Deck 10: Managing Employee Performance

Question 1

If a progressive discipline process fails, then an employee is put on an improvement plan.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The purpose of a union is to give collective bargaining power to a group of individuals.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

A nonfraternization policy restricts managers from socializing with nonmanagement employees.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Monitoring of employee postings on external websites is acceptable only when conducted under the consent of employees.

Question 5

The National Labor Relations Board is responsible for administering and enforcing the provisions outlined in the Wagner Act.

Question 6

A mandated issue has potential legal consequences.

Question 7

With a public policy exception, an employer may not fire an employee if it would violate the individual state's doctrine or statute.

Question 8

A wrongful discharge means the employee resigned, but only because the work conditions were so intolerable that he or she had no choice.

Question 9

The Patriot Act requires organizations with more than one-hundred employees to give employees and their communities at least sixty days' notice of closure or layoff affecting fifty or more full-time employees.

Question 10

When the employee decides to leave the organization without resigning and following the normal process, he/she is said to be absconding.

Question 11

If the employee has been corrected for a behavior pattern but continues to exhibit the same behavior, it is called a persistent pattern.

Question 12

An official written warning is issued in the first offense step of the progressive discipline process.

Question 13

In interest based bargaining, each party comes to the table with a list of demands it wants met.

Question 14

The progressive discipline process is useful if the offense is serious and demands immediate discipline.

Question 15

Alternative dispute resolution is a cheaper and more flexible option as opposed to seeking legal help on a performance issue with an employee.

Question 16

Prescription drug abuse is included in the purview of substance abuse at work.

Question 17

An employee is entitled to union representation at an investigative interview by the Weingarten rights.

Question 18

Wrongful termination means an employer has fired or laid off an employee for engaging in a protected activity.

Question 19

Incorrect job design is an internal factor influencing performance.

Question 20

Transferring of employees to prevent them from collecting commissions represents the good faith and fair dealing exception to the employment-at-will principle.

Question 21

A performance issue is called a single incident when:

A) it has evolved into a behavior pattern in the employee.
B) it is serious and could have legal consequences.
C) it can be resolved by communicating with and coaching the employee.
D) it is repeated after a few days of satisfactory performance because of a corrective measure.
E) it requires the progressive discipline process to be corrected.

Question 22

Which of the following uses a third party to arrive at a solution that works for the two parties involved?

A) Termination
B) Progressive discipline
C) Criteria development
D) Alternative dispute resolution
E) Rightsizing

Question 23

_____ is defined as a habitual pattern of not being at work.

A) Cyberloafing
B) Absenteeism
C) Absconding
D) Downsizing
E) Whisteblowing

Question 24

Mike Sullivan has a good friend in a competing firm whom he meets almost every weekend. On one such meeting, Mike began telling his friend about the recent meetings he had been attending with the managers and revealed some details from his company's strategic plans. Subsequently, Mike's colleagues accused him of helping his friend in the rival firm at the expense of jeopardizing his own company. They reached this conclusion as they had been watching Mike's interactions with his friend over social networking sites. Once they reported this to their managers, Mike was terminated. Which of the following performance issues caused Mike's termination?

A) Employee misconduct on social networking sites
B) Theft
C) Family issues
D) Absenteeism
E) Inability to handle proprietary information

Question 25

In which of the following systems does consecutively higher levels of management review the issue if there is a disagreement by the employee in a discipline procedure?

A) Step-review system
B) Mediation
C) Peer resolution system
D) Arbitration
E) Ombudsman system

Question 26

_____ is the process in which the third party facilitates the resolution process, but the results of the process are not binding for either party.

A) Arbitration
B) Mediation
C) Termination
D) Dissolution
E) Peer resolution

Question 27

A performance issue that is serious, goes beyond the company, and could be a law is called a _____.

A) mandated issue
B) single incident
C) persistent pattern
D) behavior pattern
E) retaliatory discharge

Question 28

Which of the following statements is true with regard to discipline?

A) The disciplinary process ultimately aims at helping employees meet performance expectations.
B) The goal of the discipline process is to punish employees for their lack of discipline.
C) Supervisors must apply discipline procedures even if they have not documented the employee actions that necessitated them.
D) Once established, disciplinary rules should not be altered or revised because this reduces their effectiveness.
E) If an employee in unaware of a rule, action cannot be taken against the employee for transgressing it.

Question 29

_____ means an employer has fired or laid off an employee for illegal reasons, such as violation of antidiscrimination laws or violation of oral and/or written employee agreements.

A) Retaliatory discharge
B) Wrongful termination
C) Constructive discharge
D) Wrongful discharge
E) Adverse action

Question 30

Which of the following allows for union representation during an investigative interview?

A) Employment-at-will principle (EAW)
B) Privacy rights
C) Alternative dispute resolution
D) Implied contract
E) Weingarten rights

Question 31

Which of the following is an internal factor influencing performance?

