ADM 2336 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Job Enrichment, Job Satisfaction, Job Performance

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16 Jun 2018

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Sample Midterm Questions

Questions 1

An OB researches hypothesizes that increasing the quality of supervision given to

employees would lead to an increase in their job performance. To test this hypothesis,

she gain access to an organization in which she measures the job performance of all

employees. She then arranges to train a random group of supervisor on how to offer

better supervision. Three months after the training, she again measures the

performance of all employees. She finds that those reporting to supervisors that she

trained show increased job performance compared to what it was before the training

occurred. She also finds that their performance of employees who supervisors has not

been trained. In fact, the performance of employees whose bosses had not been

trained did not change in any significant way over the course of the study

What are the independent and dependent variables?

Independent --> quality of supervision

○

Dependent --> job performance

○

Would the result the results of this study allow us to conclude that increases in

supervision quality CAUSE higher levels of employee job performance? Why?

No, increase to quality of supervision will not cause higher level of

employee job performance

○

There is only a correlational relation

○

Other variable can also have an effect on employee's performance

○

Question 2

According to the job characteristics theory, what are the five characteristics of

any job that, when more of them are present, would increase employees' job

satisfaction?

Variety, Identify, Significance, Autonomy, Feedback

○

Why would enriching jobs be particularly effective in increasing overall job

satisfaction?

Overall job satisfaction is the biggest influence to increasing job

enrichment

○

Job enrichment --> expansion of duties and responsibility of

characteristics --> work satisfaction

○

Why should employees' "growth need strength" be considered before enriching

their jobs?

Growth needs strength should be considered as not all employees have

strong needs for personal accomplishment and development of

themselves

○

Question 3

A manager is interested in hiring employees who are more likely to carry out their

assigned duties is an exemplary manner by thinking of, and trying out, better ways of

doing their job. He wants to hire people who are also more likely to provide value to

the overall company (not just to a few other people in the company) in ways that go

beyond carrying out their assigned duties.

Which of the big five traits of personality should be used to decide who he

should hire as new employees? Justify your choice(s).

Conscientiousness

○

Agreeableness

○

Openness

○

Name and provide an example of three different ways in which employees

could display the type of extra-role behaviour the manager is interested in.

Citizenship behaviour

Interpersonal

Helping □

Courtesy□

sportsmanship□

Organizational

Voice□

Civic virtue□

Boosterism □

○

Question 4

John and Rick both work for the same company. They have just been informed by

their boss that the company is in financial difficulty and that it is planning to lay some

employees off to become more financially viable. After that evening, john and rick are

having very different experiences. Whereas John enjoys his evening as he usually does

and eventually goes to bed to readily fall asleep, Rick feels very anxious and has a

tremendously difficult time failing asleep. Use the "Stress Process" described in class

(Stressors, Appraisal, Strains) to explain why John and Rick seem to be reacting very

differently to the news that their company may lay some employees off.

Stressors

Perception

○

Appraisal

○

Strains

Psychological

Physical

Behavioural

○

Question 5

Six months ago, company ABC implemented a new policy aimed at improving

employee's work motivation. The policy requires managers to instruct their

employees to try to achieve the highest level of performance that they can, and to

inform them that, depending on the budget remaining at the end of the fiscal year,

employees with the highest level of job performance will receive a financial bonus. Do

you think that this new policy will have the desired effect on employee motivation?

Explain your answer by referring to Goal Setting Theory and Expectancy Theory.

Expectancy theory

Effort --> Performance --> Valence

Expectancy

If I put a lot of effort will I perform well?

No, goal is unknown

◊

The effort or what is a "lot" is difficult to

determine

◊

□

Instrumentality

If I perform well will I receive outcomes?

If I perform well I am not sure to get the bonus as

it is dependent upon the budget

◊

I have no way of determining what is the level of

performance

◊

□

Valence

What is the valence of the outcomes?

Impossible to determine it depends on the budget

◊

□

○

Goal Setting theory

Goals are motivating when they are

Specific, challenging□

People are committed and getting feedback□

When they focus on performance of learning□

The way the financial bonus is designed will not have the desired

effect as employees would not know what goal to attain in order to

qualify for the bonus

They would think that the bonus is uncertain if the budget allows

There is no motivation for them to put effort if they don't know

what the goal is

○

MIDTERM REVIEW

Thursday, March 1, 2018

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Document Summary

An ob researches hypothesizes that increasing the quality of supervision given to employees would lead to an increase in their job performance. To test this hypothesis, she gain access to an organization in which she measures the job performance of all employees. She then arranges to train a random group of supervisor on how to offer better supervision. Three months after the training, she again measures the performance of all employees. She finds that those reporting to supervisors that she trained show increased job performance compared to what it was before the training occurred. She also finds that their performance of employees who supervisors has not been trained. In fact, the performance of employees whose bosses had not been trained did not change in any significant way over the course of the study a. No, increase to quality of supervision will not cause higher level of employee job performance. Other variable can also have an effect on employee"s performance.

