Deck 8: Performance Management

Question 1

In order to be effective,performance standards must always be designed so as to be

A)in accordance with each employee's specific abilities rather than to desired results of the job
B)equally balanced between an employee's performance abilities and the organization's desired results
C)concerned with the desired results wanted on each job,but with employee abilities considered
D)concerned with what is required of each job without individual employee abilities considered
E)so challenging as to be impossible to completely achieve successfully

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Indirect observation of performance usually evaluates substitutes for actual performance;these substitutes are called

A)subjective measurements
B)constructs
C)reduced reliability testing
D)substitution structures (substructs)
E)direct measurement

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Performance management (performance appraisal)serves a number of uses including all of the following except

A)compensation adjustments
B)career development
C)performance level
D)training programs
E)judging the competition

Answer 3

E

Question 4

In performance management,quantitative and qualitative assessments are referred to as

A)performance objectives
B)performance goals
C)performance measurement
D)output measures
E)outcome measures

Question 5

Performance appraisal is the process by which organizations

A)select the best applicants to hire
B)review applications for employment
C)evaluate employee job performance
D)determine individual health and safety benefits
E)attempt to decertify unions

Question 6

The best way to describe an effective performance appraisal system is that it is a __________ process.

A)promotion
B)participatory
C)quality control check
D)disciplinary
E)management

Question 7

It is generally agreed that normally the best way to evaluate employee performance is to use

A)the immediate supervisor
B)a specialist from the human resource department
C)an outside HR evaluation professional
D)a supervisor from another (but similar)department
E)a group consisting of various management personnel

Question 8

Performance appraisals can be applied to a variety of employee decision making situations including all the following except

A)performance improvement
B)employee career development plans
C)job re-design
D)training needs
E)employee recruiting

Question 9

In performance management,a critical aspect of a company's strategy,which if not met would result in lower customer satisfaction and undesirable organizational consequences is referred to as

A)performance objectives
B)performance goals
C)performance measurement
D)output measures
E)outcome measures

Question 10

A performance management system attempts to achieve the following objectives:

A)have a strategic partnership between customers and employees
B)transform organizational objectives into measurable success outcomes
C)provide measuring instruments that are general in nature to measure the success of a manager
D)communicate and share results with internal stakeholders only
E)make a connection between employee objectives and their career goals

Question 11

Performance measures are

A)the benchmarks against which performance is measured
B)the ratings used to evaluate performance
C)the standards against which an organization compares itself to the competition
D)dependent to a great degree upon each individual employee
E)the same as performance standards

Question 12

Performance management systems should be

A)simple and practical
B)complex and practical
C)proactive and complex
D)simple and proactive
E)complicated and valued

Question 13

Performance appraisals can be used for all the following except

A)adjusting compensation packages
B)assisting with placement decisions
C)making the selection interview process more specific
D)highlighting job analysis errors
E)indicating deficiencies in staffing procedures

Question 14

In performance management,measuring the process of achieving present goals is referred to as

A)performance objectives
B)performance goals
C)performance measurement
D)output measures
E)outcome measures

Question 15

In performance management,results of programs compared to preset targets are referred to as

A)performance objectives
B)performance goals
C)performance measurement
D)output measures
E)outcome measures

Question 16

The key elements in a performance appraisal system include all the following except

A)the appraisal interview
B)performance measures
C)performance-related criteria
D)feedback
E)job analysis

Question 17

In performance management,achievable and realistic targets to which outcomes can be compared are referred to as

A)performance objectives
B)performance goals
C)performance measurement
D)output measures
E)outcome measures

Question 18

To be of value a performance appraisal system must be

A)done by appraisers from outside the organization
B)reasonably expensive
C)done by professionals rather than supervisors
D)accepted by employees
E)complex

Question 19

A good performance appraisal system can serve as a quality control check on

A)all employees except the one being appraised
B)the human resource department
C)supervisors and managers in general
D)the competition
E)product quality

Question 20

Performance management includes all of the following except:

