Q&A Hero

Q: In terms of measuring performance, a major advantage of rankings is that they are often linked to the organization's goals.

Q: _____ feel good when they are received, and they contribute to the recipients sense of well-being and self-esteem. A) Positive strokes B) Confronting strategies C) Compromising strategies D) Conditional strokes

Q: In the forced-distribution method of performance measurement, managers rank employees in their group from the highest performer to the poorest performer.

Q: Which of the following is the first stage in assertive behavior? A) Empathize B) Indicate consequences C) Express your feelings D) Describe the behavior

Q: Test-retest reliability refers to consistency of results over time.

Q: Assertive people are NOT _____. A) expressive B) aggressive C) direct D) confident

Q: In the case of performance appraisal, validity refers to whether the appraisal measures all aspects of performance, both relevant and irrelevant.

Q: _____ is the process of expressing feelings, asking for legitimate changes, and giving and receiving honest feedback. A) Aggressiveness B) Assertiveness C) Passiveness D) Impassiveness

Q: Organizations establish performance management systems to meet three broad purposes: strategic, administrative, and developmental.

Q: Which of the following steps in the relationship-restoring approach involves the victim voicing the grievance? A) Appreciation B) Acceptance C) Acknowledgement of error D) Signaling the offense

Q: Performance management is the process through which managers ensure that employees' activities and outputs contribute to the organization's goals.

Q: Which of the following strategies can truly be viewed as a conflict resolution approach? A) The confronting strategy B) The forcing strategy C) The smoothing strategy D) The avoiding strategy

Q: What are the different ways in which a company can ensure that it has a legally defensible performance management system?

Q: In the context of resolution strategies, the _____ strategy places great emphasis on facing the conflict directly and working it through to a mutually satisfactory resolution. A) compromising B) smoothing C) confronting D) forcing

Q: What are the different ways to produce improvement in unsatisfactory performance?

Q: In the context of resolution strategies, the _____ strategy places great emphasis on searching for middle ground or being willing to give up something in exchange for gaining something else. A) forcing B) compromising C) smoothing D) confronting

Q: Discuss different ways to improve a performance feedback session. Possible answers include:

Q: In the context of resolution strategies, the _____ strategy places great emphasis on using power tactics to achieve a win. A) forcing B) compromising C) avoiding D) confronting

Q: What is a calibration meeting?

Q: In the context of resolution strategies, the _____ strategy places great emphasis on accommodating the other partys interests. A) forcing B) avoiding C) compromising D) smoothing

Q: Define types of rating errors, and explain how to minimize them.

Q: In the context of resolution strategies, the _____ strategy places great emphasis on physical or mental withdrawal from the conflict. A) confronting B) forcing C) avoiding D) smoothing

Q: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using managers, peers, subordinates, self, and customers as sources of performance information.

Q: Which of the following is a valid, paired category of preferences in the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)? A) Feeling versus experiencing B) Sensing versus intuition C) Thinking versus perceiving D) Judging versus feeling

Q: How do behavioral observation scales (BOS) differ from behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS)?

Q: In the context of the traits identified among differing personalities, it can be stated that agreeable people tend to be _____. A) patient, cooperative, and empathetic B) impatient, cooperative, and emotional C) patient, extroverted, and emotional D) impatient, extroverted, and empathetic

Q: What are the five criteria for measuring the effectiveness of a performance management system?

Q: Which of the following is NOT a solution to the incivility problem? A) Refraining from gossiping B) Showing respect for others time, space, and opinions C) Paying attention to others D) Giving criticism subjectively

Q: What are the different purposes of performance management systems?

Q: Which of the following scenarios is an example of an intergroup conflict? A) Bonnie argues with his manager on the rating he was given during performance appraisal. B) Christine disagrees with the marketing team on a proposed idea for product development. C) The human resource team argues with the finance team regarding the allocation of funds for an event. D) The Chief Executive Officer disagrees with the human resource department regarding the companys recruitment policy.

Q: Discuss the six steps of the performance management process.

Q: Which of the following scenarios is an example of an interpersonal conflict? A) David sees himself as both the member of the team responsible for its welfare and a member of the executive staff responsible for cutting down costs. B) Denzil gets into an argument with the Chief Financial Officer on the amount of funds allocated for an upcoming research project. C) Luke has to make a decision that completely contradicts his belief and value systems. D) Peter has planned a vacation but due to an urgent work requirement, he is required to cancel his plans and attend a meeting.

Q: Identify a criticism against electronic monitoring systems. A. They can store records of employee performance, work-rule violations, and disciplinary actions. B. The systems prevent employees from exaggerating the number of hours they worked. C. They cannot monitor performance measures electronically. D. They threaten to make the workplace an electronic sweatshop, robbing employees of their dignity. E. They do not increase productivity.

Q: Which of the following scenarios is an example of an intrapersonal conflict? A) Mike faces a decision between choosing what he is supposed to do and choosing what he wants to do. B) Jade argues with her manager that a specific task assigned to her is not a part of her job description. C) The marketing team argues with the research team on who gets to make a final call on product design. D) A manager argues with the Chief Executive Officer to implement a revision in the annual budget.

Q: What can an organization do to protect itself against discrimination and unjust dismissal lawsuits? A. The organization should provide for a review of all top performance ratings by upper-level managers. B. Performance measures should evaluate personal traits. C. Requirements for job success should be clearly communicated to all the employees. D. The organization should use a single rater to rate all the employees. E. The organization should dismiss poor performers.

Q: Conflict can occur _____. A) between groups B) across organizations C) within an employee D) all of the above

Q: If an employee is dismissed on the grounds of poor performance immediately after he/she complained to higher authorities about the bad work ethics of his/her manager, the employee could file a(n): A. affirmative action lawsuit. B. unjust dismissal lawsuit. C. reasonable accommodation lawsuit. D. discrimination lawsuit. E. tort-based lawsuit.

