Deck 6: Motivating Behaviour With Work and Rewards

Question 1

Employee share option plans are incentive programmes in which employees are given shares in the company at no charge.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Performance measurement with a judgemental orientation focuses on the future and uses information to improve performance.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

An organisation that uses a flexible reward system may allow employees to choose the combination of benefits they prefer, but not how they receive their pay.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The surface value of a reward to an employee is its objective meaning of worth.

Question 5

The purpose of reward systems in most organisations is to attract, retain and motivate qualified employees.

Question 6

Individual performance measurement methods include behaviourally anchored rating scales and checklists.

Question 7

For difficult goals to motivate behaviour, they must be set at a reasonable level so they are possible to attain.

Question 8

A policy of pay secrecy can be expected to improve workers' motivation.

Question 9

A performance management system comprises the processes and activities involved in performance appraisals.

Question 10

Goal difficulty is the clarity and precision of a goal.

Question 11

360-degree feedback includes evaluations from a boss and peers, but not from subordinates.

Question 12

Expatriates should be paid differently from their domestic equivalent workers when there are cost-of-living differences in their host areas.

Question 13

Appraising performance at the individual level is acceptable in a country like the United States.

Question 14

In most measurement systems, the employee's primary evaluator is her supervisor's supervisor.

Question 15

An organisation's pension, unemployment and workers' compensation contributions are set by law.

Question 16

Goal-setting theory assumes that individual behaviour results from conscious goals and intentions.

Question 17

Bonus systems and piecework programmes are considered incentive-based compensation systems.

Question 18

Base pay includes such compensation as gain-sharing and profit-sharing programmes.

Question 19

Organisations can usually benefit from conducting performance appraisals on an annual basis.

Question 20

SARS has begun to tax some perquisites given to employees.

Question 21

Expansions on goal-setting theory argue that goal-directed effort is a function of four goal attributes: goal acceptance, goal commitment, goal specificity and

A) goal clarity.
B) goal prevalence.
C) goal importance.
D) goal difficulty.
E) goal attainability.

Question 22

Job enrichment involves giving employees more control over the tasks they perform on the job.

Question 23

Companies use job rotation as a training technique and rely on it to enhance employee motivation.

Question 24

The foremost disadvantage of job specialisation is the extreme monotony of highly specialised tasks.

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT part of the performance measurement process?

A) Comparing an employee's work behaviour with previously established standards
B) Communicating the results to the employee
C) Rewarding the employee according to his or her performance
D) Evaluating an employee's work behaviour by measurement
E) Documenting the results

Question 26

Extended work schedules require employees to work for extended periods of time followed by long periods of paid time off.

Question 27

The research of Edwin Locke assumes that behaviour is a result of

A) the requirements established by the organisation.
B) the organisational culture.
C) conscious goals and intentions.
D) the internal organisational forces to increase profits.
E) None of these are correct.

Question 28

Goal-setting theory has been tested in a variety of settings.Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding the findings of these studies?

A) Goal setting is an important way for managers to convert motivation into improved job performance.
B) Goal difficulty and goal specificity are closely related to performance.
C) Little is currently known about how individuals accept and become committed to goals.
D) Goal setting may focus too much on the short-term at the expense of long-term issues.
E) Goals set for organisations as a whole are typically more effective than goals set for individual employees.

Question 29

A quality circle is a group of employees who are assigned to inspection teams that ensure production quality on an assembly line.

Question 30

Self-efficacy, as it relates to goals, is the extent to which an individual

A) is willing to expend effort in order to attain a goal.
B) believes he or she can accomplish goals even if he or she failed to do so in the past.
C) is personally interested in reaching a goal.
D) accepts a goal as his or her own.
E) believes that a goal is worthwhile.

Question 31

On the whole, job design has produced disappointing results in the corporate setting.

Question 32

Goal specificity has been shown to be consistently related to

A) job satisfaction.
B) company image.
C) performance.
D) social responsibility.
E) ethical behaviour.

