HR Exam 3

Which of these terms refers to a behavioral approach to performance rating that consists of a series of vertical scales, one for each important dimension of job performance?

BARS

A manager who rates an average employee's performance high based on a comparison of that employee to poor performers commits a

Contrast error

Which of these bonus incentive plans uses employee and management committees to gain cost-reduction improvements?

Scanlon plan

An employee's relative worth can be determined by

an effective performance appraisal system

The philosophy behind the Scanlon plan is that

employees should make suggestions to improve performance and be rewarded for their contributions

One section of the evaluation form used at SkyGen lists the traits of initiative, independence, cooperation, attention to detail, and punctuality. The rater indicates the degree to which the employee exhibits each trait on a 5-point scale. This illustrates the

graphic rating scale method

Employees covered by the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act are labeled

nonexempt employees

When a non-exempt employee is paid 1.5 times his base rate for all hours worked over 40 during a given week, this is referred to as:

overtime wage

Which of the following is an internal factor that can influence the rates at which employees are paid?

the employers ability to play

Employees are classified as exempt or nonexempt under:

the fair labor act

Social Security payments of survivors' insurance benefits calculations are

. based on the worker's lifetime earnings covered by Social Security.

Halle and Tierney work for the federal government. How many holidays can they expect to be paid for each year?

10

For the Family and Medical Leave Act to apply to an organization, it must have how many employees during 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding year?

50

Administrative purposes of performance appraisal include which of the following

Documenting personnel decisions

Which of the following pieces of legislation greatly improved the communication of employee benefits information?

Employee Retirement Income Security Act

Which of the following statements presents a guideline for meeting legal requirements of performance reviews?

Employee evaluations must be based on clear, written job standards.

VirtualCorp is reviewing its benefits package. Which of the following benefits would VirtualCorp be able to discontinue since it is not a legally required employee benefit?

Employer contributions to minimum life insurance

Globisys uses a bonus plan that is based on overall group productivity in which the determination of a bonus includes both production employees and nonproduction. Which type of gainsharing program is being used?

Improshare

Developmental purposes of performance appraisal include which of the following?

Recognizing individual performance

Which of the following explains the failure of an appraisal program?

They are not useful for the majority of employees in the middle in terms of performance

Which of these accurately describes a reason that performance appraisals sometimes fail?

They tend to focus on individual achievements over teamwork.

When setting performance measures for incentive systems, we can say that the best measures are those that

are quantitative, simple to understand, and show a clear relationship to improved performance.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, exempt employees

are those employees not covered by the overtime provisions of the act

Which of these terms refers to the collapsing of many traditional salary grades into a few wide salary groups?

broadbanding

When individual employees are able to choose the benefits best suited to their particular needs, their employer is offering which of the following?

cafateria plans

Which tool collects and displays the results for all the measures that a company uses to monitor and compare pay among internal departments or units?

compensation scorecard

If an appraisal focuses on a narrow set of results criteria to the exclusion of other important but less quantifiable performance dimensions, the performance management system may suffer from

criterion deficiency.

If the performance evaluations that salespeople receive are based solely on sales revenue to the exclusion of other important factors, the performance management system suffers from

criterion deficiency.

employee wages and salaries, incentives, bonuses, and commissions are part of

direct compensation

Which of these terms refers to a trait approach to performance rating that requires the rater to write a statement describing an employee's behavior?

easy method

Online benefits systems, which can result in significant cost savings in benefits administration, are often referred to a

employee self-service systems.

Employees' anticipation that greater work effort will result in a valued reward forms the basis of

expectancy theory

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

forced choice method

Job evaluation helps to establish

internal equity

In which of these job evaluation systems are jobs arrayed on the basis of their relative worth?

job ranking system

Which of the following is an individual type of incentive plan?

lump sum merit pay

Which of these terms refers to a trait approach to performance rating similar to other scale methods but based on a comparison with (better than, equal to, or worse than) a standard?

mixed-standard scale method

When communicating benefits programs to employees, it is a good idea to use

multiple media techniques.

Which term refers to groups of jobs within a particular class that are paid the same rate?

pay grades

One advantage of peer evaluations is that

peers may furnish more accurate and valid information than supervisors

Instrumentality of compensation package elements refers to

rewards that are valued and motivate employees.

Raj likes to give small rewards to employees "caught in the act" of doing something good, even if that effort is not directly tied to a performance standard. By doing this, Raj is making use of a

spot bonus

The pay for employees on the GRX line at Globisys is not based on the actual amount of time it takes them to complete a job. Rather, they are paid based on a predetermined amount of time for completing the job. These employees are working under the

standard hour play

The strategic relevance of performance appraisals refers to the extent to which

standards relate to the overall objectives of the organization.

Which of the following falls into the category of enterprise incentive plans?

stock options

In order to motivate employees, Evan wants to use an appraisal system that allows them to see clearly how their performance ties into the overall performance of the firm. Evan should use

the balanced scorecard approach

Pay-for-performance programs

tie rewards to employee effort.

Which of the following explains why a company would increase the amounts that employees have to pay toward their benefits by increasing premiums or deductibles?

to contain costs

Which of these is part of the administrative purpose of a performance review?

to identify performance problems and develop ways to correct them

Which of the following is a common goal of a strategic compensation policy?

to reward employees on past performance