Deck 9: Performance Appraisals

Question 1

There is little value in regularly appraising the performance of an individual who regularly does standard work and can go no higher in position or pay.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A particular strength of the team appraisal process lies in the implicit assumption that all team members perform at an equivalent level.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The terms "average" and "standard" are not interchangeable; the actual "average" of a group's performance is always higher than "standard" performance.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Including self-appraisal in the appraisal process is rarely helpful because most people tend to rate themselves higher than they realistically should.

Question 5

Completed performance appraisals can at times be considered legal documentation that the organization could be penalized for discarding.

Question 6

Most of the rules that apply to employment interviewing also apply to the performance appraisal conference.

Question 7

In an appraisal rating scale it is best to use an even number of scale points, such as four or six, to discourage users from automatically focusing on a midpoint.

Question 8

The single most important objective of performance appraisal is improvement of performance in the job the person presently holds.

Question 9

Since employee attitude is so important, it is essential to always have attitude prominently featured as an appraisal criterion.

Question 10

Performance standards or measures of performance are best selected to address the four key dimensions of productivity, quality, timeliness, and cost.

Question 11

In addition to improving performance in an employee's present job, why are performance appraisal and the resulting records of appraisal are important?

A) Top management needs documented assurance that department manager's are doing their appraisal as they should.
B) It might be necessary to prove that employees who are not performing up to standard have been advised of same.
C) Any given performance appraisal could conceivably figure prominently in wrongful discharge litigation.
D) They are always used in determining who is laid off in a general reduction in force.

Question 12

Which is a significant feature of management by objectives?

A) The person is evaluated on achievement of or progress toward specific objectives developed by the manager.
B) The only comparison experienced by the person is with peers' own past performance.
C) It lends itself well to the appraisal of higher-level technical or professional employees and managers.
D) Evaulation is conducted by peers only, not by managers.

Question 13

What is true for systems of performance appraisal that relied largely or completely on the assessment of personality characteristics?

A) Generally yielded such accurate but unflattering results that appraisal were almost always challenged.
B) Yielded highly subjective evaluations that usually said little of substance about actual performance.
C) Were universally acceptable by employees but were considered unsettling by evaluators.
D) Remain in widespread use because they are recommended by external accreditation agencies.

Question 14

What is true about the practice of evaluating all employees during the same brief time period, as compared with timing appraisals to coincide with each employee's anniversary date?

A) It is recommended as the preferred timing of appraisals by external regulatory agencies.
B) It has been proven to consistently produce inadequate appraisals that lack depth of detail.
C) It enhances the accuracy with which a known budgeted amount of merit increase money can be distributed.
D) It is preferred by many evaluators because it involves considerably less work overall.

Question 15

What is true of the role of the face-to-face interview in the performance appraisal process?

A) Usually the appraising manager's favorite part of the performance appraisal process
B) The least important part of the performance appraisal process, such that there is no harm in letting it run late or postponing it indefinitely
C) Subject to a considerably different procedure than that used in placement interviewing
D) An important annual event looked forward to by many employees

Question 16

Who has the primary responsibility for the overall administration of the performance appraisal system? And who is primarily responsible for ensuring that appraisals are submitted on time?

Question 17

What are the principal characteristics that practical and usable measures of performance should address?

Question 18

Given that the primary objective of performance appraisal is the improvement of performance in employees' present jobs, what is the important secondary objective?

Question 19

Why should discussion of personality be avoided when writing an evaluation?

Question 20

What are the three essential elements of an objective, whether established jointly by employee and manager or developed individually?