Management Exam #3
Describe several training methods and indicate the objectives each is best suited to meet.
Before training employees, managers must conduct a needs assessment, which involves identifying and prioritizing the learning needs ofemployees. Then managers should choose a training method by considering a number of factors, such as the number of people to be trained, the cost of training, and the objectives of the training. Training objectives and matching methods are as follows: 11. To impart information to knowledge to trainees, use films and videos, lectures, and planned readings. 12. To develop analytical and problem-solving skills, use case studies, group discussions, coaching and mentoring. 13. To change job behaviors, use on-the-job training, role-playing, simulations and games, and vestibule training. 14. To meet more than one of these objectives, combine one of the previous methods with computer-based training.
How do formal workplaces differ from informal workplaces?
Behavioral formality is a workplace atmosphere characterized by routine and regimen, specific rules about how to behave, and impersonal detachment. Behavioral informality is a workplace atmosphere characterized by spontaneity, casualness, and interpersonal familiarity. You can tell whether a workplace is formal or informal by the following: •Language usage:Formal environments use formal word choices and grammatically correct phrasing; informal environments use colloquial and slang expressions and first names. •Conversational turn taking and topic selection:In formal environments, turn taking is well regulated with few interruptions, while in informal environments, turn taking may have many interruptions, and joking is common. •Emotional and proxemic communication:In formal environments, people have serious facial expressions and don't touch each other, while in informal environments, people have greater emotional expression and have small interpersonal distance. •Physical and contextual cues:In formal environments, dress is conservative and there is a hushed atmosphere, while in informal environments, people dress informally and use an asymmetric arrangement of furniture, etc.
Why do companies use job specialization? How can specialized jobs be modified to eliminate the boredom and low job satisfaction associated with them?
Companies use job specialization to maximize efficiency by creating employee specialists who become experts at their jobs. Employees can also perform specialized jobs better because that's all they focus on. The disadvantages are that it promotes boredom with doing the same things over and over. Employees may become tired of their jobs more quickly, and absenteeism and turnover become problems. Job enlargement is increasing the number of different tasks that a worker performs within one particular job. Job enrichment is increasing the number of tasks in a particular job and giving workers the authority and control to make meaningful decisions about their work. By either enlarging or enriching an employee's job, a manager can make the job more interesting and fulfilling for the employee, who now can now see how his or her job fits into the "big picture" of the organization.
What selection procedures do companies use during the hiring process?
Companies use numerous tools to ensure that they hire the right person for the job. Most commonly used selection devices include the following: •Résumes and application forms: Résumés are written by the job applicant and usually include a list of educational degrees and a list of companies for which they have worked. Application forms are written by the company and ask for specific information in a format relevant to the company's hiring practices. •References and background checks: References are previous employers or coworkers with whom the candidate has formerly worked. Background checks are used to verify the truthfulness and accuracy of information that applicants provide about themselves. •Selection tests (see question 6). •Interviews: Face-to-face or phone interviews may be conducted to judge a candidate's interpersonal skills.
What challenges do companies face when compensating employees for work done in teams?
Compensating teams correctly is very difficult. For instance, one survey found that only 37 percent of companies were satisfied with their team compensation plans, and even fewer (just 10 percent) reported being "very positive." One of the problems is that most people—and most organizations—believe that people should be paid for how well they do. When employees are first assigned to teams and realize their compensation depends not on them alone, but on a whole group of people, they really balk. Companies generally use one of three types of systems to compensate employees for work done in teams: skill-based pay, which pays employees for learning additional skills or knowledge; gain sharing, in which companies share the financial value of performance gains, such as productivity, cost savings, or quality, with their workers; and non-financial rewards such as vacations, plaques, or inexpensive gifts.
What kinds of decisions do managers face when designing employee compensation?
Compensation is the financial and nonfinancial rewards that organizations give employees in exchange for their work. Four basic types of compensation are as follows: •Pay level: Whether to pay workers at a level that is below, above, or at current market wages. •Pay variability: The extent to which employees' pay varies with individual and organizational performance. Pay variability involves decisions about piecework, commission, profit sharing, employee stock ownership plans, and stock options. •Pay structure: The extent to which people in the company receive very different levels of pay. This involves hierarchical structures and compressed pay structures. •Employment benefits: A method of rewarding employees that includes virtually any kind of compensation other than wages or salaries. The law mandates three employee benefits: social security, worker's compensation, and unemployment insurance. However, most companies offer a much wider range of benefits to attract good employees.
