British Columbia Institute of Technology

BUSA 1305

Chapter 12 Performance Appraisal

1)Effective supervisors treat the performance appraisal as an evaluation and development tool, as well as

                                                   .

1. 1. an opportunity for staff interaction
   2. a formal legal document
   3. a periodic check-in with staff.
   4. an opportunity to discuss training needs
   5. a career assessment document

2. Supervisors also use the performance appraisal to help employees                                                     
   1. improve future performance.
   2. assess career aspirations
   3. select training options
   4. set department goals
   5. set personal goals

3. Why does it help if the supervisor focuses on the future versus the past during a performance appraisal? Answer: Today, effective supervisors treat the performance appraisal as an evaluation and development tool, as well as a formal legal document. It emphasizes positive accomplishments as well as deficiencies. Supervisors also use the performance appraisal to help employees improve future performance. If deficiencies are found, the supervisor can help employees draft a detailed plan to correct the situation. By emphasizing the future as well as the past, employees are less likely to respond defensively to performance feed- back, and the appraisal process is more likely to motivate employees to correct their performance deficiencies.

4. The performance appraisal is both a formal and                                                                     .
   1. a required activity
   2. a legal requirement
   3. an informal activity
   4. structured exercise
   5. an informative exercise

5. The effective supervisor continually provides                                               to employees—commenting on the positive aspects of their work and pointing out problems when they surface.
   1. training
   2. informal information
   3. positive feedback
   4. corporate updates
   5. formal information

6. When reviews indicate deficiencies or goals have not been achieved, supervisors may use a

                                                   to analyze why and to aid the employee in developing an internal locus of personal accountability.

1. 1. remediation strategy
   2. disciplinary process
   3. battery of psychological tests
   4. regime of training
   5. coaching process

7. Even small companies tend to standardize some appraisal procedures to ensure that

                                                        requirements are met.

1. 1. equal employment opportunity
   2. corporate
   3. training and development
   4. appraisal process
   5. quality

8. When work is built largely around teams, team members are often better at evaluating each other because they have a more comprehensive view of                                                                     .
   1. each team’s performance
   2. each member’s job performance
   3. each member’s skill level
   4. each member’s technical abilities
   5. each member’s work habits

9. You must ensure that                                                     have been defined for every employee, and that employees fully understand these expectations.
   1. job expectations
   2. appraisal expectations
   3. job goals
   4. performance expectations
   5. performance standards

10. Information that lets an employee know how well they are performing a job is known as:
    1. Performance appraisal
    2. 360-feedback
    3. Circular feedback
    4. Performance standards
    5. Performance feedback

11. Freight clerks in a shipping department at a trucking company keep an ongoing tally of the number of

boxes they pack and the weight of each box. At the end-of-the-day, they total the numbers and compare them to daily goals. This is known as                                              feedback.

1. 1. data-driven
   2. intrinsic
   3. comparison
   4. performance
   5. extrinsic

12. If freight clerks’ shipping totals are calculated each day by the supervisor and posted on the department’s bulletin board, their performance feedback is also                                   .
    1. data-driven
    2. intrinsic
    3. comparison
    4. performance
    5. extrinsic

13. Why do proactive and effective supervisors establish an informal feedback process? Briefly discuss.

14. Keep in mind that performance appraisal policies and procedures, as set forth in organizational handbooks, are being increasingly construed by the courts as                                                .
    1. binding lateral contracts
    2. binding unilateral contracts
    3. non-binding unilateral contracts
    4. as meaningless in employee challenges
    5. binding bilateral contracts

15. You must also keep in mind that organizational handbooks should do everything possible to

                                                             .

1. 1. avoid the appearance of prejudice and discrimination
   2. avoid being overly complex
   3. present information in plain English
   4. carefully outline corporate policies
   5. be clear, direction, and authoritative

16. If your company has a published handbook describing its performance appraisal procedures

                                                        .

