Deck 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management

Question 1

At Lorenzo's workplace, the performance appraisal process includes measurements of organizational citizenship behaviors, such as volunteering for unpleasant tasks and helping new employees socialize into the work team. Lorenzo's employer is

A) enforcing job requirements.
B) using inappropriate information.
C) committing a halo error.
D) relying on a ranking method.
E) rating contextual performance.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

The following item appears on a student evaluation form, to assess a student's preparation outside of class. What type of performance appraisal is represented by this example?
1 = Often unprepared when called on. Frequent late assignments.
2 = Sometimes unprepared when called on. Hands in 2-3 assignments late.
3 = Unprepared on occasion, but not often. Hands in 2 or fewer late assignments.
4 = Usually well-prepared when called on, but may be unprepared on 1-2 occasions. All assignments handed in on time.
5 = Always prepared when called on. Hands in every assignment early or on time.

A) Management by Objective (MBO)
B) Critical incident
C) Simple ranking
D) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)
E) 360-degree feedback

Answer 2

D

Question 3

What should be considered the ultimate goal of performance appraisal?

A) To provide performance information in a useful form
B) To provide information about an individual's performance on all relevant dimensions
C) To be able to improve performance on the job
D) To document employment-related decisions based on performance
E) To determine equitable rewards

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following factors could impact a supervisor's motivation, rather than ability, to provide a meaningful performance appraisal?

A) Inadequate job knowledge
B) Favoritism toward specific workers
C) Inadequate opportunity to observe employee performance
D) Changing technology, which may impact the supervisor's understanding of job tasks the employee is required to perform
E) The supervisor's being promoted from a different functional area of the organization

Question 5

Andy, a regional manager for an office supply retail company, must formally evaluate each one of his immediate employees every year. This process is known as

A) benchmarking.
B) feedback interview.
C) 360-degree feedback.
D) discipline documentation.
E) performance appraisal.

Question 6

____ are the most frequently utilized source of information in the appraisal process.

A) Supervisors
B) Peers
C) Subordinates
D) Customers
E) Upper managers

Question 7

Which type of performance appraisal rating method is particularly reliable because examples of performance are provided in the categories of evaluation?

A) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)
B) Paired comparison method
C) Management By Objective (MBO)
D) Critical incident method
E) Graphic rating scale

Question 8

When a rater compares people against one another instead of using a set standard, which type of error is the rater exhibiting?

A) Projection
B) Halo
C) Horns
D) Contrast
E) Distributional

Question 9

Which career stage may involve individuals' viewing work as less important and nonwork activities as more important?

A) Maintenance
B) Disengagement
C) Establishment
D) Exploration
E) Trial

Question 10

A ____ method of performance appraisal involves directly assessing each employee next to other employees.

A) paired comparison
B) 360-degree
C) BARS
D) rating
E) graphic rating scale

Question 11

Which type of performance appraisal rating method focuses on particularly good or bad performance?

A) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)
B) Behavioral Observation Scale (BOS)
C) Management By Objective (MBO)
D) Critical incident method
E) Graphic rating scale

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT considered one of the responsibilities of the organization in the performance appraisal process?

A) To develop the general performance appraisal process
B) To determine the timing of the performance appraisals
C) To make clear and specific performance standards available to managers
D) To have the ratee express a clear, unbiased view of his or her performance
E) To communicate performance standards to employees

Question 13

The role of the rater in the performance appraisal process includes all of the following EXCEPT

A) helping to develop clear performance standards.
B) collecting information about employee performance behaviors.
C) learning organizational performance standards.
D) requiring the ratee to gain an understanding of how his or her behavior affects performance.
E) preparing the employee to work at desired levels.

Question 14

The performance appraisal of a restaurant includes sections that require employees and managers to develop goals for the next rating period. This restaurant is apparently using which performance appraisal method?

A) 360-degree feedback
B) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)
C) Simple ranking
D) Management by Objective (MBO)
E) Critical incident

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT a potential problem associated with the use of graphic rating scales in the performance appraisal process?

A) Attribution of too much objectivity to results
B) Leniency or severity error
C) The number of included performance dimensions must be restricted to a few
D) Halo error
E) Range restriction

Question 16

Which method of performance appraisal involves grouping employees into frequencies of performance evaluations?

A) Ranking
B) Paired comparison
C) Forced distribution
D) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)
E) Critical incident

Question 17

Which of the following is one of the different terms for performance appraisal?

A) performance evaluation
B) performance review
C) employee appraisal
D) employee evaluation
E) all of these are different terms for performance appraisal

Question 18

When a rater tends to use only one part of a rating scale, this is known as

A) distributional error.
B) contrast error.
C) halo error.
D) horns error.
E) projection error.

