Question 1

Performance management tools need not be valid and reliable, so long as they are highly acceptable by management and employees.

Accepted Answer

Performance management tools must be valid and reliable in order to accurately assess employee performance and make informed decisions regarding promotions, compensation, and performance improvement plans. High acceptability is important, but it should not come at the expense of accuracy and fairness in the evaluation process.

Question 2

To avoid performance appraisal problems, managers should do all of the following EXCEPT:

Accepted Answer

Letting employees determine their initial evaluation grade may lead to biased evaluations and defeats the purpose of objective performance appraisals. It is important for managers to have specific criteria for evaluation and utilize multiple raters, train evaluators, and minimize trait-based evaluations to avoid problems. The OUCH and Blanchard tests are not commonly used in performance appraisals.

Question 3

In step one of the evaluative performance appraisal interview, the appraiser should open the interview with ________.

Accepted Answer

Opening with small talk can help establish rapport and create a more comfortable atmosphere for the interview. It can also help to create a more positive relationship between the appraiser and the person being appraised, which can ultimately lead to more honest and constructive feedback during the appraisal process. It is important to balance small talk with the need to cover important topics during the appraisal interview.

Question 4

Communication is the key factor in determining MBO's success or failure.

Accepted Answer

Communication is crucial in conveying goals, providing feedback, addressing problems, and ensuring alignment between individual and organizational objectives. Without effective communication, MBO can fail to achieve desired outcomes as well as cause confusion and frustration among employees.

Question 5

Critical incidents are commonly used for developmental decisions and evaluative decisions.

Accepted Answer

Critical incidents can be used to inform developmental decisions, such as identifying areas for improvement and creating training programs. They can also be used for evaluative decisions, such as determining promotions or disciplinary actions.

Question 6

If a student evaluates her professor low on all evaluation criteria due to dissatisfaction with the professor's grading, the student has likely committed which rater error?

Accepted Answer

The halo effect occurs when a student's overall impression (in this case, dissatisfaction with grading) unfairly influences ratings in all other areas, leading to uniformly low evaluations across different criteria.

Question 7

To avoid problems in the appraisal process, which of the following should generally be minimized?

Accepted Answer

Evaluation of individual traits should generally be minimized as they are often subjective and can lead to bias and unfair evaluations. It is more effective to focus on evaluating effective behaviors demonstrated and individual results, as these are more objective and can provide a clearer picture of an employee's performance. Evaluating group results can also be useful in some cases, but it should be done in addition to individual evaluations, rather than as a replacement for them. Finally, evaluating ineffective behaviors demonstrated can be useful in identifying areas for improvement, but it should not be the sole focus of the appraisal process.

Question 8

Tammy is evaluating employees on the 2nd shift.Sara, whose son attends Tammy's alma mater, receives a higher ranking than her peers.Tammy is exhibiting _________ toward Sara, which affects the outcome of the evaluation.

Accepted Answer

Tammy is exhibiting bias towards Sara by giving her a higher ranking based on her personal connection with her alma mater. This bias could result in unfair treatment of other employees and affect the outcome of their evaluation. Discrimination, consistency, and hostility are not necessarily exhibited in this scenario. Evaluation is a part of Tammy's job responsibilities and is not the issue in this situation.

Question 9

Physical actions or behaviors can be directly observed and are therefore more likely to be a valid assessment of the individual's performance.

Accepted Answer

Physical actions or behaviors can be observed and measured objectively, making them more reliable and valid in assessing an individual's performance compared to subjective measures such as self-reporting or observations of internal mental states.

Question 10

Acceptability means that the use of the measure is appropriate to the people that must use it.

Accepted Answer

Acceptability is the extent to which a measure is considered appropriate for the people who are going to use it. Therefore, the statement is true.

Question 11

___________ error occurs when the rater evaluates subordinates that he or she considers similar to himself or herself as a better employee.

Accepted Answer

This is known as the similarity error, where the rater may unconsciously rate employees who are similar to them higher than those who are different, even if the performance is the same.

Question 12

With the critical incidents method, managers simply have a file folder for each employee, which can be hard copy or electronic.

Accepted Answer

The critical incidents method does involve managers keeping a file folder for each employee, which can be either hard copy or electronic, to document specific examples of positive or negative behaviors on the job.

Question 13

BARS cannot be customized to every different type of job.

Accepted Answer

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) are designed to be customized for different jobs by identifying the specific behaviors and outcomes that are valued for each position, ensuring they are relevant and tailored to the specific requirements of each job.

Question 14

_________ is mentally classifying a person into an affinity group and then identifying the person as having the same assumed characteristics as the group.

Accepted Answer

Stereotyping involves making assumptions about an individual based on their affiliation with a particular group, and attributing certain characteristics to them based on those assumptions.

Question 15

Performance appraisals allow management to make decisions about employees within the organization.

Accepted Answer

Performance appraisals provide important information about employees' strengths and weaknesses, which can be used to make decisions about promotions, raises, training, disciplinary actions, and other personnel decisions within the organization.

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a step in preparing for the developmental performance appraisal interview?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following is NOT a...

Question 17

Performance appraisal describes the process of identifying, measuring, managing, and developing people in an organization.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Performance appraisal describes the process of identifying,...

Question 18

Supervisors are always the best person to assess employee performance.

Accepted Answer

While supervisors play a significant role in evaluating employee performance, they may not always have a complete picture of an employee's work. Peer evaluations, self-assessments, and feedback from clients or customers can also be valuable in assessing performance.

Question 19

Adam evaluates everyone in his department as "average"-no one is a great employee, but no one is a bad employee, either.Adam is exhibiting a distributional error known as ________________ in his evaluations.

Accepted Answer

Adam is exhibiting the distributional error of central tendency by evaluating everyone in his department as average, indicating that he is hesitant to distinguish individuals' performance or placing them into different categories.

Question 20

Five people will get a scholarship today.Four good and one average person interviewed in the morning.Four bad and one average person interviewed in the afternoon.The four good people in the morning got the scholarship, and because the average person in the afternoon looked so good compared to the bad people in the afternoon, that person got the scholarship in spite of being identical to the average person in the morning.What performance appraisal error is demonstrated here?

Accepted Answer

The contrast error is demonstrated here, where the interviewer's perception of the average person in the afternoon was influenced by the poor performance of the bad candidates in the afternoon, making the average candidate seem better than they actually were in comparison.

Quiz 8: Performance Management and Appraisal