52) Who is in the best position to observe and evaluate an employee’s
performance for the purposes of a performance appraisal?
A) peers
B) rating committees
C) top management
D) immediate supervisor
53) Performance appraisals may be conducted by ________.
A) the immediate supervisor
B) peers
C) rating committees
D) All of the above.
54) Rating committees, made up of an employee’s immediate supervisor along
with other supervisors, usually have ________ other members.
A) 1-2
B) 3-4
C) 6-7
D) 8-9
55) Peer appraisals have been shown to result in a(n) ________.
A) reduction of social loafing in the team
B) reduction of group cohesion
C) decrease in satisfaction with the group
D) tendency to inaccurately predict who would be promoted
56) What usually occurs when employees rate themselves in a performance
appraisal?
A) interrater reliability is higher
B) appraisals are subject to halo effects
C) ratings are higher than when rated by supervisors or peers
D) ratings are about the same as when determined by peers
57) Firms that use ________ let subordinates anonymously rate their supervisor’s
performance.
A) downward feedback
B) upward feedback
C) narratives
D) critical incidents
58) What process allows top management to diagnose the management styles of
supervisors, identify potential “people” problems, and take corrective action with
individual supervisors as necessary?
A) strategic performance appraisal
B) organizational development
C) upward feedback
D) critical incidents
59) When subordinates provide feedback for supervisors, the comments should be
anonymous because identifiable responses tend to result in more ________.
A) critical ratings
B) negative attitudes from managers receiving the feedback
C) inflated ratings
D) All of the above.
60) ________ is a process for enabling employees to better understand and
develop their career skills and interests and to use these skills and interests most
effectively within the company and afterwards.
A) Organizational development
B) Career management
C) Career development
D) Career planning
61) Career management refers to the ________.
A) the lifelong series of activities that contributes to a person’s career exploration,
establishment, success, and fulfillment
B) process for enabling employees to better understand and develop their career
skills and interests and to use these skills and interests most effectively within the
company and afterwards
C) process of using activities like training and appraisal to provide a career focus
D) occupational positions a person has over his or her lifetime
62) The lifelong series of activities that contributes to a person’s career
exploration, establishment, success, and fulfillment is called ________.
A) organizational development
B) career management
C) career development
D) career planning
63) Career development refers to the ________.
A) process through which someone becomes aware of personal skills, interests,
knowledge, motivations; acquires information about opportunities; identifies
career goals; and establishes action plans to attain those goals
B) the lifelong series of activities that contributes to a person’s career exploration,
establishment, success, and fulfillment
C) process for enabling employees to better understand and develop their career
skills and interests and to use these skills and interests most effectively within the
company and afterwards
D) process of using activities like training and appraisal to provide a career focus
64) Career planning refers to the ________.
A) process through which someone becomes aware of personal skills, interests,
knowledge, motivations; acquires information about opportunities; identifies
career goals; and establishes action plans to attain those goals
B) the lifelong series of activities that contributes to a person’s career exploration,
establishment, success, and fulfillment
C) process of using activities like training and appraisal to provide a career focus
D) occupational positions a person has over his or her lifetime
65) The process through which someone becomes aware of personal skills,
interests, knowledge, motivations; acquires information about opportunities;
identifies career goals; and establishes action plans to attain those goals is called
________.
A) organizational development
B) career management
C) career development
D) career planning
66) Jackie is working with a coach to identify her personal skills and interests.
Then she plans to get information about opportunities that fit her skills and
interests and set career goals for what she seeks to accomplish. Jackie is in the
midst of ________.
A) organizational development
B) career development
C) career planning
D) training
67) Who is responsible for the planning, guiding, and developing an employee’s
career?
A) the immediate supervisor
B) the employee
C) the organization
D) the development officer
68) Responsibility for career development should always be left to the ________.
A) employee
B) supervisor
C) manager
D) career success team
69) Assessing interests, seeking out career information, and utilizing development
opportunities are all part of the ________ role in career development.
A) individual’s
B) manager’s
C) supervisor’s
D) company’s
70) When Amanda interviewed for a job with the employment commission, the
interviewer warned her that the job could be very stressful with long hours and a
lot of bureaucracy. The interviewer was trying to provide ________.
A) reality shock
B) a realistic job interview
C) disincentive
D) a challenge
71) Miranda wants to make partner at her law firm. She is worried, though,
because everyone understands that 70-hour work weeks are the norm for someone
striving to make partner. Miranda wants to be fair to her family as well as excel at
work. To address this problem, the law firm could help by ________.
A) providing Miranda with a career coach
B) encouraging Miranda to join a career success team
C) eliminating institutional barriers that disproportionately affect women
D) encouraging Miranda to temporarily work in a different job
72) Which of the following best captures the meaning of the term, glass ceiling?