Question 19

Supervisor Katy is establishing a list of the best to worst performers in the department. Which performance appraisal method is Katy utilizing?

A) Paired comparison
B) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)
C) Behavioral Observation Scale (BOS)
D) Forced distribution
E) Simple ranking

Question 20

Which of the following was NOT given as a reason for the importance of performance appraisal?

A) It helps managers assess the quality of their recruitment and selection activities.
B) It provides documentation that an organization's promotion and reward allocation activities are nondiscriminatory.
C) It plays a large role in allocation of profit-sharing rewards to employees.
D) It provides useful input into an organization's human resource planning process.
E) It provides feedback to employees, which may enhance their motivation and development.

Question 21

Which career stage may involves individuals' analysis of their own competences and skills.

A) Maintenance
B) Individual assessment
C) Establishment
D) Exploration
E) Trial

Question 22

Appraisals play a role in the performance management process, but such feedback does not directly impact compensation decisions.

Question 23

The type of error that involves giving low ratings to an employee based on one performance dimension is called:

A) central tendency
B) halo error
C) horns error
D) leniency
E) severity

Question 24

The type of error that involves giving average ratings to all employees is called:

A) central tendency
B) halo error
C) horns error
D) leniency
E) severity

Question 25

What is the first step in the career planning process?

A) Individual assessment
B) Career counseling
C) Exploration
D) Communication
E) Trial

Question 26

Scenario 10.1
Ellen Jones is the human resource manager for Tent-Sations, a midsize company that manufactures recreational camping tents. Tent-Sations employs approximately two hundred employees. Ellen is in the process of redesigning the company's performance management system. She has been instructed by top management to develop a performance management system that encourages employees to go beyond their formal job duties. Therefore, top management would also like the performance management system to assess particular employee behaviors that specifically support organizational goals in addition to employees' everyday job tasks. Supervisors in this fast-paced organization have limited opportunity to view their subordinates' performance on a daily basis. Employees work in self-managed cross-functional work teams, with each team being responsible for the entire tent-making process. With input from supervisors, each team sets its own output goals for each month of the year and employee compensation is based on the team's goal achievement as well as on individual performance factors.
Refer to Scenario 10.1. Given Tent-Stations' work structure, what additional source of performance information may be critical in assessing employee performance?

A) Supervisors
B) Peers
C) Customers
D) Self
E) Top management

Question 27

Scenario 10.1
Ellen Jones is the human resource manager for Tent-Sations, a midsize company that manufactures recreational camping tents. Tent-Sations employs approximately two hundred employees. Ellen is in the process of redesigning the company's performance management system. She has been instructed by top management to develop a performance management system that encourages employees to go beyond their formal job duties. Therefore, top management would also like the performance management system to assess particular employee behaviors that specifically support organizational goals in addition to employees' everyday job tasks. Supervisors in this fast-paced organization have limited opportunity to view their subordinates' performance on a daily basis. Employees work in self-managed cross-functional work teams, with each team being responsible for the entire tent-making process. With input from supervisors, each team sets its own output goals for each month of the year and employee compensation is based on the team's goal achievement as well as on individual performance factors.
Refer to Scenario 10.1. Ellen would like to ensure that Tent-Stations employees who are asked to do performance appraisals are as accurate as possible. All BUT which of the following actions may be helpful in this regard?

A) Frame-of-reference training
B) Rewards for raters who do a good job of performance appraisal
C) Rater-accuracy training
D) Elimination of any threat of punishment for raters who do a poor job of performance appraisal
E) Reinforcement to raters of the importance of performance appraisal

Question 28

Scenario 10.1
Ellen Jones is the human resource manager for Tent-Sations, a midsize company that manufactures recreational camping tents. Tent-Sations employs approximately two hundred employees. Ellen is in the process of redesigning the company's performance management system. She has been instructed by top management to develop a performance management system that encourages employees to go beyond their formal job duties. Therefore, top management would also like the performance management system to assess particular employee behaviors that specifically support organizational goals in addition to employees' everyday job tasks. Supervisors in this fast-paced organization have limited opportunity to view their subordinates' performance on a daily basis. Employees work in self-managed cross-functional work teams, with each team being responsible for the entire tent-making process. With input from supervisors, each team sets its own output goals for each month of the year and employee compensation is based on the team's goal achievement as well as on individual performance factors.
Refer to Scenario 10.1. By considering employees behaviors that go beyond their formal job duties, what aspect of performance is being included in the new performance management system?