A)data to effectively organize culture,systems,and processes
B)setting goals and allocating resources
C)affecting policies and programs
D)sharing results
E)driving corporate strategy

Question 21

The ranking method and forced distributions are examples of __________ performance evaluation methods

A)non-comparative
B)comparative
C)behaviourally anchored
D)critical incident
E)future-oriented

Question 22

Subjective performance measures

A)are so called because they involve specific employees as subjects
B)are not verifiable by others
C)are usually observed directly and don't involve opinions
D)are designed to evaluate employees' subjective opinions on performance
E)can be highly accurate when done indirectly

Question 23

All of the following are characteristics of an effective employee appraisal system except

A)employee participation in performance goals
B)training employees on how to take a performance appraisal
C)supervisor's (rater's)personal knowledge about the employee
D)reliability
E)frequent feedback

Question 24

Past-oriented performance appraisal approaches can include all the following except

A)rating scale
B)performance test and observation
C)critical incident method
D)behaviourally anchored rating scales
E)management by objectives

Question 25

Comparative evaluation methods differ from non-comparative methods in that

A)they compare one person's performance with that of co-workers
B)they compare an employee's performance with his or her job description
C)they directly compare employee performance to job performance standards
D)comparative methods are illegal when evaluating people in a protected class
E)supervisors compare notes about employees

Question 26

Human resource specialists design behaviourally anchored rating scales for any given job by collecting descriptions of what would constitute effective and ineffective performance for that job.Information is collected from all the following except

A)incumbents
B)peers
C)superiors
D)job analysts
E)customers

Question 27

The difference between an appraisal method and an appraisal system is that

A)an appraisal system can encompass a variety of appraisal methods
B)an appraisal method can encompass a variety of appraisal systems
C)one cannot have an appraisal method if one has an appraisal system
D)an appraisal method is used for unionized workers whereas an appraisal system is used for management
E)there is never any difference between the two terms;they always mean the same thing

Question 28

To be effective performance appraisals should

A)avoid serious consequences
B)avoid all consequences
C)minimize consequences (good or bad)
D)state consequences in advance and produce these consequences subsequently
E)have only good consequences

Question 29

Non-comparative performance evaluation methods can include

A)ranking method
B)rating method
C)self-appraisal
D)forced distributions
E)forced checklist

Question 30

Of all the characteristics of an effective performance appraisal system below,one can be considered to be of the utmost importance

A)reliability
B)rater training
C)employee input into appraisal system
D)validity
E)employee acceptance of goals

Question 31

Job analysis has a direct impact on performance appraisal by

A)uncovering specific performance criteria
B)ignoring job standards
C)utilizing external workforce analysis
D)negotiating union contracts
E)setting sales goals

Question 32

While reliability in employee performance appraisals is desirable it is

A)also easy to obtain with a good rater
B)difficult to obtain in most organizational settings
C)not necessary if appraisals are valid
D)difficult to obtain unless employees cooperate
E)only window-dressing and can serve no real purpose in the performance appraisal procedure

Question 33

The performance appraisal method that requires a rater to provide a subjective evaluation of an individual's performance is called

A)checklist
B)rating scale
C)self-assessment scale
D)forced-choice method
E)paired-comparisons method

Question 34

Performance appraisal methods can use a variety of techniques and these techniques can be grouped by how they focus,and can include

A)past-oriented appraisal methods
B)subjective-based appraisal methods
C)discriminatory-approach appraisal methods
D)reverse-future-oriented appraisal methods
E)presented-oriented appraisal methods

Question 35

Likely,the most used form of performance appraisal (though not necessarily the most effective)continues to be the

A)checklist
B)behaviourally anchored rating scale
C)rating scale
D)assessment centre
E)self-appraisal

Question 36

Comparative evaluation methods for performance appraisals can include

A)rating scales
B)forced distributions
C)assessment centres
D)management by objectives
E)behaviourally anchored rating scales

