Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
Chapter 9
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following statements is true about the differences between training and
development?
a. Training is future-oriented, while development focuses more on the present issues.
b. Training focuses on preparing employees for current jobs, but development prepares
them for other positions in the company.
c. Use of work experiences is higher in training than it is in development.
d. Employee participation in training is voluntary, whereas in development, employee
participation has to be forced.
2. An employee’s protean career:
a. is controlled by the availability of positions in a company.
b. is limited to achievements at work.
c. is based on the feeling of pride that comes from achieving life goals.
d. is solely determined through signals the employee receives from the company.
3. _____ refers to the use of information by employees to determine their career interests,
values, aptitudes, and behavioral tendencies.
a. Reality check
b. Goal setting
c. Self-assessment
d. Action planning
4. In the _____ stage of the career management process, employees receive information on
how the company evaluates their skills and knowledge and where they fit into the
company’s plans.
a. action planning
b. self-assessment
c. goal setting
d. reality check
Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
5. The _____ is a personality assessment tool used for team building and leadership
development that identifies employees’ preferences for energy, information gathering,
decision making, and lifestyle.
a. nine-box grid
b. Myers-Briggs Type Inventory
c. Boston Consulting Group matrix
d. 360-degree assessment system
6. An in-basket exercise is typically designed to measure the _____ of a manager.
a. psychomotor skills
b. administrative skills
c. conflict resolution skills
d. emotional intelligence
7. In assessment centers, scheduling exercises typically evaluate employees’ _____.
a. leadership skills
b. problem-solving abilities
c. oral communication skills
d. psychomotor skills
8. In upward feedback, managers’ behaviors or skills are evaluated by _____.
a. their bosses
b. their peers
c. their subordinates
d. external customers
9. Which of the following is a limitation of the 360-degree feedback system?
a. Managers’ behaviors or skills are evaluated only by subordinates.
b. Employees cannot compare their own personal evaluations with the views of others.
c. A facilitator is needed to help interpret the results.
d. The feedback from the 360-degree assessment cannot be linked to development plans.
Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
10. Sending employees on international assignments and projects is an example of the _____
approach to employee development.
a. formal education
b. assessment
c. mentoring
d. job experience
11. Job enlargement refers to the process of:
a. hiring more people for the same job category.
b. moving employees up the organizational hierarchy.
c. adding challenges or new responsibilities to an employee’s current job.
d. adding more jobs in a department in order to reduce employee stress.
12. _____ gives employees a series of job assignments in various functional areas of the
company or movement among jobs in a single functional area or department.
a. Job rotation
b. Job enlargement
c. Onboarding
d. Externship
13. Which of the following is a negative outcome of job rotation?
a. It fails to provide employees with a holistic view of the company’s goals.
b. It creates a short-term perspective on problems and solutions.
c. It cannot be used for all levels and types of employees.
d. It has no associations with salary growth and promotion rates.
14. Which of the following statements is true about transfers as a part of job experiences?
a. It is a punishment for poor performance and it hinders the development of skills.
b. It refers to a lateral movement to a job with similar responsibilities.
c. It necessarily increases job responsibilities or compensation.
d. It requires employees to take a full-time operational role at another company.
Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
9-4
15. _____ allow employees more time for personal pursuits such as writing a book or spending
more time with young children, by granting a temporary leave of absence from the
company.
a. Job enlargements
b. Apprenticeships
c. Sabbaticals
d. Job rotations
16. Employee development need or goal of job rotation is to:
a. develop new skills by continuing in the current position or job.
b. learn about another function, division, or product in the same organization.
c. reduce job stress or achieve better work and non-work balance.
d. obtain job experiences and develop skills in jobs not available in the company.
17. _____ is a type of interpersonal relationship approach to development in which a successful
senior employee helps develop a group of four to six less experienced employees.
a. Executive education program
b. Group mentoring program
c. Calibration group program
d. Leaderless group program
18. Which of the following is characteristic of successful formal mentoring programs?
a. Mentor and protégé participation is involuntary.
b. The mentor–protégé matching process limits the ability of informal relationships to
develop.
c. The mentor–protégé relationship stays long due to the fear of punishment.
d. The mentor and protégé pursue the relationship beyond the formal period.
