MGMT 410 Week 6 Quiz

MGMT 410 Week 6 Quiz | Devry University

Question 1

 (TCO 5) Consider this scenario: John Hopken is the new supervisor of a team of 12 computer programmers. He has been in his position for 10 months, after being promoted to his position from programmer (where he had been in place for 8 years). The promotion was hard-won; four others on his team also applied for the promotion, and when he got his promotion, the other four employees who didn’t get the position were rather disgruntled. One of them lashed out in a meeting early on and called him a yes-man, but otherwise most of the issues have been undercurrents and rumor based. These four employees are referred to as Competitors 1, 2, and 3 and Competitor Yes-Man for the purposes of this question.

 

During the year, five older members of his team resigned, four through regular retirements and one after being accused of falsifying expense reports. None of the five were in the group of four who had competed against him for his position. John filled all five position openings with outside hires. Three of them had similar backgrounds to John’s—they all went to his alma mater for their computer degrees and like basketball. In fact, last week John and the three of them attended a Bulls game together. These employees will be referred to as Bulls 1, 2, and 3. The other two employees were both females he hired because HR told him he had to. (Up till now, there were no females on the team.) We’ll call them Lady 1 and 2. They don’t like basketball. Lady 1 was hired 6 months ago, and Lady 2 was hired last month.

 

Now, it is performance appraisal time. Assume each of these employees does a similar amount of work, produces relatively similar amounts of code, and does a good job. None of them create waves, and the new people have gotten their work under way and are working hard. Other than the yes-man meeting and one comment on the men’s room wall saying that “Hopken is a jerk,” things have mostly gone smoothly. John figures that one of the Competitors wrote that.

 

John is told by HR he has to do performance appraisals this month. He is told to rate his people on a scale of 1–4, where 1 is “not meeting expectations,” 2 is “too new to rate,” 3 is “meeting expectations,” and 4 is “exceeding expectations.” HR said that he must have no more than two 4s, no more than eight 3s, and at least two 1s or 2s. He asks an HR representative what “too new” means, and she says it applies to anyone who has not been in the position for 3 months or more.

 

He looks at the paperwork and his list, and 20 minutes later has his ratings done with a paragraph scribbled out to provide to his workers.

 

Here are his ratings and his support paragraph.

 

Bulls 1: 4: What a great guy—always comes through, works hard, fun loving, makes the day brighter for everyone

Bulls 2: 4: Team player—what a help—great worker and asset to the company

Bulls 3: 3: Always there for the work group—works steady and helpful to others, accurate coder

Lady 1: 3: Always there for the work group—works steady and helpful to others, accurate coder

Other 1: 3: Always there for the work group—works steady and helpful to others, accurate coder

Other 2: 3: Always there for the work group—works steady and helpful to others, accurate coder

Other 3: 3: Always there for the work group—works steady and helpful to others, accurate coder

Competitor 1: 3: Accurate coding and steady performer

Competitor 2: 3: Accurate coding and steady performer

Competitor 3: 3: Accurate coding and steady performer

Lady 2: 2: Too new to rate but next year should be great

Competitor YM: 1: Not a team player and can work harder to prevent discord

 

Please answer the following questions.

 

(1) What are the three major methods of conducting appraisals? Briefly explain each one. (12 points)

 

(2) What method is described here? Justify your answer. (12 points)

 

(3) Write a memo to HR explaining why you feel this method of performance evaluation needs improvement, and give three specific examples of the improvement you recommend based on the scenario above. (16 points)

Your Answer:

1.)

360 degree method- this method includes feedback from every employee who worked with the employee.

forced distribution method-this is where management gets together and ranks employees from top to bottom.

management by objectives- this method determines an employees goals and which are most important to the job.

2.)

Technically it could be considered the forced distribution method because John is told by hr how he must rate employees and how many he can give each number rating.

3.)

I would say this method needs to improve because you cant set limitations on how many employees can exceed expectations because then no one will strive to exceed expectations. I think this doesn't promote a team work environment and no one can maximize their potential with the help of the team or their co workers.

 

The three primary methods for conducting appraisals are absolute standards, relative standards, or achieved outcomes. Absolute standards measure an employee's performance against some established standards, such as industry benchmarking, making the employee's evaluation independent of any other employee in a work group. The critical incident appraisal is an example of an absolute standard. The critical incident appraisal method focuses the writer’s attention on critical or key behaviors that make the difference between doing the job effectively and doing it ineffectively. Anecdotes of observed behaviors are kept throughout the appraisal period.

 

Relative standards involve evaluating an employee’s performance by comparing the employee with other employees. The group order ranking is an example of a relative standard appraisal method. It requires the evaluator to place employees into a particular classification, such as top 20%. When evaluating the employees in his or her area, the evaluator must assign all employees to a ranking from the top to the bottom level.

 

Achieved outcomes involve mutual objective setting and evaluation based on the attainment of the specific objectives. Management by objectives (MBO) is another name for this approach. MBO involves four steps: setting goals, action planning, self-control, and periodic reviews. In goal setting, the organization's overall goals are used as guidelines from which departmental and individual objectives are set. In action planning, realistic plans are developed to attain the objectives. In self-control, the employee systemically reviews his or her performance. Periodic progress reviews are done by the evaluator with the employee to monitor progress and take corrective action where needed. This scenario is most like relative standards. Errors students may raise could be that SMART goals are needed, training to avoid rater bias is needed, and that in many ways this was a “no-method” performance management process.

 

 

Question 2-Barry works as a janitor in a large department store, along with four other janitors. Last week, his boss died suddenly. The manager of the operations department called Barry into her office and asked him if he would please take over the role of supervisor to the janitors (his late boss’s old position). Along with the position comes more pay and no more cleaning. He accepts the position and is told he will begin the job on Monday and that an HR specialist will shadow him for the next month while pointing out to him his new tasks. Which kind of training is Barry getting ready to experience?  

A.      Promotional events planning.  

B.      Job rotation  

C.      on the job training.    

D.      Committee assignment  

E.       Survival training

 

Question 3- Which of the following is a purpose of a new employee orientation program?  

A.      To communicate relevant HRM policies, such as work hours, pay procedures, and employee benefits  

B.      To review the specific duties and responsibilities of the new member’s job  

C.      To introduce the employee to his or her manager and coworkers

 

Question 4- Compare individual career development to organizational career development.  

A.      They are both the responsibility of the individual.  

B.      Organizational career development focuses on meeting organizational goals and needs. Individual career development focuses on meeting individual goals and needs.  

C.      Individual career development involves training. Organizational career development does not.  

D.      They are different terms for the same experience.  

E.       Individual career development has a much shorter time frame than organizational career development.

 

Question 5- _____ focuses on helping an employee make long-term career plans, and _____ addresses an employee's short-term job skills.

  

A.      Mentoring; coaching    

B.      Coaching; mentoring  

C.      Recruiting; coaching  

D.      Appraising; training

 

Question 6-Lisa, a compensation analyst for a large government agency, is completing a job evaluation for her organization. She is reviewing the grades that have been established by skills, knowledge, and abilities, because several managers have complained that the jobs no longer fit into the defined grades. Which job evaluation method is Lisa using?  

A.      Ordering  

B.      Classification    

C.      Basic factors  

D.      Point method 

E.       Prioritization

 

Question 7- Which of the following is an extrinsic source of employee motivation?  

A.      Increased responsibility  

B.      Impressive job title    

C.      Participation in decision making  

D.      Opportunities for job growth  

E.       More interesting work