Question 1

Three hundred and sixty-degree feedback is generally used for development purposes rather than for pay increases.

Accepted Answer

With 360-degree feedback,ratings are collected "all around" an employee,from supervisors,subordinates,peers,and internal or external customers.Employers generally use the feedback for development rather than for pay increases.

Question 2

Top employees often outperform the average or poor employees by as much as 100%.

Accepted Answer

Some firms that use the forced distribution method have policies of dismissing employees who rank at the bottom.Such policies reflect the fact that top employees often outperform average or poor ones by as much as 100%.

Question 3

During an exit interview,a supervisor and a subordinate review the appraisal and make plans to correct deficiencies and reinforce strengths.

Accepted Answer

Appraisal interviews involve a supervisor and a subordinate reviewing the appraisal and making plans to correct deficiencies and reinforce strengths.Exit interviews are conducted when an employee leaves a company.

Question 4

The goal for a supervisor conducting a satisfactory-not promotable appraisal interview is to maintain satisfactory performance by finding incentives that are important to the person.

Accepted Answer

Satisfactory-not promotable appraisal interviews are for employees whose performance is satisfactory but for whom promotion is not possible.The objective here is to maintain satisfactory performance.The best option is usually to find incentives that are important to the person and sufficient to maintain performance,such as extra time off or a small bonus.

Question 5

In order to ensure that a performance appraisal is legally defensible,a supervisor should use only one performance appraisal tool.

Accepted Answer

Using a single overall rating of performance is usually not acceptable to the courts.It is suggested that more than one appraisal tool be used.

Question 6

Management by objectives cannot be used as a primary performance appraisal tool,but it is useful as a supplement to the graphic rating method.

Accepted Answer

Employers use management by objectives (MBO)for one of two things.Many use it as the primary appraisal method.Others use it to supplement a graphic rating or other appraisal method.

Question 7

The basic problem with using a ranking method for performance appraisals is not identifying the extreme good and bad performers but differentiating meaningfully between the others.

Accepted Answer

Distinguishing between top and bottom performers is usually not a problem when using a ranking method.The difficulty regards distinguishing meaningfully between the employees that fall in the middle.

Question 8

The alternation ranking method of performance appraisals can be problematic and unfair if all employees have excellent job performance.

Accepted Answer

The alternation ranking method can cause disagreements among employees and may be unfair if all employees are,in fact,excellent workers.Advantages of the method include the fact that it is easy to use and avoids central tendency problems.

Question 9

Paired comparison is a rating approach that involves keeping a record of uncommonly good or undesirable examples of an employee's work-related behavior and reviewing it with the employee at predetermined times.

Accepted Answer

Paired comparison involves ranking employees by making a chart of all possible pairs of the employees for each trait and indicating which is the better employee of the pair.

Question 10

Performance appraisals are a link between corporate strategy,departmental goals,employee goals and employee performance in the overall performance management process.

Accepted Answer

Performance management is the continuous process of identifying,measuring,and developing the performance of individuals and teams and aligning their performance with the organization's goals.

Question 11

A talent management philosophy involves segmenting employees based on their value to the firm's success and providing those employees with special coaching,feedback,and development opportunities.

Accepted Answer

Talent management involves actively managing mission-critical employees.Such employees are segmented for the purpose of receiving special coaching,feedback,and development opportunities.

Question 12

The advantages of using BARS as a performance appraisal tool is the method's accuracy,clear standards,and consistency.

Accepted Answer

The advantages of the BARS-based evaluations include the consistency of ratings,clear standards,and its high rate of accuracy.

Question 13

Central tendency is a problem that occurs when a supervisor's rating of a subordinate on one trait biases the rating of that person on other traits.

Accepted Answer

Central tendency means rating all employees average.The halo effect refers to the problem that occurs when a supervisor's rating of a subordinate on one trait biases the rating of that person on other traits.

Question 14

Tyler,an accounting manager at Firestone,is preparing for an appraisal interview with an employee whose performance is unsatisfactory but correctable.Tyler's primary objective during the interview should be to encourage the employee with positive reinforcements like job enlargement and compliments.

Accepted Answer

When the person's performance is unsatisfactory but correctable,the interview objective is to lay out an action plan for correcting the unsatisfactory performance.Employees who have satisfactory performance but who are not promotable should be encouraged with incentives.

Question 15

Unclear standards on a performance appraisal tool will most likely lead to unfair appraisals because performance traits are too open for interpretation.

Accepted Answer

A performance appraisal tool with unclear standards will probably result in unfair appraisals,because the traits and degrees of merit are ambiguous and too open to a rater's interpretation.

Question 16

Peer appraisals have been shown to have a negative effect on task motivation,cohesion,and job satisfaction,so most organizations no longer use them.

Accepted Answer

Peer appraisals have been shown to have an immediate positive impact on improving the perception of open communication,task motivation,social loafing,group viability,cohesion,and satisfaction.

Question 17

Ongoing performance monitoring is an element of performance management that involves the use of computer-based systems that measure an employee's progress and send out reports regarding an employee's performance.

Accepted Answer

Ongoing performance monitoring usually includes using computer-based systems that measure and then e-mail progress and exception reports based on the person's progress toward meeting his or her performance goals.

Question 18

Studies suggest that managers who receive upward feedback from identified subordinates view the upward appraisal process more negatively than do managers who receive anonymous upward feedback.

Accepted Answer

Managers who receive feedback from subordinates who identify themselves view the upward appraisal process more positively than do managers who receive anonymous feedback.However,subordinates (not surprisingly)are more comfortable giving anonymous responses; those who have to identify themselves tend to provide inflated ratings.

Question 19

Sam supervises a team of data entry clerks at Geico.The firm's electronic performance monitoring system enables Sam to electronically monitor the amount of computerized data an employee processes each day.

Accepted Answer

Electronic performance monitoring (EPM)systems use computer network technology to allow managers access to their employees' computers and telephones.They thus allow managers to monitor the employees' rate,accuracy,and time spent working online.

Question 20

While formal written warnings are provided too late to salvage an employee's performance and position at the company,they are useful in court proceedings.

Accepted Answer

An employee's performance may be so weak that it requires a formal written warning.Such warnings serve two purposes: (1)They may serve to shake your employee out of his or her bad habits,and (2)they can help you defend your rating,both to your own boss and (if needed)to the courts.

Quiz 9: Performance Management and Appraisal