Question 37

Validity in performance appraisals refers to the

A)relevance of measurement criteria to job performance
B)reliability of measurement criteria
C)use of subjective over objective standards and measurements
D)frequency of feedback
E)lack of reliability

Question 38

To provide an accurate picture of an individual's job performance,appraisal systems should do all the below except

A)evaluate behaviours that constitute job success
B)minimize unfavourable feedback at all times
C)be practical and understood (not overly complicated)
D)have standards that relate to desired results
E)employ dependable measures that are reliable and reasonably easy to use

Question 39

The Behaviour Observation Scale (BOS)method of performance appraisal

A)is another name for the rating scale method
B)is easily standardized and reduces rater bias
C)is disliked by both raters and employees because it provides little useful feedback
D)is easy for supervisors to maintain an interest in and carry out
E)has a drawback in that supervisors tend to lose interest in recording incidents

Question 40

The performance evaluation method that requires a rater to place each employee in order from best to worst is the

A)critical incident method
B)behaviourally anchored rating scale
C)ranking method
D)performance tests and observations
E)forced distribution method

Question 41

Performance appraisals include several variables including corporate culture,organizational benchmarks,and performance management.

Question 42

A performance review session where a supervisor allows an employee to explain reasons,excuses,and defensive feelings about performance is called the

A)tell-and-sell approach
B)problem-solving approach
C)tell-and-listen approach
D)participative approach
E)supervisory listening approach

Question 43

The halo effect as a rater bias,is most severe when

A)a rater is too harsh in their evaluations
B)the extremes of "excellent" or "very poor" are used more than necessary
C)raters choose to remain emotionally detached
D)a rater must evaluate their friends
E)only the most recent employee performance is considered

Question 44

A recent popular method for evaluating an employee's performance involves using all possible sources for information on the employee's performance.This method is referred to as

A)management-by-objectives
B)the 360-degree performance appraisal
C)the assessment centre technique
D)the 180-degree performance appraisal
E)the all-agreement appraisal method

Question 45

While the 360-degree appraisal method is gaining popularity,it requires at the least __________ in order to have a chance to work

A)a suitable corporate culture
B)professional evaluators
C)cost-effective management
D)a minimum 500 person employee base
E)a decent employee benefit plan

Question 46

Human resource departments are sometimes unintentionally to blame for supervisors falling into the central tendency bias when evaluating employees,particularly when a human resource department

A)informs supervisors not to cause any trouble with the union
B)requires supervisors to justify very high or low ratings
C)feels that it cannot replace a poor employee in a key position
D)doesn't want to deal with grievances
E)is in the process of downsizing

Question 47

Rater biases in personnel evaluation can include all of the following except the

A)halo effect
B)recency effect
C)glass-ceiling bias
D)strictness bias
E)central tendency error

Question 48

Some managers,for various reasons,do not like to evaluate employees as either "effective" or "ineffective" and so tend to rate everyone as "average".This is referred to as the

A)recency effect
B)leniency bias
C)error of central tendency
D)strictness bias
E)halo effect

Question 49

A rater bias that occurs when the evaluator allows some piece of information about the employee to disproportionately influence the outcome is called

A)the halo effect
B)the error of central tendency
C)the leniency bias
D)fundamental attribution error
E)the disproportionate influence bias

Question 50

Rater guidelines for effective performance evaluation interviews include all the following except

A)emphasize positive aspects
B)make any criticisms specific rather than general and vague
C)conduct feedback in private
D)argue if it is necessary to make the point with the employee
E)identify specific performance improvement actions that can be taken

Question 51

One employee evaluation method that attempts to appraise future potential by using multiple types of evaluation and multiple raters is

A)critical incident method
B)assessment centre technique
C)management-by-objectives
D)self-evaluation
E)behaviourally anchored rating scales

Question 52

Evaluation interviews

A)are done during the selection process
B)do not involve performance feedback
C)can involve feedback approaches such as tell and sell,tell and listen,and problem-solving
D)are the final step in the dismissal process
E)are not done if a performance appraisal is done instead

