MGMT Exam 2 Practice Questions

Results approach

Which approach assumes that subjectivity can be eliminated from the measurement process?

E

Which of the following is true about pay? A) Pay is not helpful when it comes to aligning employees' interests with those of the broader organization. B) Pay has a small impact on employee attitudes and behavior. C) From the employees' view, pay policies do not affect their standard of living. D) Companies often look for ways to reduce pay by jeopardizing their relationship with the workforce. E) Employees attach great importance to pay decisions when they evaluate their relationship with the organization.

C

Which of the following statements about organizational culture is true? A) A specific organization can have characteristics of only one type of culture. B) While the CVF is an interesting approach, it has no research support. C) Organizations tend to have one dominant type of culture. D) The CVF model categorizes organizations into six types of culture. E) An organization with a focus on its environment pays most attention to its employees.

Self-determination theory

Which theory focuses on needs that drive intrinsic motivation?

Manager

Who has the most information about your evaluation?

Market challenges (in pay decisions)

Include: - changes in labor markets, - economic conditions, - and industry competition that can impact an organization's ability to attract and retain talent with competitive compensation

Problems with job-based pay structures

Includes: - a lack of flexibility to reward individual performance - potential for overcompensation in some roles - difficulty in adapting to changing job responsibilities

Leniency rating error

Jason conducts performance evaluations...What rating error is it when high ratings are given despite poor effort?

Pay grades

PARTS OF PAY-SETTING STRUCTURE: - grouping jobs with similar values

salary ranges

PARTS OF PAY-SETTING STRUCTURE: - minimum and maximum pay for each grade

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

- A U.S. federal law that established minimum wage, overtime pay, child labor, and record-keeping requirements for employees. - It aims to protect workers' rights and ensure fair labor practices.

Agency Theory

- A framework that examines the relationship between principals (owners or shareholders) and agents (managers) in an organization. - It explores how conflicts of interest and information asymmetry can affect decision-making and performance.

Intermittent reward schedule

- A reinforcement schedule in operant conditioning where rewards are not provided after every desired behavior but are given sporadically. - This schedule can maintain behavior over an extended period, as individuals are uncertain when they will be rewarded.

Corporate level diversification

- A strategy in which a company expands its business operations into various industries or markets beyond its core business - This diversification can be related (e.g., entering a related industry) or unrelated (e.g., entering an entirely different industry)

Performance Management Systems

- Aim to improve employee performance and align it with organizational goals. - Components may include setting expectations, monitoring progress, providing feedback, and making decisions about rewards and development.

Profit sharing

- An incentive plan where a portion of a company's profits is distributed among employees. - It typically works by allocating a percentage of the company's annual profits to be eligible employees, usually in the form of bonuses or additional compensation

Gainsharing

- An incentive plan where employees receive bonuses or rewards based on cost savings or performance improvements. - It works by encouraging employees to suggest and implement efficiency and cost-saving measures.

Attribute approaches

- Assess jobs based on specific criteria or attributes, such as skill level, responsibility, and effort

Equity Theory

- Developed by J. Stacy Adams - Suggests that employees compare their inputs (effort, performance) and outcomes (rewards, recognition) to those of their peers. - When they perceive inequity (being over or under-rewarded), it can lead to job dissatisfaction and impact motivation.

Law of Effect

- Formulated by Edward Thorndike - States that behaviors followed by positive consequences are more likely to be repeated, while behaviors followed by negative consequences are less likely to be repeated. - It is a fundamental principle of operant conditioning

Reliability

- In the context of HR and psychology, refers to the consistency and accuracy of a measurement or assessment tool. - It is important in employee evaluations and assessments to ensure that results are stable and dependable.

Pay surveys

- Involve researching and comparing compensation rates in the job market to ensure competitive and fair pay for employees. - It considers factors such as job role, industry, location, and experience

Job Design

- Involves structuring jobs to enhance employee performance and satisfaction. - Factors include: task variety, task performance, autonomy, and feedback

Goal-setting Theory

- Proposes that setting specific, challenging goals leads to higher performance and motivation. - It works by motivating individuals to exert effort and directing their actions toward achieving those goals.