Q: Assertive behavior is a useful response in situations where a persons legitimate needs have been disregarded.

Q: Lawsuits related to performance management usually involve charges of discrimination or: A. unjust dismissal. B. reverse discrimination. C. affirmative action. D. reasonable accommodation. E. minimum wage.

Q: The most desirable outcome from wielding power is compliance, which is the enthusiastic release of energy and talent to satisfy the leaders requests.

Q: Managers with reward power can threaten an employees job security, make punitive changes in someones work schedule, or, at the extreme, administer physical force.

Q: For which of the following categories of employees are performance improvement measures like withholding pay increases, demotion, and outplacement helpful? A. Misdirected effort B. Solid performers C. Underutilizers D. Deadwood E. Nonessential

Q: To improve the performance of underutilizers, managers should: A. withhold pay increases. B. demote them from their current position. C. offer temporary assignments for skill development. D. link rewards to performance outcomes. E. identify development opportunities.

Q: Expert power is the ability of leaders to develop followers from the strength of their own personalities.

Q: Conditional strokes can be confusing to employees because they do not indicate how more strokes may be earned.

Q: Coaching, frequent performance feedback, goal setting, and restructured job assignments are effective ways to improve performance for which category of employees? A. Solid performers B. Underutilizers C. Misdirected effort D. Deadwood E. Nonessential

Q: How does a manager motivate an employee who lacks the ability to perform? A. Demonstrate that the employee is being paid fairly and adequately. B. Restructure the job so that the employee can handle it. C. Refer the employee to a counselor for stress management. D. Direct the employee's attention to the problem by withholding rewards. E. Link rewards to performance outcomes.

Q: Assertive behavior is least effective when both verbal and nonverbal components are used.

Q: Managers can improve employee satisfaction with the feedback process by: A. keeping the feedback session short and concentrating on only the positive aspects of performance. B. using the tell-and-sell approach during the feedback session. C. avoiding decisions about following up on goals as these tend to intimidate the employee. D. letting employees voice their opinions and discuss performance goals during the feedback process. E. focusing on the employee's personality.

Q: Aggressive people are direct, honest, and expressive.

Q: What are the different approaches of diversity training?

Q: Signaling the offense is the first stage in the relationship-restoring approach.

Q: A constructive approach for resolving conflicts is to challenge the parties to work together toward a unifying goal, such as higher revenues or better customer satisfaction.

Q: What are the different methods for evaluating training?

Q: Participants find the confronting approach to be the most satisfying, as they maintain their self-respect and gain new respect for the other party.

Q: What are some of the effective ways of implementing a training program?

Q: Only the confronting strategy can truly be viewed as a resolution approach.

Q: What are experiential programs? Describe the different types of experiential programs.

Q: The idea of smoothing is attractive if the objective is to escape from a conflict with minimal cost, but it often stifles creativity.

Q: What is meant by apprenticeship? What is its advantage?

Q: The forcing and smoothing approaches are basically useful for hiding or diminishing the conflict process.

Q: Conflict is consistent in the speed of its emergence and in the degree of its predictability.

Q: What is e-learning with regard to training?

Q: If all conflict with co-workers is avoided, each party is likely to be deprived of useful information about the others preferences and views.

Q: What is a request for proposal? What is its importance?

Q: Giving constructive criticism objectively is a solution to the incivility problem.

Q: What should managers do to support training?

Q: Unless there is a good cause, workplace incivility can cause tensions to rise, anger to flare, and conflict to emerge.

Q: Discuss the three elements of a needs assessment process. The needs assessment process involves three major elements: (1) Organization analysis, (2) person analysis, and (3) task analysis.

Q: Managers should prevent intergroup conflict in every situation.

Q: What are the different stages of instructional design process?

Q: Intergroup conflict in organizations is never intentionally stimulated.

Q: It is impossible for intrapersonal role conflict to emerge from within an individual.

Q: Which of the following characteristics would make diversity training more effective? A. It must be separated from the work context. B. It should be tied to business objectives. C. It should not last for more than a day. D. It should emphasize more on learning skills than behaviors. E. It should be unstructured.

Q: Chapter 11 Conflict, Power, and Organizational Politics True/False Questions

Q: Trainees are likely to respond more positively to which of the following approaches of diversity training? A. Increasing participants awareness of cultural and ethnic differences as well as differences in personal and physical characteristics, such as disabilities. B. Teaching employees skills for constructively handling communication barriers, conflicts, and misunderstandings that arise when different people try to work together. C. Sending participants directly into communities where they interact with persons from different cultures, races, and nationalities. D. A program that clearly demonstrates that it values diversity and minorities over the average white male employee. E. Making people aware of cultural differences and their stereotypes about those differences to avoid letting stereotypes influence their interactions with people.

Q: Which of the following is a form of diversity training provided by some organizations that involves sending employees directly into communities where they have to interact with persons from different cultures, races, and nationalities? A. Community service B. Acculturation C. Cultural immersion D. Cultural health E. Ethnology

Q: What are the characteristics of ethical role models?

Q: Diversity training programs that focus on behavior aim at: A. increasing participants awareness of cultural and ethnic differences as well as differences in personal and physical characteristics, such as disabilities. B. teaching employees to be effective at different tasks and roles. C. sending participants directly into communities where they interact with persons from different cultures, races, and nationalities. D. changing organizational policies and individual conduct that inhibit employees personal growth and productivity. E. making people aware of cultural differences and stereotypes.

Q: Which are the five core dimensions seen in the job characteristics approach to job enrichment? How do these core dimensions affect an employees psychological state.