19. Which of the following is true of coaching employees?
a. Coaching involves providing resources such as mentors, courses, or job experiences.
b. A good coach is an individual who knows all the answers.
c. A good coach has a strong desire to tell others what to do.
Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
9-5
d. Employees who are going to be coached need to be concerned with their reputation.
20. The process of developing a succession plan typically begins with:
a. identifying the employees included in the succession plan.
b. identifying the positions included in the succession plan.
c. developing standards to evaluate positions.
d. determining ways to measure employee potential.
21. The core employees in the nine-box grid are those with:
a. high potential and high performance.
b. low potential and outstanding performance.
c. high potential and low performance.
d. moderate potential and solid performance.
22. In the nine-box grid, high-potential and high performing employees who should be
developed for leadership positions in the company are termed as _____.
a. core employees
b. star performers
c. strong contributors
d. subject experts
23. According to the nine-box grid, the development plan for employees with outstanding
performance but low potential typically emphasizes:
a. finding them experiences that will continue to facilitate creativity and innovation.
b. moving them to a position that best matches their skill set.
c. performance improvement in their current position.
d. developing them for leadership positions in the company.
24. _____ refers to the process of helping new hires adjust to social and performance aspects of
their new jobs.
a. Externship
Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
b. Offshoring
c. Repatriation
d. Onboarding
25. Which of the following makes a socialization program ineffective?
a. Including information on technical aspects of the job in the socialization program
b. Introducing the employee to company-related rules and regulations
c. Restraining interactions between new hires and current employees
d. Tracking employee progress at different points up to one year
True/ False
1. Development involves learning that is not necessarily related to the employee’s current job.
a. True
b. False
2. In a protean career, employees do not take responsibility for managing their careers.
a. True
b. False
3. In comparison to traditional career patterns, career patterns involving movement across
specializations or disciplines are becoming less prevalent.
a. True
b. False
4. Discussing performance and development in the same meeting is difficult because they
have different objectives.
a. True
b. False
Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
5. Performance appraisal discussions are more long-term than development discussions.
a. True
b. False
6. Competencies include knowledge, skills, and abilities of employees, but not their personal
characteristics.
a. True
b. False
7. Companies rely on in-house programs because they can be easily evaluated using company
metrics.
a. True
b. False
8. Assessments can be used to identify decision processes or communication styles that
inhibit a team’s productivity.
a. True
b. False
9. In 360-degree feedback systems, employees’ behaviors are evaluated only by themselves.
a. True
b. False
10. Job experiences that are seen as negative stressors challenge employees to stimulate
learning.
a. True
b. False
Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
11. Job rotation is used for all types of employees, not just those with managerial potential.
a. True
b. False
12. Employee transfers necessarily increase job responsibilities or compensation.
a. True
b. False
13. Transfers and downward moves are opportunities to develop skills that will help employees
achieve long-term success with a company.
a. True
b. False
14. Group mentoring acknowledges the reality that it is difficult for one mentor to provide an
employee with all the guidance and support he or she needs.
a. True
b. False
15. Mentoring cannot occur between mentors and protégés from different organizations.
a. True
b. False
16. In reverse mentoring programs, more senior employees are paired with a younger
employee.
a. True
b. False
Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
17. High-potential employees need not participate in development programs such as executive
mentoring and coaching.
a. True
b. False
18. The development plans for employees with low potential and low performance
development emphasize finding them challenging new job experiences.
a. True
b. False
19. By making a succession planning list public, high-potential employees who are not
interested in other positions can communicate their intentions.
a. True
b. False
20. Externship refers to the process of helping new hires adjust to social and performance
aspects of their new jobs.
a. True
b. False
Short Answer/Essay
1. Why is it better for managers to hold separate performance appraisals and development
discussions?
Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
9-10
2. Elaborate on the potential problems with job rotation for both the employee and the work
unit.
3. How can companies ensure that employees accept transfers, promotions, and downward
moves as development opportunities?
4. What are the roles that a coach can play to develop employees?
Chapter 09 – Employee Development and Career Management
5. What are the issues that companies need to consider in succession planning?