Human Resource Management Chapters 8 – 11 – Flashcards

TRUE The content of the feedback should emphasize behavior, not personalities. For example, "You did not meet the deadline" can open a conversation about what needs to change, but "You're not motivated" may make the employee feel defensive and angry.

FALSE The forced-distribution method of performance measurement assigns a certain percentage of employees to each category in a set of categories. The simple ranking method requires managers to rank employees in their group from the highest performer to the poorest performer.

TRUE One way to rate behaviors is with the critical-incident method. This approach requires managers to keep a record of specific examples of the employee acting in ways that are either effective or ineffective.

FALSE Applied to behavior in organizations, organizational behavior modification (OBM) is a plan for managing the behavior of employees through a formal system of feedback and reinforcement.

FALSE Because staff members are involved in setting goals, it is likely that MBO systems effectively link individual employees' performance with the organization's overall goals.

TRUE Appraisal politics are most likely to occur when raters are accountable to the employee being rated, the goals of rating are not compatible with one another, performance appraisal is directly linked to highly desirable rewards, top executives tolerate or ignore distorted ratings, and senior employees tell newcomers company "folklore" that includes stories about distorted ratings.

FALSE In the "tell-and-sell" approach, managers tell the employees their ratings and then justify those ratings.

TRUE To protect against lawsuits, it is important to have a legally defensible performance management system. Such a system would be based on valid job analyses, with the requirements for job success clearly communicated to employees

TRUE Today's employees are more likely to have a protean career, one that frequently changes based on changes in the person's interests, abilities, and values and in the work environment.

TRUE The most frequent uses of assessment are to identify employees with managerial potential to measure current managers' strengths and weaknesses. Organizations also use assessment to identify managers with potential to move into higher-level executive positions.

FALSE According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, individuals with a Thinking (T) preference try always to be objective in making decisions. Individuals with a Feeling (F) preference tend to evaluate the impact of the alternatives on others, as well as their own feelings, they are more subjective.

TRUE Research on the validity, reliability, and effectiveness of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is inconclusive. People who take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator find it a positive experience and say it helps them change their behavior. However, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator scores are not necessarily stable over time.

TRUE A performance appraisal process must identify causes of the performance discrepancy and develop plans for improving performance. Managers must be trained to deliver frequent performance feedback and must monitor employees' progress in carrying out their action plans.

FALSE The temporary cross-functional move is the most common way to use downward moves for employee development.

TRUE A coach is a peer or manager who works with an employee to motivate the employee, help him/her develop skills, and provide reinforcement and feedback. Coaching is most likely to succeed if coaches are empathetic, supportive, practical, and self-confident but don't act infallible or try to tell others what to do.

FALSE A basic career management system involves four steps: data gathering, feedback, goal setting, and action planning and follow-up.

FALSE Self-assessment refers to the use of information by employees to determine their career interests, values, aptitudes, and behavioral tendencies. The employee's responsibility is to identify opportunities and personal areas needing improvement. The organization's responsibility is to provide assessment information for identifying strengths, weaknesses, interests, and values.

TRUE In goal setting—the third step of the career management process—the employee sets short- and long-term career objectives. The goals should be specific, and they should include a date by which the goal is to be achieved. It is the employee's responsibility to identify the goal and the method of determining her or his progress toward that goal.

TRUE Women and minorities are rare in the top level of U.S. corporations. This glass ceiling is likely caused by a lack of access to training programs, appropriate developmental job experiences, and developmental relationships such as mentoring. With regard to developmental relationships, women and minorities often have trouble finding mentors.

FALSE Research suggests that dysfunctional managers who participate in development programs improve their skills and are less likely to be terminated. One possible conclusion is that organizations can benefit from offering development opportunities to valuable employees with performance problems, not just to star performers.

TRUE High-potential employees seen by top management as fitting into the organization's culture and having personality characteristics necessary for representing the company become actively involved with the chief executive officer. The development of high-potential employees is a slow process.

FALSE Historically, if the organization and employee do not have a specific employment contract, the employer or employee may end the employment relationship at any time. This is the employment-at-will doctrine. This doctrine has eroded significantly, however. Employees who have been terminated sometimes sue their employers for wrongful discharge.

