HRM CH 11

The halo effect occurs when a rater allows a single prominent characteristic
of an employee to influence his or her judgment on each separate item in the
performance appraisal.
1/1
TRUE
An understanding of job descriptions is crucial for conducting performance
appraisals.
1/1
TRUE

One method to make performance appraisal systems more legally acceptable

is by emphasizing work behaviors of the employee being assessed rather than
his or her personal traits.
1/1
TRUE
Ability refers to the amount of energy an individual uses in performing a
task.
1/1
FALSE

Behaviorally anchored rating scales are designed to reduce halo, leniency,

and central tendency errors.
1/1
TRUE
The work standards approach to performance evaluation is most frequently
used for production employees.
1/1
TRUE
Most behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARSs) use the term job
dimension to mean those broad categories of duties and responsibilities that
make up a job.
1/1
TRUE
The only necessary condition for high-level performance is an individual's
ability.
0/1
FALSE

The more a manager uses positive motivational techniques (e.g., recognizing

and praising good performance), the more satisfied an employee is likely to
be with the appraisal interview and with the manager
1/1
TRUE

Leniency is the tendency of a manager to rate most employees' performance

near the middle of the performance scale.
1/1
FALSE

21. The degree of accomplishment of the tasks that make up an employee's job is
called:
A) performance.

22.Determinants of performance include all of the following EXCEPT:

D) diversity.

23.Environmental factors should be viewed as:

B) modifying the effects of effort, ability, and direction.

24.____ refers to the amount of energy (physical and/or mental) an individual uses in
performing a task.
D) Effort

25.Personal characteristics used in performing a job are called:

B) abilities.

26.An employee's lack of time or conflicting demands upon it, inadequate work facilities
and equipment, restrictive policies that affect the job, lack of cooperation from others,
type of supervision, temperature, lighting, noise, machine or equipment pacing, shifts,
and even luck, are all examples of:
D) environmental factors as performance obstacles.
27.Which of the following is a typical responsibility of a human resources department
regarding performance management?
B) Training managers in conducting performance appraisals

28.The process of evaluating and communicating to an employee how he or she is

performing a job and establishing a plan of improvement is referred to as:
C) performance appraisal.

29.Which method is most commonly reserved for appraisal of managers and

professionals?
A) Management by objectives

30.Which of the following is a typical step in the management by results process?

B) Measuring objective achievement

31.Which of the following performance appraisal methods is also referred to as multi-

rater assessment?
A) 360-degree feedback
32.Pals Computer Inc. is using the graphic rating scale method for its employees'
performance appraisal. Which of the following is a major weakness of this appraisal
method?
D) Evaluators are unlikely to interpret written descriptions in the same manner
due to differences in background, experience, and personality.

33.Maroon Hotels Inc. is using the behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) method of
employee performance appraisal. What is the advantage of using BARS?
A) It allows the active participation of both managers and job incumbents.

34.The ____ appraisal method requires that the evaluation describe an employee's
performance in written narrative form.
A) essay

35.In the checklist appraisal method, a rater indicates judgments using:

C) yes-or-no responses.

36.Which of the following is a method of performance appraisal that attempts to

eliminate evaluator bias by making a rater rank statements that are seemingly
indistinguishable or unrelated?
A) Forced-choice rating

37.Which of the following employee ranking systems assumes the performance level in
a group of employees will be distributed according to a bell-shaped, or "normal,"
curve?0
A) Forced distribution method
38.Gerald is conducting a performance appraisal of the employees in his department,
ranking them from the most to the least valuable. He lists the names of the employees
to be rated on the left side of a sheet of paper. Then he chooses the most valuable
employee on the list, crosses that name off the left-hand list, and puts it at the top of the
column on the right-hand side of the paper. Next, he selects and crosses off the name
of the least valuable employee from the left-hand column and moves it to the bottom of
the right-hand column. Gerald repeats this process for all of the names on the left-hand
side of the paper. The resulting list of names in the right-hand column gives a ranking of
the employees from the most to the least valuable. Identify the ranking method Gerald is
using.
C) Alternation ranking

39.Which of the following acts does not permit the use of ranking methods for federal
employees?
C) The Civil Service Reform Act

40.The ____ approach to performance appraisal is most frequently used for production
employees and is basically a form of goal setting for these employees.
D) work standards

41.WM Automobiles Inc. is using the work standards approach to performance

appraisal. Which of the following should the company use as a standard to evaluate a
production worker's performance?
D) The average output of a typical employee

42.Which of the following is an error that occurs in performance appraisals when a

manager's ratings are grouped at the positive end instead of being spread throughout
the performance scale?
A) Leniency

43.Brenda had been consistently meeting all her deadlines and performance standards
over the past year. However, due to certain health issues, her performance over the last
six weeks has been below average. Brenda's manager turned in a poor performance
appraisal based on her performance over the last month. Which of the following errors
in performance appraisals does this case reflect?
D) Recency

44.Which of the following is an advantage of the work standards approach to

performance review?
A) It is based on highly objective factors.

45.____ is the inclination of a manager to rate most employees' performance near the
middle of the performance scale.
B) Central tendency error
46.Which of the following is an error that occurs in performance appraisals when a rater
allows a single prominent characteristic of an employee to influence his or her judgment
on each separate item in the performance appraisal?
C) The halo effect

47.One of the most promising approaches to overcoming performance appraisal errors

is to:
A) improve appraisers' rating skills.

48.Which of the following is an effective practice for a manager to apply when

conducting an employee's performance appraisal interview?
C) Knowing the employee's job description

49.Which of the following is a suggestion for making performance appraisal systems

more legally acceptable?
A) Derive the content of the appraisal system from job analyses