HR-Ch. 8

Which of the following statements about managers as sources of performance information are true?

managers have the ability to rate their employees, managers know about their employees' job requirements

Social performance management, which uses systems like Facebook and Yammer to allow employees to quickly communicate with one another, is particularly valued by which generations?

millennials and gen z

Effective performance evaluations systems should measure:

objectives, behaviors

The _________ approach to performance management involves managing objective measures of outcomes of a job or work group.

results

Which of the following are among the primary sources of performance information?

self, subordinates, customers

When a manager ranks the employees within his or her department from the best to the worst performers, it is called:

simple ranking

Systems like Yammer that allow employees to quickly exchange information, provide coaching, and receive recognition are referred to as:

social performance management

A performance measure that does a good job of telling employees what is expected of them and how to meet those expectations is said to have a high level of:

specificity

Which of the following are important criteria for evaluating a performance management system?

specificity, reliability, acceptability

Job performance management systems that bring out job performance that is in line with the strategies, goals, and culture of the organization is said to have:

strategic congruence

The results approach assumes that ____________ can be eliminated from the process of measuring the results of a work group.

subjectivity

Peer evaluations are particularly useful to management when:

supervisors are not often able to observe the employee

Which of the following is an advantage of the attribute approach?

the methods are easy to develop

Which of the following are drawbacks of the comparative approach?

the rankings provide little useful information to those being evaluated, the validity and reliability of the ratings are modest at best

Which of the following statements about self-ratings are true?

the ratings should not be used as the sole source of performance information, employees tend to inflate their ratings

When is it appropriate to use customer evaluations of employee performance?

when the job involves direct service to the customer, when the evaluations serve a strategic goal

The likely reason many managers doubt the effectiveness of performance appraisal systems is that:

appraisal systems are rarely modified

Which of the following is the best use of self-ratings?

as a way for the employee to prepare for a performance feedback session

Before a performance management system is implemented, an organization must first decide whom to use:

as the source of the performance measures

An approach to performance management that involves focusing on certain traits or characteristics possessed by individuals that are thought to be related to the company's success is known as the _________ approach.

attribute

The acceptability of a performance measure is determined, in part, by the extent to which the employees:

believe the performance management system is fair

When the plaintiff alleges they were unjustly treated by the performance measurement system due to their age, gender, or race, it is called a ___________ suit.

discrimination

Which of the following are examples of comparative approaches?

forced distribution, paired comparison, ranking

Performance management is crucial to:

gaining competitive advantage

The attribute approach to performance management is most frequently done with:

graphic rating scales

The simplifying mechanisms we use to make judgments are known as:

heuristics

According to research, ProMES is effective in:

increasing productivity

If two individuals give a person's job performance approximately the same evaluation, the performance measure has:

interrater reliabliity

Which of the following statements about the developmental purpose of performance management is true?

it is designed to develop employees and improve performance

Which of the following statements about the behavioral approach to measuring performance are true?

it provides specific guidance and feedback for employees, its results have high validity

Though a behavioral observation scale offers managers important insights, it can also require more information than:

managers can process

The top strategic purpose of a performance management system is establishing a link between:

employee activity and organizational goals

Specificity is relevant to which of the following aspects of performance management?

employee development, achieving strategic goals

Disadvantages of the attribute approach to measuring performance include which of the following?

employees evaluated by these methods are generally not accepting of the feedback, the validity and reliability of the methods are generally low

Which of the following are the first two steps in the performance management process?

1. identify and develop performance measures for key performance dimensions 2. identify the company's goals and objectives

True or False: A large majority of HR professionals believe that annual performance evaluations do not provide accurate information.

True

True or False: Mixed-standard scales were developed as trait-oriented scales

True

When an evaluator purposefully distorts a rating in order to achieve some company or personal goal, that rater is engaging in:

appraisal politics

Managers should consider which of the following aspects of an employee's job when they are considering ways to improve performance?

ability and motivation

Employee is given feedback about where they need to improve and they decided to not make any changes. Their reaction fits in which the _______ performance measure.

acceptability

Though paired comparison can offer managers with important insight, it can also:

be time-consuming

Managers who attempt to define which behaviors employees have to exhibit in order to effectively complete their job are using the __________ approach to performance management.

behavioral

Which of the following is similar to behaviorally anchored rating scales except that it involves the manager rating the frequency that employees exhibited each behavior during the rating period?

behavioral observation scale

Though behaviorally anchored rating scales have advantages, they also have disadvantages, such as that they:

can bias information recall

Research of the use of objectives to measure performance has revealed which of the following?

commitment to the objectives from top management results in high productivity, use of objectives usually increases productivity

The various sets of skills, knowledge, abilities, and personal characteristics associated with the successful performance of a job are known as:

competencies

In order to describe the competencies associated with an entire occupation, organization, job, family, or a specific job, managers create:

competency models

The first step in diagnosing poor performance is to:

consider whether or not the poor performance is critical to completing the job and whether it affects business results

Critics of forced distribution systems point to the disconnect among which of the following?

corporate performance, employee compensation, employees' evaluations

On a balanced scorecard, the performance perspective that focuses on processes that influence customer satisfaction is known the:

customer perspective

The best kind of performance is the kind that:

elicits positive behavioral responses

When a performance measure does not measure all aspects of performance, it is considered:

deficient

Which of the following steps are part of the attribute approach?

defining a set of desired traits, evaluating whether individuals posses certain desired traits

Competency models can be useful for which of the following HR practices?

development, training, recruiting, selection

When a graphic rating scale provides rankings at a number of different points, it is known as a ____________ scale.

discrete

Which of the following are questions managers should ask when analyzing poor employee performance?

does the employee have the required skills and knowledge?, does the employee know what is expected?, does the employee have the necessary resources to succeed?

Which of the following statements about the process of performance management is true?

effective performance management is a process

Which of the following are components of a balanced scorecard's perspectives of performance?

learning and growth, customer, operations

Which of the following are among the types of distributional rater errors?

leniency, strictness, central tendency

The behavioral approach is best suited to evaluating:

less complex jobs

Managers should consider if employees want to do the job they're doing and if employees feel they are being appropriately compensated when determining an employees'

level of motivation

Advantages of the results approach to measuring performance include which of the following?

managers and employees are generally accepting of the approach, it links an individual's results with the organization's strategies and goals, the approach minimizes subjectivity and provides quantifiable indicators of performance

Comparing every employee with every other employee in their work group and assigning a score of "1" each time that employee is considered to be the better performer, subsequently adding up the points and assigning that number as the employee's performance score is called:

paired comparison

Which of the following statements about performance management is true?

performance management is often not valued or used effectively

There are three basic purposes of an organization's:

performance management system

Which of the following administrative decisions are typically made with the aid of performance management information?

promotions, layoffs, pay raises

Which of the following statements about approaches to measuring performance is true?

there is no one best approach to measuring performance

Which of the following are potential solutions a manger might consider if a poorly performing employee understands the expected level of performance, has been given sufficient feedback, and understands the consequences but lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to meet the performance standards?

transfer the employee to a job the person's skills fit better with, provide training to the employee, fire the employee

A performance appraisal process for managers that includes subordinates' evaluations is known as:

upward feedback

Which of the following would be expected in a performance management system that is designed with a strong quality orientation?

use of multiple sources in the evaluation of person and system factors, an emphasis on cooperation in performance problem solving between managers and employees, involvement of both internal and external customers to set standards and measure performance