HR Exam 3
Which of these terms refers to a behavioral approach to performance rating that consists of a series of vertical scales, one for each important dimension of job performance?
BARS
A manager who rates an average employee's performance high based on a comparison of that employee to poor performers commits a
Contrast error
Which of these bonus incentive plans uses employee and management committees to gain cost-reduction improvements?
Scanlon plan
An employee's relative worth can be determined by
an effective performance appraisal system
The philosophy behind the Scanlon plan is that
employees should make suggestions to improve performance and be rewarded for their contributions
One section of the evaluation form used at SkyGen lists the traits of initiative, independence, cooperation, attention to detail, and punctuality. The rater indicates the degree to which the employee exhibits each trait on a 5-point scale. This illustrates the
graphic rating scale method
Employees covered by the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act are labeled
nonexempt employees
When a non-exempt employee is paid 1.5 times his base rate for all hours worked over 40 during a given week, this is referred to as:
overtime wage
Which of the following is an internal factor that can influence the rates at which employees are paid?
the employers ability to play
Employees are classified as exempt or nonexempt under:
the fair labor act
Social Security payments of survivors' insurance benefits calculations are
. based on the worker's lifetime earnings covered by Social Security.
Halle and Tierney work for the federal government. How many holidays can they expect to be paid for each year?
10
For the Family and Medical Leave Act to apply to an organization, it must have how many employees during 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding year?
50
Administrative purposes of performance appraisal include which of the following
Documenting personnel decisions
Which of the following pieces of legislation greatly improved the communication of employee benefits information?
Employee Retirement Income Security Act
Which of the following statements presents a guideline for meeting legal requirements of performance reviews?
Employee evaluations must be based on clear, written job standards.
VirtualCorp is reviewing its benefits package. Which of the following benefits would VirtualCorp be able to discontinue since it is not a legally required employee benefit?
Employer contributions to minimum life insurance
Globisys uses a bonus plan that is based on overall group productivity in which the determination of a bonus includes both production employees and nonproduction. Which type of gainsharing program is being used?
Improshare
Developmental purposes of performance appraisal include which of the following?
Recognizing individual performance
Which of the following explains the failure of an appraisal program?
They are not useful for the majority of employees in the middle in terms of performance
Which of these accurately describes a reason that performance appraisals sometimes fail?
They tend to focus on individual achievements over teamwork.
When setting performance measures for incentive systems, we can say that the best measures are those that
are quantitative, simple to understand, and show a clear relationship to improved performance.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, exempt employees
are those employees not covered by the overtime provisions of the act
Which of these terms refers to the collapsing of many traditional salary grades into a few wide salary groups?
broadbanding
When individual employees are able to choose the benefits best suited to their particular needs, their employer is offering which of the following?
cafateria plans
Which tool collects and displays the results for all the measures that a company uses to monitor and compare pay among internal departments or units?
compensation scorecard
If an appraisal focuses on a narrow set of results criteria to the exclusion of other important but less quantifiable performance dimensions, the performance management system may suffer from
criterion deficiency.
If the performance evaluations that salespeople receive are based solely on sales revenue to the exclusion of other important factors, the performance management system suffers from
criterion deficiency.
employee wages and salaries, incentives, bonuses, and commissions are part of
direct compensation
Which of these terms refers to a trait approach to performance rating that requires the rater to write a statement describing an employee's behavior?
easy method
Online benefits systems, which can result in significant cost savings in benefits administration, are often referred to a
employee self-service systems.
Employees' anticipation that greater work effort will result in a valued reward forms the basis of
expectancy theory
A method of rating performance in which the rater chooses from statements that appear equally favorable or equally unfavorable is known as the
forced choice method
Job evaluation helps to establish
internal equity
In which of these job evaluation systems are jobs arrayed on the basis of their relative worth?
job ranking system
Which of the following is an individual type of incentive plan?
lump sum merit pay
Which of these terms refers to a trait approach to performance rating similar to other scale methods but based on a comparison with (better than, equal to, or worse than) a standard?
mixed-standard scale method
When communicating benefits programs to employees, it is a good idea to use
multiple media techniques.
Which term refers to groups of jobs within a particular class that are paid the same rate?
pay grades
One advantage of peer evaluations is that
peers may furnish more accurate and valid information than supervisors
Instrumentality of compensation package elements refers to
rewards that are valued and motivate employees.
Raj likes to give small rewards to employees "caught in the act" of doing something good, even if that effort is not directly tied to a performance standard. By doing this, Raj is making use of a
spot bonus
The pay for employees on the GRX line at Globisys is not based on the actual amount of time it takes them to complete a job. Rather, they are paid based on a predetermined amount of time for completing the job. These employees are working under the
standard hour play
The strategic relevance of performance appraisals refers to the extent to which
standards relate to the overall objectives of the organization.
Which of the following falls into the category of enterprise incentive plans?
stock options
In order to motivate employees, Evan wants to use an appraisal system that allows them to see clearly how their performance ties into the overall performance of the firm. Evan should use
the balanced scorecard approach
Pay-for-performance programs
tie rewards to employee effort.
Which of the following explains why a company would increase the amounts that employees have to pay toward their benefits by increasing premiums or deductibles?
to contain costs
Which of these is part of the administrative purpose of a performance review?
to identify performance problems and develop ways to correct them
Which of the following is a common goal of a strategic compensation policy?
to reward employees on past performance