Related Questions

The rapid rise in demand for IMs pianos means that more manufacturing employees will be needed. How many new employees will be needed and where will these additional employees come from? Traditionally, Ivory Melodies has promoted from within and provided ample training for its employees who were interested in moving around/up in the company. There is a strong desire to continue this tradition, but given the surge in demand for pianos, management is unsure if their current manufacturing employees will be ready fast enough to be promoted when needed. At the beginning of last year, the manufacturing employees were all in one of four jobs as follows: 300 employees were Assembler Iâs, 200 employees were Assembler IIâs, 30 employees were Assembling Supervisors and 70 employees were Quality Control Specialists. By the end of the year, 23% of the Assembler Iâs were promoted to Assembler IIâs, 20% of the Assembler Iâs left the company, and 5% were promote to Quality Control Specialists. At the end of the year, 10% of the Assembler IIâs were promoted to Assembling Supervisors, 10% left the organization, 5% were demoted to Assembler Iâs, and 3% became Quality Control Specialists. At the end of the year, 40% of the Assembling Supervisors had left the company, 5% had been demoted to Assembler II, and 10% of them became Quality Control Specialists. Finally, at the end of the year, 8% of the Quality Control Specialists had left the organization, 10% had become Assembling Supervisors, and 20% had become Assembler IIâs. To adequately address the higher demand for pianos, it is predicted that in 2018 the company will need 40% more employees in both the Assembler I and Assembler II jobs, 20% more employees in the Assembling Supervisor job, and 33% more employees in the Quality Control Specialist job than it had in 2017. If previous trends in internal employee movement continue, what can you say about the firmâs ability to use its internal promotion ladder to meet this additional demand? Will Ivory Melodies have enough employees moving into each job category internally to cover these predicted increases in headcount or not? If not, then how many employees will they need to hire externally in each of these jobs?

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MUTIPLE CHOICE; CIRCLE THE CORRECT ANSWER. FOR TRUE/FALSE, JUST CIRCLE T OR F

31) According to research cited in the text, what is the primary reason that top-performing/high commitment employees gave for voluntarily leaving an organization?

A) career development

B) work-life balance

C) promotions

D) salary

32) The process of advising, counseling, and guiding employees is known as ________.

A) coaching

B) appraising

C) assessing

D) mentoring

33) ________ is a process for enabling employees to better understand and develop their career skills and interests and to use these skills and interests most effectively within the company and afterwards.

A) Career management

B) Career development

C) Career planning

D) Performance management

34) Jackie is working with a coach to identify her personal skills and interests. Afterwards, she will investigate opportunities that fit her skills and interests and set specific career goals. In which of the following activities is Jackie most likely participating?

A) career management

B) career development

C) career planning

D) job training

35) Which of the following is the simplest and most often used method for predicting the future performance of a candidate for promotion?

A) prior performance

B) aptitude tests

C) assessment centers

D) psychological exams

36) Poor attendance and voluntary turnover are most likely characteristics of ________.

A) decreasing employee engagement

B) minimal job expectations

C) shrinking labor markets

D) poor supervision

37) Which of the following terms refers to all forms of pay or rewards going to employees and arising from their employment?

A) salary

B) employee benefits

C) wage reimbursement

D) employee compensation

38) John is a sales representative in a jewelry store. He typically works 40 hours per week and his pay is completely based on his sales. He earns a 5% commission for every sale he makes. Which of the following terms best describes John's situation?

A) performance-based compensation

B) indirect financial compensation

C) time-based compensation

D) piecework pay

39) Which of the following is NOT a type of direct financial payment?

A) wages

B) insurance

C) incentives

D) commissions

40) John is a sales representative in a jewelry store. He typically works 40 hours per week and his pay is completely based on his sales. He earns a 5% commission for every sale he makes. Which of the following terms best describes John's situation?

A) performance-based compensation

B) indirect financial compensation

C) time-based compensation

D) piecework pay

Supervisors often avoid conducting counseling sessions with employees because the supervisors anticipate, sometimes correctly, that the session will be personally unpleasant. Most individuals simply do not enjoy confronting other individuals with judgments about performance. As is true of most people, supervisors have a need to be liked by members of the social groups with which they are associated. Counseling can disrupt the personal relationships which such groups represent. The supervisor often anticipates that this will occur, imagining that the subordinate will react to the session with hostility, or withdraw during the interview into a shell and thereafter ignore the supervisor's presence except when given direct orders. Such reactions by subordinates are not uncommon, and, in fear of that, the supervisor may avoid the discussion altogether.

