Ch 8

Question 1

Performance management

Answer 1

the process of creating a
work environment in which people can perform to
the best of their abilities

Question 2

Performance reviews

Answer 2

a process in which a manager
evaluates an employee’s performance relative to the
requirements of the job and uses the information to
show the person where and how improvements can
be made

• More frequent, short reviews that provide employees
  with feedback regularly are more effective

Question 3

Purposes of Performance Management

Answer 3

• improving a firm’s overall
  performance and profitability
• developmental purposes
• administrative purposes
• Employers need to maintain accurate, objective employee performance records to defend themselves against possible charges of discrimination when it comes to promotions, salaries, and terminations

Question 4

developmental purposes

Answer 4

• provide performance feedback
• identify individual strengths and weaknesses
• recognize individual performance achievements
• help employees identify goals

Question 5

administrative purposes

Answer 5

• document personnel decisions
• promote employees
• identify performance problems and develop ways to correct them
• meet legal requirements

Question 6

Why Performance Management Systems Sometimes Fail

Answer 6

Employees and managers alike often dread appraisals and complain that they are time-consuming and ineffective

Question 7

What Are the Performance Standards?

Answer 7

Performance standards describe the accepted level of performance to be achieved by an employee
- should be based on job-related
requirements derived from a job analysis and reflected in an employee’s job description and job specifications

Question 8

Calibration

Answer 8

a process whereby managers meet to discuss the performance of individual employees to ensure their employee evaluations are in line with one another

Question 9

Acceptability

Answer 9

relates to how difficult it is to administer and use the performance management system

Question 10

what can how managers view how well their employees are doing on the job/how they
rate them

Answer 10

Organizational politics, a firm’s culture and history, and current
competitive conditions

Question 11

Performance ratings

Answer 11

must be job related, with performance standards developed through a job analysis

Question 12

appeals procedure

Answer 12

appeals procedure should be established to enable employees to express their disagreement with the review

Question 13

Sources of Performance Review Information

Answer 13

• Manager and/or supervisor review
• Self-evaluation
• Subordinate evaluations
• Peer evaluation
• Team evaluation
• Customer evaluations

Question 14

Self-evaluation

Answer 14

best used for developmental purposes rather than for administrative decisions

Question 15

Subordinate evaluations

Answer 15

to avoid any problems with retaliation, subordinate reviews should be submitted anonymously, and the
results of the individuals combined in a single report

Question 16

Peer evaluation

Answer 16

ratings should be tallied to arrive at a composite score and the comments summarized by the worker’s supervisor

Question 17

Team evaluation

Answer 17

a performance evaluation that recognizes team
accomplishment rather than individual performance

Question 18

Customer evaluations

Answer 18

a performance evaluation that includes evaluation from both a firm’s external and internal customers

Question 19

360-degree evaluation

Answer 19

a performance evaluation
done by different people who interact with the employee, generally on forms compiled into a single profile for use in the evaluation meeting conducted by the employee’s manager

Question 20

Training Appraisers

Answer 20

-can vastly improve the performance review process
- firms should make accurately evaluating and developing their subordinates a standard by which the supervisors themselves will be evaluated

Question 21

Error of central tendency (A Distribution Error)

Answer 21

a performance rating error in which all employees are rated about average

Question 22

Leniency or strictness error

Answer 22

a performance rating error in
which the appraiser tends to give employees either unusually
high or unusually low ratings

Question 23

Forced distribution

Answer 23

a performance ranking system whereby raters are required to place a certain percentage of employees into various performance categories

Question 24

Peer ranking

Answer 24

employees in a work group are ranked against
one another from best to worst

Question 25

Temporal (recency) error

Answer 25

having the rater routinely document employee accomplishments and failures throughout the whole evaluation period can minimize the recency error

Question 26

Contrast error

Answer 26

most likely when raters are required to rank employees in order from the best to the poorest

Question 27

Similar-to-me error

Answer 27

can be powerful, and when the similarity is based on race, religion, or gender, it can result in discrimination

Question 28

Trait methods

Answer 28

Graphic rating scale method, Mixed-standard scale method, Forced-choice method, Essay method

Question 29

Graphic rating scale method

Answer 29

a trait approach to performance rating whereby each employee is rated according to a scale of characteristics - Subjectivity bias is reduced when the dimensions on the scale and the scale points are defined as precisely as possible

Question 30

Mixed-standard scale method

Answer 30

a trait approach to performance rating similar to other scale methods but based on comparison with (better than, equal to, or worse than) a standard

Question 31

Forced-choice method

Answer 31

a trait approach to performance rating that requires the rater to choose from statements designed to distinguish between successful and unsuccessful performancE

Question 32

Essay method

Answer 32

a trait approach to performance rating that requires the rater to compose a statement describing employee behaviour

Question 33

Behavioural methods

Answer 33

Critical incident, Behavioural checklist method, Behaviourally anchored rating scale (BARS), Behaviour observation scale (BOS),

Question 34

Critical incident

Answer 34

an unusual event that denotes superior or inferior employee performance in some part of the job

Question 35

Behavioural checklist method

Answer 35

requires the rater to check statements on a list that describe characteristics of the employee’s behaviour

Question 36

Behaviourally anchored rating scale (BARS)

Answer 36

a behavioural approach to performance rating that consists of a series of vertical scales, one for each important dimension of job performance – The procedures followed in developing a BARS result in scales that have a high degree of content validitY

Question 37

Behaviour observation scale (BOS)

Answer 37

a behavioural approach to performance rating that measures the frequency of observed behaviour – Preferred by users of the system

Question 38

Results methods

Answer 38

Management by objectives (MBO), The balanced scorecard (BSC)

Question 39

Management by objectives (MBO)

Answer 39

a results review process that rates the performance of employees based on their achievement of goals set mutually by them and their manager

Question 40

The balanced scorecard (BSC)

Answer 40

can be used to appraise individual employees, teams, business units, and the organization itself – The BSC evaluation method is similar to an MBO system in that it translates broad corporate goals into divisional, departmental, team, and individual goals in a cascading way

Question 41

Types of Performance Review Meetings and Feedback Sessions

Answer 41

Tell-and-sell, Tell-and-listen, Problem solving, Feed-forward interview

Question 42

Tell-and-sell

Answer 42

requires a manager to skillfully use motivational and persuasive techniques to try to change the behaviour

Question 43

Tell-and-listen

Answer 43

first, the appraiser or supervisor communicates the strong and weak points of an employee’s job performance, then the employee’s feelings about the evaluation are thoroughly explored

Question 44

Problem solving

Answer 44

for example, begin with the employee’s self- evaluation, then the manager and employee can compare where they agree and disagree, and focus on problem-solving

Question 45

Feed-forward interview

Answer 45

using an interview protocol that focuses on the positive aspects of employee experiences, instead of focusing on “what is wrong”

Question 46

Conducting the Performance Review Meeting or Feedback Session

Answer 46

Ask for a self-evaluation, Invite participation, Express appreciation, Minimize criticism, Establish mutual goals, Follow up day-to-day

Question 47

Improving Performance

Answer 47

Competency issue = training and development needed Motivational issue = coaching, reward incentives Situational issue = changing the context, job design

Question 48

If the ineffective performance persists ___

Answer 48

transfer the employee, take disciplinary action, or discharge the person from the organization