Oakland University

ORG 330

Chapter 6

Performance Management and Appraisal

Multiple Choice

1)In a sense, the sum of all performances in all jobs in the organization should equal the            .

1. 1. organizational culture
   2. strategic plan
   3. compensation plan
   4. stock price 
2.                                                                 is the process of determining how well employees do their jobs relative to a standard and communicating that information to the employee.
   1. Performance appraisal
   2. Job evaluation
   3. Appraisal interview
   4. Supervisor rating

3. Which           of          the           following                  is            not           something               effective performance management should do?
   1. Encourage high levels of performance.
   2. Document performance for personnel records.
   3. Make it clear what the organization expects.
   4. Determine the strategic plan of the organization.

4. Which of the following is not a common dimension used to measure individual performance?
   1. timeliness of output
   2. effort expended
   3. quality of output
   4. presence at work 

5. Clint, the owner of a moving company, has developed a performance appraisal system for his customer representatives and truck drivers. He evaluates each of these employees on his/her attitudes toward the company and customers, initiative in developing new business, and creativity in solving problems. Clint's performance appraisal system is               -based.
   1. trait
   2. results
   3. behavior
   4. productivity
6. At a large catalog-based retail company, supervisors randomly listen in on calls handled by customer representatives to make sure that the customers are greeted politely, orders are taken accurately, order details are repeated to the customer, and that customers are thanked for their order. This is a                                                                                                                                  -based type of performance appraisal system.
   1. productivity
   2. trait
   3. results
   4. behavior 
7. A results-based approach works very well for jobs in which

                                                .

7. 1. measurement is easy and obvious
   2. performance criteria are multidimensional
   3. team work is emphasized
   4. employees need little or no supervision 
8. Counting the number of invoices that a clerk processes each day would be an example of a/an                                                                                                                                                             measure of performance.
   1. quality
   2. subjective
   3. acceptable
   4. objective 

9. A supervisor's rating of an employee's attitude is an example of a/an   of performance.
   1. subjective measure
   2. objective measure
   3. deficient measure
   4. acceptable measure 
10.                                                   define the expected levels of performance.
    1. Job criteria
    2. Job analyses
    3. Performance standards
    4. Essential functions of the job 
11. Which of the following is an example of the administrative role of performance appraisal?
    1. identifying weaknesses to determine coaching needs
    2. measuring performance for the purpose of making pay decisions
    3. identifying the organization's training needs
    4. communicating feedback to the employee 
12. Which of the following best describes the manager's role in the developmental aspect of performance appraisal?
    1. judge
    2. parent
    3. sponsor
    4. coach
13. A/An                                                         is conducted as part of the day-to-day working relationship between a manager and an employee.
    1. feedback system
    2. systematic appraisal
    3. HR evaluation
    4. informal appraisal 

14. Performance appraisals at Swamp Blossom Designs, Inc. always occur on the employee's anniversary of employment. A standard protocol is in place to report managerial impressions and observations on employee performance. This is an example of .
    1. objective evaluation
    2. subjective evaluation
    3. systematic appraisal
    4. informal appraisal 
15. A legally defensible performance appraisal system should include which of the following?
    1. Appraisals are job related, nondiscriminatory, and documented.
    2. It includes an opportunity for self appraisals.
    3. It contains informal evaluation criteria to permit managerial discretion.
    4. There is input from outsiders who can provide objective feedback.

16. Traditional ratings of employees by supervisors are based on the assumption that              .
    1. employees are more receptive to criticism from their immediate supervisors
    2. they have regular day-to-day opportunities for informal appraisals
    3. the immediate supervisor is the person most qualified to evaluate the employee’s performance realistically and fairly
    4. supervisors are more aware of their subordinates’ desires and goals

17. The vice-president of HR for Health Wizard, Inc. is designing a performance appraisal system that includes subordinate ratings of their supervisors. The supervisors are concerned about this and have raised all of the following objections EXCEPT                .
    1. the concern that they will be rated on how nice they are to subordinates rather than their true supervisory performance
    2. the fear that the appraisals will interfere with their

development as supervisors

1. 3. the belief that it is inappropriate for subordinates to evaluate them
   4. the argument that subordinates will not want to give them negative feedback because of fear of reprisals

18. In which of the following situations would peer rating be most appropriate?
    1. A group of salespeople meets regularly as a committee to talk about one another's customer relations achievements.
    2. The manager is too busy to meet with each subordinate for a formal appraisal interview.
    3. The members of the work group are drawn from a diverse population.
    4. The supervisor does not have the opportunity to observe each employee's performance, but other work group members do.

