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Student name:__________
TRUE/FALSE – Write ‘T’ if the statement is true and ‘F’ if the statement is false.
1) The performance of hourly workers is more accurately tied to quantifiable measures than
the performance of managerial workers.
⊚ true
⊚ false
2) Employees who are dissatisfied with performance appraisals are less satisfied with their
pay.
⊚ true
⊚ false
3) Some experts argue that applying total-quality-management principles to performance
appraisals can improve them.
⊚ true
⊚ false
4) A good leader is key to making an employee believe that pay is linked to individual
performance.
⊚ true
⊚ false
5) A halo error is the error that occurs when an employee is downgraded across all
performance dimensions exclusively because of poor performance in one dimension.
⊚ true
⊚ false
6) During performance appraisals, managers tend to focus on either task performance,
counterproductive performance, or both.
⊚ true
⊚ false
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7) Rankings are more popular among managers than ratings as they are less complex.
⊚ true
⊚ false
8) In contrast to ranking formats, rating formats require raters to evaluate employees on
some absolute standard rather than relative to other employees.
⊚ true
⊚ false
9) Management By Objectives requires more paperwork than other rating methods and
increases both performance pressure and stress.
⊚ true
⊚ false
10) One of the major strengths of using peers as raters is that they work more closely with the
ratee and probably have an undistorted perspective of typical performance, particularly in group
assignments.
⊚ true
⊚ false
11) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales are inexpensive to develop but time-consuming to
use.
⊚ true
⊚ false
12) MBO is particularly well suited as a basis for administrative decisions such as pay raises.
⊚ true
⊚ false
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13) Subordinate ratings are more accurate when they are not anonymous.
⊚ true
⊚ false
14) Supervisors tend to weigh negative attributes more heavily than positive attributes.
⊚ true
⊚ false
15) Keeping a performance diary can help employers defend against discrimination charges
stemming from performance ratings.
⊚ true
⊚ false
16) When raters must justify their scoring of subordinates in writing, the rating is less
accurate.
⊚ true
⊚ false
17) Performance-standard training provides raters with a standard of comparison or frame of
reference for making appraisals.
⊚ true
⊚ false
18) Central tendency errors are the most difficult form of error to eliminate.
⊚ true
⊚ false
19) A good performance evaluation does not begin on the day of the performance interview.
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⊚ true
⊚ false
20) For the same level of performance, employees low in a pay range receive higher
percentage increases than employees higher in the range.
⊚ true
⊚ false
MULTIPLE CHOICE – Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or
answers the question.
21) Deming’s major argument regarding performance appraisals is that:
A) the work situation is the major determinant of performance.
B) performance appraisals reduce teamwork.
C) peer ratings are better than supervisor ratings.
D) lack of training makes performance appraisals redundant.
22) Telling raters that sometimes the work environment and system affect job performance
more than the individual employee’s behavior:
A) makes the ratings completely accurate.
B) leads to higher ratings.
C) has no effect on the ratings.
D) leads to lower ratings.
23) In ________ ranking, raters look at a list of employees, decide who the best employee is,
and cross that person’s name off the list. From the remaining names, the manager decides who
the worst employee is and crosses that name off the list—and so forth.
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A) paired-comparison
B) straight
C) alternation
D) forced distribution
24) Which of the following types of rankings would be least preferred by managers of more
than 10–15 employees?
A) Straight ranking
B) Alternation ranking
C) Paired-comparison ranking
D) Forced ranking
25) A major criticism of standard rating scales is that:
A) raters have different definitions of scale levels.
B) raters find them hard to use.
C) they are expensive to develop.
D) they encourage halo and horn errors.
26) The most common form of outcome-based appraisal is:
A) the essay method.
B) Management By Objectives.
C) the performance standards review.
D) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales.
27) Which of the following is a negative outcome of the management by objectives method?
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A) Increased difficulty of the planning process
B) Decrease in superior/subordinate communication
C) Increase in performance pressure and stress
D) Lack of direction for work units
28) Which of the following is the best appraisal format in terms of legal defensibility?
A) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales
B) Management By Objectives
C) An essay format
D) Ranking
29) Which of the following is an open-ended performance appraisal format that involves the
use of descriptors ranging from comparisons with other employees to adjectives, behaviors, and
goal accomplishment?
A) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales
B) Management By Objectives
C) An essay format
D) Ranking
30) In the context of performance appraisal formats, which of the following criteria is
concerned with whether the evaluation form initially requires a long time to be developed?
A) Employee development
B) Personnel research
C) Cost
D) Validity
31) Which of the following rating formats has the lowest rating errors?
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A) Standard rating scales
B) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales
C) Management By Objectives
D) Ranking
32) When a job involves very routine, mechanistic tasks, the most appropriate appraisal
format is:
A) Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales.
B) Management By Objectives.
C) standard rating scales.
D) alternation ranking.
33) In which of the following jobs is it most appropriate to use behaviorally anchored rating
scales?
A) The job of a trainer that involves training new employees every month
B) The job of a web designer that involves designing websites according to client
expectations
C) An assembly line job that involves tightening nuts on an engine
D) A client relations job that involves bringing in new clients to a firm
34) In situations where the nature of the task is so uncertain that it may be difficult to specify
expected goals, the most appropriate rating format is
A) a Management By Objectives format.