Describe two main types of conflict that occur in teams. How can teams use conflict effectively?
Conflict and disagreement are inevitable in most teams. The key to dealing with team conflict is to maximize cognitive conflict, which focuses on issue-related differences, and minimize affective conflict, the emotional reactions that occur when disagreements become personal rather than professional. Managers need to realize, however, that emphasizing cognitive conflict alone won't be enough. Studies show that cognitive and affective conflicts often occur together in the same teams. Therefore, sincere attempts to reach agreement on a difficult issue can quickly deteriorate from cognitive to affective conflict if the discussion turns personal and tempers and emotions flare. To manage team conflict, managers can do the following: 1.Work with more, rather than less, information. 2.Develop multiple alternatives to enrich debate. 3.Establish common goals. 4.Inject humor into the workplace. 5.Maintain a balance of power. 6.Resolve issues without forcing a consensus.
What must happen for stretch goals to motivate teams?
Four things must occur for stretch goals to effectively motivate teams. First, teams must have a high degree of autonomy or control over how they achieve their goals. Second, teams must be empowered with control resources, such as budgets, workspaces, computers, or whatever else they need to do their jobs. Third, teams need structural accommodation. Structural accommodation means giving teams the ability to change organizational structures, policies, and practices if doing so helps them meet their stretch goals. Teams no longer have to go through the frustratingly slow process of multilevel reviews and sign-offs to get management approval before making changes. Once granted bureaucratic immunity, teams are immune from the influence of various organizational groups and are accountable only to top management. Therefore, teams can act quickly and even experiment with little fear of failure.
Describe the types of selection tests that companies use to evaluate job candidates.
In addition to using the devices listed in question5, managers often choose to administer selection tests as a means to predict applicants' future job performance. Specific ability tests (aptitude tests) measure the extent to which an applicant possesses the particular kind of ability needed to do a job well. Cognitive ability tests measure the extent to which applicants have abilities in perceptual speed, verbal comprehension, numerical aptitude, general reasoning, and spatial aptitude. Biographical data (biodata) tests are extensive surveys that ask applicants questions about their personal backgrounds and life experiences. Personality tests measure the extent to which applicants possess different kinds of job-related personality dimensions. Finally, work samples require applicants to perform tasks that are actually done on the job.
Identify and describe the big five dimensions of personality. Which of these dimensions makes people inherently more motivated and better at their jobs?
The Big Five dimensions of personality are extroversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Extraversion is the degree to which someone is active, assertive, gregarious, sociable, talkative, and energized by others. Emotional stability is the degree to which someone is not angry, depressed, anxious, emotional, insecure, and excitable. Agreeableness is the degree to which someone is cooperative, polite, flexible, forgiving, good natured, tolerant, and trusting. Conscientiousness is the degree to which someone is organized, hardworking, responsible, persevering, thorough, and achievement oriented. Finally, openness to experience is the degree to which someone is curious, broad minded, and open to new ideas, things, and experiences; is spontaneous; and has a high tolerance for ambiguity. Of these five dimensions, conscientiousness is a good predictor of job success. Meta-analysis has shown that people with high levels of conscientiousness are organized, hardworking, and responsible. They are also more likely to be motivated and perform better than coworkers who demonstrate low levels of conscientiousness.
Outline the basic process for human resource planning.
The major steps are: (1) determining human resource needs through human resource planning, (2) attracting qualified employees using recruiting and selection techniques, (3) developing qualified employees with training and performance appraisals, and (4) keeping qualified employees through attractive and fair compensation and managing employee separations.
What is the main concern of the job characteristics model?
The primary goal of the job characteristics model (JCM) is to create jobs that result in positive personal and work outcomes such as internal work motivation, satisfaction with one's job, and work effectiveness. Of these, the central concern of the JCM is internal motivation. Internal motivation is motivation that comes from the job itself rather than from outside rewards, such as a raise or praise from the boss.A job that can produce internal motivation has these characteristics: •Skill variety: The number of different activities performed in a job •Task identity: The degree to which a job requires, from beginning to end, the completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work •Task significance: The degree to which a job is perceived to have a substantial impact on others inside or outside the organization •Autonomy: The degree to which a job gives workers the discretion, freedom, and independence to decide how and when to accomplish the job •Feedback: The amount of information the job provides to workers about their work performance
Outline the stages of team development, and briefly describe what happens at each stage.
