Chapter 07 – Performance Management and Appraisal
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7-9
[QUESTION]
38. Company XYZ had a corporate goal to improve the quality of the products they produced.
Employees in the company had personal performance objectives that were associated with
quality improvements. If the quality improvement objectives were not met because of faulty
raw materials purchased from a new vendor, which of the following would be true?
A) The poor materials from the vendor should be considered a situational constraint when
appraising the performance of the purchasing manager.
B) Only mangers should have a performance objective that is associated with the corporate
goal to increase quality, not individuals responsible for production.
C) Employees should be concerned that the poor quality of the raw materials will cause the
managers to be influenced by the central tendency effect.
D) When appraising the performance of an employee on the production line, the poor quality
materials should be considered a situational constraint on their ability to meet quality
standards.
E) Employees being rated will have a tendency to overestimate the effects of the poor quality
materials on their ability to perform as compared to their managers, who will underestimate
the effect.
39. Each of the following is TRUE regarding Comparisons Among Anchors (e.g., forced
choice) EXCEPT:
A) The method requires rater to make comparisons among anchors for a job activity.
B) The method is designed to reduce intentional rating bias in which the rater deliberately
attempts to rate individuals high (or low) irrespective of their performance.
C) The method is well accepted by raters.
D) Anchor statements are chosen to be equal in desirability to make it more difficult for the
rater to pick out the ones that can give the ratee the highest or lowest ratings.
E) Raters are not given the scoring scheme.
40. Each of the following is TRUE regarding Comparisons to Anchors (e.g., BARS, MBO,
graphic rating scales, and summated rating scales) EXCEPT:
A) Method requires rater to compare the employee’s performance with specified anchors or
descriptors.
B) Method is very useful for providing feedback to employee.
C) Is easy and inexpensive to construct.
D) For the BARs method, actual behaviors are documented.
E) Generally, graphic rating scales use adjectives or numbers as anchors or descriptors.
© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in
any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
7-10
41. Formal performance appraisal should have outcomes that are clearly linked to
organizational __________.
A) demands
B) requirements
C) goals
D) policies
E) ethics
42. One of the primary reasons that companies have turned to using forced distribution in
their performance management systems is to overcome __________.
A) fundamental attribution error
B) representativeness bias
C) availability bias
D) leniency bias
E) anchoring bias
43. __________ presents the rater with a limited number of categories and requires the rater
to place a designated portion of the ratees into each category.
A) Comparisons among anchors
B) Paired comparisons
C) Forced distribution
D) Straight ranking
E) Graphic rating scales
© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in
any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
7-11
44. An employee does an excellent job at answering customer’s technical questions related to
software. However, they are not effective or efficient when it comes to completing
paperwork, or working well with their peers. The manager rates this employee as excellent in
all performance categories. This is an example of what performance appraisal error?
A) Halo effect
B) Horns effect
C) Recency
D) Severity
E) Central tendency
45. The __________ rating method presents raters with pairs of behavioral statements
reflecting different levels of performance on the same performance dimension.
A) behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS)
B) computerized adaptive rating scales (CARS)
C) management by objectives (MBO)
D) behavioral observation scales (BOS)
E) performance distribution assessment (PDA)
46. Which of the following is an appraisal method that makes comparisons between ratees
performance?
A) check list
B) forced choice
C) management by objectives (MBO)
D) straight ranking
E) performance distribution assessment (PDA)
47. A manager believes that older workers are less likely to be able to improve performance
than younger workers. This thinking could lead to what form of performance appraisal error?
A) attribution error
B) bias
C) contamination
D) frame of reference
E) accountability
© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in
any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
7-12
48. To ensure a supportive and creative atmosphere for the feedback session, the rater should:
A) Have one-way conversation with the ratee
B) Include several employees at once to brainstorm
C) Allow the employee to discuss their concerns in a two-way conversation
D) Keep the duration of the performance meeting as short as possible
E) Continue to take phone calls and accept interruptions from your staff during the meeting.
49. Which of the following is not a major factor causing inaccurate and unfair performance
appraisal?
A) Lack of sufficient observation of employee’s work
B) Multiple sources of information related to performance
C) Raters who have not been trained despite demonstrated bias
D) Failing to consider situational constraints
E) Concern over the negative reaction of the individual being rated
50. A company that provides service of repairs of refrigerators has noticed that their overall
performance has been declining over the past 3 years. They are interested in increasing the
performance of the entire team of service personnel, including measurements of time and cost
of repair visits. Which of the following is correct?
A) Management should be concerned with measurement of objectives being too objective
B) Management should pull together a team and design a ProMES program.
C) Management should focus on individual performance measurements and not try to
measure aggregate performance
D) Management should implement a forced distribution performance appraisal system.
E) Management should understand that performance levels move up and down in cycles and
they need to simply wait until the next cycle of increased performance begins.
Chapter 07 – Performance Management and Appraisal
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Essay Questions
[QUESTION]
51. List and explain four common rating errors.
52. What are the administrative concerns that must be addressed in performance appraisal
system? Provide a description of each.
Answer: Frequency and timing of appraisals: This refers to the number of times an employee
Chapter 07 – Performance Management and Appraisal
[QUESTION]
53. Define the six different types of outcomes that may be measured in a work performance
system. Provide brief examples for each.
Answer: Quality: The degree to which the process or result of carrying out an activity
approaches perfection, in terms of either conforming to some ideal way of performing the
[QUESTION]
54. What is the criterion for recommending MBO as a method for comparing people or units?
55. List the three basic ways in which raters can make performance assessments.
Chapter 07 – Performance Management and Appraisal
[QUESTION]
56. What does the process of designing an appraisal system include? Who should be involved
is this process?
57. Briefly explain the management by objectives (MBO) rating method.
Answer: Management by objectives (MBO) is a performance management and appraisal
[QUESTION]
58. What are rating errors? List the common rating errors.
Chapter 07 – Performance Management and Appraisal
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[QUESTION]
59. Briefly describe each of the two ways in which errors arise.
Answer: Errors can arise in two different ways: as the result of unintentional errors in the way
[QUESTION]
60. List the recommendations for implementing a multirater/360-degree appraisal system.
Answer: Recommendations include considering instrument issues, administration issues,