Deck 8: Performance Management

Question 1

Explanation: Feedback is most useful when it is immediate and general in nature.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Most performance evaluations focus on long-term improvement,rather than short-term achievements.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

A team evaluation approach is well suited for a company advocating a total-quality management philosophy.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

"Management-by-objectives" is one of the best performance evaluation approaches to use if a company's production system is surrounded by uncertainty and variability.

Question 5

A significant weakness of 360-degree evaluation is the complexity associated with combining all the responses.

Question 6

Self-assessment is useful to ensure the employee knows against what criteria he or she is evaluated,thus eliminating surprises.

Question 7

Performance is a function of ability,motivation,and environment.

Question 8

Administrative purposes for performance evaluations include documenting personnel decisions and identifying individual training needs.

Question 9

Organizational politics can introduce bias into even the most fairly administered performance evaluations.

Question 10

Behavioural methods are often useful for providing employees with developmental feedback.

Question 11

The best evaluation method to use depends upon the purpose of the evaluation.

Question 12

Developmental approaches to performance evaluation recognize that a manager's purpose is to improve job behaviours,not just evaluate past performance.

Question 13

Criterion deficiency occurs when performance standards focus on a single criterion to the exclusion of other important but less quantifiable performance dimensions.

Question 14

Graphic rating scales include sets of statements between which the rater must choose,such as "works hard" vs."works quickly."

Question 15

Because the evaluation interview is for developmental purposes,the interviewer rather than the employee should spend the majority of the time sharing information.

Question 16

One of the primary strengths of results evaluations is that they encourage employees to focus on long-term performance indicators.

Question 17

Reliability refers to measures that are consistent across raters and over time.

Question 18

One weakness of many performance evaluation programs is that supervisors are not adequately trained; consequently,they provide little meaningful feedback to subordinates.

Question 19

Requiring raters to use a forced distribution reduces the chance of leniency or strictness errors.

Question 20

Ineffective handling of performance evaluations may result in court cases or other legal action.

Question 21

An error of central tendency is a performance-rating error in which all employees are more or less rated as average.

Question 22

Criterion contamination occurs when factors outside an employee's control influence his or her performance.

Question 23

The similar-to-me error occurs when appraisers inflate the evaluations of people with whom they have something in common.

Question 24

One disadvantage of peer evaluations is that they furnish less valid information than evaluations by superiors.

Question 25

Trait evaluation approaches continue to be the most popular systems despite their inherent subjectivity.

Question 26

A major drawback of the essay method is that composing an essay that attempts to cover all of an employee's essential characteristics is very time-consuming.

Question 27

Internal customers are the most important source of valuable performance information for both developmental and administrative purposes.

Question 28

One of the disadvantages of the critical incident method is that it tends to lead to recency error.

Question 29

Peer evaluations should be used primarily for developmental purposes.

Question 30

Contrast errors are most likely when raters are required to rank employees in order from the best to the poorest.

Question 31

Peer evaluations are useful for ratings on dimensions such as leadership and interpersonal skills.

Question 32

Surprisingly,self-evaluations are typically equal to or lower than the traditional approach to evaluations where a manager fills them out.

Question 33

Depending on the industry,managers should provide performance feedback on an annual basis.

Question 34

Measurable and quantifiable performance objectives are requirements for a successful MBO program.

Question 35

The critical incident method facilitates employee feedback and development.

Question 36

Results evaluations give employees more responsibility for outcomes and discretion over how to accomplish them.

Question 37

One of the benefits of the forced-choice method is the relatively small cost of establishing and maintaining its validity.

Question 38

Developmental purposes for performance evaluation include validating selection criteria and meeting legal requirements.

Question 39

One of the primary strengths of results evaluations is that they are not likely to suffer from contamination by external factors that employees cannot influence.

Question 40

Most organizations that implement 360-degree evaluation start with an exclusive focus on development.

Question 41

The similar-to-me error,like contrast,results in less-than-accurate performance ratings,but would not be considered discriminatory.

Question 42

Feedback training for raters should include communicating effectively,diagnosing causes of performance problems,and setting goals.

Question 43

Self-evaluations should be used primarily for developmental purposes.

Question 44

What are four basic elements that must be considered when establishing performance standards?

A)criterion deficiency,criterion contamination,strategic relevance,and reliability
B)feedback,accuracy,reliability,and validity
C)supervisory ratings,reliability,validity,and peer evaluations
D)performance ratings,peer evaluations,reliability and validity

Question 45

Three types of evaluation interviews are tell-and-sell,tell-and-listen,and problem-solving.

Question 46

In order to increase employee motivation levels,written performance standards should be objective but not defined in quantifiable and measurable terms.

Question 47

Results-oriented approaches are the most widely used,despite their subjectivity.

Question 48

Using the evaluation system for compensation decisions rather than developmental purposes may affect how the rater evaluates the employee.

Question 49

The main advantage of a BARS is that it requires minimal time and effort to develop.

Question 50

In most instances,one person can easily observe and evaluate an employee's performance.

Question 51

Team evaluations are a collection of the individual evaluations of a work unit.

Question 52

Ideally,performance evaluations should be linked to the strategic objectives of the organization.

Question 53

A potential drawback of a trait-oriented performance evaluation is that it may be biased and subjective.

Question 54

In general,performance evaluation can be classified as either administrative or developmental.

Question 55

The balanced scorecard approach integrates four categories: financial,customer,processes,and outcomes.