Question 33

Job rotation often produces narrowly focused and routine jobs, which is a distinct limitation of the approach.

Question 34

Job rotation and job enlargement were developed as alternative ways to design jobs instead of through job specialisation.

Question 35

All of the following statements are true about MBO EXCEPT that

A) it is a collaborative goal-setting process.
B) goals systematically cascade down through the organisation.
C) it is the same as the 360-degree feedback system.
D) top managers establish overall goals.
E) the manager acts as a counsellor.

Question 36

Frederick Taylor's view of job specialisation grew from the historical writing about division of labour advocated by Scottish economist Adam Smith.

Question 37

Job design involves how organisations design work that is performed in a company, rather than how jobs are structured.

Question 38

Goal specificity is defined as the

A) extent to which a goal is challenging and requires effort.
B) extent to which a person accepts a goal as her own.
C) extent to which a person is personally interested in reaching the goal.
D) justification for the goal's existence.
E) clarity and precision of a goal.

Question 39

Goal __________ is defined as the extent to which a person is interested in reaching a goal.

A) difficulty
B) commitment
C) acceptance
D) attachment
E) specificity

Question 40

According to goal-setting theory, actual performance is determined by the interaction of

A) organisational support, goal-directed effort and individual abilities.
B) availability of resources, employee attitudes and goal clarity.
C) goal-directed effort, employee motivation and goal specificity.
D) goal difficulty, employee attitudes and organisational support.
E) goal importance, goal attachment and goal specificity.

Question 41

What is the likely impact of perquisites on the employees who receive them?

A) A lowered sense of commitment to the organisation
B) An elevated sense of status in the organisation
C) A perceived levelling out of special privileges among employees
D) Increased turnover due to lower restrictions on travel
E) Reduced job satisfaction since perquisites can be taxed

Question 42

Two of the most important issues regarding how to conduct a performance appraisal are

A) whether the appraiser takes a judgemental or developmental orientation and whether pay is linked to performance.
B) where the appraisal takes place and who is present at the time.
C) who does the appraisal and the frequency of the appraisal.
D) how long the appraisal lasts and how often it occurs.
E) whether the appraisal uses past or current information and whether one or many raters are used.

Question 43

What is the primary use of performance appraisal information?

A) To provide job performance feedback
B) To develop training and development programmes
C) To provide support for human resource decision making
D) To provide human resource planning information
E) To allocate organisational rewards

Question 44

The organisation's compensation structure should be

A) equitable.
B) open to the public.
C) established outside of legal constraints
D) below the external labour market.
E) based on interview data.

Question 45

The choice of which behaviours to reward is a function of the __________ system.

A) compensation
B) performance measurement
C) performance management
D) managerial
E) total quality management

Question 46

One of the most popular methods for evaluating individual performance involves

A) graphic rating scales.
B) bell curve ratings.
C) forced distributions.
D) rankings.
E) paired comparisons.

Question 47

Plans in which employees can earn additional compensation in return for certain types of performance are called

A) performance management systems.
B) performance appraisal systems.
C) incentive systems.
D) compensation packages.
E) base pay.

Question 48

When a few employees are given a small reward to show that they are appreciated, the reward carries __________ value.

A) symbolic
B) tangible
C) surface
D) compensation
E) intangible

Question 49

Which of the following reasons explains why 360-degree feedback is highly beneficial to managers?

A) It gives managers a much wider range of feedback than traditional performance appraisals do.
B) This type of feedback is performed more frequently than traditional methods of feedback.
C) This form of feedback is the easiest to administer and is the most cost-efficient form of appraisal.
D) It helps managers to be more aware of their employees' day-to-day performance.
E) The feedback focuses on objective performance criteria.

Question 50

Which of the following statements about performance measurement with a developmental orientation is true?