A) Incorrect job design
B) Lack of management support
C) Mismatch between employee skills and job
D) Perception of unfairness at the workplace
E) Nonavailability of equipment and tools

Question 32

In the progressive discipline process, documentation of the disciplinary issue of the employee starts at the _____ stage.

A) first offense
B) second offense
C) third offense
D) fourth offense
E) fifth offense

Question 33

Which of the following HRM processes has a direct role to play in disciplinary actions owing to noncompliance with rules and meeting performance expectations?

A) Preemployment testing
B) Selection and recruitment
C) Performance appraisal
D) Training and development
E) Compensation

Question 34

The _____ process involves a series of steps taking corrective action on nonperformance issues.

A) employee empowerment
B) career development
C) implied contract
D) progressive discipline
E) criteria development

Question 35

Which of the following is the definition of discipline?

A) It is the process of an employee choosing to leave the organization.
B) It is the process of reducing the total size of employees, to ultimately save on costs.
C) It is the process of providing fair treatment to employees.
D) It is the process that corrects undesirable behavior.
E) It is the process by which an employee tells the public about ethical or legal violations of his/her organization.

Question 36

In the fifth offense stage of the progressive discipline, the employee is:

A) suspended from working temporarily.
B) punished for a disciplinary issue.
C) placed on an improvement plan.
D) provided with an unofficial warning.
E) terminated from employment.

Question 37

Which of the following actions on part of the employee is an example of a mandated issue?

A) Failing to deliver a project on time
B) Violating privacy rights of patients
C) Overshooting the budget for a project
D) Ignoring repeated warnings over absenteeism
E) Spending a sizeable proportion of the workday surfing the Internet for personal use

Question 38

Nancy Walden used to put in a day's work at a florist's shop before coming in for her evening shift as a waitress at the Green Café. Nancy, a hardworking and quiet employee, had to retain both jobs to make ends meet. When one of her children became really sick, she began being absent frequently, and the café hired another waitress in her place. Nancy was fired due to _____.

A) her inability to handle proprietary information
B) spending too much time doing personal things at work
C) family issues
D) drug abuse
E) conflicts with management and other employees

Question 39

A(n) _____ interview is an interview used to make sure that an employee is fully aware of the discipline issue and to allow the employee the opportunity to explain his or her side of the story.

A) investigative
B) intake
C) exit
D) stress
E) informational

Question 40

In which of the following situations could an employee's performance issues be attributed to external factors?

A) Nellie Riles has been called by her supervisor for a disciplinary meeting over her tendency to waste time using the Internet at work.
B) Malcolm Barnes has been assigned to three different supervisors in quick succession in the three months he has spent in the company because of conflicts at work.
C) Carl Torres takes frequent breaks to receive phone calls at work and this results in his failing to meet daily targets and delaying work schedules.
D) Jeremy Jones was a social drinker but after joining the sales division of a highly competitive firm, he began drinking after work with his colleagues every day, which has affected his performance adversely.
E) Aaron Wood has been requesting his supervisor repeatedly to replace the obsolete machinery on their production floor, but no action has been taken yet.

Question 41

An organization of employees formed to bargain with an employer is called a(n) _____.

A) club
B) clique
C) union
D) outgroup
E) franchise

Question 42

A _____ means the employee resigned, but only because the work conditions were so intolerable that he or she had no choice.

A) constructive discharge
B) wrongful discharge
C) reasonable accommodation
D) retaliatory discharge
E) wrongful termination

Question 43

When an employee chooses to leave the organization, it is termed as _____.

A) retaliation
B) arbitration
C) resignation
D) mediation
E) retention

Question 44

Which of the following legal measures gives an employer the right to fire an employee or an employee to leave an organization at any time, without any specific cause?

A) Privacy Rights
B) Employment-at-will principle (EAW)
C) Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act
D) Weingarten rights
E) Patriot Act

Question 45

An employee's act of leaving the organization without resigning and following the normal process is called _____.

A) rightsizing
B) arbitrating
C) whistleblowing
D) absconding
E) cyberloafing

Question 46

The punishment of an employee for engaging in a protected activity is called _____.

A) affirmative action
B) retaliatory discharge
C) constructive discharge
D) wrongful termination
E) reasonable accommodation

Question 47

In a(n) _____ system, a person is selected to be the designated individual for employees to go to should they have a complaint or an issue with a discipline procedure.

A) arbitration
B) ombudsman
C) peer resolution
D) step-review
E) mediation

Question 48

Raymond Mayer became a household name after he reported the rampant use of sweatshop labor by a famous clothes and accessories company that he worked for. Following his allegations, the company had to pay several million dollars as penalty along with funding rehabilitation programs for the same group of laborers it was exploiting a few months back. This scenario reflects the act of _____.

A) cyberloafing
B) retaliating
C) rightsizing
D) absconding
E) whistleblowing

Question 49

_____ is an exception to employment-at-will in which an employer may not fire an employee if it would violate the individual state's doctrine or statute.

