L12 - Org Psych - Work/Performance Appraisal

Question 1

Why is having ‘criteria’ important for the workplace?

Answer 1

In order to determine if something is working we need to have a criteria to evaluate it on

Question 2

What are the 3 general characteristics of a good ‘work performance criteria’?

Answer 2

1. Appropriate/representative for the job

2. Relatively stable over time

3. Need to be practical and not too difficult/expensive to assess.

Question 3

What are the two types of work performance crtiteria?

Answer 3

Objective Criteria

Subjective Criteria

Question 4

What is meant by objective work performance criteria?

Answer 4

Data or information taken from company records

Doesn’t involve subjective judgement from the person using them

Question 5

What are 5 examples of objective criteria for work performance?

Answer 5

1. Production (produces/sold)
2. Turnover
3. Absenteeism
4. Accidents
5. Theft

Question 6

How might objective criteria for work performance be unfair?

Answer 6

Comparing individuals from different areas - might be more challenging to sell in one environment?

e.g. car sales - it might be more challenging to sell in one area than another - need to take it into account

Question 7

What are high turnovers a sign of? Why do you want to avoid it?

Answer 7

Problems in the business

Expensive to rehire people and retrain them, also less productive and costs the business

Question 8

What is an exit interview and why might you use an exit interview?

Answer 8

An interview you have with an employee who has decided to leave.

To determine why they decided to leave so you can use that information to improve the business.

Question 9

What did research into absenteeism find were the 4 main reasons why people were absent from the workplace?

Answer 9

1. Disatisfaction with work
2. Family conflicts outside of work
3. Alcohol and Drug abuse
4. Personality

Question 10

Accident rates can be used as a crtierion to judge ____ performance.

What are some issues for using accidents to judge this performance?

Answer 10

The Company’s Performance

Limitations: They don’t happen often, difficult to predict, recruiters tend to avoid accident prone people.

Question 11

Why might work performance criteria use subjective criteria rather than objective criteria only?

Answer 11

Objective measures can be misleading and productivity is not the only important thing to measure when assessing performance.

Question 12

What are subjective criteria’s for work performance?

Answer 12

Judgments made of an employee’s perforamnce, usually by a rating or ranking.

Ratings may also be on specific factors, such as quantity of work, quality of work, creativity etc.

e.g. supervisor rates your overall effectiveness - this then becomes the standard of job performance)

Question 13

Should a job criteria assess different aspects of performance or assess the individuals overall performance?

Answer 13

Different aspects of performance - more than one measure is needed to assess overall performance

Productivity should be different to accuracy or punctuality etc.

Question 14

Some researchers argue that performance criteria should be stable and some argue that it should be dynamic (change over time). Why?

Answer 14

Stable: If it changes you will have problems with judging performance reliably

Dynamic: If someone first starts a job they will naturally be less productive until they get the experience.

Question 15

Why might an employees performance change over time? (3 reasons)

Answer 15

Question 16

What is the performance appraisal?

Answer 16

The assessment of performance at work.

Question 17

What are the two types of performance appraisal’s?

Answer 17

Formal or Informal

Question 18

Why are formal performance appraisals considered ‘fairer’?

Answer 18

Because it is more consistent and more accurate because there has been thought put into it.

Question 19

What is the most important thing that performance appraisals must satisfy?

Answer 19

Relevance of the criteria to the job

• Can’t assess something that has no bearing on performance*
• e.g. assessing personality when it isn’t relevant to the job*

Question 20

Performance appraisals for a standard job should be based on a written ________

Answer 20

Job Description

Question 21

A job description should contain… (4 things)

Answer 21

Details of your work

Who you’re responsible to

The tasks and duties you’re expected to perform

The relationships/reporting relationships you’re expected to have

Question 22

In order for performance appraisals to be accurate, what does the employee need to know?

Answer 22

1. Job Description

2. What’s expected of them

3. Familiar with the process of performance appraisal and what they’re assessed on

4. Prior agreement to using performance appraisals

Question 23

What 3 things can performance appraisals indicate?

Answer 23

What is being performed well

What needs to be improved

How this can be done

Question 24

What are the 4 major uses of performance appraisals?

Answer 24

1. The need for training
2. Pay rises and promotions
3. Placement (different tasks)
4. Termination of employment

Question 25

When could you get in trouble legally for using perforrmance appraisals?

Answer 25

If the performance appraisal itself is inconsistent, the approach problematic/unfair.

Unfair dismissals

Question 26

What are the 7 procedural recommendations for performance appraisals to be legally safe?

Answer 26

Question 27

What are the two types of performance appraisal classification methods?

Answer 27

Objective Production Data

Subjective (judgmental) data

Question 28

Objective production data can be used to determine how well someone is performing at work but is limited in its _____ and _____.

Answer 28

Frequency

Value

Question 29

Why is subjective (judgmental) data most commonly used for performance appraisal?

Answer 29

It can apply to almost all jobs because finding relevant objective measures is often difficult.

Question 30

What are 3 subjective methods for assessing performance at work?

Answer 30

1. Rating Scale
2. Employee Comparison Methods
3. Behavioural Checklists and Scales

Question 31

What is the most common subjective data method used?

Answer 31

Rating Scale

Where each person is rated on a number of variables using a scale which may range from very good to very poor.

Question 32

What are the advantages of using a rating scale?

Answer 32

Easy to use

Easy to understand

Question 33

What are the disadvantages of using a rating scale?

Answer 33

Question 34

What are Employee Comparison Methods?

Answer 34

Uses subjective (judgmental) data.

Individuals are compared with one another, forcing variance into the appraisals

Question 35

What is the major advantage for using employee comparison methods?

Answer 35

The elimination of central tendency and leniency errors

Because as a rater you are compelled to differentiate among the people you are rating

Question 36

What are behavioural checklists and scales?

Answer 36

All methods of analysis involve critical incidents.

Critical incidents are behaviours that result in good or poor performance

Question 37

What are behavioural checklists and scales useful for?

Answer 37

Staff Development and Training

• Since these critical incidents and behaviours are more understandable and easier to correct*
• Managers record where things went ‘well’ and ‘wrong’ and so it is easier to identify and correct*

Question 38

What are the two context issues relating to raters when using subjective methods for assessment of work performance?

Answer 38

Rater Training

Rater Motivation

Question 39

Why is rater training important for subjective performance appraisals?

Answer 39

Training can reduce halo, leniency and central tendency effects in appraisals

Question 40

Why might rater motivation impact the quality of performance appraisals?

Answer 40

Question 41

What is the halo effect?

Answer 41

The tendency for an impression created in one area to influence opinion in another area.