Deck 11: Performance Appraisals

Question 1

In situations where the nature of the task is so uncertain that it may be difficult to specify expected goals,the most appropriate rating format is _____.

A) an MBO format
B) a standard rating scale
C) a behaviorally anchored rating scale
D) an essay format

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is the best appraisal format in terms of legal defensibility?

A) BARS
B) MBO
C) Essay format
D) Ranking method

Answer 2

A

Question 3

When a job involves very routine,mechanistic tasks,the most appropriate appraisal format is:

A) BARS.
B) MBO.
C) standard rating scales.
D) alternation ranking.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following rating formats has the lowest rating errors?

A) Standard rating scales
B) BARS
C) MBO
D) Ranking

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT true regarding self-ratings?

A) They are done by someone who has the most complete knowledge about the ratee's performance.
B) They are best used for development.
C) They are often used as the first step in the appraisal process.
D) They are immune to leniency errors.

Question 6

Subordinate ratings _____.

A) are likely to be inflated if they are not anonymous
B) are immune to halo errors
C) are immune to horn errors
D) are used by 70 percent of all team-style organizations

Question 7

In _____ ranking,raters look at a list of employees,decide who the best employee is,and cross that person's name off the list.From the remaining names,the manager decides who the worst employee is and crosses that name off the list-and so forth.

A) paired-comparison
B) straight
C) alternation
D) forced distribution

Question 8

_____ is the best appraisal format across the five criteria for evaluating rating formats.

A) Ranking
B) MBO
C) BARS
D) Standard rating scales

Question 9

Which of the following is a negative outcome of the management by objectives method?

A) Increased difficulty of the planning process
B) Decrease in superior/subordinate communication
C) Increase in performance pressure and stress
D) Lack of direction for work units

Question 10

Deming's major argument regarding performance appraisals is that:

A) the work situation is the major determinant of performance.
B) performance appraisals reduce teamwork.
C) peer ratings are better than supervisor ratings.
D) lack of training makes performance appraisals redundant.

Question 11

A major criticism of standard rating scales is that:

A) raters have different definitions of scale levels.
B) raters find them hard to use.
C) they are expensive to develop.
D) they encourage halo and horns errors.

Question 12

Telling raters that sometimes the work environment and system affect job performance more than the individual employee's behavior:

A) makes the ratings completely accurate.
B) leads to higher ratings.
C) has no effect on the ratings.
D) leads to lower ratings.

Question 13

Among peer raters,the most objective evaluations are given by:

A) workers who are friends of the ratees.
B) workers who are not close friends with ratees.
C) high-performing workers.
D) low-performing workers.

Question 14

The best appraisal format for employee development is:

A) the BARS format.
B) the MBO format.
C) the essay format.
D) the ranking format.

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT a strength of supervisors as raters?

A) They are knowledgeable about subordinates' jobs.
B) Their ratings are immune to halo and leniency errors.
C) Supervisors have rating experience.
D) They assign work to subordinates.

Question 16

A horn error occurs when an employee is:

A) consistently rated higher than deserved.
B) given a favorable rating on all job duties based on his or her impressive performance in just one job function.
C) downgraded across all performance dimensions because of poor performance on one dimension.
D) consistently rated lower than deserved.

Question 17

In which of the following jobs is it most appropriate to use behaviorally anchored rating scales?

A) The job of a trainer that requires training new employees every month
B) The job of a web designer that requires designing websites according to client expectations
C) An assembly line job that requires tightening nuts on an engine
D) A client relations job that requires bringing in new clients to a firm

Question 18

Which of the following types of rankings would be least preferred by managers of more than 10-15 employees?

A) Straight ranking
B) Alternation ranking
C) Paired-comparison ranking
D) Forced distribution ranking

Question 19

The most common form of outcomes-based appraisal is:

A) the essay method.
B) MBO.
C) the performance standards review.
D) the BARS.

Question 20

A study of ratings of managers found that approximately only _____ percent of the managers were rated below average.

A) 30
B) 20
C) 10
D) 5

Question 21

Louie received the highest performance rating and is in the second quartile of his pay range.He received a pay increase of 8 percent.Bart also received the highest performance rating and is in the fourth quartile.Given the way most merit increase grids work,what size of pay increase would you expect Bart to receive?

A) Less than 8 percent
B) More than 8 percent
C) 8 percent
D) There is no relationship between ratings and position in pay range.

Question 22

Rankings are more popular among managers than ratings as they are less complex.

