Human Resource Management Ch 8

Performance management

The process through which managers ensure that employees' activities and outputs are congruent with the organization's goals and is central to gaining competitive advantage

Performance appraisal

The process through which an organization gets information on how well an employee is doing his or her job

Performance feedback

The process of providing employees information regarding their performance effectiveness

-Administrative
-Strategic
-Development

Three purposes of performance management

-Strategic relevance
-Specificity
-Acceptability
-Reliability
-Validity

Five performance measures criteria

Strategic congruence (relevance)

The extent to which the performance management system elicits job performance that is congruent with the organization's strategy, goals, and culture

Validity

The extent to which the performance measure assesses all the relevant (and only the relevant) aspects of job performance. Concerned with maximizing the overlap between actual job performance and the measure of job performance

Reliability

Refers to the consistency of the performance measure

Acceptability

refers to whether the people who use the performance measure accept it. Affected by the extent to which employees believe the performance management system is fair

Specificity

The extent to which a performance measure gives specific guidance to employees about what is expected of them and how they can meet these expectations

-Comparative
-Attribute
-Behavioral
-Results

What are four common approaches

Comparative approach

-Requires the rater to compare an individuals performance with that of others

Attribute approach

Focuses on the extent to which individuals have certain attributes believed desirable for the company's success

Behavioral approach

Attempts to define the behaviors an employee must exhibit to be effective in the job

Results approach

Focuses on managing the objective, measurable results of a job or work group

Productivity measurement and evaluation system (ProMES)

The main goal of _________ is to motivate employees to higher levels of productivity

1) Identify the objectives the products, or set of activities or objectives, the organization expects to accomplish
2) The staff defines indicators of the products
3) the staff establishes the contingencies between the amount of the indicators and the lev

What are the four steps in Productivity measurement and evaluation system (ProMES)?

-Managers
-Customers
-Self
-Peers
-Subordinates

Five performance information sources

-Leniency
-Severity
-Central tendency

What are three rater errors

Calibration meetings

Attended by mangers to discuss employee performance ratings

Rater error training

Attempts to make mangers aware of rating errors and helps them develop strategies for minimizing those errors

Rater accuracy training. Also frame-of-reference training

Attempts to emphasize the multidimensional nature of performance and thoroughly familiarize raters with the actual content of various performance dimensions

-Similar to me
-Contrast effect
-Distributional errors
-Halo and Horns effect
-Appraisal politics

Five performance measurement rating errors

-Feedback should be given frequently, not once a year
-Create the right context for the discussion
-Ask employees to rate his or her performance before the session
-Encourage the employee to participate in the session
-Focus on solving problems
-Minimize

What indicates good performance feedback

Marginal employees

Employees who are performing at a bare minimum level because of lack of ability and/or motivation to perform well

-Solid performers
-Misdirected effort
-Underutilizers
-Deadwood

Four types of performers in a workplace

Solid performers

high ability and motivation; provide development

Misdirected effort

Lack of ability but high motivation; focus on training

Underutilizers

High ability but lack motivation; focus on interpersonal abilities

Deadwood

Low ability and motivation; managerial action, outplacement, demotion, firing

-Conduct a valid job analysis related to performance
-Base system on specific behaviors or results
-Train raters to use system correctly
-Review performance ratings and allow for employee appeal
-Provide guidance/support for poor performers
-Use multiple

How to withstand legal scrutiny when managing performance

Goals

Performance planning and evaluation systems seek to tie the formal performance appraisal process to the company's

Developmental and administrative purposes

A survey of HR practitioners found that most performance appraisal systems focused on

Contaminated

A performance management system that evaluates irrelevant aspects of performance or aspects that are not job related is

Interrater reliability

The consistency among the different individuals who evaluate the employee's performance is known as

Paired comparison

The ______ method requires managers to compare every employee with every other employee in the work group, giving an employee a score of 1 every time he or she is considered the high performer.

Graphic rating scale

If a manager considers one employee at a time and circles a number or a word to signify the degree to which that employee demonstrates a particular trait, he or she is using a

A) They result in high strategic congruence
B) They are difficult to use
C) THEY ARE GENERALIZABLE ACROSS ORGANIZATIONS AND STRATEGIES
D) They provide specific guidance and feedback to employees

Which one of the following is true of the attribute approaches to performance management?

Critical incidents

The performance management approach that requires managers to keep a record of specific examples of effective and ineffective performance is called

A) They link strategy to specific behavior needed to implement strategy
B) They provide specific guidance to employees regarding expected performance
C) They result in techniques that have a high degree of validity
D) ALL THE ABOVE

Which of the following is/are true regarding behavioral approaches to performance measurement?

A) emphasize an assessment of both person and system factors in the measurement system.
C) Involve both internal and external customers in setting standards and measuring performance.
D) Use multiple sources to evaluate person and system factors.

A performance management system designed with a strong quality orientation can be expected to do all of the following

Developmental purposes

Subordinates, as a source of performance information, are generally most appropriate when the performance results are to be used for

Rater accuracy training

What type of training attempts to emphasize the multidimensional nature of performance and thoroughly familiarize raters with the actual content of various performance dimensions?

360-degree appraisal

A performance appraisal process for managers that includes evaluations from a wide range of persons who interact with the mangers. The process includes self evaluations as well as evaluations from the manager's boss, subordinates, peers and customers