Avoiding the discussion, however, will only result in the problem and the potential confrontation becoming worse. Counseling is an indispensable aspect of a supervisor's job which, if accomplished effectively, can resolve problems in a positive manner and ultimately help to strengthen the relationship between the supervisor and the subordinate.

It would be dishonest to assure any supervisor that there are techniques which will avoid the unpleasant aspects of counseling in every case. Like any aspect of supervision, counseling involves authority over and responsibility for the actions of other employees. It is precisely this authority over others' behavior that produces the potential conflict; however, such conflict can be minimized.

The written assignment for week six of the BU 461 course is a written counseling session in which students must demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the skills, techniques, resources, and other information taught within the class and apply this knowledge to an employee counseling session (must be fictitious). To ensure maximum points, please adhere to the guidelines set forth below.

Your written counseling session must include the following:

(Please address in paragraph form)

I. A written analysis of the problem presented:

Why is the situation a problem?

What steps should have been taken to remediate the situation before reaching this level?

Does the employee know what is supposed to be done and by when?

Does the employee have:

the information needed to do the job?

the skills needed to do the job?

the resources needed to do the job?

Have I adequately defined the job performance expectations?

Does the problem have an adverse effect on:

the employee?

the co-workers/team?

the unit?

the agency?

myself as a supervisor?

Are any obstacles beyond the employeeâs control getting in the way?

Have I been inadvertently rewarding poor performance by my silence or behavior?

Is anyone else exhibiting the same problem?

Is there a pattern with this employee?

After addressing the above issues, it is then necessary for you to include:

II. A follow-up counseling memo that would be given to the employee after the counseling session.

Generally, a memo is both appropriate and necessary when: 1) previous counseling has failed to result in improvement; 2) you do not have confidence that the employee will correct the improper behavior without further encouragement; 3) the seriousness of the situation requires documentation that the session was held; and/or, 4) a multi-part plan for improvement was discussed during the session and the memo serves as written confirmation and a reminder of the plan.

When writing the counseling memo, the following guidelines should be followed:

Write the memo to the employee.

Be concise and clear.

The memo is a summary of your counseling session. Do not include other matters in the memo which were not discussed during the session.

Include the following sections:

A statement of the reason for and the date, time and place of the meeting. (Be as complete as possible in describing the problem.)

The employee's response to your concerns. This is important as it demonstrates to the employee that you were actually listening during the counseling session.

The manner in which the employee will seek to improve performance.

Provisions for follow-up consultations.

Do not characterize the memo as discipline or as a penalty.

The tone of the memo should be supportive and factual. Do not write it in a punitive or derogatory manner.

Show on the memo the names of those persons who will receive a copy of the memo. Include personal history folder.

The memo should be correct memo form

Your written counseling session will be graded on the following:

Clarity (have you addressed all required parts of section I)?

Completeness (have you addresses all required parts of section II)?

Conciseness (has your memo addressed the following)?

Did you clearly explain to the employee the facts of the situation?

Did you CLEARLY explain the gap between current performance and "expected performance"?

Did the employee indicate they understood the gap?

Did you get the employee to agree that a performance problem exists?

Did the employee ask enough questions to get employee to identify the cause of the problem and agree that change is necessary?

Did you identify good business reasons why the change must be made?

Did you list the consequences that could occur if the change is not made?

Did you get the employeeâs agreement to take specific actions to improve his/her performance?

Please select any one of the following scenarios as the situation for your written counseling session.

A written counseling session on any other scenario will not be graded. It must be from either one of the following:

Looking at pornography on the Internet during company time. Your employee was recently promoted to a new position without having been properly trained. As a result, your employee cannot keep up with fellow coworkers in the same position.

Preaching to coworkers their beliefs in Christianity and why other coworkers should go to church and Bible study. Your employee is an associate Pastor at his church and tries to recruit new members to his congregation while at work. He is an average level employee working on an assembly line.

Can't read, trying to hide it. Your employee is a safety inspector at an auto plant. She is an outstanding employee, but constantly seeks other workers to help finish her reports.

Falls asleep on the job. Your employee is a student attending college at night with 3 kids and a wife at home. He is a production assistant responsible for layout and print copy for the local newspaper.

Bad breath & body odor. Your employee is an aging man who is the assistant manager in the customer service department. He has been with the organization for over 25 years.

Wonâu t wear company uniforms because of religious reasons. Your employee is an atheist who has problems wearing the truck driver uniform for his job because a cross is part of the company logo. He also has a problem with wearing a uniform in general because he feels it represents him to others as being a member of an inferior social class.

Coming down with memory loss. Your employee is 37 years old who has recently undergone radiation therapy for breast cancer. She is responsible for medical records and tracking pharmaceutical prescriptions at the local hospital.

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ADM 2336 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Job Enrichment, Job Satisfaction, Job Performance

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