Personal incentives

- Rewards or benefits tailored to an individual's preferences and needs. - They work by motivating individuals based on their specific desires, such as promotions, flexible work hours, or professional development opportunities.

Thorndike's Law of Effect

- States that behaviors followed by positive consequences are more likely to be repeated, while behaviors followed by negative consequences are less likely to be repeated. - It is a fundamental principle of operant conditioning.

Motivation

- The driving force that initiates, directs, and sustains behavior. - It can be influenced by intrinsic factors (personal interest, fulfillment) and extrinsic factors (rewards, recognition) that encourage or discourage action.

Organizational socialization

- The process of introducing new employees to the company's culture, values, practices, and norms. - It helps them adapt to their new work environment and become integrated into the organization.

Vroom's Expectancy Theory

- This theory states that people will behave based on what they expect as a result of their behavior. In other words, people will work in relation to the expected reward. - Elements of this theory include: --- Expectancy: belief that effort leads to performance --- Instrumentality: belief that performance leads to rewards --- Valence: the value an individual places on the rewards

Consequences of pay decisions

- Trait-based perspectives: evaluating an employee's innate qualities. - Behavior-based perspectives: evaluating observable behaviors. - Results-based perspectives: evaluating outcomes and achievements.

Slogans and mottos

- Used in companies to convey a memorable and concise message that reflects the company's brand, values, and identity. - They help in marketing, branding, and creating a consistent image.

Basic Operant Conditioning Theory

- based on the principles of reinforcement and punishment. - It works by modifying behavior through the manipulation of consequences. - Its key parts include: --- The Antecedent: stimulus that triggers behavior --- Behavior itself --- The Consequence: reward or punishment

The plus and minus of merit pay

- can motivate employees based on their performance, but it may also lead to unhealthy competition and neglect of team efforts if not implemented carefully

Key jobs

- positions within an organization that are considered critical to the company's success or are highly specialized - They often receive special attention in terms of compensation and career development

Pay levels

- refer to different tiers or levels of pay within the company, often based on factors like job complexity and experience

Non-key jobs

- roles that are more standard or support functions within the organization

Pay rate ranges

- the minimum and maximum salary or wage levels set for specific job positions within an organization

respondent behavior

A _______ behavior is learned when one acts on the environment to produce desired consequences.

B

A performance measure is said to be contaminated when A) it does not measure all aspects of performance. B) it evaluates irrelevant aspects of performance. C) it is a subjective supervisory measure of job performance. D) it is not reliable over time. E) the overlap between actual job performance and the measure of job performance is maximized.

High performance followed by a reward

According to L. Thorndike's Law of Effect, what motivates employees to repeat high performance?

D.E.L. Thorndike's Law of Effect

According to _______ high performance followed by a reward will motivate employees to repeat the performance and make it recur more often in the future.

E

In McClelland's acquired needs theory... A) there are five basic needs: power, affiliation, achievement, esteem, and self-actualization B) the affiliation need may be either institutional or personal. C) we are born with our needs, and they merely become stronger over time. D) we have a need to be satisfied in our jobs. E) we learn needs as we live our lives.

Record examples of positive and negative performance throughout the year

How can a manager minimize halo perceptional error?

Safety

In Maslow's needs hierarchy, what is the work environment where employees aren't worried about harm?

Ensuring congruence with goals

What is the role of management in performance?

management

Performance _______ is the means through which managers ensure that employees' activities and outputs are congruent with the organization's goals.

360-degree appraisal

What is the technique that involves obtaining performance feedback from multiple sources?

Validity

What is the term for the extent to which a performance measure is satisfactory?

Merit pay policy

What pay policy gives raises based on supervisor appraisal of performance?