FALSE Procedural justice is a judgment that fair methods were used to determine the consequences an employee receives.

TRUE Outcome fairness involves the ends of a discipline process, while procedural and interactional justice focus on the means to those ends. Not only is behavior ethical that is in accord with these principles, but research has also linked the last two categories of justice with employee satisfaction and productivity.

FALSE A perception of interactional justice is a judgment that the organization carried out its actions in a way that took the employee's feelings into account. A disciplinary action meets the standards of interactional justice if the manager explains to the employee how the action is procedurally just. The manager should listen to the employee. The manager should treat the employee with dignity and respect and should empathize with the employee's feelings. Even when a manager discharges an employee for doing something wrong, the manager can speak politely and state the reasons for the action.

FALSE In general, random searches of areas such as desks, lockers, toolboxes, and communications such as e-mails are permissible, so long as the employer can justify that there is probable cause for the search and the organization has work rules that provide for searches.

TRUE Organizations look for methods of handling problem behavior that are fair, legal, and effective. A popular principle for responding effectively is the hot-stove rule. Like the hot stove, an organization's discipline should give warning and have consequences that are consistent, objective, and immediate.

TRUE Sometimes problems are easier to solve when an impartial person helps to create the solution. Therefore, at various points in the discipline process, the employee or organization might want to bring in someone to help with problem solving. Rather than turning to the courts every time an outsider is desired, more and more organizations are using alternative dispute resolution

TRUE At some organizations, if mediation fails, the process moves to arbitration as a third and final option. Although arbitration is a formal process involving an outsider, it tends to be much faster, simpler, and more private than a lawsuit.

TRUE Job withdrawal results when circumstances such as the nature of the job, supervisors and co-workers, pay levels, or the employee's own disposition cause the employee to become dissatisfied with the job.

TRUE Outplacement counseling is a service in which professionals try to help dismissed employees manage the transition from one job to another. Rather than simply firing the poor performer, the supervisor may encourage this person to think about leaving. In this situation, the availability of outplacement counseling may help the employee decide to look for another job. This approach may protect the dignity of the employee who leaves and promote a sense of fairness.

FALSE Core self-evaluations are bottom-line opinions individuals have of themselves and may be positive or negative.

TRUE One way employees may go outside the organization for help is to file a lawsuit. This way to force change is available if the employee is disputing policies on the grounds that they violate state and federal laws, such as those forbidding employment discrimination or requiring safe working conditions.

TRUE Employers also should recognize that dissatisfaction with other facets of life can spill over into the workplace. As a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the employer may need to grant the employee time off or a flexible schedule to accommodate treatment.

TRUE To help employees manage role conflict, employers have turned to a number of family-friendly policies. These policies may include provisions for child care, elder care, flexible work schedules, job sharing, telecommuting, and extended parental leaves.

FALSE The two primary sets of people in an organization who affect job satisfaction are co-workers and supervisors.

TRUE Pay level is the average amount (including wages, salaries, and bonuses) the organization pays for a particular job

FALSE The laws governing Equal Employment Opportunity do not guarantee equal pay for men and women, whites and minorities, or any other groups, because so many legitimate factors, from education to choice of occupation, affect a person's earnings.

FALSE Under the FLSA, children aged 14 and 15 may work only outside school hours, in jobs defined as nonhazardous, and for limited time periods. A child under age 14 may not be employed in any work associated with interstate commerce, except work performed in a nonhazardous job for a business entirely owned by the child's parent or guardian.

TRUE At the federal level, the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act establishes a minimum wage that is $7.25 per hour. The FLSA also permits a lower "training wage," which employers may pay to workers under the age of 20 for a period of up to 90 days. This subminimum wage is approximately 85 percent of the minimum wage. Some states have laws specifying minimum wages; in these states, employers must pay whichever rate is higher.

FALSE Product markets place an upper limit on the pay an organization will offer. This upper limit is most important when labor costs are a large part of an organization's total costs and when the organization's customers place great importance on price.

FALSE The organization's product market includes organizations that offer competing goods and services. In other words, the organizations in a product market are competing to serve the same customers.