A) A developmental orientation entails a focus on past performance.
B) Developmental performance measurement focuses on an employee's growth since the last appraisal.
C) Developmental performance appraisals are used to determine wages and salary increases.
D) Performance appraisals with a developmental orientation provide information for future performance improvement.
E) A developmental orientation helps managers punish undesirable behaviours and demote low-performing employees.

Question 51

Which of the following distributes a portion of the company's profits to all employees at a predetermined rate?

A) Merit pay plan
B) Gain-sharing programme
C) Profit-sharing programme
D) Employee share option plan
E) Piecework programme

Question 52

Which of the following is true about 360-degree feedback?

A) Very few companies have adopted 360-degree systems.
B) Traditional evaluations are usually more effective than 360-degree systems.
C) Evaluators in a 360-degree system tend to focus on objective performance.
D) Managers are likely to hear some personal comments on sensitive topics.
E) Using 360-degree feedback has several key advantages, and virtually no disadvantages.

Question 53

Which of the following ties a worker's earnings to the number of units produced?

A) Merit pay plan
B) Gain-sharing programme
C) Profit-sharing programme
D) Employee share option plan
E) Piecework programme

Question 54

What can supervisors do to avoid measurement problems when they have only limited knowledge of the employee's performance?

A) Prevent the employee from working with the supervisor in the appraisal
B) Avoid allowing employees to evaluate themselves
C) Use a multiple-rater system
D) Perform the evaluation with the information currently available to the supervisor
E) Plan training programmes to improve observation and categorisation skills

Question 55

In a highly collectivist culture such as Japan, performance appraisals almost always need to be focused more on

A) individual effort and results.
B) group performance and feedback.
C) competitive analysis with co-workers.
D) accurate collection of information.
E) 360-degree feedback.

Question 56

All of the following are true about employee benefits EXCEPT

A) some organisations pay the entire cost of benefits.
B) offering benefits became a standard component of compensation during World War II.
C) some employees demand benefits through union bargaining.
D) providing employee benefits is easier for organisations in South Africa than for organisations in other countries.
E) organisations are required by law to offer certain benefits.

Question 57

Alfred was one of many employees who received a generous Christmas bonus, which carried __________ value for Alfred.

A) symbolic
B) tangible
C) surface
D) compensation
E) intangible

Question 58

In exchange for employee contributions, an organisation provides rewards such as pay and insurance benefits.These kinds of rewards are combined to create

A) compensation packages.
B) intangible compensation.
C) symbolic rewards.
D) system rewards.
E) resource exchanges.

Question 59

Organisations typically conduct performance appraisals

A) when the employee asks for one.
B) when the manager asks for one.
C) quarterly.
D) once a year.
E) more frequently for older employees than for younger ones.

Question 60

Which of the following is NOT one of the four key components of organisational success, according to the balanced scorecard approach?

A) Customer perceptions
B) Financial performance
C) Internal business processes
D) Individual employee turnover
E) Innovation and learning

Question 61

The critical psychological states of the job characteristics theory include all of the following EXCEPT

A) knowledge of results.
B) individual perceptions that the job is valuable and worthwhile.
C) experienced meaningfulness of the work.
D) individual perceptions of accountability and responsibility.
E) recognition for work outcomes.

Question 62

Which of the following best describes a reward system that involves employees in its design and administration?

A) Open pay system
B) Bonus system
C) Participative pay system
D) Merit pay plan
E) Flexible reward system

Question 63

One of the earliest alternatives to job specialisation used by managers was

A) automation.
B) autonomous work groups.
C) job expectancy.
D) job loading.
E) job rotation.

Question 64

Which one of the following statements has been cited as a weakness of the job characteristics theory?

A) Guidelines for implementation are too specific.
B) All changes to a job must occur simultaneously.
C) The role of individual differences frequently has not been supported by scientific research.
D) The theory assumes that job characteristics are unpredictable and inconsistent.
E) One application of the theory found that absenteeism and turnover actually increased.

