Compensation and Benefits, Chapter 11: Performance Appraisals

"Rank and yank" is a _____ rating format. A. alternation ranking B. forced distribution ranking C. paired-comparisons D. BARS

B. forced distribution ranking

When a job involves very routine, mechanistic tasks, the best appraisal format that is most appropriate is: A. BARS. B. MBO. C. standard rating scales. D. alternation ranking.

A. BARS

_____ is one of the best appraisal formats in terms of legal defensibility. A. BARS B. MBO C. Standard rating scales D. Ranking

A. BARS

The highest level of agreement among respondents to a study of successful MBO programs was on the fact that: A. goals and objectives should be specific. B. objectives should be assigned a priority. C. objectives should include a plan of action. D. pay incentives should be attached to goals.

A. Goals and objectives should be specific.

Which of the following (is)are not true regarding performance appraisals? A. Race has no effect in layoff decisions. B. Males are rated higher than females. C. Raters with traditional stereotypes rate females less accurately. D. Variation in performance affects ratings.

A. Race has no effect in layoff decisions.

All of the following are strengths of 360-degree feedback except that it: A. is useful for both administrative and development purposes. B. improves employee self-awareness. C. promotes better performance. D. improves communication between supervisors and staff.

A. is useful for both administrative and development purposes.

Louie received the highest performance rating and is in the second quartile of his pay range, and received a pay increase of 8 percent. Bart also received the highest performance rating and is in the third quartile. Given the way most merit increase grids work, what size 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

Some companies have dropped the use of "rank and yank" because _____. A. of law suits charging age discrimination. B. they can hurt morale. C. they are not effective in getting rid of "deadwood." D. managers resist this rating format.

A. of law suits charging age discrimination.

Teaching raters what constitutes good, average, and poor 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: A. raters have different definitions of scale levels. B. employees don't understand standard scales. C. they are costly to develop. D. they encourage halo and horns errors.

A. raters have different definitions of scale levels.

As the compensation manager for a small company, the CEO has asked you to explain why an experienced supervisor gave many employees who reported to her inaccurate performance ratings this year. Which of the following factor is not a likely cause for the behavior? The supervisor: A. spent too much time preparing the ratings. B. feels guilty. C. dislikes confrontation. D. failed to observe actual performance.

A. spent too much time preparing the ratings.

The criticism, "different raters have different ideas about what "average work" is, is associated with the ________ rating format. A. standard rating scale B. BARS C. ranking D. MBO

A. standard rating scale

Subordinate ratings ___________ A. tend to be inflated if they are not anonymous. B. are more reliable than peer ratings. C. are more valid than self ratings. D. are used by 70% of team-style organizations.

A. tend to be inflated if they are not anonymous.

Which of the following statements is true regarding ways to improve rater training? A. Use rater error training. B. Combine performance-standard and performance-dimension training. C. Use training programs less than 2 hours. D. Use computer-based, individual training.

B. Combine performance-standard and performance-dimension training.

The best appraisal format for employee development is: A. BARS. B. MBO. C. the essay method. D. the ranking method.

B. MBO

The most common form of outcomes-based appraisal is: A. the essay method. B. MBO. C. the performance standards review. D. the BARS.

B. MBO

When a job involves less routine tasks, but an outcome can be specified, an excellent rating format is: A. BARS B. MBO C. standard rating scales D. essay

B. MBO

In what type of system are annual goals established and passed down through the organization? A. Performance standards review B. Management by objectives C. Forced distribution D. Total Quality Management

B. Management by objectives

Which of the following is most likely to motivate employees to perform better? A. Across-the-board increases common in unionized firms B. Raises based on demonstration of competencies C. Raises based on the CPI D. Seniority-based pay increases

B. Raises based on demonstration of competencies

In situations in which the nature of the task is so uncertain that it may be difficult to specify expected goals, the most appropriate rating format is ______________ A. MBO B. standard rating scale C. BARS D. essay

B. Standard rating scales.

The most reliable performance ratings are done by: A. peers. B. supervisors. C. customers. D. self.

