Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

Total-quality-management principles emphasize continuous improvement, involvement of every employee, and customer satisfaction. Applying these principles to performance appraisals can lead to more effective and meaningful evaluations that involve feedback from both supervisors and employees, focus on continuous improvement, and result in better outcomes for the organization as a whole.

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

There is a correlation between employee dissatisfaction with performance appraisals and their satisfaction with pay. If an employee feels unfairly evaluated or unrecognized, they are likely to feel that their pay is unjustified as well.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

Rating formats require raters to evaluate employees on some absolute standard, such as job requirements or performance expectations, rather than comparing them to the performance of other employees.

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

MBO (Management by Objectives) requires a lot of documentation and paperwork to define clear objectives and measures of success, which can increase administrative burden on managers. Additionally, setting ambitious goals and timelines can lead to heightened performance pressure and stress for employees.

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT true regarding performance appraisals?

Accepted Answer

While race can unfortunately play a role in layoff decisions due to discriminatory practices, this statement is not necessarily true regarding performance appraisals. The other statements are unfortunately common biases in performance appraisals, with research showing that males are often rated higher than females, raters with traditional gender stereotypes rate females less accurately, and variation in performance can affect ratings.

Question 6

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.

Accepted Answer

Total-quality-management advocates believe that emphasizing the work environment's influence on performance encourages raters to focus on systemic issues rather than individual blame, potentially leading to more accurate and fair evaluations, not necessarily lower ratings.

Question 7

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

Accepted Answer

The answer of Halo error is the error that occurs...

Question 8

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

Accepted Answer

Behavior modeling is not a category of rater training; it is a training technique used to teach specific behaviors. The other options are categories of rater training.

Question 9

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?

Accepted Answer

Sarah is exhibiting a clone error, where she favors employees who are similar to her or share common characteristics, such as being from the same hometown.

Question 10

Which of the following statements is NOT true?

Accepted Answer

This statement is not true as workers whose performance is consistently average are usually rated lower than those who perform better at the end of a rating cycle.

Question 11

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?

Accepted Answer

In most merit increase grids, employees in higher quartiles of their pay range receive smaller percentage increases to avoid exceeding the maximum of the pay range. Since Bart is in the fourth quartile, he would likely receive less than 8 percent.

Question 12

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

Accepted Answer

Rankings can be more complex as they require comparing each item against all others, whereas ratings involve evaluating each item independently.

Question 13

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

Accepted Answer

The answer of The performance of hourly workers is more...

Question 14

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

Accepted Answer

Performance-standard training is the process of teaching raters about what constitutes good, average, and poor performance. This is done by providing them with clear and specific performance standards and examples of each level of performance. Rater-error training focuses on reducing errors that may occur during the rating process, such as halo and leniency biases. Performance-dimension training is similar to performance-standard training, but focuses on specific dimensions of performance that are relevant to the job or task being rated. Six-Sigma is a quality management methodology that aims to reduce defects and errors in processes.

Question 15

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?

Accepted Answer

Jake is exhibiting a severity error, where he is being overly harsh in his evaluations of Steve due to a personal bias stemming from the incident with the car.

Question 16

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

Accepted Answer

Leniency error is the error of consistently rating someone higher than is deserved. It occurs when a rater shows undue favor to an employee which results in inflated performance ratings.

Question 17

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?

Accepted Answer

Spillover error occurs when past performance ratings influence current evaluations, leading to an unfair assessment based on previous performance rather than current achievements.

Question 18

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

Accepted Answer

Managers typically focus on both good performance and counterproductive performance during performance appraisals.

Question 19

Which of the following statements is true regarding rater training?

Accepted Answer

Studies have shown that training programs aimed at reducing halo errors and improving rating accuracy have been the most successful in improving rater performance. Training programs lasting over two hours can be effective if they include active learning strategies and opportunities for practice. Rater-error training can be helpful in highlighting common rating biases, but may not necessarily improve accuracy. Lectures alone are typically not enough to improve rater performance.

Question 20

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

Accepted Answer

In most Asian cultures, direct criticism is considered impolite and may be perceived as insulting. As a result, employees may not welcome performance feedback, especially if it is negative. However, they may appreciate receiving feedback indirectly or through a third party.

Quiz 11: Performance Appraisals