19. The manager of HR feels it is necessary for employees to think about their strengths and weaknesses and set goals for improvement. Consequently, the HR manager is designing a

                                                  program.

19. 1. facilitated appraisal
    2. self-appraisal
    3. team evaluation
    4. introspective analysis 
20.                                                       recognizes that employee performance is

multi-dimensional and crosses department, organizational, and global boundaries.

20. 1. 360° appraisal
    2. Global rating approach
    3. Team rating
    4. Comprehensive appraisal 
21. The simplest methods for appraising performance are the

                                                .

21. 1. behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS)
    2. category scaling methods
    3. comparative methods
    4. written methods 
22. At High Flyer Airlines, managers rate their subordinates on a continuum from 1 to 7.       A score of 1 indicates

unsatisfactory performance, and a score of 7 indicates

superior performance. High Flyer uses a                                                                                                 as its performance appraisal method.

1. 1. ranking system
   2. checklist
   3. multisource appraisal
   4. graphic rating scale

23. Which of the following is true about graphic rating scales?
    1. They encourage rater errors.
    2. They are useful tools but difficult to develop.
    3. They exclude behavioral dimensions.
    4. They are rarely used in large organizations.

24. Which performance appraisal method consists of listing all employees from highest to lowest in performance?
    1. Checklist
    2. Graphic rating scale
    3. Ranking
    4. Forced distribution 
25. An organization who rates 20% of its employees as “exceeding expectations,” 70% as “meeting expectations,” and 10% as “not meeting expectations,” uses a                                method.
    1. behavioral rating
    2. forced distribution
    3. graphic rating scale
    4. ranking
26. A guided self-appraisal system using an MBO is a four-stage process. Which of the following is the third step in the process?
    1. Setting of objectives
    2. Ongoing Performance discussions
    3. Development of performance standards
    4. Job review and agreement
27. Alvin, a sales representative for a company making

industrial solvents, lost a major customer last month. Until then, Alvin's year has been about average in the level of sales. Early in the year, Alvin brought in two new customers of about the size of the customer he lost last month. Alvin's supervisor gives Alvin an unsatisfactory rating in his annual performance appraisal. It is likely that Alvin's supervisor has committed the                               error.

27. 1. contrast
    2. strictness
    3. recency
    4. primacy
28. The contrast error is committed when the rater rates people relative to                .
    1. performers in other organizations rather than performers in their own organization
    2. the previous year’s performance rating
    3. the company’s financial performance
    4. others instead of against performance standards 
29. Which of the following is not true of appraisal feedback?
    1. Employees need to have a clear understanding of how they stand in the eyes of the organization.
    2. Managers often resist the appraisal process.
    3. The sole purpose of the appraisal interview is to tell the employee, “Here is how you rate and why.”
    4. Employees may see the appraisal process as a threat.

True and False

30. Performance management is a series of activities designed to ensure that the organization gets the performance it needs from its employees.

31. Job duties identify the most important elements in a given job.

32. The two roles of appraisal – administrative and development

– are seen as generally complimentary.

33. Identifying strengths, areas for change, and training needs are examples of the administrative use of performance appraisal.

34. Employers can separate the administrative, developmental, and compensation elements of performance appraisals by holding separate time-spaced discussions for each.

35. One advantage of having supervisors and managers rated by their employees is that this type of rating program can help make the managers more responsive to employees.

36. The purpose of 360° feedback is to increase the uniformity in the feedback.

37. A graphic rating scale is an example of the category scaling method.

38. Forced distribution rating methods tend to work best in smaller work groups.

39. Management by objectives evaluates managers by the extent to which they have achieved overall organizational objectives.

40. In a “critical incident” method, the manager keeps a written record of highly favorable and highly unfavorable actions performed by the employee during the rating period.

41. When a manager is not entirely certain what they want a performance appraisal system to accomplish, a combination of appraisal methods may be most appropriate.

42. The primacy effect is a rater error in which the rater gives greater weight to information received first.

43. The common theme between the halo and horns effect is that the rater makes generalizations about the subordinate based on only one trait.

44. In a feedback system, evaluation is the way the system reacts to the facts, and it requires performance standards.

Essay

45. Describe the role of performance management. Define what it is, and what should it accomplish.

46. Identify the two uses of performance appraisals, and discuss the specific activities that are part of each.

47. Describe the philosophy behind the multisource/360° feedback appraisal and how it is used. Also identify some of its