Chapter 1
Discuss differences between performance management and performance appraisal ?
Answer
Performance Management is NOT performance appraisal because
- Performance Management:
• Strategic business considerations
• Driven by line manager
• Ongoing feedback
So employee can improve performance
- Performance Appraisal
• Assesses employee
Strengths &
Weaknesses
• Driven by HR
• Once a year
• Lacks ongoing feedback
2. What are determinants of performance ?
Performance = Declarative Knowledge X Procedural Knowledge X Motivation
-Declarative Knowledge :
- Information about Facts , Labels , Principles , Goals
- Understanding of task requirements
-Procedural Knowledge:
• Knowing What to do and
• How to do it
• Skills: Cognitive, Physical, Perceptual, Motor and Interpersonal
-Motivation : Choices
• Expenditure of effort
• Level of effort
• Persistence of effort
Chapter 5
What are Disadvantages of competitive system ?
Answer
Rankings may not be specific enough for
• Useful feedback
• Protection from legal challenge
No information on relative distance between employees
Specific issues with forced distribution method (some units may have a high
performing culture and vise versa).
What are advantages and disadvantages of the following Essays, Behavior checklists and
Critical incidents?
Answer
1- Essays
Supervisor writes an essay describing each employee’s strengths & weaknesses and makes
suggestions for improvement.
Advantage:
a. Potential to provide detailed feedback
Disadvantage:
b. Unstructured and may lack detail
c. Depends on supervisor writing skill
d. Lack of quantitative information; difficult to use in personnel decisions
2- Behavior checklists
Supervisor check statements that describe the employee being rated
Advantage:
a. Easy to use and understand
Disadvantage:
b. Scale points used are often arbitrary
c. Difficult to get detailed and useful feedback
3- Critical incidents
Involves gathering reports of situations in which employees exhibited effective/ineffective
behaviors
Advantage:
i. Allows focus on specific behavior situations and not traits
Disadvantage:
ii. Very time-consuming
iii. Difficult to attach a score quantifying the impact of the incident
What is Graphic rating scales ?
Clear meaning for each response category
Consistent interpretation by outside readers
Supervisor and employee should have same understanding of rating
Chapter 7
What are two levels included in Appeals Process?
Answer
Employees can question two types of issues:
• Judgmental
(validity of evaluation)
• Administrative
(whether policies and procedures were followed)
Level 1
• HR reviews facts, policies, procedures
• HR reports to supervisor/employee
• HR attempts to negotiate settlement
Level 2
• Arbitrator (panel of peers and managers) take a vote after investigations to
make a final decision
• The vote, in some cases, is forwarded to a high-level manager (eg: vice
president) to make the final decision.
What are intentional and unintentional rating error?
Answer
1. Intentional rating errors
2. Leniency (inflation):
• When raters assign high ratings to most or all employees
3. Severity (deflation):
• when raters assign low ratings to most or all employees
4. Central tendency :
• When raters use only the middle points on the rating scales
5. Similar to Me:
• Supervisor is more likely to give higher ratings to employee who think is
similar to him
6. Halo:
• Rater fails to distinguish among the different performance dimensions; a
high score in a single dimension might result in assigning the same high
score on all other dimensions
7. Primacy:
• When performance evaluation is influenced mainly by information collected
during the initial phases of the review period
8. First Impression:
• the initial favorable/unfavorable judgment about an employee
9. Contrast:
Supervisors compare individuals with one another instead of against predetermined
standards
2. Unintentional rating errors
Stereotype :
• When a supervisor has an oversimplified view of individuals based on group
membership (ex: women)
Negativity :
• When raters place more weight on negative information than on positive
and neutral information
Recency :
• When performance evaluation is influenced mainly by information gathered
during the last portion of the review period
Spillover :
• When scores from previous review periods unjustly influence current ratings
Attribution :
• when a supervisor attributes poor performance to an employee’s
dispositional tendencies (eg: personality) instead of the situation itself
Chapter 8
Discuss advantages and risks of 360 degree feed back system?
Answer
Advantages of 360-degree Feedback Systems
1. Decreased possibility of biases since there are many sources of information
2. Increased awareness of expectations
3. Increased commitment to improve
4. Improved self-perception of performance as a result of feedbacks
5. Improved performance.
6. Reduction of ‘undiscussables’
7. Increased employee control of their own careers
Risks of 360-degree Feedback Systems
8. Unconstructive negative feedback hurts.
9. Individuals should feel comfortable with the system and that they will be rated
honestly (User acceptance is a key determinant to ensure +ve results)
10. If few raters, anonymity is compromised and raters are likely to distort information
11. Raters may become overloaded as a result of filling out many forms providing
information on many individuals.
12. Implementing a 360-degree feedback shouldn’t be a one time event (data should be
collected on an ongoing basis)
13. Stock values may drop(this has happened when peer reviews & upward feedback
were implemented)
Implementing a Performance Management System
Preparation
Communication Plan
Appeals Process
Training Programs
Pilot Testing
Ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation
