Professional Documents
Culture Documents
True/False Questions
5.1 Key accountabilities are the broad areas of a job for which the employee is
responsible for producing results.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.1])
5.3 After determining the accountabilities of a particular job, the next step in
measuring results is to determine specific objectives.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.1])
5.4 Good objectives are set in stone and will not change throughout the performance
review period.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.3])
5.5 Good performance standards are related to the position, concrete, specific,
measurable, practical to measure, meaningful, realistic, achievable, and reviewed
regularly.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.4])
5.8 Absolute systems base the measurement on comparing employees with one
another.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.8])
5.9 Comparative performance measurement systems are better than absolute systems
at controlling for several rater biases and errors.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.7])
5.10 In an alternation rank order procedure, employees are simply ranked from the best
performer to the worst performer.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.7])
5.11 Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) include graphic rating scales that
use critical incidents as anchors.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.8])
Multiple-Choice Questions
5.14 A(n) _____________ is a yardstick used to evaluate how well employees have
achieved each objective.
A. accountability
B. results statement
C. performance standard
D. none of the above
(Suggested points: 2, [5.1)
5.16 Which of the following characteristics can be used to judge the extent to which an
objective has been achieved?
A. Quality
B. Quantity
C. Time
D. All of the above
(Suggested points: 2, [5.4])
5.18 ___________ are competencies that each employee needs to display to do the job
to a minimally adequate standard.
A. Differentiating competencies
B. Threshold competencies
C. Distinguishing competencies
D. None of the above
(Suggested points: 2, [5.5])
5.23 The use of _________________ ensure that the response categories are clearly
defined, that interpretation of the rating by an outside party is clear, and that the
supervisor and employee also understand the rating.
A. essays
B. graphic rating scales
C. critical incidents
D. all of the above
5.24 Broad areas of a job for which the employee is responsible for producing results
are called ___________________.
A. responsibilities
B. performance standards
C. results
D. key accountabilities
(Suggested points: 2, [5.1])
5.26 A yardstick used to evaluate how well employees have achieved each objective is
called ____________________________.
A. a performance standard
B. a key accountability
C. results
D. responsibilities
(Suggested points: 2, [5.1])
5.32 What are the two types of systems used to evaluate competencies?
A. Evaluative and Projective
B. Comparative and Absolute
C. Absolute and Evaluative
D. Projective and Comparative
(Suggested points: 2, .5[5.7], .5[5.8])
5.34 Use of simple rank order, alteration rank order, and relative percentile would be
most appropriate in _____________ systems of evaluating competencies.
A. declarative
B. absolute
C. projective
D. comparative
(Suggested points: 2, [5.7])
5.35 When raters are asked to consider all ratees at the same time and to estimate the
relative performance of each by using a 100-point scale, which method are they
using?
A. Forced distribution
B. Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS)
C. Simple rank order
D. Relative percentile
(Suggested points: 2, [5.7])
5.36 When supervisors select (in order) the best performer, then the worst performer,
then the second best performer, then the second worst performer, and so forth,
alternating between top and bottom until the list is completed (and they meet in
the middle), they are using which measurement method?
A. Paired comparisons
B. Alternation rank order
C. Random assignment
D. Relative distance
(Suggested points: 2, [5.7])
5.37 Use of essays, critical incidents, and graphic rating scales would be most
appropriate in a(n) ______________ system of evaluating competencies.
A. declarative
B. absolute
C. projective
D. comparative
(Suggested points: 2, [5.8])
5.38 Gathering reports of situations in which employees performed behaviors that were
especially effective or ineffective in accomplishing their jobs is an example of
__________________________________.
A. a critical incident approach
B. an essay approach
C. a comparative approach
D. a direct report approach
(Suggested points: 2, [5.8])
Essay-Type Questions
5.40 Explain the difference between absolute and comparative systems. What
are the
advantages and disadvantages to each type of system?
(Suggested points: 5, .5[5.7], .5[5.8])
5.41 Discuss the questions that one must be able to answer when adopting a
results
approach.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.1])
5.44 List the four characteristics necessary of a useful standard, and give an example of
each characteristic using the following standard as an example: Increase sales
from $15,000 to $22,000 by December 1st at a cost not to exceed $3,000.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.7])
5.46 Discuss the three aspects of specific objectives that can be used to judge the
extent to which an objective has been achieved.
(Suggested points: 3, [5.3])
5.49 List the components that must be present when describing a competency.
(Suggested points: 2, [5.6])
5.51 Describe the advantages and disadvantages of using the various absolute
evaluation approaches.
(Suggested points: 3, [5.8])
Answers
5.1 T
5.2 F: Objectives are statements of important and measurable outcomes.
5.3 T
5.4 F: Good objectives are flexible.
5.5 T
5.6 T
5.7 T
5.8 F: Comparative systems base the measurement on comparing employees with one
another.
5.9 T
5.10 F: In a simple rank order system, employees are simply ranked from the best
performer to the worst performer.
5.11 T
5.12 F: A forced distribution method may discourage contextual performance
behaviors and teamwork and may increase competition within an organization.
5.13 F: Relative percentile is a type of comparative performance measurement system.
5.14 C
5.15 B
5.16 D
5.17 B
5.18 B
5.19 A
5.20 C
5.21 D
5.22 A
5.23 B
5.24 D
5.25 C
5.26 A
5.27 B
5.28 D
5.29 D
5.30 C
5.31 D
5.32 B
5.33 C
5.34 D
5.35 D
5.36 B
5.37 B
5.38 A
5.39 Key accountabilities are broad areas of a job for which the employee is
responsible for producing results. Objectives are statements of important and
measurable outcomes. Finally, a performance standard is a yardstick used to
evaluate how well employees have achieved each objective. Performance
standards provide information on acceptable and unacceptable performance
regarding, for example, quality, quantity, cost, and time.
5.40 Comparative systems base the measurement on comparing employees with one
another. Advantages of using relative measurement methods include: these types
of measurement procedures are usually easy to explain, decisions resulting from
these types of systems are fairly easy and cut and dry, and they tend to control for
several biases and errors made by those rating performance better than absolute
systems. Disadvantages associated with the use of relative systems include:
employees usually are compared only in terms of a single overall category, and
we don’t have information on the relative distance between employees.
5.41 When adopting a results approach, one must be able to answer the following
questions:
What are the different areas in which this individual is expected to
focus his/her efforts (key accountabilities)?
Within each area, what are the expected objectives?
5.44 Standards must include an action (increase), the desired result (to $22,000), a due
date (by December 1st), and some type of quality or quantity indicator (the
increase in sales from $15,000 to $22,000 and at a cost not to exceed $3,000).
5.46 When judging the extent to which an objective has been achieved, the following
three aspects of the specific objective should be considered in comparison to what
was expected:
Quality—in terms of how well the objective was achieved
Quantity—in terms of how much of the objective was achieved, how many
objectives were achieved, how often the objective was achieved, and at what cost
the objective was achieved
Time—in terms of due dates, the schedule, cycle times, and how quickly the
objective was achieved
5.47 Good performance standards have the following characteristics. They are:
Related to the position
Concrete, specific, and measurable
Practical to measure
Meaningful
They are also quite time consuming, considering the number of employees the
supervisor may have.
B. Behavior checklists use a form listing behavioral statements that are indicators
of the various competencies to be measured. An advantage is that such a
checklist is easy to understand; disadvantages are that the scale points used are
often arbitrary and that it is difficult to get detailed and useful feedback from
the numerical rating.
C. Critical incidents: This approach involves gathering reports of situations in
which employees performed behaviors that were especially effective or
ineffective in accomplishing their objectives. An advantage is that this allows
the supervisor to focus on actual employee behavior rather than on vaguely
defined traits; the disadvantage is that collecting such information is very time
consuming.
D. Graphic rating scales are considered the most popular tools to measure
performance. It is important to ensure that the response categories are clearly
defined, that interpretation of the rating by an outside party is clear, and that
the employee and the supervisor would both understand the rating.
Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) improve on graphic rating
scales by using critical incidents as anchors. Their development is dependent
on active employee involvement at several points as well as final supervisor
and employee checking of the items for dependability of the ratings.