The stages of team development are listed below. Forming:The first stage of team development in which team members meet each other, form initial impressions, and begin to establish team norms Storming:The second stage of team development, characterized by conflict and disagreement, in which team members disagree over what the team should do and how it should do it Norming:The third stage of team development, in which team members begin to settle into their roles, group cohesion grows, and positive team norms develop Performing: The fourth and final stage of team development, in which performance improves because the team has matured into an effective, fully functioning team Teams do not necessarily stay together forever once they reach the performing stage. The stages teams go through as they break up reflect a reversal through the stages they passed through to reach performance level. De-norming: A reversal of the norming stage, in which team performance begins to decline as the size, scope, goal, or members of the team change De-storming: A reversal of the storming phase, in which the team's comfort level decreases, team cohesion weakens, and angry emotions and conflict may flare De-forming:A reversal of the forming stage, in which team members position themselves to control pieces of the team, avoid each other, and isolate themselves from team leaders
Sketch the team autonomy continuum, and describe the five teams with different levels of autonomy?
(A) Traditional work group: Composed of two or more people who work together to achieve a shared goal (B)Employee involvement team:Provides advice or makes suggestions to management concerning specific issues (C) Semi-autonomous work group:Has the authority to make decisions and solve problems related to the major tasks of producing a product or service (D) Self-managing team:Manages and controls all of the major tasks of producing a product or service (E) Self-designing team:Has the characteristics of self-managing teams but that also controls team design, work tasks, and team membership
What differentiates a mechanistic organization from an organic organization?
A mechanistic organization is characterized by specialized jobs and responsibilities, precisely defined and unchanging roles, and a rigid chain of command based on centralized authority and vertical communication. An organic organization is characterized by broadly defined jobs and responsibility, loosely defined roles that frequently change, and decentralized authority and horizontal communication based on task knowledge. A mechanistic organization is appropriate for a company in a stable, unchanging business environment. An organic organization works well in dynamic, changing business environments.
What are the differences between modular and virtual organizations? What are their advantages and disadvantages?
Because modular organizations outsource all non-core activities to other businesses, they are less expensive to run than traditional companies. However, modular organizations require extremely close relationships with suppliers, may result in a loss of control, and could create new competitors if the wrong business activities are outsourced. Virtual organizations participate in a network in which they share skills, costs, capabilities, markets, and customers. As customer problems, products, or services change, the combination of virtual organizations that work together changes. Virtual organizations can reduce costs, respond quickly, and (if they can successfully coordinate their efforts) produce outstanding products and service.
What role does cohesiveness play in team performance?
Cohesiveness is another important characteristic of work teams. Cohesiveness is the extent to which team members are attracted to a team and motivated to remain in it. Cohesive groups have a better chance of retaining their members. As a result, cohesive groups typically experience lower turnover. In addition, team cohesiveness promotes cooperative behavior, generosity, and a willingness on the part of team members to assist each other. When team cohesiveness is high, team members are more motivated to contribute to the team because they want to gain the approval of other team members. For these reasons and others, studies have clearly established that cohesive teams consistently perform better. Furthermore, cohesive teams quickly achieve high levels of performance. By contrast, teams low in cohesion take much longer to reach the same levels of performance.
Describe the three types of special teams that do not fit easily onto the team autonomy continuum.
Cross-functional, virtual, and project teams do not easily fit onto the team autonomy continuum. Cross-functional teams are composed of employees from different functional areas of the organization. Virtual teams are composed of geographically and/or organizationally dispersed coworkers who use telecommunications and information technologies to accomplish an organizational task. Project teams are created to complete specific, one-time projects or tasks within a limited time.
What is the current trend in the United States with respect to workplace diversity?
Demographics in the United States indicate some emerging trends with respect to workplace diversity. First, demographic shifts in the population reveal changes in the minority populations. The 2000 census showed that Hispanics are growing at a faster rate and constitute a larger percentage of the population than African Americans do. In areas of the country with high Hispanicpopulations, the EEOC is receiving complaints of workplace discrimination in which African American plaintiffs claim they were discriminated against in favor of Hispanic workers.
Explain the difference between diversity and affirmative actions.
Diversity and affirmative actions are different in several critical ways. Affirmative action is required by law and is more narrowly focused on demographics such as gender and race. Diversity is not required by law and has a broader focus that includes demographic, cultural, and personal differences. The purpose of affirmative action is basically a punitive approach to compensate for past discrimination, whereas diversity is to create a positive work environment where no one is either advantaged or disadvantaged.