FALSE Product markets place an upper limit on the pay an organization will offer. This upper limit is most important when labor costs are a large part of an organization's total costs and when the organization's customers place great importance on price. Organizations that want to lure top-quality employees by offering generous salaries therefore have to find ways to automate routine activities (so that labor is a smaller part of total costs) or to persuade customers that high quality is worth a premium price.

FALSE In a two-tier wage system, existing employees continue on at their current (upper-tier) pay rate while new employees sign on for less pay (the lower tier).

FALSE According to equity theory, people measure outcomes such as pay in terms of their inputs.

FALSE When job structure and market data conflict, organizations have to decide on a way to resolve the two. One approach is to stick to the job evaluations and pay according to the employees' worth to the organization. At the other extreme, the organization could base pay entirely on market forces. However, this approach has some practical drawbacks.

FALSE A drawback of pay grades is that grouping jobs will result in rates of pay for individual jobs that do not precisely match the levels specified by the market and the organization's job structure

FALSE The most common approach to pay differentials is to move an employee higher in the pay structure to compensate for higher living costs.

FALSE Top executives help to set the tone or culture of the organization, and employees at all levels are affected by behavior at the top. As a result, the equity of executive pay can affect more employees than, say, equity among warehouse workers or salesclerks.

FALSE An organization's policies regarding pay structure greatly influence employees' and even the general public's opinions about the organization. Issues affecting pay structure therefore can hurt or help the organization's reputation and ability to recruit, motivate, and keep employees.

Job withdrawal is a set of behaviors that dissatisfied individuals enact to avoid a work situation. The four general conditions that may cause job dissatisfaction and job withdrawal include personal dispositions, tasks and roles, supervisors and co-workers, and pay and benefits. 1) Personal dispositions: Several personal qualities have been found to be associated with job dissatisfaction, including negative affectivity and negative core self-evaluation. The first describes pervasive low levels of satisfaction with all aspects of life, compared with other people's feelings, while the latter includes bottom-line opinions individuals have of themselves, either positive or negative. Individuals with negative affectivity and negative self-evaluations generally experience high job dissatisfaction, even after changing employers and occupations. 2) Tasks and roles: As a predictor of job dissatisfaction, nothing surpasses the nature of the task itself. While many aspects of a task have a link to dissatisfaction, of particular significance are the complexity of the task, the degree of physical strain and exertion required, and the value the employee places on the task. In addition, a person's role—the set of behaviors that people expect of a person in a job—may not be well defined or may be contradictory in nature. Role ambiguity (uncertainty about what the organization expects from the employee in terms of what to do or how to do it), role conflict (recognition that demands of the job are incompatible or contradictory and that a person cannot meet all the demands), and role overload (a state in which too many expectations or demands are placed on a person) may result in employee dissatisfaction and job withdrawal. 3) Supervisors and co-workers: Negative behavior, particularly on the part of supervisors, can produce tremendous dissatisfaction. Research found that employees who said they planned to leave their jobs most often said it was because managers acted as if they did not value the employees. 4) Pay and benefits: Employees also care about their earnings. For most, a job is their primary source of income. In addition, pay may also be an indicator of status within the organization and in society at large, so it contributes to some people's self-worth.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) systems are company-sponsored attempts to help resolve employee discrepancies or conflicts without legal action. ADR techniques show promise in terms of resolving disputes in a timely, constructive, and cost-effective manner. In addition, even the arbitration stage tends to be much faster, simpler, and more private than a lawsuit. While ADR systems take many different forms, most proceed through four stages: 1)Open-door policy: The two people in conflict attempt to arrive at a settlement together. 2)Peer review—A panel, composed of representatives from the organization that are at the same level as the people in the dispute, hears the case and attempts to help the parties arrive at a settlement. 3)Mediation: A neutral third party from outside the organization hears the case and, via a nonbinding process, tries to help the disputants arrive at a settlement. 4)Arbitration: A professional arbitrator from outside the organization hears the case and resolves it unilaterally by rendering a specific decision or award. Most arbitrators are experienced employment lawyers or retired judges. Generally, both the employee and employer have to accept this person's decision.