Question 56

Dividing the evaluation interview into two sessions,one for the performance review and the other for the employee's growth plans,is a good strategy to improve communication between the parties.

Question 57

If an evaluation program is used to provide a written evaluation for salary action and at the same time used as a means of motivating employees to improve upon their performance,the administrative and developmental purposes may be in conflict.

Question 58

Criterion contamination occurs when correlations between two raters of an employee are inconsistent.

Question 59

The balanced scorecard approach translates broad goals into increasingly specific goals,so that individuals can see how their performance relates to the overall performance of the firm.

Question 60

A performance evaluation program can be used for many purposes,including salary recommendations and the retention and termination of employees.

Question 61

Which of the following is NOT a developmental purpose of performance evaluation?

A)meeting legal requirements
B)providing performance feedback
C)improving communication
D)identifying an individual's strengths and weaknesses

Question 62

ABC Corporation uses several raters to assess their employees' performance,after which the company does correlation analyses on the various ratings.What is ABC Corporation trying to figure out?

A)the level of contamination of the ratings
B)whether the ratings are deficient
C)the rewards that will be associated with good performance
D)the reliability of the ratings

Question 63

How often should performance feedback be delivered?

A)It should be done at least annually.
B)It depends on the organizational culture,industry,and supervisor's style.
C)It should be done at regular intervals-the more frequent the better.
D)It should be an ongoing,regular part of supervisor-subordinate interactions.

Question 64

Of the following interview methods,which is the most proactive on the part of the interviewer?

A)tell-and-listen
B)tell-and-sell
C)problem solving
D)essay

Question 65

In developing a new performance evaluation system,Organization C made an evaluation plan,decided who would be doing the appraising and how it would be done,and even included evaluation training.Which one of the following is an important step that Organization C missed?

A)clearly communicating in advance the company's plans for employees who do not meet standards.
B)gaining support from top management,which should occur near the beginning of the process
C)informing employees how the process would go to alleviate anxiety
D)examining the performance standards through job analysis

Question 66

The evaluation interview should be divided into two sessions.What should those two sessions contain?

A)positive comments and negative comments
B)establishing performance standards and reviewing performance
C)performance review and compensation discussion
D)performance review and employee growth plans

Question 67

Tracy was evaluated by multiple raters in her last job,including her supervisor,customers,peers,and clients.What performance evaluation system was most likely used in this instance?

A)whole-team evaluations
B)peer evaluations
C)360-degree feedback
D)multiplicative feedback

Question 68

Which of the following performance evaluation methods are considered as the most subjective?

A)traits methods
B)behavioural methods
C)behaviourally anchored rating methods
D)results methods

Question 69

Which of the following methods require an appraiser to rate the degree to which the employee possesses a trait or characteristic?

A)behaviourally anchored rating scale
B)graphic rating scale
C)forced-choice method
D)critical incident method

Question 70

Which of the following is an accurate listing of the factors that affect performance?

A)motivation,organizational culture,and leadership factors
B)motivation,environment,and ability factors
C)organizational culture,motivation,and ability factors
D)ability,job design,and motivation factors

Question 71

What is the foundation for performance standards in the development of effective performance management systems?

A)the knowledge and experience of HR managers
B)feedback from customers
C)job-related requirements derived from a job analysis
D)job evaluations

Question 72

John,an average performer,was inaccurately assessed as excellent because he was compared to Alex,a very poor performer.What type of evaluation error is evident in this example?

A)recency error
B)halo error
C)contrast error
D)similar-to-me error

Question 73

Which of the following uses critical incidents as examples at different points along the scale?

A)the global rating
B)the mixed-standard scale
C)dimensional rating
D)the behaviourally anchored rating scale

Question 74

Which of the following processes would help to improve the consistency and reliability of employee ratings?

A)job evaluations
B)external validation
C)strategic rewards
D)calibration

Question 75

Why are self-evaluations better for developmental versus administrative purposes?

A)because the evaluations are inflated because employees tend to rate themselves highly
B)because the evaluations are accurate
C)because employees prefer using them for developmental purposes
D)because legal challenges would be difficult to successfully defend

Question 76

Why is performance evaluation important?

A)because it is key to the validation of selection procedures,which are the foundation of all HR practices
B)because all organizations need to weed out lower-performing individuals at a rate of about 10 percent of employees per annum
C)because employees need to know that they are being evaluated in order to perform at an appropriate level
D)because the success of the entire HR program depends on knowing how the performance of employees compares with the goals established for them

Question 77

Performance evaluation methods can be broadly classified in which of the following categories of approaches?

A)trait,behavioural,and judgmental approaches
B)behavioural,judgmental,and results approaches
C)behavioural,judgmental,and results approaches
D)trait,behavioural,and results approaches

Question 78

Some organizations ask managers to place a percentage of their employees in the bottom performance category on every performance evaluation exercise,which in some cases may mean they are fired.Which type of performance evaluation method does this exemplify?

A)forced-distribution system
B)checklist method
C)percent method
D)forced-choice method

Question 79

Which of the following are the two primary purposes of performance evaluations?

A)informative and developmental purposes
B)administrative and developmental purposes
C)administrative and informative purposes
D)managerial and administrative purposes

Question 80

Magee was rated higher than she deserved by her supervisor; her supervisor wanted to look good in the eyes of her own superiors.Which of the following is illustrated in this example?

A)criterion deficiency
B)criterion exaggeration
C)criterion contamination
D)organizational politics