B) a standard rating scale.
C) a behaviorally anchored rating scale.
D) an essay format.
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35) In the context of the performance evaluation process, which of the following ensures that
raters are motivated to rate accurately?
A) Focusing on the person rather than the behavior while evaluating performance and
providing feedback
B) Making sure that managers are graded on how well they utilize and develop human
resources
C) Ensuring that employees do not have to participate in developing performance
dimensions
D) Conducting informal discussions with employees about progress on an irregular
basis
36) Among peer raters, the most objective evaluations are given by:
A) workers who are friends of the ratees.
B) workers who are not close friends with ratees.
C) high-performing workers.
D) low-performing workers.
37) In the context of evaluation formats, which of the following is true of the alternation
ranking method?
A) It simplifies the ranking process by forcing raters to make ranking judgments about
discrete pairs of people.
B) It selects specific jobs based on certain predefined criteria and leaves out the rest.
C) It requires raters to evaluate employees on some absolute standard rather than
relative to other employees.
D) It recognizes that raters are better at ranking people at extreme ends of a distribution.
38) In the context of subordinates as raters, which of the following statements is true?
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A) Upward feedback has been historically viewed as countercultural.
B) Subordinates prefer to reveal their identity while giving their feedback to managers.
C) Upward feedback tends to be more reliable than those from other sources.
D) If their identity is hidden, subordinates give artificially inflated ratings of their
supervisors.
39) Allowing nonperformance factors to affect performance scores is known as
A) a horn error.
B) affirmative action.
C) straight ranking.
D) criterion contamination.
40) A horn error occurs when an employee is:
A) consistently rated higher than deserved.
B) given a favorable rating on all job duties based on his or her impressive performance
in just one job function.
C) downgraded across all performance dimensions because of poor performance on one
dimension.
D) consistently rated lower than deserved.
41) Last year, your performance was not very good and your performance rating was below
average; however, this year you have done very well by exceeding your performance goals. To
your surprise, your boss gives you just an average performance rating. What error has your boss
most likely committed?
A) Horn error
B) Halo error
C) Severity error
D) Spillover error
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42) During the performance review of her employees, Sarah gives higher ratings to
employees from her hometown, Oklahoma, as she believes that people from Oklahoma are
hardworking and trustworthy. Which of the following rating errors is Sarah exhibiting?
A) Severity error
B) Horn error
C) Spillover error
D) Clone error
43) Jake’s new car was dented by his employee, Steve. Ever since then, Jake has been
consistently giving lower ratings to Steve during performance reviews to get back at him. Which
of the following errors has been exhibited by Jake?
A) Halo error
B) Severity error
C) Leniency error
D) Clone error
44) In the context of performance appraisals, which of the following statements is true?
A) Race has no effect on layoff decisions and performance ratings.
B) All other things being equal, males are rated higher than females.
C) Raters who have traditional views rate females more accurately than raters who do
not have traditional views.
D) The pattern of performance does not influence ratings when the overall level of
performance is controlled.
45) Which of the following statements is NOT true?
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A) Workers who start out high in performance and then get worse are rated lower than
workers who remain consistently low.
B) Workers whose performance improves over time are seen as more motivated.
C) Workers whose performance is consistently average are rated higher than those who
perform better at the end of a rating cycle.
D) Workers whose performance varies over time are seen as less motivated.
46) All of the following are categories of rater training EXCEPT ________ training.
A) rater-error
B) performance-standard
C) behavior modeling
D) performance-dimension
47) Teaching raters what constitutes good, average, and bad performance is ________
training.
A) performance-standard
B) rater-error
C) performance-dimension
D) Six Sigma
48) Which of the following statements is true regarding rater training?
A) Training programs lasting over two hours are less successful than shorter ones.
B) Rater-error training is more effective than performance-standard or performance-
dimension training.
C) Lectures to raters on how to improve ratings are always ineffective.
D) Training to reduce halo errors and improve accuracy has been most successful.
49) Which of the following is statements is true of leniency error?
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A) It is the error of consistently rating someone higher than is deserved.
B) It is the error of avoiding extremes in ratings across employees.
C) It is the error of downgrading an employee across all performance dimensions
exclusively because of poor performance on one dimension.
D) It is the error of giving better ratings to individuals who are like the rater in behavior
and personality.
50) Louie received the highest performance rating and is in the second quartile of his pay
range. He received a pay increase of 8 percent. Bart also received the highest performance rating
and is in the fourth quartile. Given the way most merit increase grids work, what size of pay
increase would you expect Bart to receive?
A) Less than 8 percent
B) More than 8 percent
C) 8 percent
D) There is no relationship between ratings and position in pay range.
SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or
answers the question.
51) What was Deming’s major criticism against performance appraisals?
52) Describe the paired-comparison ranking method.
53) How does equal employment opportunity (EEO) influence HR decision making?
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54) Why is it appropriate to define behavioral expectations only for highly routine tasks?
55) What are the types of pay systems that have low-motivation potential but provide equal
increases to all employees regardless of performance?
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Answer Key
Test name: chapter 11
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