Does diversity make good business sense? Explain.
Diversity programs make good business sense because they help companies with cost savings by reducing turnover, decreasing absenteeism, and avoiding expensive discrimination lawsuits. Diversity programs also enable companies to attract and retain talented workers by offering a quality work environment where no one receives preferential treatment. Finally, diversity programs drive business growth by improving marketplace understanding (through their diverse human resources).
What are the four kinds of employee separation?
Employee separation is the voluntary or involuntary loss of an employee. Four types of employee separations are termination, downsizing, early retirement incentive programs (ERIPs), and turnover. Termination is simply the firing of an employee. Downsizing is the planned elimination of jobs in a company. Often times, downsizing is the result of corporate restructuring or a response to extreme pressures from the external environment that are causing company performance to suffer. ERIPs are programs that offer financial benefits to employees to encourage them to retire early. Employee turnover is simply the loss of employees who voluntarily choose to leave the company.
What are the two types of recruiting? How do companies use job analysis in recruiting?
For internal recruiting, managers can use job posting and career path management. Job posting is a procedure for advertising job openings within the company to existing employees. A career path is a planned sequence of jobs through which employees may advance within an organization. For external recruiting, managers can use advertising (in newspapers, magazines, direct mail, radio, or even T.V.), employee referrals, walk-ins, outside organizations (universities, technical/trade schools, professional societies), employment services (state or private employment agencies, temp agencies, and professional search firms), special events (such as career or job fairs), and Internet job sites (such as Monster.com). Job analysis is a helpful recruiting tool. Job analysis is a purposeful, systematic process for collecting information on the important work-related aspects of a job. A job analysis contains four kinds of information: (i) work activities: what workers do and how, when, and why they do it; (ii) tools and equipment used on the job; (iii) context in which the job is performed; and (iv) personnel requirements for performing the job
What five methods have traditionally been used to departmentalize work and workers? Give one advantage and one disadvantage of each.
Functional departmentalization has the benefit of lowering costs by reducing duplication, but can make cross-department coordination can be difficult. Product departmentalization has the advantage of allowing managers and workers to specialize in one area of expertise. The primary disadvantage of product departmentalization is duplication. Customer departmentalization offers the advantage of focusing the organization on customer needs rather than on products or business functions. Functional departmentalization -Advantage: Lowers costs by reducing duplication. -Disadvantage: Cross department coordination difficulties Product departmentalization -Advantage: Easy for top managers to assess performance -Disadvantage: There is duplication of effortCustomer departmentalization - Advantage: Focuses on customer needsDisadvantage: Leads to duplication of resources Geographic departmentalization -Advantage: Helps companies respond to market demands -Disadvantages: Can lead to duplication of resources. Matrix departmentalization -creates a hybrid organizational structure in which two or more forms of departmentalization, most often product and functional, are used together. Matrices allow companies to efficiently manage large, complex tasks like researching, developing, and marketing pharmaceuticals or carrying out complex global businesses. Efficiency is the result of avoiding duplication. Another advantage is the large pool of experienced, expert employees available to carry out organizational tasks and project.
When delegating work, what is the relationship between responsibility, authority, and accountability?
Managers can exercise their authority directly by completing the tasks themselves, or they can choose to pass on some of their authority to subordinates. Delegation of authority is the assignment of direct authority and responsibility to a subordinate to complete tasks for which the manager is normally responsible. When a manager delegates work, three transfers occur. The manager transfers full responsibility for the assignment to the subordinate. Many managers find giving up full responsibility somewhat difficult. Delegation transfers to the subordinate full authority over the budget, resources, and personnel needed to do the job. To do the job effectively, subordinates must have the same tools and information at their disposal that managers had when they were responsible for the same task. In other words, for delegation to work, delegated authority must be commensurate with delegated responsibility. The final transfer that occurs with delegation is the transfer of accountability. The subordinate now has the authority and responsibility to do the job and is then accountable for getting the job done. In other words, managers give subordinates their managerial authority and responsibility in exchange for results.
What is the difference between functional and dysfunctional turnover? What is the relationship between turnover and employee separations?
In general, most companies try to keep the rate of employee turnover low to reduce recruiting, hiring, training, and replacement costs. Not all kinds of employee turnover are bad for organizations, however. In fact, some turnover can actually be good. For instance, functional turnover is the loss of poor-performing employees who choose to leave the organization. By contrast, dysfunctional turnover, the loss of high performers who choose to leave, is a costly loss to the organization. Employee turnover should be carefully analyzed to determine whether good or poor performers are choosing to leave the organization. Managers may need to increase salaries and benefits or improve working conditions to keep valuable employees from leaving. If too many poor performers are staying with the company, management can link pay to performance, which has the effect of encouraging dysfunctional turnover.