A) Public policy exception
B) Implied contract exception
C) Wrongful discharge exception
D) Constructive discharge exception
E) Good faith and fair dealing exception

Question 50

_____ refers to an employee's telling the public about ethical or legal violations of their organization.

A) Rightsizing
B) Cyberloafing
C) Whistleblowing
D) Absconding
E) Documenting

Question 51

When employees and managers come together to discuss their mutual concerns to arrive
a. reasonable accommodation
b. collective bargaining
c. interest based bargaining
d. mediation
e. arbitration

Question 52

A _____ can include pay, benefits, or other compensation for which an employee is entitled when leaving the organization.

A) severance package
B) retention plan
C) improvement plan
D) straight commission plan
E) compensation package

Question 53

_____ is an exception to employment-at-will in which the discharged employee can prove the employer indicated that the employee has job security.

A) Public policy exception
B) Good faith and fair dealing exception
C) Wrongful discharge exception
D) Constructive discharge exception
E) Implied contract exception

Question 54

_____ occurs when any one of the exceptions to the employment-at-will principle can be proven by the employee.

A) Retaliatory discharge
B) Constructive discharge
C) Resignation
D) Wrongful discharge
E) Wrongful termination

Question 55

Which of the following legal measures makes its mandatory for organizations with more than one-hundred employees to give employees and their communities at least sixty days' notice of closure or layoff affecting fifty or more full-time employees?

A) Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
B) Employment-at-will principle (EAW)
C) Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act
D) Weingarten rights
E) Patriot Act

Question 56

An employment-at-will exception in which the discharged employee contends that he/she was not treated fairly is the _____.

A) wrongful discharge exception
B) constructive discharge exception
C) public policy exception
D) good faith and fair dealing exception
E) implied contract exception

Question 57

Which of the following is a formal process by which employees can submit a complaint regarding something that is not administered correctly in the contract?

A) Grievance process
B) Termination process
C) Retaliation process
D) Mediation process
E) Arbitration process

Question 58

Which of the following statements regarding drug testing is true?

A) The Americans with Disabilities Act views testing for illegal drug use as an illegal act by the employers.
B) The Warner Act of 1935 began the move toward establishing drug-free workplaces.
C) According to the Taft-Hartley Act, employers are legally required to test for drugs in transportation-related businesses.
D) Federal contractors and all federal grantees are directed to provide a drug-free workplace.
E) All prescription drugs are exempted from the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Question 59

In which of the following systems does a committee of management and employees review employee complaints or discipline issues and render a decision?

A) Ombudsman system
B) Step-review system
C) Mediation
D) Arbitration
E) Peer resolution system

Question 60

The _____ process involves negotiating an agreement between management and employees.

A) reasonable accommodation
B) collective bargaining
C) interest based bargaining
D) retaliation
E) whistleblowing

Question 61

Describe ethical breaches examples as a performance issue.

Question 62

Define discipline. What are the guidelines for the creation of rules and organizational policies?

Question 63

A _____ includes pay, benefits, or other compensation to which employees are entitled when they leave the organization.

Question 64

What is meant by rightsizing? What are the considerations to keep in mind while laying off workers?

Question 65

A _____ is an organization of employees formed to bargain with an employer.

Question 66

The _____ requires that some federal contractors and all federal grantees agree they will provide a drug-free workplace as a condition of obtaining a contract.

Question 67

Describe the nature and purpose of unions.

Question 68

Define the employment-at-will principle. What are the three exceptions to this principle?

Question 69

_____ is the process that corrects undesirable behavior.

Question 70

_____ is a type of ADR in which a third party reviews the case and imposes a resolution.

Question 71

What is meant by alternative dispute resolution? What are the types of ADR?

Question 72

A _____ is a formal process by which employees can submit a complaint regarding something that is not administered correctly in the contract.

Question 73

What are the ways in which employee separation occurs?

Question 74

What is the performance issue model? What are its five areas?

Question 75

_____ refers to a series of steps taking corrective action on nonperformance issues.

Question 76

The _____ is the right of an employer to fire an employee or an employee to leave an organization at any time, without any specific cause.

Question 77

Briefly outline the progressive discipline process.
a. First offense: Unofficial verbal warning, counseling, and restatement of expectations.
b. Second offense: Official written warning and documentation in the employee file.
c. Third offense: Second official warning. Improvement plan may be developed and the matter is documented in the employee file.
d. Fourth offense: Possible suspension or other punishment, documented in employee file.
e. Fifth offense: Termination and/or alternative dispute resolution.

Question 78

An employee's telling the public about ethical or legal violations of his or her organization is termed as _____.

Question 79

In a(n) _____ system, a person is selected (or elected) to be the designated individual for employees to go to should they have a complaint or an issue with a discipline procedure.

Question 80

What is the difference between wrongful termination and wrongful discharge?