1. 1. make sure it is in your employee’s language
   2. double-check to be sure it addresses cultural diversity
   3. make sure it is written in plain English
   4. make sure it’s appropriate for the employee’s position
   5. be sure you fully understand its contents

17. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws require that human resources practices be bias-free. How can an organization ensure that these practices are followed? Briefly discuss.

18.                                                       are the three most popular sets of criteria that supervisors appraise.
    1. Individual temperament, punctuality, and thoroughness
    2. Individual work record, punctuality, and excellence
    3. Individual behavior, loyalty, and traits
    4. Individual task outcomes, behaviors, and traits
    5. Individual personality, task accomplishment, and attendance

19. When persons are rated on the degree to which they are dependable, confident, aggressive, and loyal, they are being evaluated on:
    1. Norms
    2. Traits
    3. Behaviors
    4. Personality characteristics
    5. Motivational inclination

20. Evaluating employees on behavior requires the opportunity to observe employees or devising a system for                                                                       .
    1. reporting on specific behavior criteria
    2. specific traits
    3. understanding motivational behaviors
    4. evaluating task outcomes
    5. analyzing personality characteristics

21. What is the best approach to gather performance data?

22. The absolute-standards measurement means that employees are                                                 .
    1. compared against a person in a similar position
    2. not evaluated on a regular basis
    3. measured against an absolute standard
    4. not compared against any other person
    5. not compared against other industries

23.                                          incidents focus attention on employee behaviors that make the difference between

executing a job effectively and executing it ineffectively.

1. 1. Critical
   2. Non-critical
   3. Behavioral
   4. Relative
   5. Absolute-standard

24.                                            can be used to assess factors such as quantity and quality of work, job knowledge, cooperation, loyalty, dependability, attendance, honesty, integrity, attitudes, and initiative.
    1. Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS)
    2. Absolute-standards measurements
    3. Checklists
    4. Adjective rating scales
    5. Group-ordered ranking

25. The performance appraisal method, which is generally considered the simplest is the

                                                                   , requires no complex forms or extensive training to complete.

1. 1. faction comparison
   2. written essay
   3. checklist method
   4. critical incidents method
   5. comparative standards

26. Adjective rating scales are popular because they have some advantages. Of the following, which is NOT one of those advantages:
    1. Less time consuming to develop and administer
    2. Provide for quantitative aggregation and comparison
    3. Greater standardization of items
    4. Greater latitude for subjective assessments
    5. Quantifiable assessment helps supervisors support personnel decisions when challenged

27. With                                                          , employees are rated based on items along a continuum, but the points

are examples of actual behavior on the given job rather than general descriptions or traits.

1. 1. behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS)
   2. absolute-standards measurements
   3. checklists
   4. adjective rating scales
   5. group-ordered ranking

28. Of the following job behaviors, which do behaviorally anchored rating scales specify?

1. 1. ambiguous, observable, and measurable
   2. definite, observable, and measurable
   3. definite, imperceptible, and measurable
   4. definite, observable, and detectable
   5. significant, perceptible, and detectable

29. A category of performance appraisal in which employees are compared against other employees in evaluating their performance is known as:
    1. relative standards
    2. behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS)
    3. absolute-standards measurements
    4. adjective rating scales
    5. group-ordered ranking
30. The relative standards method requiring supervisors to place employees into particular classifications, such as "top one-fifth" or "second one-fifth” is known as                                       .
    1. individual ranking method
    2. a behaviorally anchored rating scale
    3. a relative standard method
    4. group-order ranking method
    5. an adjective ranking scale

31. The                                                  prevents a supervisor from inflating employee evaluations so that everyone looks good or equalizing the evaluations so that everyone is rated near the average.

