HRM lesson 10 study deck

According to research evidence, in which situation would an employer most have to guard against raters giving unfair low performance ratings to black employees?

when most of the employees in a work group are white

Zachary was recently made the manager of his department at Cyscon Co. He has to evaluate his subordinates' behavior in the next two weeks and is unsure if he should use the behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) or the behavioral observation scale (BOS) to assess their behavior. Which characteristic of the two would help Zachary decide the scale that would be most appropriate for him to use?

A BOS uses many instances to define the behaviors necessary for effective performance.

The human resource department of Tull Time is reviewing its performance management system to make sure it can show fairness if an employee ever complains of discrimination. Which statement is a problem that must be addressed if Tull Time is to meet that goal?

Evidence shows that raters tend to give higher ratings to persons of the rater's own race.

Jordan, the CEO of Sinc Co., believes in providing employees with a flexible and open environment to enhance their skills and growth in the company. In the context of performance management and ethical issues associated with it, which of the following would Jordan most likely oppose and why?

He would be against electronic monitoring systems because they make the employees feel like robots and that they are being watched.

Lillian is the purchasing manager at Ceramic Central, a maker of housewares. She has evaluated the first year's performance of Jason, a purchasing agent. In the evaluation, she noted that he places orders accurately, but when employees in the company ask about the status of their orders, he has difficulty finding the information for them in a timely manner. What should be the next step in performance management in this situation?

Lillian should arrange for training so Jason can learn how to look up the status of orders.

Identify a true statement about the mixed-standard scale.

It uses several statements describing each trait to produce a final score for that trait.

Cameron, a supervisor at Margolia Co., needs to appraise the performance of her subordinate, Stefan. In the context of performance information, what is the least biased source of information for appraisal and why?

Managers because their success depends on the employee's productivity.

Ty, the HR manager at Elrod Engines, is preparing a newly promoted employee for her role as a supervisor. In his experience, he will need to address the new supervisor's nervousness about conducting performance appraisals. What is the most likely cause of this nervousness?

Performance management supports administrative decisions that have a great impact on employees.

Dina, the human resource manager at K-Pack Inc., wants to use subordinates as sources of performance appraisal information. Which statement best supports that idea?

Subordinates often have reliable information about a manager's behavior toward employees.

William, a supervisor, is discussing an employee with Barb, the human resource manager at his company. The employee's performance has been falling, and the employee has been absent on several workdays. William is concerned about this change in behavior. The HR manager suggests that William encourage the employee to contact the employee assistance program (EAP) for a referral to a counselor. In which situation would Barb's advice be most appropriate?

The employee has the necessary skills but lacks motivation.

The receptionist at Brunt Inc. is punctual, polite, and always cheerful. The firm's employees and customers all love her. However, she has difficulty with the clerical tasks that the firm's prior receptionists handled. The receptionist's supervisor recommends redesigning the receptionist's job. That recommendation would be most appropriate in which situation?

The employee is highly motivated but lacks ability, and training is not expected to help.

How can an organization protect itself against discrimination and unjust dismissal lawsuits?

The requirements for job success should be clearly communicated to employees.

Maddie, an HR manager, is coaching a supervisor who needs to develop her leadership skills. Maddie suggests that the supervisor use performance feedback as a tool for the development of her employees. Which action would be an example of this purpose of performance feedback?

The supervisor uses performance measures to identify assignments that will help employees build on their strengths.

What attitude do employees typically express toward performance feedback?

They appreciate regular feedback, because they want to know if they are on track.

Fiona, a supervisor at Ronaldo Co., wants to compare the performance of her employees. If she does this by listing the employees from best to worst performer, which term describes her method?

simple ranking

he ways in which organizations use the system to provide information for day-to-day decisions about salary, benefits, and recognition programs falls under the ________ purpose of a performance management system

administrative

The ________ performance management method requires managers to rate the frequency with which an employee has exhibited a behavior during a rating period.

behavioral observation scale

Payton was recently dismissed from her job in a hardware store. She had often been late for work, and she was so unresponsive to customers' needs that the store had received several complaints about her. Furthermore, she frequently complained about policies and procedures. A week after Payton's dismissal, the store's manager learned that Payton intended to sue the company for wrongful dismissal. She was saying she had complained of management's misdeeds, so the company retaliated. How should the human resource department have prepared the company for this situation?

by setting up a performance management system that documents employee performance problems

Subordinate evaluations are the most appropriate to use for which purpose?

developmental

Corey, a supervisor, needs to rate the performance of 20 subordinates. He uses a rating scale to rate them on a scale of 1 to 10. He rates 18 employees at 5, which leads to central tendency. In the context of types of rating errors, Corey commits a ________ error.

distributional

Sabrina, a production manager at Orrin Co., needs to measure the performance of 12 of her subordinates. She divides the number of employees into categories like exceptional, above average, average, and below average. She assigns a certain percentage of employees to each category to determine the quality of their performances. In the context of methods for measuring performance, Sabrina is using the ________ method.

forced distribution

Joel is a manager at Malan Inc., and he uses a rating approach to evaluate his employees. He considers one employee at a time and circles a number or a word to signify the degree to which that employee demonstrates a particular trait in the scale. Which approach is Joel using to assess his employees?

graphic rating scale

What is the name of the rating error that leads employees to believe that no aspect of their performance needs improvement?

halo error

When an employee evaluates his or her manager low on all performance criteria due to dissatisfaction with the manager's disposition, the employee has most likely committed a(n)

horns error

Rebecca, a supervisor, is meeting with an employee whose performance has deteriorated since the previous year. The employee used to do the same work well, so Rebecca believes the problem is not likely to be related to ability. Which response would be most likely to help in this situation?

investigating whether the employee feels she has been treated fairly

The ________ method of performance measurement uses several statements describing each trait to produce a final score for that trait.

mixed-standard scale

Kathryn, a manager at Harper Haw, uses a rating tool to evaluate the performance of her subordinates. However, she finds that the scale she used did not yield consistent results, and she could not determine if a change had taken place in the performance of the employees. What was lacking in the rating scale?

reliability