Question 65

Participation occurs when employees

A) work together in teams.
B) have a voice in decisions about their own work.
C) work closely with a mentor or supervisor.
D) join a labour union or other employee association.
E) become fully vested in a benefits programme.

Question 66

In the job characteristics theory, which of the following is not a factor presumed to cause the emergence of psychological states?

A) Task identity
B) Experienced responsibility
C) Task significance
D) Feedback
E) Autonomy

Question 67

Which of the following best describes the current view of job enrichment?

A) Job enrichment continues to be a highly successful job design.
B) Nearly all Fortune 500 companies use some form of job enrichment programme.
C) Job enrichment has been proven to increase performance, but at the cost of lower satisfaction.
D) Job enrichment has been proven to increase satisfaction, but at the cost of lower performance.
E) Job enrichment has recently fallen into disfavour among managers.

Question 68

The first widespread model of how individual work should be designed was

A) job enrichment.
B) job rotation.
C) job enlargement.
D) motivational design.
E) job specialisation.

Question 69

Which of the following is the primary problem associated with the specialisation of jobs?

A) Involvement in too much of the production cycle
B) Slow pace of work
C) Boredom
D) Lower efficiency
E) Frequent social interaction with others

Question 70

Which theory serves as the basis for job enrichment?

A) Equity theory
B) Need theory
C) Expectancy theory
D) Maslow's hierarchy of needs
E) None of these

Question 71

____ is the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.

A) Task identity
B) Task meaningfulness
C) Task visibility
D) Task recognition
E) Task significance

Question 72

The problems encountered when implementing job rotation in the workplace include all of the following EXCEPT

A) it is ineffective for training purposes.
B) it doesn't increase workers' motivation.
C) its increases in workers' interest are short-lived.
D) it reduces efficiency.
E) it maintains narrowly defined and routine work.

Question 73

Why are flexible reward systems becoming an increasingly popular form of compensation systems?

A) Employees value flexible reward systems and may develop strong loyalty and attachment to an employer who provides them.
B) The flexible reward system allows the organisation to trade off salary increases for benefit increases as ways of rewarding the employee.
C) Flexible reward systems allow the organisation to standardise the benefits package for all employees.
D) Organisations get fewer benefits for their rand than they do with standard approaches, but their employees are more satisfied.
E) Flexible systems require less administrative time to develop and maintain than conventional approaches.

Question 74

Job enlargement involves the process of horizontal job loading, meaning that

A) the employee is assigned more tasks to perform.
B) the jobs are broken into small, component parts.
C) each employee is given a specialised task to perform.
D) the employee is assigned less monotonous and routine tasks.
E) the employee is assigned tasks with more responsibility.

Question 75

Vertical job loading differs from job enlargement in that

A) the employee has more control over the job.
B) the employee's job satisfaction receives more attention.
C) more tasks are added to a job.
D) workers feel as though they are doing something worthwhile.
E) managers strive to motivate employees by maximising intrinsic factors.

Question 76

The degree to which the job activities give a person information about the effectiveness of performance is called

A) skill variety.
B) feedback.
C) task identity.
D) skill identity.
E) task variety.

Question 77

All of the following statements about the key outcomes expected to result from the psychological states detailed in the job characteristics theory are true EXCEPT

A) low absenteeism and turnover.
B) high satisfaction with work.
C) high-quality work performance.
D) high profits for shareholders.
E) high internal work motivation.

Question 78

Which of the following is an example of a job design technique?

A) Job enlargement
B) Job realisation
C) Job creation
D) Job equity
E) Job expectancy

Question 79

Which of the following methods can be used to enhance individual performance at work?

A) Job design
B) Employee participation
C) Goal setting
D) Performance management
E) All of these are correct.

Question 80

The degree to which the job allows an individual substantial freedom and independence is called

A) autonomy.
B) task significance.
C) feedback
D) job integration.
E) job description.