1. 1. group-order ranking method
   2. individual ranking method
   3. behaviorally anchored rating scale
   4. relative standard method
   5. adjective ranking scale

32. A method of performance appraisal allows for no ties, and also assumes differences between people are uniform is the                                              
    1. individual ranking
    2. relative standard
    3. paired comparison scale
    4. group-order ranking
    5. behaviorally anchored

33. In the                                                           , each employee is compared with every other employee in the comparison group and rated as either the superior or weaker member of the pair.
    1. individual ranking
    2. relative standard
    3. paired comparison scale
    4. group-order ranking
    5. behaviorally anchored

34. Briefly discuss the objectives approach to appraisals.

35. A                                                      when a supervisor overstates an employee's performance.

1. 1. rating bias
   2. critical incident
   3. halo error
   4. positive leniency error
   5. central tendency error

36. The                                      is a tendency to rate an individual high or low on all factors as a result of the impression of a high or low rating on some specific factor.

1. 1. behavioral rating
   2. central tendency error
   3. recency tendency
   4. individual ranking
   5. halo error

37. A supervisor appraises who rates other people by giving special consideration to qualities that they perceive in themselves is making what type of error?

1. 1. leniency
   2. halo
   3. similarity
   4. central tendency
   5. recency

38.                                      results when evaluators recall, and then give greater importance to, employee job behaviors that have occurred near the end of the performance-measuring period.

1. 1. Leniency error
   2. Critical incident error
   3. Central tendency
   4. Recency error
   5. Halo error

39. Raters who are prone to the                                                   avoid the “excellent” category as well as the “unacceptable” category and assign all ratings around the “average” or midpoint range.
    1. central tendency error
    2. critical incident error
    3. leniency tendency
    4. recency error
    5. halo error

40. Define central tendency error and discuss how it affects appraisals.

41. The                              seeks performance feedback from such sources as oneself, bosses, peers, team members, customers, and suppliers and has become very popular in contemporary organizations
    1. relative standard appraisal
    2. paired comparison appraisal
    3. group-order ranking appraisal
    4. behaviorally anchored appraisal
    5. 360-degree appraisal

42. Which of the following is NOT a way supervisors can overcome barriers to effective performance appraisals?

1. 1. Combining absolute and relative standards
   2. Using multiple raters

D. Continually documenting employee performance

E. Using behaviorally based measures

E. Creating central tendency

43.                                                          can help your appraisal skills and help you become a more accurate rater.
    1. Knowing equal opportunity laws
    2. Participating in performance-appraisal training
    3. Taking advanced human resources training
    4. Creating friends in your department
    5. Becoming more observant of your employees

44. It is suggested that supervisors include                                        from team members in the performance appraisals of those whose jobs are inherently designed around teamwork
    1. peer evaluations
    2. technical evaluations
    3. subjective evaluations
    4. written essays
    5. objective essays

45. Why in today’s dynamic organizations may traditional performance evaluations systems be archaic? Is the 360-degree performance appraisal promising?

46. Of the following, which is NOT one of the steps used in counseling employees?
    1. Come to a resolution
    2. Identify differences of opinion

1. 3. Listen to what the employees has to say
   4. Identify the problem
   5. Clarify alternatives

47. Ending a counseling session with the employee summarizing what has taken place and the

                                                      is usually recommended.

1. 1. the specific actions to be taken
   2. a written report summarizing the meeting
   3. agreement to meet at a specific time
   4. clarification of the alternatives
   5. identification of the problem

48. Problems come with options.                                                        is a point at which a participative approach can be particularly valuable because you may see and know things that escape the employee’s perception.
    1. Coming to a resolution
    2. Clarification and exploration of alternatives
    3. Identifying the problem
    4. Listening to what the employee has to say
    5. Agreeing on a plan of action

49. After you’ve listened to your employee’s initial assessment of the situation, begin to

                                                                   .

1. 1. develop a plan of action
   2. develop alternatives and options
   3. identify the problem and its causes.
   4. clarify and identify alternatives
   5. actively listen to his or her concerns

50. Do employees have the right to privacy? When personal problems interfere with work performance should a supervisor inquire? Briefly discuss.