Deck 6: Motivation and Performance

Question 1

Merit pay should clearly differentiate between high and low performers in the amount of pay received.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Potential advantages of skill-based pay include flexibility and employee cross-training while a potential disadvantage is higher training costs.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

To work well, a merit pay plan should create a belief among employees that the way to achieve high pay is to perform at high levels.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The typical reward systems of organizations emphasize only intrinsic rewards.

Question 5

Extrinsic rewards are positively valued work outcomes that an individual receives directly as a result of task performance.

Question 6

Intrinsic rewards are positively valued work outcomes that are given to an individual or group by some other person or source in the work setting.

Question 7

Profit sharing links pay and performance by giving workers the opportunity to share in productivity gains through enhanced earnings.

Question 8

Content theories are useful in the integrated model of motivation as guides to understanding individual beliefs and career aspirations.

Question 9

Gain sharing decreases work motivation because of pay-for-performance incentives and a greater sense of personal responsibility for making performance contributions to the organization.

Question 10

Bonuses compensate people for the mix and depth of skills they possess.

Question 11

From an evaluative perspective, performance measurement lets people know where their actual performance stands relative to objectives and standards.

Question 12

An emerging trend is the attempt to extend the awarding of cash bonuses to temporary employees in organizations.

Question 13

Skill based pay rewards employees based on the entire organization's performance.

Question 14

Research finds that, in a given industry, all companies consistently use one type of performance appraisal system.

Question 15

Skill-based pay plans pay people for the particular job assignment they hold rather than the mix and depth of skills they possess.

Question 16

According to the integrated model of individual work motivation, a person's job performance is influenced most directly by individual attributes such as ability and experience, organizational support such as resources and technology, and effort or the willingness of someone to work hard at what they are doing.

Question 17

Procter & Gamble uses the effort $\rightarrow$ performance $\rightarrow$ reward relationship in their management approach.

Question 18

Activity measures of performance assess actual work results.

Question 19

The incentive value of ESOP stock awards or purchases is based on the idea that the "employee owners" will be motivated to work hard so that the organization will perform well and its stock price will rise.

Question 20

Motivation is a property of the organization; it is the organization's responsibility to guarantee that employees are motivated.

Question 21

The strictness error is the tendency to give relatively high ratings to virtually everyone.

Question 22

The "best" job design is always the one that meets organizational requirements for high performance, offers a good fit with individual skills and needs, and provides opportunities for job satisfaction.

Question 23

To be meaningful, a performance appraisal system must be reliable and valid.

Question 24

Graphic rating scales, critical incident diaries, and behaviorally anchored rating scales are different types of comparative performance appraisal methods.

Question 25

A graphic rating scale lists a variety of dimensions thought to be related to high performance outcomes in a given job and that the individual is expected to exhibit.

Question 26

A forced distribution is a performance appraisal method whereby each person is directly compared with every other person being rated.

Question 27

Ranking is a method of performance appraisal that uses a small number of performance categories, such as "very good," "good," "adequate," and "very poor," and slots a certain proportion of people into each category.

Question 28

Central tendency occurs when managers lump everyone together around the average, or middle, category.

Question 29

Four comparative performance appraisal methods are 1) ranking, 2) paired comparison, 3) forced distribution and 4) graphic rating scales.

Question 30

A behaviorally anchored rating scale is a method of performance appraisal that records incidents of each subordinate's behavior that led to either unusual success or failure in a given performance aspect.

Question 31

A critical incident diary is a particularly well suited for employee development and feedback.

Question 32

Job design is the process of planning and specifying job tasks and the work arrangements through which they are accomplished.

Question 33

Ranking is the most complex of all the comparative methods of performance appraisal.

Question 34

Comparative methods of performance appraisal identify one employee's standing relative to others.

Question 35

In a study conducted by Stauffer and Buckley, white supervisors gave significantly higher ratings to black workers than they did to white workers, while black supervisors tended to favor white workers in their ratings.

Question 36

A halo error results when one person rates another person on several different dimensions and gives a similar rating for each dimension.

Question 37

A 360 $\degree$ degree assessment is a comprehensive approach to performance appraisal that uses the evaluations of bosses, peers, and subordinates as well as self-ratings, customer ratings, and ratings of others outside the immediate work unit.

Question 38

An advantage of the behaviorally anchored rating scale approach is that it is straightforward and relatively simple.

