Reasons & Limitations
The idea that organizations tend to promote good employees until they reach the level at which they are not competent—in other words, their highest level of incompetence.
Peter Principle
A method of performance ap- praisal in which a supervisor is given several behaviors and is forced to choose which of them is most typical of the employee
Forced-choice rating scale
A method of performance appraisal in which the supervisor records employee behaviors that were observed on the job and rates the employee on the basis of that record.
Critical incidents
The opinion of courts in most states that employers have the right to hire and fire an employee at will and without any specific cause.
Employment-at-Will Doctrine
By far, the most important use of performance evaluation is:
To improve employee per- formance by providing feedback about what employees are doing right and wrong.
By far the most common source of performance appraisal is
supervisor rating
Documentation is important for four reasons.
1. forces a supervisor to focus on employee behaviors rather than traits
2. helps supervisors recall behaviors
3. provides examples to use when reviewing performance rat- ings with employees
4. helps an organization defend against legal actions taken against it by an employee who was terminated or denied a raise or promotion
In situations not covered by employment-at-will, there are only four reasons that an employee can be legally terminated: probationary period, violation of company rules, inability to perform, and an economically caused reduction in force
1. probationary period
2. violation of company rules
3. inability to perform
4. economically caused reduction in force (;layoff)
The four puroses of a performance evaluation system liste in your text are:
Determining Salary Increases
Making Promotion Decisions
Making Termination Decisions
Conductiing Personnel Research
A _________________ performance appraisal system in which feedback is obtained from multiple sources such as ____________, ______________, and _____________.
360-degree feedback; supervisors, subordinates and peers
A standardized use of the critical-incident technique developed at General Motors.
Employee Performance Record
Once a decision has been made to terminate an employee, certain steps should be taken to prepare for the meeting in which the decision will be communicated to the employee.
1. ensure that the legal process has been followed
2. determine how much help, if any, the organization wants to offer the employee
3.schedule an appropriate place and time for the meeting to occur
In an environment in which there is ________________________, developing a numerically complex system will become frustrating, and the results of the evaluation may not be taken seriously.
no money available for merit pay
U.S. self-appraisal systems tend to suffer from ____________, while Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese workers suffer from _____________.
leniency; modesty
When it is time to appraise an employee’s performance, a supervisor should
1. obtain and review the objective data relevant to the employee’s behavior
2. go back and read all of the criti- cal incidents written for an employee
3. comnplete the rating form
During the termination meeting, it is important that the supervisor
get to the point about terminating the employee
In an environment in which employees are very cohesive, the use of ______________might reduce the cohesiveness.
peer ratings
The four ways to focus performance dimensions are
Trait-Focused
Competency-Focused
Task-Focused
Goal-Focused
Name and descrive the 4 main errors the supervisor must be careful avoid:
1. distribution
2. halo
3. proximity
4. contrast.
When an employee is fired, other employees will be tense. Consequently, it is important to
1. be honest with the other employees about what happened;
2. avoid negative statements about the terminated employee’s character
The performance appraisal process can be divided into what 10 interrelated steps:
1. Determine purpose of appraisal
2. Identify environmental and cultural limitations
3. Determine who will evaluate performance
4. Select the best apprasal methods to accomplish the goals
5. Train raters
6. Observe and document performance
7. Evaluate performance
8. Communicate appraisal results to employees
9. Make personnel decisions
10. Monitor the legality and fairness of the appraisal process
The three main forms of employee comparison rating systems are:
Rank Order
Paired Comparison
Forced Distribution
Research suggests that certain techniques can be used to make the performance appraisal interview more effective: time, scheduling, and preparation.
1. time
2. scheduling
3. preparation.
Questions that should be asked by the organization during this monitoring process include the following:
1. Has the organization provided training to supervisors regarding how to evaluate performance, communicate appraisal results, mentor underperforming employees, and make decisions on the basis of the appraisal results?
2. Are there gender, race, ethnicity, disability, or age differences in performance ratings? If so, are the differences supported by actual differences in performance?
3.Do employees with similar performance ratings receive similar outcomes such as raises, promotions, discipline, training, or promotion (Russell v. Prin- cipi, 2001)
4. Are there gender, race, ethnicity, disability, or age differences in the opportunities given to improve performance
5. Are there employees who historically have received high ratings suddenly being given a low rating?
6. If so, is the drop in ratings due to an actual performance decrease or to potential discrimination