B. Supervisors

Telling raters that sometimes the work environment and system affect job performance more than the individual employee's behavior: A. helps improve inter-reliability. B. leads to higher ratings. C. has very little effect on ratings. D. leads to lower ratings.

B. leads to higher ratings.

All of the following are steps to creating a good performance appraisal process except: A. performance dimensions are linked to the strategic plan. B. use experienced consultants to develop the rating process. C. train raters in use of the system. D. diagnose performance problems in advance.

B. use experienced consultants to develop the rating process.

_____ is the best appraisal format across the five criteria for evaluating rating formats. A. Ranking B. MBO C. BARS D. Standard rating scales

C. BARS

Which of the following is not one of the dimensions on which an appraisal format is evaluated? A. Cost B. Personnel research potential C. Employee agreement D. Administrative ease

C. Employee agreement

Which of the following types of rankings would be least preferred by managers of more than 10-15 employees? A. Straight B. Alternate C. Paired comparisons D. Forced distribution

C. Paired comparisons

When tasks are highly uncertain and it is not clear how to define successful performance, the most appropriate rating format is: A. BARS. B. MBO. C. standard rating scales. D. ranking.

C. Standard rating scales.

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

The major complaint of both managers and employees regarding the appraisal process is that: A. appraisals were not helpful in guiding improvement. B. reviews don't differentiate between poor, average and good performance. C. appraisals are too subjective. D. rating forms are too complex and time consuming.

C. appraisals are too subjective.

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

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

C. high performing workers

Merit guidelines allocate pay increases based upon: A. seniority and performance. B. performance level. C. performance level and employee position in their pay range. D. performance and size of merit budget.

C. performance level and employee position in their pay range.

A negative outcome of MBO is ________ A. managers attitudes tend to decline with continued use. B. superior/subordinate communication becomes more challenging. C. performance pressure and stress increases. D. organizational performance improvements are short-lived.

C. performance pressure and stress increases.

First impression error is to _____ error as leniency error is to severity error. A. halo B. horn C. recency D. clone

C. recency

Raters who are low on conscientiousness and very agreeable tend to: A. be very accurate raters. B. commit central tendency error. C. commit halo error. D. commit leniency error.

D. Commit leniency error

All of the following are true findings regarding MBO except that: A. individual performance improves. B. organizational performance improves. C. superior/subordinate communication improves. D. MBO requires less documentation than other rating methods.

D. MBO requires less documentation than other rating methods.

In which of the following rating formats are leniency, severity, and central tendency errors not present? A. Standard rating scales B. BARS C. MBO D. Ranking

D. Ranking

Last year your performance was not very good and your performance rating was below average, but this year you have done very well 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 B. Halo C. Severity D. Spillover

D. Spillover

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

D. Training to reduce halo and improve accuracy have been most successful.

In the _____ type of performance evaluation, supervisors answer open-ended questions. A. MBO B. standard rating scale C. BARS D. essay format

D. essay format

The traditional performance component of the balanced scorecard is__________ A. customer satisfaction, B. employee internal growth and commitment, C. operational efficiency in internal processes, and D. financial

D. financial

Which of the following is not true regarding self-ratings? Self-ratings: A. tend to be lenient. B. are best used for development. C. are often used as the first step in the appraisal process. D. tend to be more reliable than peer ratings.

D. tend to be more reliable than peer ratings.

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 with greater variability. D. Workers performance that varies over time are seen as less motivated.

Workers whose performance is consistently average are rated higher than those with greater variability.

Which of the following is not a strength of supervisors as raters? A. They are knowledgeable about subordinates' jobs. B. Their ratings show little halo and leniency. C. Supervisors have rating experience. D. They assign work to subordinates.

b. Their ratings show little halo and leniency.