Question 39

A forced distribution method of performance appraisal can be problematic if most of the employees are truly superior performers or if most of them perform at about the same level.

Question 40

Frederick Taylor and his contemporaries were primarily interested in job enlargement and job enrichment.

Question 41

According to the job characteristics model, task significance is the degree to which the job requires completion of a "whole" and identifiable piece of work, one that involves doing a job from beginning to end with a visible outcome.

Question 42

Job enrichment increases job breadth by having the worker perform more and different tasks, but all at the same level of responsibility and challenge.

Question 43

Organizations benefit from job sharing when they can attract talented people who would otherwise be unable to work.

Question 44

Job rotation increases task variety by periodically shifting workers among jobs involving tasks of similar difficulty and responsibility.

Question 45

Job enlargement is designed to increase job breadth by having the worker perform more and different tasks, but all at the same level of responsibility and challenge.

Question 46

In today's economy, more and more employers are requiring their employees to be at work to ensure productivity; therefore, telecommuting is on the decline.

Question 47

Job enlargement occurs when task variety is increased by combining into one job, two or more tasks that were previously assigned to separate workers.

Question 48

A compressed workweek allows a full-time job to be completed in fewer than five standard workdays.

Question 49

Implementing a job-design strategy of job simplification typically leads to lower rates of absenteeism and turnover.

Question 50

The machine-paced automobile assembly line is a classic example of job rotation.

Question 51

According to the integrated model of individual work motivation, whether or not a work setting proves motivational for an individual depends on the __________.

A) support given by the individual's team members
B) level of pay the person receives
C) availability of rewards and their perceived value
D) amount of camaraderie the individual believes exist in the workplace
E) quality of supervision and direction the individual receives

Question 52

Frederick Herzberg is a proponent of job enrichment, which is the practice of enhancing job content by building into the job more motivating factors such as responsibility, achievement, recognition, and personal growth.

Question 53

The moderators in the job characteristics model include growth-need strength, knowledge and skill, and context satisfaction.

Question 54

Research results on the job characteristics model indicate that positive job characteristics impact performance more strongly for low-growth need individuals than for high-growth need individuals.

Question 55

The job characteristics model identifies eight core job characteristics that are particularly important to job design.

Question 56

Flexible working hours also called flextime) give employees a daily choice in the timing of their work commitments.

Question 57

Changes in a job that are designed to increase job depth are sometimes called vertical loading.

Question 58

According to the integrated model of individual work motivation, a person's job performance is influenced most directly by all of the following EXCEPT:

A) ability.
B) experience.
C) work effort.
D) organization support such as resources and technology.
E) supervision.

Question 59

Implementing a job-design strategy of job simplification usually increases operating efficiency by reducing the number of skills required to do a job, and thereby keeps the needs for job training to a minimum and emphasizing the accomplishment of repetitive tasks.

Question 60

In permanent part-time work, a person works less than the standard 40-hour workweek but is considered to be a permanent member of the organization's workforce.

Question 61

__________ are positively valued work outcomes that are given to an individual or group by some other person or source in the work setting.

A) Expected rewards
B) Implied rewards
C) Valence rewards
D) Extrinsic rewards
E) Intrinsic rewards

Question 62

Merit pay is an attempt to make pay contingent upon __________.

A) tenure in the organization
B) specific competencies
C) a willingness to acquire and develop job related skills
D) performance
E) years of experience in the industry

Question 63

Which of the following statements is NOT correct with regard to skill-based pay?

A) Although it has popular appeal, it is a fairly slow-growing pay innovation.
B) Skill-based pay compensates people for the mix and depth of skills they possess.
C) A potential advantage of skill-based pay is flexibility.
D) A potential disadvantage of skill-based pay is higher training costs.
E) A potential advantage of skill-based pay is employee cross-training.

Question 64

The typical reward systems of organizations emphasize __________.

A) a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards
B) only intrinsic rewards
C) only extrinsic rewards
D) only intrinsic rewards for high-level positions
E) only extrinsic rewards for high-level positions

Question 65

Jason works as a social worker at a local hospital. He loves his job and derives great satisfaction from feeling as though he has helped others and made a difference in the community. Jason is motivated by __________ rewards.

A) unexpected
B) implied
C) outside
D) extrinsic
E) intrinsic

Question 66

The awarding of cash bonuses is especially common in the __________ of organizations.

