growth and development in the employee by discussing the problems, needs, innovations, satisfactions, and dissatisfactions the employee has encountered on the job is the ____ method.

a. problem-solving

14. The strategic relevance of performance appraisals refers to:

a. the extent to which standards relate to the overall objectives of the organization.

67. An inappropriate interview technique in which praise serves to cushion criticism by alternating positive statements with negative statements is known as:

a. the sandwich technique.

A ____ one in which all employees of a company are reviewed at the same time of year rather than on the anniversary dates they were hired.

b. focal performance appraisal

40. In the ____ method, each trait or characteristic to be rated is represented by a scale on which a rater indicates the degree to which an employee possesses that trait or characteristic.

b. graphic rating scale

49. The procedures followed to develop a behaviorally anchored rating scale typically result in scales that:

b. have content validity

44. Disadvantages of the essay method include all of the following except:

b. it must follow a job-specific format.

73. Some organizations believe that appraisals are useful :

b. only for highly effective or ineffective employees.

12. If a manager rates an employee higher than he or she deserves in order to look good as a manager in the eyes of his or her own superiors, this is an example of:

b. organizational politics

21. The courts have found that:

b. organizations should have carefully defined and measurable performance standards.

28. One advantage of peer appraisals is that:

b. peers may furnish more accurate and valid information than supervisors.

58. The appraisal interview should be divided into two sessions, one each for:

b. performance review and developmental planning

74. Employees who earn performance-based pay are more _________.

b. satisfied

37. If you inflate the evaluation of people with whom you have something in common, you are committing a:

b. similar-to-me error

15. Freedom from criterion deficiency of performance appraisals refers to the extent to which:

b. standards capture the entire range of an employee's responsibilities.

29. Total-quality management concerns have led to the increased use of:

b. team and customer performance appraisals.

62. The appraisal interview that assumes that the opportunity to release frustrated feelings will help to reduce or remove the feelings is:

b. tell-and-listen.

60. Three different approaches to performance appraisal interviews analyzed by Norman R. F. Maier are:

b. tell-and-sell, tell-and listen, and problem-solving.

23. In most instances, who is in the best position to perform the function of appraising an employee's performance?

b. the employee's supervisor

66. As a rule of thumb, a supervisor should spend approximately ____ percent of the time talking during an appraisal interview.

c. 30 to 35

16. If the performance evaluations that salespeople receive are based solely on sales revenue to the exclusion of other important factors, the instrument suffers from:

c. criterion deficiency.

72. Research suggests that when it comes to our own performance, most of us first attribute our bad performance to:

c. external constraints

3. A problem with performance appraisal includes:

c. it tends to focus on short-term objectives rather than long-term learning

33. A performance-rating error in which the appraiser tends to give employees either unusually high or unusually low ratings is referred to as a:

c. leniency or strictness error

76. Given the complexity of today's jobs, __________ raters should be used.

c. multiple

22. In light of recent court rulings, HR managers suggest that performance appraisals should meet all of the following legal guidelines except:

c. performance appraisal should rarely be tied to compensation decisions.

35. If you rate an employee's performance based largely on the employee's recent behavior, you are committing a:

c. recency error.

18. If a performance standard is found to be stable or consistent over time, it is said to be:

c. reliable.

26. Managers tend to be more open to the idea of ____ when the information is used for developmental purposes.

c. subordinate appraisal

25. Performance dimensions of leadership, communication, and coordination of team efforts may best be appraised by:

c. subordinates

61. The appraisal interview that requires interviewers to possess the ability to persuade an employee to change in a prescribed manner is:

c. tell-and-sell.

47. The type of scale that uses critical incidents as examples of different points along the scale is known as:

c. the behaviorally anchored rating scale.

5. The two primary purposes of performance appraisals are:

d. administrative and developmental.

53. Requirements for successful MBO programs include all of the following except:

d. both trait and critical incident objectives must be set.

75. A new process used by some companies to make sure managers are rating employees consistently is called ___________.

d. calibration

38. A feedback training program for performance appraisal raters should cover at least all of the following areas except:

d. developing independent learning objectives.

42. A method of rating performance in which the rater chooses from statements that appear equally favorable or equally unfavorable is known as the:

d. forced-choice method.

71. Managers often first assume poor performance of subordinates is due to:

d. lack of ability

64. Listening, accepting, and responding to feelings are essential elements of this appraisal interview:

d. problem-solving.

6. Administrative purposes of performance appraisal include all of the following except:

d. providing performance feedback

24. When the manager and the employee jointly establish future performance goals for each employee, which appraisal source is useful?

d. self appraisal

59. The appraisal interview:

d. should be held in two segments because the rater must perform the role of both evaluator and counselor.

63. In which type of appraisal interview does the interviewer communicate the strong and weak points of an employee's performance during the first part of the interview, and then explore the employee's feelings about the appraisal in the second part?

d. tell-and-listen

70. It is recommended that a diagnosis of poor employee performance focus on all of the following except:

personality

78. The main disadvantage of a BARS is that it:

requires considerable time and effort to develop