Tournament theory

THEORIES EXPLAINING COMPENSATION'S EFFECT: - encouraging competition among employees to enhance performance

Efficiency wage theory

THEORIES EXPLAINING COMPENSATION'S EFFECT: - higher pay leads to improved productivity

Agency cost theory

THEORIES EXPLAINING COMPENSATION'S EFFECT: - incentive alignment between owners and managers

punishment

TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT: - introducing aversive consequences for undesirable behavior

negative reinforcement

TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT: - removing aversive stimuli to encourage behavior

positive reinforcement

TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT: - rewarding desired behavior

extinction

TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT: - withholding reinforcement to decrease behavior

Legitimate power

What power does the Corporate Board of Directors have?

pay level

The _______ is the average compensation -- including wages, salaries, and bonuses -- of jobs in an organization.

360-degree appraisal

The _______ technique consists of obtaining performance feedback for a manager from his or her boss, direct reports, peers, and internal and external customers.

C

The initial steps of the performance management cycle involve... A) an employee and a manager identifying what the employee can do to capitalize on performance strengths. B) providing employees with training, necessary resources and tools, and frequent feedback communication. C) identifying what the company is trying to accomplish (goals or objectives), creating a set of key performance dimensions, and developing performance measures. D) performance evaluation, when the manager and the employee discuss and compare the targeted performance goals and supporting behaviors with the actual results. E) evaluating the effectiveness of the performance management system is necessary to determine needed changes.

observable artifacts, espoused (vs enacted) values, and basic underlying assumptions

The levels of organizational culture are...

Validity

The performance management system at the Proton Corporation has been carefully designed to assess all of the relevant dimensions of performance for jobs in the company. Based on this, it can be said that this performance management system possesses _______

Expectancy Theory

What theory focuses on the link between rewards and behaviors and emphasizes anticipated rewards?

Attribute-based

What type of performance methods have a strong congruence with the company's strategy?

When it evaluates irrelevant aspects of performance

When is a performance measure said to be contaminated?

efficiency wage theory, agency cost theory, tournament theory

What are the 3 theories explaining compensation's effect?

cost, quality, efficiency, supply chain management, technology, labor, safety, and environmental impact

What are the factors to consider in the production of goods and services?

Identifying goals or objectives

What are the initial steps of the performance management cycle?

positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, extinction

What are the main types of reinforcement?

pay grades, salary ranges, job evaluation methods

What are the parts of pay-setting structure?

Content theories of motivation (including Maslow's Needs Hierarchy and Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory) focus on identifying specific factors that drive human motivation

What are the theories associated with Content Theory?

Expectancy, instrumentality, valence

What are the three elements of expectancy theory?

Performance and learning

What are the two basic types of goals?

Strategic and operational

What are the two basic types of goals?

Content and process

What are the two general categories of motivation theories?

Fairness of how people are treated

What does interactional justice refer to?

Assessing all relevant dimensions of performance

What does validity refer to in a performance management system?

Motivation based on five basic needs

What is Maslow's hierarchy theory?

Learning needs as we live

What is McClelland's acquired needs theory?

Job evaluation

What is a more appropriate tool for internal equity pay comparisons than market pay surveys?

Reviewing monitoring, providing, defining are ALL steps

What is not included in the marketing step of performance management? (reviewing monitoring, providing, defining)

Means to ensure congruence with goals

What is performance management?

Pay level

What is the average compensation of jobs in an organization called?

Specific and measurable

What is the major finding of goal research?

Job structure

What is the relative pay of jobs in an organization called?

setting clear performance expectations, identifying areas for improvement, and aligning employee performance with organizational goals and objectives

What is the role of a manager in providing feedback and evaluations under performance management systems?

values; norms

_______ are core beliefs and principles that guide an organization's behavior, while _______ are unwritten rules or standards of behavior within the organization. Together, they shape the organization's culture.

Expectancy theory

_______ focuses on the link between rewards and behaviors and emphasizes anticipated rewards.

Maslow's need hierarchy theory

_______ states that motivation is a function of five basic needs that are met sequentially.