A basic career management system involves four steps: data gathering, feedback, goal setting, and action planning and follow-up. 1) Data gathering: This is the first step in the career management process. Self-assessment refers to the use of information by employees to determine their career interests, values, aptitudes, and behavioral tendencies. The employee's responsibility is to identify opportunities and personal areas needing improvement. The organization's responsibility is to provide assessment information for identifying strengths, weaknesses, interests, and values. 2) Feedback: In the feedback step of the career management process, employees receive information about their skills and knowledge and where these assets fit into the organization's plans. The employee's responsibility is to identify what skills he/she could realistically develop in light of the opportunities available. The organization's responsibility is to communicate the performance evaluation and the opportunities available to the employee, given the organization's long-range plans. Opportunities might include promotions and transfers. 3) Goal setting: The employee sets short- and long-term career objectives in one or more of the following categories: desired positions; level of skill to apply; work setting; and skill acquisition. The goals should be specific, and they should include a date by which the goal is to be achieved. It is the employee's responsibility to identify the goal and the method of determining her or his progress toward that goal. The organization's responsibilities are to ensure that the goal is specific, challenging, and attainable and to help the employee reach the goal. 4) Action planning and follow-up: Employees prepare an action plan for how they will achieve their career goals. The employee is responsible for identifying the steps and timetable to reach the goals. The employer should identify resources needed, including courses, work experiences, and relationships. Action plans may involve any one or a combination of development methods—training, assessment, job experiences, or the help of a mentor or coach.

The first two steps of the process involve identifying what the company is trying to accomplish (its goals or objectives) and developing employee goals and actions to achieve these outcomes. Typically the outcomes benefit customers, the employee's peers or team members, and the organization itself. The goals, behaviors, and activities should be measurable and become part of the employee's job description. Step three in the process—organizational support—involves providing employees with training, necessary resources and tools, and ongoing feedback between the employee and manager, which focuses on accomplishments as well as issues and challenges that influence performance. For effective performance management, both the manager and the employee have to value feedback and exchange it on a regular basis—not just once or twice a year. Also, the manager needs to make time to provide ongoing feedback to the employee and learn how to give and receive it. Step four involves evaluating performance; that is, when the manager and employee discuss and compare targeted goals and supporting behavior with actual results. This step includes the annual formal performance review. The final steps of the performance management process involve both the employee and manager identifying what the employee can do to capitalize on performance strengths and address weaknesses (step 5) and providing consequences for achieving (or failing to achieve) performance outcomes (such as pay increases, bonuses, or action plans) (step 6). This includes identifying training needs; adjusting the type or frequency of feedback the manager provides to the employee; clarifying, adjusting, or modifying performance outcomes; and discussing behaviors or activities that need improvement.

The FLSA establishes a minimum wage and requirements for overtime pay and child labor: 1) Minimum Wage: At the federal level, the 1938 FLSA establishes a minimum wage that is now $7.25 per hour. The FLSA also permits a lower "training wage," which employers may pay to workers under the age of 20 for a period of up to 90 days.This wage represents about 85 percent of the minimum wage. Some states have laws specifying minimum wages, and in these states, employers must pay whichever rate is higher. 2) Overtime Pay: The overtime rate under the FLSA is one and a half times the employee's usual hourly rate, including any bonuses and piece-rate payments. The overtime rate applies to the hours worked beyond 40 in one week. Time worked includes not only hours spent on production or sales, but also time on such activities as attending required classes, cleaning up the work site, or traveling between work sites. In addition, overtime is required whether or not the employer specifically asked or expected the employee to work the extra hours. Under the FLSA, executives, professionals, administrative personnel, and highly compensated white-collar employees are exempt from the overtime pay requirements. 3) Child Labor: The FLSA restricts the use of child labor, with the aim of protecting children's health, safety, and educational opportunities. The restrictions apply to children younger than 18. Under the FLSA, children aged 16 and 17 may not be employed in hazardous occupations, while children aged 14 and 15 may work only outside school hours in jobs defined as nonhazardous and for limited periods of time. A child under age 14 may not be employed in any work associated with interstate commerce, except work performed in a nonhazardous job for a business entirely owned by the child's parent or guardian. A few additional exemptions from this ban include acting, babysitting, and delivering newspapers to consumers.

A. Based on the job analysis The organization specifies which aspects of performance are relevant to the organization. These decisions are based on the job analysis.