Compare structured and unstructured interviews.
In unstructured interviews, interviewers are free to ask applicants anything they want, and studies show that they do. Because interviewers often disagree about which questions should be asked during interviews, different interviewers tend to ask applicants very different questions. By contrast, with structured interviews, standardized interview questions are prepared ahead of time so that all applicants are asked the same job-related questions. Of these, structured interviews work best because they ensure that all applicants are consistently asked the same situational, behavioral, background, or job knowledge questions.
What should managers consider when selecting employees for teamwork?
Managers need to consider whether an individual has a preference for teamwork, whether the team level is high enough, and how diverse the team is. An individual with a preference for teamwork shows a strong preference for working interdependently, rather than independently. As such, that person can be considered collectivist and, thus, show good potential for teamwork. Individuals who are highly "individualistic" may not be as effective on teams. Managers also need to consider team level. That is, managers need to determine the average ability, experience, personality, or other factors of a team. For example, a high level of experience or ability means the team has particularly experienced or skilled members. But if a team has a low level of experience, a manager might want to select an employee with expertise in a certain area to round out the overall skill set of the team. Finally, managers must consider team diversity when selecting employees for participation on teams. Generally, the more diverse a team is in experience and abilities, the better the performance of the team.
How do managers generally describe organizational authority?
Organizational authority is determined by the chain of command, line versus staff authority, delegation, and the degree of centralization in a company. Line authority is the right to command immediate subordinates in the chain of command. In contrast, staff authority is the right to advise but not command others who are not subordinates in the chain of command. An example of line authority is the direct boss to whom you report. An example of staff authority is the human resources department in an organization, who has no authority over the production department but provides advice on recruiting, compensation, etc. Authority is not only described by relationships between individuals but by its location. Centralization of authority is the location of most authority at the upper levels of the organization. Decentralization is the location ofa significant amount of authority in the lower levels of the organization. Decentralization is generally more motivating to employees because they are empowered in a decentralized firm; they can make their own decisions and are held accountable for those decisions.
Explain the difference between organizational plurality and diversity.
Organizational plurality is a work environment where (1) all members are empowered to contribute in a way that maximizes the benefits to the organization, customers, and themselves, and (2) the individuality of each member is respected by not segmenting or polarizing people on the basis of their membership in a particular group. By contrast, diversity means variety. Therefore, diversity exists in organizations when there are a variety of demographic, cultural, and personal differences among the people who work there and the customers who do business there. Diversity relates only to the variety among the people associated with a company, whereas organizational plurality involves the relationships between the diverse people who work at a firm and how the firm manages those differences.
Compare an organizational structure and an organizational process.
Organizational structure is the vertical and horizontal configuration of departments, authority, and jobs within a company. Organizational process is the collection of activates that transform inputs into outputs that customers value.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of teams?
The major advantages are increased customer satisfaction, improved product and service quality, increased speed and efficiency in product development, increased employee job satisfaction, and better decision-making and problem-solving. The major disadvantages are high initial turnover, social loafing, and some of the problems of group decision-making (such as groupthink).
How do companies use reengineering to redesign organizational processes?
Reengineering is fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed. In essence, reengineering changes work by changing task interdependence, the extent to which collective action is required to complete an entire piece of work. The kinds of task interdependence that reengineering involves are listed below: •Pooled interdependence:Work completed by having each job or department independently contribute to the whole •Sequential interdependence:Work completed in succession, with the outputs of one group or one job becoming the inputs for the next group or job •Reciprocal interdependence:Work completed by different jobs or groups working together in a back-and-forth manner
Distinguish between surface-level diversity and deep-level diversity.
Surface-level diversity involves differences such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, and physical disabilities that are observable, typically unchangeable, and easy to measure. Deep-level diversity is differences communicated through verbal and nonverbal behaviors, such personality and attitudes, which are learned only through extended interaction with others. Over time, initial impressions give way to deeper impressions based on behavior and psychological characteristics. These could include personality differences, attitudes, beliefs, and values and are better understood through extended interactions. The actual behavior of people is based on their self-perceptions. Deep-level diversity means getting to know and understand one another better, which can result in less prejudice, discrimination, and conflict in the workplace.