A) structural, yet subtle barriers in corporate environments which inhibit the rise
of talented women to positions of leadership
B) inadequate networking opportunities which result in a lack of an “old girl’s
network” to mirror that of men
C) unspoken decision by corporate leadership that women should not be
encouraged to advance beyond middle management levels
D) the lack of desire among women to pursue jobs with extreme levels of
responsibility and authority
73) What is another term for 360-degree feedback?
A) feedback loop
B) multi-source feedback
C) upward feedback
D) wheel feedback
74) When conducting an appraisal interview, supervisors should do all of the
following except:
A) compare the person’s performance to a standard.
B) encourage the employee to talk.
C) give specific examples of poor performance.
D) compare the person’s performance to that of other employees.
75) When a supervisor must criticize a subordinate in an appraisal interview, it is
best to ________.
A) hold the meeting with other people who can diffuse the negative situation
B) provide examples of critical incidents
C) acknowledge the supervisor’s personal biases in the situation
D) provide feedback once per year
76) Performance appraisals assume that the employee understood what his or her
performance standards were.
77) Managers should appraise employees with respect to the specific goals by
which he or she expected to be measured.
78) Setting useful goals is easy to do.
79) Most managers are very willing and able to set measurable goals for their
subordinates.
80) 360-Degree feedback is usually used for developmental purposes rather than
pay purposes.
81) The forced distribution method is sometimes referred to as the “rank and
yank” method.
82) The critical incident method forces supervisors to consider all the important
aspects of an employee’s performance.
83) In practice, appraisal forms often blend several approaches to appraisal into
one.
84) Electronic performance monitoring seems to raise employee stress levels.
85) A properly designed performance management system utilizes yearly
meetings to ensure continuous improvement in the employee’s capacity and
performance.
86) Goals should be challenging, but not so difficult that they appear impossible
or unrealistic.
87) The evidence suggests that participatively set goals consistently result in
higher performance than assigned goals.
88) The HR department conducts performance appraisals, develops the appraisal
tools, and monitors the appraisal system.
89) Once you have a supervisor to conduct a performance appraisal there is no
need to worry about anything else.
90) The alternation ranking method is the simplest and most popular technique for
appraising performance.
91) Quantitative goals are best.
23
92) The forced distribution method is similar to grading on a curve meaning that
predetermined percentages of those being rated are placed into performance
categories.
93) The basic problem with rankings is that while it is not difficult to identify the
extreme good and bad performers, it is difficult to differentiate meaningfully
between the others.
94) BARS is a rating approach that involves keeping a record of uncommonly
good or undesirable examples of an employee’s work-related behavior and
reviewing it with the employee at predetermined times.
95) MBO relates an employee’s work goals to his or her departmental goals and to
the organization’s goals.
96) Electronic performance monitoring (EPM) allows supervisors to
electronically monitor the amount of computerized data an employee is process
each day.
97) The advantages of the BARS appraisal tool include accuracy, clear standards,
and consistency.
98) Graphic rating scales are the most reliable for rating performance.
99) Central tendency is defined as the influence of a rater’s general impression on
ratings of specific ratee qualities.
24
100) Peer appraisals have been shown to have an immediate positive impact on
improving task motivation, cohesion, and satisfaction, while reducing social
loafing.
101) Managers who receive feedback from subordinates who identify themselves
view the upward appraisal process more negatively than do managers who receive
anonymous feedback.
102) An appraisal interview is used to make plans for new hires as they move
through the selection and training process.
103) Career development is the lifelong series of activities that contributes to a
person’s career exploration, establishment, success, and fulfillment.
104) A career is the occupational positions one holds at a single organization.
105) The employee, the manager, and the employer should all share the
responsibility for an employee’s career development and career success.
106) Matching individual strengths and weaknesses with occupational
opportunities and threats is the key to the career planning process.
107) The barriers for women to advance at work are referred to as the glass
ceiling because it is so easy to break through it.
108) 360-degree feedback is generally used for development purposes, rather than
for pay increases.
109) 360-degree feedback is sometimes called the wheel of feedback because
ratings are collected from all around an employee.
110) Explain what the SMART acronym tells us about goal setting.
111) Why do we have performance management?
112) Explain the three steps in the performance appraisal process.
113) Explain how an MBO program works and describe the six steps involved in
this type of program.
114) There are several guidelines for developing an appraisal that is legally
defensible. Identify four of these guidelines.
115) What is the main difference between performance appraisal and performance
management?
116) What roles and responsibilities should a manager have in an employee’s
career development?
117) What steps can organizations take to enhance the promotional and career
prospects for their female employees?