Question 23

Last year your performance was not very good and your performance rating was below average,but this year you have done very well by exceeding your performance goals.To your surprise,your boss gives you just an average performance rating.What error has your boss most likely committed?

A) Horn error
B) Halo error
C) Severity error
D) Spillover error

Question 24

Employees who are dissatisfied with performance appraisals are less satisfied with their pay.

Question 25

Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A) Workers who start out high in performance and then get worse are rated lower than workers who remain consistently low.
B) Workers whose performance improves over time are seen as more motivated.
C) Workers whose performance is consistently average are rated higher than those who perform better at the end of a rating cycle.
D) Workers whose performance varies over time are seen as less motivated.

Question 26

In most Asian cultures,employees do not welcome performance feedback.

Question 27

The performance of hourly workers is more accurately tied to quantifiable measures than the performance of managerial workers.

Question 28

Some experts argue that applying total-quality-management principles to performance appraisals can improve them.

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT true regarding performance appraisals?

A) Race has no effect in layoff decisions.
B) Males are rated higher than females.
C) Raters with traditional stereotypes rate females less accurately.
D) Variation in performance affects ratings.

Question 30

Which of the following is statements is true of leniency errors?

A) It is the error of consistently rating someone higher than is deserved.
B) It is the error of avoiding extremes in ratings across employees.
C) It is the error of downgrading an employee across all performance dimensions exclusively because of poor performance on one dimension.
D) It is the error of giving better ratings to individuals who are like the rater in behavior and personality.

Question 31

Jake's new car was dented by his employee,Steve.Ever since then,Jake has been consistently giving lower ratings to Steve during performance reviews to get back at him.Which of the following errors has been exhibited by Jake?

A) Halo error
B) Severity error
C) Leniency error
D) Clone error

Question 32

Teaching raters what constitutes good,average,and poor performance is _____ training.

A) performance-standard
B) rater-error
C) performance-dimension
D) Six-Sigma

Question 33

In contrast to ranking formats,rating formats require raters to evaluate employees on some absolute standard rather than relative to other employees.

Question 34

The total-quality-management advocates contend that informing raters that the work environment has more influence on performance than individual employee behavior will make the raters' rate lower.

Question 35

During the performance review of her employees,Sarah gives higher ratings to employees from her hometown,Oklahoma,as she believes that people from Oklahoma are hard working and trustworthy.Which of the following rating errors is Sarah exhibiting?

A) Severity error
B) Horn error
C) Spillover error
D) Clone error

Question 36

All of the following are categories of rater training EXCEPT _____ training.

A) rater-error
B) performance-standard
C) behavior modeling
D) performance-dimension

Question 37

During performance appraisals,managers tend to focus on either good performance,counterproductive performance,or both.

Question 38

Which of the following statements is true regarding rater training?

A) Training programs lasting over two hours are less successful than shorter ones.
B) Rater-error training is more effective than performance-standard or performance-dimension training.
C) Lectures to raters on how to improve ratings are always ineffective.
D) Training to reduce halo errors and improve accuracy has been most successful.

Question 39

MBO requires more paperwork than other rating methods and increases both performance pressure and stress.

Question 40

Halo error is the error that occurs when an employee is downgraded across all performance dimensions exclusively because of poor performance in one dimension.

Question 41

Subordinate ratings are more accurate when they are not anonymous.

Question 42

Central tendency errors are the most difficult form of error to eliminate.

Question 43

Supervisors tend to weigh negative attributes more heavily than positive attributes.

Question 44

For the same level of performance,employees low in a pay range receive higher percentage increases than employees higher in the range.

Question 45

What was Deming's major criticism against performance appraisals?

Question 46

What are the types of pay systems that have low-motivation potential but provide equal increases to all employees regardless of performance?

Question 47

When raters must justify their scoring of subordinates in writing,the rating is less accurate.

Question 48

Which is the most popular appraisal method that uses outcomes as a standard?

Question 49

Keeping a performance diary can help employers defend against discrimination charges stemming from performance ratings.

Question 50

The central issue involving merit pay is how to get employees to view raises as a reward for performance.

Question 51

MBO is particularly well suited as a basis for administrative decisions such as pay raises.

Question 52

Performance-standard training provides raters with a standard of comparison or frame of reference for making appraisals.

Question 53

The behaviorally anchored rating scales are inexpensive to develop but time-consuming to use.

Question 54

Why is it appropriate to define behavioral expectations only for highly routine tasks?

Question 55

Describe the paired-comparison ranking method.