E. Strategic purpose Strategic purpose means effective performance management helps the organization achieve its business objectives. It does this by helping to link employees' behavior with the organization's goals.

E. the ways in which organizations use the system to provide information for day-to-day decisions about salary, benefits, and recognition programs. The administrative purpose of a performance management system refers to the ways in which organizations use the system to provide information for day-to-day decisions about salary, benefits, and recognition programs. Because performance management supports these administrative decisions, the information in a performance appraisal can have a great impact on the future of individual employees.

B. interrater reliability. Interrater reliability is consistency of results when more than one person measures performance.

C. contamination Information that is gathered but irrelevant is "contamination."

A. forced-distribution method. The forced-distribution method of performance measurement assigns a certain percentage of employees to each category in a set of categories. A forced-distribution approach works best if the members of a group vary significantly in terms of their performance.

A. paired-comparison The paired-comparison method approach involves comparing each employee with each other employee to establish rankings.

C. graphic rating scale. The graphic rating scale method lists traits and provides a rating scale for each trait. The employer uses the scale to indicate the extent to which the employee being rated displays the traits. The rating scale may provide points to circle (as on a scale going from 1 for poor to 5 for excellent), or it may provide a line representing a range of scores, with the manager marking a place along the line.

B. mixed-standard scale The method of performance measurement that uses several statements describing each trait to produce a final score for that trait is known as the mixed-standard scale.

C. A BOS uses many examples to define all behaviors necessary for effective performance. While BARS discards many examples in creating the rating scale, a BOS uses many of them to define all behaviors necessary for effective performance. A BOS asks the manager to rate the frequency with which the employee has exhibited the behavior during the rating period.

B. They are relatively easy to link to the organization's goals. In general, evaluation of results can be less subjective than other kinds of performance measurement. This makes measuring results highly acceptable to employees and managers alike. Results-oriented performance measurement is also relatively easy to link to the organization's goals.

D. a 360-degree performance appraisal. To get as complete an assessment of performance information as possible, some organizations combine information from most or all of the possible sources, in what is called a 360-degree performance appraisal. This method combines information from the employee's managers, peers, subordinates, self, and customers.

D. Horns error Raters often let their opinion of one quality color their opinion of others. When the bias involves negative ratings, it is called the horns error.

D. The goal of training is preparation for the current job, while the goal of development is preparation for changes in the current job. Development implies learning that is not necessarily related to the employee's current job. Instead, it prepares employees for other jobs or positions in the organization and increases their ability to move into jobs that may not yet exist. In contrast, training traditionally focuses on helping employees improve performance of their current jobs.

D. Based on the psychological contract, employees look for organizations to provide development opportunities. A protean career is one that frequently changes based on changes in the person's interests, abilities, and values and in the work environment. Employees in protean careers take responsibility for managing their careers. This practice is consistent with the modern psychological contract. Employees look for organizations to provide, not job security and a career ladder to climb, but instead development opportunities and flexible work arrangements.

A. formal education, assessment, job experiences, and interpersonal relationships. The many approaches to employee development fall into four broad categories: formal education, assessment, job experiences, and interpersonal relationships.

B. The items measured by Benchmarks are based on research into the lessons that executives learn in critical events of their careers. Benchmarks gathers ratings of a manager's use of skills associated with success in managing. The items measured by Benchmarks are based on research into the lessons that executives learn in critical events of their careers.

E. It involves adding challenges or new responsibilities to employees' current jobs. In the context of job design, job enlargement involves adding challenges or new responsibilities to employees' current jobs.

E. Succession planning As positions at the top of organizations become vacant, many organizations have determined that their middle managers are fewer and often unprepared for top-level responsibility. This situation has raised awareness of the need for succession planning —the process of identifying and tracking high-potential employees who will be able to fill top management positions when they become vacant.

A. the relative pay for different jobs within the organization. Job structure consists of the relative pay for different jobs within the organization. It establishes relative pay among different functions and different levels of responsibility.

E. Obtaining human resources in labor markets Product markets and labor markets would act as market forces that impact the development of a pay structure.

D. Overtime pay Overtime payment to employees is a legal requirement in the pay structure of an organization.

B. The goal of these laws is for employers to provide equal pay for equal work Under the laws governing Equal Employment Opportunity, employers may not base differences in pay on an employee's age, sex, race, or other protected status. Any differences in pay must instead be tied to such business-related considerations as job responsibilities or performance. The goal is for employers to provide equal pay for equal work.