A) lower ranks
B) non-exempt levels
C) union members
D) senior executive ranks
E) contingency workforce

Question 67

Although research supports the logic and theoretical benefits of merit pay, it also indicates that __________.

A) human resources specialists are necessary to administer merit pay plans
B) employees are overpaid for the jobs they perform
C) employees like merit pay plans
D) the implementation of merit pay plans is not easy
E) managers believe that merit pay plans properly reflect employee productivity

Question 68

Since stock prices can fall as well as rise, there is a risk associated with respect to __________ and that risk must be considered in respect to the motivational value of such pay systems.

A) merit pay systems
B) ESOPs
C) lump-sum increases
D) lump-sum payments
E) fringe benefit systems

Question 69

The research of Lawler generally concludes that __________.

A) Americans believe that they are paid more fairly than workers in other countries
B) pay must be combined with fringe benefits to create a significant total compensation package for employees
C) for pay to serve as a motivator, high levels of job performance must be viewed as the path through which high pay can be achieved
D) managers do not believe that they pay their workers enough money
E) workers do not feel that they are paid fairly

Question 70

In an) __________, employees are rewarded by being given company stock or by being allowed to purchase it at a price below market value.

A) single payoff
B) ESOP
C) gain-sharing plan
D) individualized payoff
E) lump-sum increase

Question 71

Skill-based pay plans reward people __________.

A) based on their knowledge and education
B) based on their experience
C) for the mix and depth of skills they possess
D) for the particular job assignment they hold
E) at the same level of other people with the same job title

Question 72

__________ is a system that rewards people for acquiring and developing job-relevant skills.

A) Entitlement pay
B) Gain-sharing pay
C) Merit pay
D) Skill-based pay
E) Expert pay

Question 73

Intrinsic rewards __________.

A) such as pay and benefits are important to employees
B) are exemplified by symbolic tokens of accomplishment such as posted award certificates
C) are positively valued work outcomes that are given to an individual or group
D) do not require the participation of another person or source in the work setting
E) are given to an individual or group by some other person or source in the work setting

Question 74

Which of the following statements does NOT accurately describe what is needed to make a merit pay plan work well?

A) Merit pay should be based on realistic and accurate measures of individual work performance.
B) Merit pay should create a belief among employees that they must perform at high levels to achieve high pay.
C) Merit pay should be higher for those employees whom the manager personally favors.
D) Merit pay should clearly differentiate between high and low performers in the amount of pay received.
E) Managers should avoid confusing "merit" aspects of a pay increase with "cost-of-living" adjustments.

Question 75

All of the following statements about profit-sharing are true EXCEPT:

A) profit sharing is somewhat similar to gain sharing.
B) profit sharing rewards individuals according to some measure of organizational performance.
C) profit sharing plans do not reward employees for specific productivity gains.
D) profit sharing plans reward employees based on overall organizational profits.
E) profit sharing plans have no criticisms.

Question 76

__________ rewards employees based on the entire organization's performance.

A) A merit pay plan
B) A skill-based pay
C) A gain-sharing plan
D) A profit-sharing plan
E) A flexible benefits plan

Question 77

Which of the following are considered advantages of skill-based pay?

A) Flexibility
B) Employee cross-training
C) Fewer supervisors
D) More individual control over compensation
E) A reduction in compensation costs

Question 78

Bill is an employee at Burgers-Are-Us. He works hard each and every day so that his picture may be displayed in the restaurant lobby and that he might earn the title "Employee-of-the-Month." Bill is motivated by __________ rewards.

A) expected
B) implied
C) valence
D) extrinsic
E) intrinsic

Question 79

All of the following statements about gain sharing are true EXCEPT:

A) gain sharing plans decrease personal responsibility.
B) gain-sharing plans involve a specific measurement of productivity combined with a calculation of a bonus designed to offer workers a share of any increase in total organizational productivity.
C) gain sharing increases work motivation because of pay-for-performance incentives.
D) with gain sharing, employees have a greater sense of personal responsibility for making performance contributions to the organization.
E) gain sharing encourages workplace cooperation and teamwork.

Question 80

__________ is a pay system that links pay and performance by giving the workers the opportunity to share in productivity gains through increased earnings.

A) Skill-based pay
B) Sanctioned pay
C) Performance pay
D) Gain sharing
E) Statutory pay