Chapter 3 - Traditional Bases for Pay: Seniority & Merit

Which of the following is based on the human capital theory?

A) seniority pay system

B) BOS

C) merit pay system

D) BARS

seniority pay system

The collective bargaining system was established by passage of which federal act?

A) National Labor Regulations Act

B) National Labor Relations Act

C) Union Labor Regulations Act

D) Union Labor Relations Act

National Labor Relations Act

________ pay is defined as added pay for employees that have reached pay range maximums and are unlikely to move into higher grades.

longevity

Which of the following is an advantage of seniority pay systems?

A) They reward exemplary performance.

B) They encourage employees to continue to increase their skill sets.

C) They help to promote product quality.

D) They reward employees on an objective basis.

They reward employees on an objective basis.

The concept that employee's knowledge and skills can be used to generate superior productivity is known as ________ theory.

human capital

The General Schedule (GS) classifies federal government jobs into ________ classifications based on such factors as skill, education, and experience levels.

15

________ pay practices focus on employees who have achieved the maximum pay rate for their jobs.

longevity

In 2015, employees were expected to earn average merit increases of what percent?

3.1

Which pay system is most commonly used in America today?

A) skill based pay

B) longevity pay

C) merit pay

D) seniority pay

merit pay

Which two factors should compensation professionals consider before endorsing the use of merit pay systems?

A) a supervisor's bias and stock price

B) job design and a supervisor's bias

C) job analysis and stock price

D) commitment from top management and job design

commitment from top management and job design

This term refers to the minimum pay increase that employees view as a significant change in their compensation amount.

just meaningful pay increase

________ pay increase refers to the minimum pay increase that employees will consider to be a worthwhile change in compensation.

just meaningful

Merit pay systems primarily rely on ________ performance measures.

subjective

Merit pay programs provide ________ increases to base pay.

permanent

The concept of just-meaningful pay increases applies to ________ pay programs.

merit

If an employee is rated as outstanding on her leadership ability, she was probably rated based on which appraisal system?

A) trait

B) goal-oriented

C) comparison

D) behavioral

trait

The XYZ Company ranks its employees from the best performer to the poorest performer, and the employee with the best performance receives the highest ranking. What type of performance appraisal method is used by this company?

comparison system

There are 15 animal keepers working for the XYZ Zoo. Their supervisor is required to rate the performance of these workers based on the following criteria: 30% of the animal keepers will be rated as below-average, 40% of the animal keepers will be rated as average, and 30% of the animal keepers will be rated as above average. What type of performance appraisal is used?

forced distribution

Which evaluation system requires that supervisors compare each employee to every other employee?

A) forced distribution

B) hierarchical

C) paired comparison

D) critical incident technique

paired comparison

This type of behavioral performance appraisal system requires the review of past performance behaviors and outcomes in order to identify them as either successful or unsuccessful.

critical incident technique (CIT)

This performance appraisal system is based on employees and supervisors identifying on-the-job behaviors and behavioral outcomes that distinguish levels of job performance.

critical incident technique

This appraisal system is the most defensible in court because it is based on observable job performance behaviors.

BARS

Management by objective is part of which type of performance appraisal system?

goal oriented system

Who determines the particular objectives in a management by objectives (MBO) appraisal system?

both employees and supervisors

Jack is a sales professional who is employed in an auto dealership. At the beginning of every year, he and his supervisor determine objectives for Jack together, which are tied to corporate objectives. One of the objectives is related to customer satisfaction. Jack always remains in contact with customers to whom he sold cars even after six months following the sale. His performance appraisal partially depends on the results of a customer satisfaction survey. What kind of performance appraisal system does this auto dealer use?

goal oriented

XYZ Movers, a professional relocation company, has 3-person teams for their moving services. The company asks customers to complete a satisfaction survey regarding their recent move. For an employee's performance appraisal, customer satisfaction surveys are also considered in addition to supervisor and team member ratings. Which of the following appraisal methods best describes this situation?

A) paired comparisons

B) positive halo effect

C) 360-degree performance appraisals

D) first-impression effect

360-degree performance
appraisals

This term refers to a difference between the output of human judgment processes and that of an objective, accurate assessment. This difference could be due to bias, prejudice, or other subjective, extraneous influences

rating error

The halo effect and similar-to- me effects are considered examples of which type of rating error?

bias

A manager expects high levels of performance from Ashley, a newly hired employee, because she graduated from a prestigious Ivy League university. A year later, the manager rates Ashley's job performance more highly than her actual performance based on his initial belief. What kind of rater error was made by the manager?

first impression effect

Which performance appraisal error reflects the tendency to rate every employee at the low end of the rating scale, regardless of actual performance?

A) error of central tendency

B) contrast errors

C) negative halo error

D) errors of strictness

errors of strictness

________ systems evaluate a given employee's performance against the performance of other employees.

comparison

Among the various performance appraisal techniques, ________ is the only one based on actual observable job behaviors.

BARS

_____ is used mainly for managerial and professional employees and typically evaluates employees' progress toward strategic planning goals.

management by objectives (MBOs)

Which practice enables HR professionals to develop performance measures?

A) job evaluation

B) job analysis

C) performance appraisal

D) position analysis

job analysis

Effective performance appraisals are based on:

effective communication

When companies' merit increases don't clearly reflect differences in actual job performance, they may need to provide which of the following?

A) a promise to allocate more money toward providing merit pay increases

B) an apology

C) alternative rewards such as a vacation

D) justification in a court of law

alternative rewards such as a vacation

Poorly designed performance evaluation processes do little to achieve which of the following?

A) discourage employees from referring friends for possible employment in the company

B) influence in any way the perception among employees that pay reflects performance

C) encourage employees to refer friends for possible employment in the company

D) create the perception among employees that pay reflects performance

create the perception among employees that pay reflects performance

A manager in a company gives 5 percent merit pay increases each year to employees who perform well. Some of those employees started with substantially lower base pay raises. Over time, which of the following could be a result?

A) negative halo effect

B) desire to be promoted

C) undesirable social structures

D) contrast errors

undesirable social structures

Relying on demographic characteristics as the basis for awarding pay increases tells us which of the following?

A) The supervisor is thorough in his determination of pay increases.

B) The supervisor endorses seniority.

C) The supervisor is relying on factors other than merit.

D) The supervisor has adopted a person-focused pay approach.

The supervisor is relying on factors other than merit.

Employees may differ in their perceptions of what they consider to be large enough pay raises. Which of the following may be a consequence?

A) filing lawsuits on the basis of illegal discrimination

B) creating undesirable social structures

C) demotivating those employees who do not consider pay raises to be large enough

D) none of the above

demotivating those employees who do not consider pay raises to be large enough