D. uses job evaluation of an organization's jobs in terms of such criteria as their difficulty. The comparable-worth policy uses job evaluation to establish the worth of an organization's jobs in terms of such criteria as their difficulty and their importance to the organization.

E. Raising pay for some jobs places the employer at a disadvantage relative to employers that pay the market rate. Comparable-worth policies are controversial. From an economic standpoint, the obvious drawback of such a policy is that raising pay for some jobs places the employer at an economic disadvantage relative to employers that pay the market rate. A free-market economy assumes people will take differences in pay into account when they choose a career.

E. It tends to be lower than the earnings required for a full time worker to rise above the poverty level From the standpoint of social policy, an issue related to the minimum wage is that it tends to be lower than the earnings required for a full-time worker to rise above the poverty level

D. Nonexempt employees are covered by FLSA and include most hourly workers. The overtime rate under the FLSA is one and a half times the employee's usual hourly rate, including any bonuses and piece-rate payments. Most workers paid on an hourly basis are nonexempt and therefore subject to the laws governing overtime pay. Under the FLSA, executive, professional, administrative, and highly compensated white-collar employees are considered exempt employees.

C. Hourly-paid employee Under the FLSA, executive, professional, administrative, and highly compensated white-collar employees are considered exempt employees. Any employee who is not in one of the exempt categories is called a nonexempt employee . Most workers paid on an hourly basis are nonexempt and therefore subject to the laws governing overtime pay.

A. job responsibilities and salary. Exempt status depends on the employee's job responsibilities, salary level, and "salary basis."

C. The FLSA's restrictions on the use of child labor apply to children younger than 18. The FLSA's restrictions on the use of child labor apply to children younger than 18. Under the FLSA, children aged 16 and 17 may not be employed in hazardous occupations defined by the Department of Labor. Children aged 14 and 15 may work only outside school hours, in jobs defined as nonhazardous, and for limited time periods. A child under age 14 may not be employed in any work associated with interstate commerce, except work performed in a nonhazardous job for a business entirely owned by the child's parent or guardian. Many states have laws requiring working papers or work permits for minors.

E. covers construction contractors that receive more than $2,000 in federal money. Davis-Bacon covers construction contractors that receive more than $2,000 in federal money

B. pay structure. Decisions about how to respond to the economic forces of product markets and labor markets limit an organization's choices about pay structure.

E. encouraging desired employee behaviors. Pay policies are one of the most important human resource tools for encouraging desired employee behaviors and discouraging undesired behaviors.

B. equity theory According to equity theory, people measure outcomes such as pay in terms of their inputs.

B. pay ranges Overlapping pay ranges gives the organization more flexibility in transferring employees among jobs, because transfers need not always involve a change in pay.

D. limit the overlap from one pay range to the next. Assuming the organization wants to motivate employees through promotions (and assuming enough opportunities for promotion are available), the organization will want to limit the overlap from one level to the next.

C. It discourages employees from gaining valuable experience through lateral career moves.

B. delayering. Some organizations have found greater flexibility through delayering, or reducing the number of levels in the organization's job structure.

B. broad bands. By combining more assignments into a single layer, organizations give managers more flexibility in making assignments and awarding pay increases. These broader groupings often are called broad bands.

C. No guarantee that employees can use their new skills Skill-based pay has its own disadvantages. It rewards employees for acquiring skills but does not provide a way to ensure that employees can use their new skills. The result may be that the organization is paying employees more for learning skills that the employer is not benefiting from.

D. They reduce the opportunities for promoting employees. Broad bands reduce the opportunities for promoting employees, so organizations that eliminate layers in their job descriptions must find other ways to reward employees.

D. Skill-based pay does not necessarily provide an alternative to the bureaucracy and paperwork of traditional pay structures. Skill-based pay does not necessarily provide an alternative to the bureaucracy and paperwork of traditional pay structures, because it requires records related to skills, training, and knowledge acquired.

A. USERRA The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) requires employers to make jobs available to their workers when they return after fulfilling military duties for up to five years.