How does a manager know when to use teams and when not to use them?
Teams should be used for a clear purpose under the following conditions: when the work requires that people work together, when rewards can be provided for both teamwork and team performance, when ample resources can be provided, and when teams can be given clear authority over their work. If these conditions are not met, then managers should opt not to use teams.
List and explain the major employment laws affecting human resource practice.
The major employment laws affecting human resource practice include: •The Equal Pay Act (1963): Prohibits unequal pay for males and females doing substantially similar work. •Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964): Prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. •The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967): Prohibits discrimination in employment decisions against persons age 40 and older. •The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978): Prohibits discrimination in employment against pregnant women. •The Americans with Disabilities Act (1990): Prohibits discrimination on the basis of physical or mental disabilities. •The Civil Rights Act (1991): Strengthened the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by providing for jury trials and punitive compensation. •The Family and Medical Leave Act (1993): Permits workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for pregnancy and/or birth of a new child, adoption or foster care of a new child, illness of an immediate family member, or personal medical leave. •The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (1994): Prohibits discrimination against those serving in the Armed Forces Reserve or National Guard and guarantees that civilian employers will hold and then restore civilian jobs and benefits for those who have completed uniformed service.
Define and give examples of two types of diversity training. Which do you think would be more successful? Why?
The two types of diversity training are awareness training and skills-based diversity training. Companies also manage diversity through diversity audits and diversity pairing and by having top executives experience what it is like to be in the minority. Awareness training is designed to raise employees' awareness of diversity issues, such as the dimensions discussed in this chapter, and to get employees to challenge underlying assumptions or stereotypes they may have about others. Skills-based diversity training teaches employees the practical skills they need for managing a diverse workforce, such as flexibility and adaptability, negotiation, problem solving, and conflict resolution. Diversity audits are formal assessments that measure employee and management attitudes, investigate the extent to which people are advantaged or disadvantaged with respect to hiring and promotions, and review companies' diversity-related policies and procedures. In diversity pairing, people of different cultural backgrounds, genders, or races/ethnicities are paired for mentoring. The hope is that stereotypical beliefs and attitudes will change as people get to know each other as individuals.
Compare the three paradigms (methods) for managing diversity. Discuss the benefits and limitations of each.
Three main paradigms for managing diversity are discrimination and fairness, access and legitimacy, and learning and effectiveness. The discrimination and fairness paradigm focuses on equal opportunity, fair treatment, recruitment of minorities, and strict compliance with the equal employment opportunity laws. The benefit of this paradigm is that it brings about fairer treatment of employees and increases demographic diversity. The limitation of this paradigm is that its focus of diversity remains on the surface-level diversity dimensions of gender, race, and ethnicity. The access and legitimacy paradigm focuses on the acceptance and celebration of differences. The benefit of this paradigm is that it establishes a clear business reason for diversity. The limitation of this paradigm is that it focuses only on surface-level diversity. The learning and effectiveness paradigm focuses on integrating deep-level diversity differences, such as personality, attitudes, beliefs, and values. There are several benefits to this paradigm. First, it values common ground. This paradigm also makes a distinction between individual and group differences, and it is less likely to encounter conflict and divisiveness. Finally, the learning and effectiveness paradigm focuses on bringing different talents and perspectives together. Like the other two paradigms, however, the learning and effectiveness paradigm also has limitations, such as being more difficult to measure and quantify.
What methods can managers use to accurately measure employee job performance?
Top managers understand the importance of formal performance feedback to the growth and development of their workforce. The traditional method for evaluating employee performance is the appraisal, but workers often have strong doubts about the accuracy and validity of their appraisals.Studies show that managers are prone to three kinds of rating errors: central tendency, halo, and leniency error. One way to minimize rating errors is to use better appraisal measures, such as objective measures of performance. Objective performance measures are measures of performance that are easily and directly counted or quantified. Common objective performance measures include output, scrap, waste, sales, customer complaints, or rejection rates. When a job does not allow for objective measurement, managers can use behavioral observation scales. Behavioral observation scales (BOSs) ask raters to rate the frequency with which workers perform specific behaviors representative of the job dimensions that are critical to successful job performance. Managers can also implement a 360-degree feedback system in which coworkers at multiple levels of the company (and even contacts outside the company) give their perspective on an employee's job performance. Finally, management can directly train performance raters to minimize errors and more accurately rate the important dimensions of job performance.
