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61. Answers will vary. The ProMES incorporates ideas from goal setting to feedback, and it includes incentives for
improvement. More important, it includes a method for tying performance at the individual and group levels to
organizational productivity. Specifically, team members work with outside experts to literally map the relationship
between a given outcome and productivity. The other important part of the ProMES process involves the various
“connections” among the components. The procedure is based on a model of motivation that is similar to the expectancy
model. Thus, these connections are concerned with the relationship between effort and performance and between
performance and attaining outcomes, as well as the link between obtaining outcomes and satisfying needs. The model and
the technique are also based on the assumption that individuals and groups have a pool of resources (and effort) that they
can assign to different activities, and the technique is designed to help them understand which activities they should focus
on to increase firm productivity. The system has been widely adopted (especially in Europe) and has been quite
successful, and it is one of the few performance-enhancement techniques that focuses on performance above the level of
the individual. See 14-4: Performance Management and Feedback
62. Answers will vary. Performance feedback plays an important role in both behavior modification and goal setting, and
it is also seen as a useful tool in its own right for performance management. But many managers do a poor job in this area,
in part because they do not understand how to provide feedback properly and in part because they do not enjoy it. Almost
by definition, performance appraisal in many organizations tends to focus on negatives; as a result, managers may have a
tendency to avoid giving feedback because they know an employee who hears negative feedback may be angry, hurt,
discouraged, or argumentative. But clearly, if employees are not told about their shortcomings, they have no reason to try
to improve and have no guidance concerning how to improve. Therefore, it is critical that a rater provide feedback, so he
or she must understand how it might be done more effectively. See 14-4: Performance Management and Feedback
63. Answers will vary. In addition to employees working on alternative schedules, employees performing their work at a
location other than the place of business, most likely at home, is a growing trend. Home work and telecommuting are two
popular variations on this theme. Home work programs include arrangements that are often referred to as cottage
industries. In the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution, before many factories were built, employees would take parts
back home to their cottages, manufacture them, and then return them to a central point where they could be assembled.
Similar types of cottage industries still exist for the manufacturing of small and not very complex items. It is more
common, however, to operate in what can be called an electronic cottage. Employees take office work home with them
and complete it on home computers. They can then return to the office to collect more work. Telecommuting is simply the
logical extension of the electronic cottage. Under this arrangement, employees may do almost all of their work at home
and may even receive assignments electronically. This arrangement provides employees with the ultimate in flexibility