A) Contextual performance
B) Strategic performance
C) Behavioral performance
D) Critical performance
E) Global performance

Question 29

What mechanism in the career planning process is designed to align the organization's and individual's expectations of the individual's role and career prospects within the organization?

A) Individual assessment
B) Specification of career paths
C) Performance management
D) Communication
E) Career counseling

Question 30

What is the final step in the career planning process?

A) Individual assessment
B) Career counseling
C) Exploration
D) Communication
E) Trial

Question 31

Central tendency occurs when a manager rates all employees as average.

Question 32

A 360-degree evaluation only uses information collected from people working below the person being rated.

Question 33

Scenario 10.1
Ellen Jones is the human resource manager for Tent-Sations, a midsize company that manufactures recreational camping tents. Tent-Sations employs approximately two hundred employees. Ellen is in the process of redesigning the company's performance management system. She has been instructed by top management to develop a performance management system that encourages employees to go beyond their formal job duties. Therefore, top management would also like the performance management system to assess particular employee behaviors that specifically support organizational goals in addition to employees' everyday job tasks. Supervisors in this fast-paced organization have limited opportunity to view their subordinates' performance on a daily basis. Employees work in self-managed cross-functional work teams, with each team being responsible for the entire tent-making process. With input from supervisors, each team sets its own output goals for each month of the year and employee compensation is based on the team's goal achievement as well as on individual performance factors.
Refer to Scenario 10.1. Considering the team-based approach used by Tent-Stations, which method for appraising performance would likely be the WORST choice?

A) 360-degree feedback
B) Simple ranking
C) Critical incident
D) BARS
E) MBO

Question 34

In the paired comparison method of performance appraisal, a manager places employees in a simple rank-order.

Question 35

The type of error that involves giving low ratings to all employees by using unrealistically high standards is called:

A) central tendency
B) halo error
C) horns error
D) leniency
E) severity

Question 36

Which of the following is NOT a true statement regarding the individual perspectives on careers?

A) Individuals who closely monitor their careers understand the reasons for success and failure.
B) An individual's perception of work success or failure has an important impact on his or her self image.
C) Individuals can rely on their employer to manage their careers.
D) Individuals who take responsibility for their careers are prepared to deal with career setbacks.
E) Individuals directly experience the impact of career events.

Question 37

A critical incident is an example of particularly good or bad employee performance.

Question 38

All of the following would place limitations on the effectiveness of career planning EXCEPT

A) individuals may find new opportunities outside the employing organization at unexpected times.
B) the organization has little flexibility in altering the career paths it predicts for its employees over time.
C) the organization's human resource needs can change over time.
D) unanticipated mergers and acquisitions can change career opportunities.
E) people can experience changes in interests or priorities.

Question 39

Scenario 10.1
Ellen Jones is the human resource manager for Tent-Sations, a midsize company that manufactures recreational camping tents. Tent-Sations employs approximately two hundred employees. Ellen is in the process of redesigning the company's performance management system. She has been instructed by top management to develop a performance management system that encourages employees to go beyond their formal job duties. Therefore, top management would also like the performance management system to assess particular employee behaviors that specifically support organizational goals in addition to employees' everyday job tasks. Supervisors in this fast-paced organization have limited opportunity to view their subordinates' performance on a daily basis. Employees work in self-managed cross-functional work teams, with each team being responsible for the entire tent-making process. With input from supervisors, each team sets its own output goals for each month of the year and employee compensation is based on the team's goal achievement as well as on individual performance factors.
Refer to Scenario 10.1. Ellen, representing Tent-Stations' human resource department, will be in charge of all of the following facets of the new performance management system EXCEPT

A) determining the timing of the performance appraisals.
B) ensuring that performance standards are clearly communicated to employees.
C) linking performance appraisal information to training and development efforts.
D) linking performance appraisal information to the company's compensation system.
E) collecting employees' performance information on a day-to-day basis.

Question 40

The supervisor is typically the rater in the performance appraisal process.

Question 41

Briefly describe the most common deficiencies in performance appraisal.

Question 42

What pitfalls may limit the effectiveness of career planning?

Question 43

Describe the experiences that individuals go through in the traditional career stage progression.

Question 44

The first stage of the traditional model of career stages is called exploration.

Question 45

Another name for contextual performance is organizational citizenship behavior.

Question 46

Describe the basics of the most popular rating methods that may be used in the performance appraisal process.

Question 47

Contextual performance is comprised of requirements of a job that an employee accomplishes or performs.

Question 48

What benefits may organizations accrue from helping their employees with career planning?

Question 49

Career counseling usually occurs between an employee and an in-house clinical psychologist.