Question 53

In many cases a major problem with performance appraisal methods is

A)that raters (usually supervisors)don't understand the process
B)that the human resource department gets too involved
C)that they oppose the employment equity legislation
D)that they take too long
E)that they accurately measure performance

Question 54

The management-by-objectives performance evaluation approach is based upon the premise that

A)employees will achieve the objectives set for them by management
B)achieving objectives will produce satisfied employees
C)each employee and superior jointly establish goals for a future period
D)there is little connection between performance and objectives
E)employees will always manage to have difficulty with performance appraisals

Question 55

Performance evaluation for contingency employees tends to have particular challenges attached,including

A)that they are specialists
B)that their jobs are too complex
C)that they are sometimes paid differently and are not included in the employee benefit package
D)that they may have little knowledge of the organization's culture and goals
E)that since contingency workers are only hired under employment equity,they have to be judged differently

Question 56

One serious problem with all subjective measures of employee evaluation is the possibility

A)of rater bias
B)of employee misunderstandings
C)of impersonal objectivity that ignores character traits
D)of evaluator exhaustion
E)of excessive expenditures

Question 57

A poor performance appraisal system can cause

A)HR departments to miss their objectives
B)corporate goals to be met more easily
C)employee-related decisions to be based on trial and error
D)better hiring decisions
E)more efficient and satisfactory compensation systems

Question 58

Future-oriented appraisal methods can include

A)behaviourally anchored rating scales
B)self-appraisals
C)critical incident method
D)ranking method
E)forced distributions

Question 59

The recency effect is a potential evaluator bias that occurs when

A)the rater has done too many employee evaluations recently
B)the employee has just recently started the job and is therefore given an improper evaluation
C)the rater has just recently started the job and cannot fairly evaluate the employee
D)the rater allows recent employee actions to unduly sway evaluation of overall employee performance
E)performance standards have just recently been developed

Question 60

A completed performance appraisal form

A)must be kept in the employees files for a maximum of one year
B)is a legal document
C)is an internal document that has no importance outside of the organization itself
D)must be done in duplicate with one copy submitted to the provincial Labour Relations Board
E)must be done in duplicate with one copy given to the employee as required by labour legislation

Question 61

Performance measures are the ratings used to evaluate performance in a job.

Question 62

Many human resource specialists set performance standards arbitrarily in order that employees cannot take advantage of them to artificially improve their performance evaluations.

Question 63

Key elements of a performance appraisal system include both performance measures and performance-related criteria.

Question 64

One of the objectives of a performance management system is to include measures of employee satisfaction,motivation,and customer service.

Question 65

Performance measures and performance standards are the same performance evaluation technique.

Question 66

The major problem with employee appraisals for human resource departments is that they tend to make compensation decisions and employee career planning more difficult and less efficient.

Question 67

Sound performance management programs make a clear connection between employee goals and compensation objectives.

Question 68

Performance appraisals can alert the human resource department to problems in staffing procedures.

Question 69

Performance objectives transform organizational objectives into measurable outcomes to be used for internal management purposes.

Question 70

Most human resource departments dislike employee appraisals because while they create work,they offer little if any specific information of use to the department itself.

Question 71

The ideal performance management system provides incentives for employees to concentrate on improving things that contribute the most to value creation.

Question 72

Performance appraisals are used for compensation adjustments,training needs,and placement decisions.

Question 73

Performance appraisal is the process by which organizations evaluate employee job performance.

Question 74

The ultimate measure of a human resource department's success is employee performance.

Question 75

An organization can not set performance standards if it has not first set performance measures.

Question 76

Simplicity is a sufficient condition for a performance appraisal system to be practical.

Question 77

Performance standards are the benchmarks against which performance is measured.

Question 78

Accurate performance appraisals can indicate to employees where they are deficient in their work.

Question 79

To be truly effective and challenging,performance standards should only partially relate to the desired results of any job.

Question 80

Performance measures are the benchmarks against which performance is measured.