CPC Employee Relations & Performance Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which performance appraisal method requires managers to place employees into predetermined performance categories such as top 10%, middle 80%, and bottom 10%?
- Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)
- Forced distribution ranking (Correct answer)
- Critical incident method
- Management by Objectives (MBO)
Correct answer: Forced distribution ranking
Forced distribution ranking mandates that a set percentage of employees fall into each performance tier, regardless of actual team performance.
Question 2: An employer wants to reduce involuntary turnover caused by poor performance. The MOST proactive strategy is to:
- Increase severance pay packages to ease transitions
- Strengthen pre-hire assessment tools to better predict job performance (Correct answer)
- Conduct exit interviews after each termination
- Outsource performance management to a third-party vendor
Correct answer: Strengthen pre-hire assessment tools to better predict job performance
Improving selection processes through validated assessments reduces hiring of candidates who are likely to underperform.
Question 3: Which term describes an employer's obligation to make reasonable changes to policies or the work environment to accommodate an employee's disability?
- Disparate impact accommodation
- Undue hardship waiver
- Reasonable accommodation (Correct answer)
- Interactive process mandate
Correct answer: Reasonable accommodation
Under the ADA, employers must provide reasonable accommodation unless doing so would cause undue hardship to the organization.
Question 4: A halo effect in performance reviews occurs when:
- A rater scores all employees identically to avoid conflict
- One positive trait causes a rater to rate all other dimensions of performance too favorably (Correct answer)
- Raters give higher scores at the beginning of the review cycle
- An employee's recent good performance overshadows the entire review period
Correct answer: One positive trait causes a rater to rate all other dimensions of performance too favorably
The halo effect is a cognitive bias where a single outstanding trait disproportionately inflates ratings across all performance dimensions.
Question 5: Which conflict resolution approach involves a neutral third party facilitating a discussion but allowing the involved parties to reach their own agreement?
- Arbitration
- Adjudication
- Mediation (Correct answer)
- Grievance arbitration
Correct answer: Mediation
Mediation is a voluntary, non-binding process where a neutral mediator guides parties to their own mutually acceptable resolution.
Question 6: When a recruiter refers a candidate who is later terminated for cause, which employee relations concept is MOST relevant to the organization's review?
- Employment-at-will doctrine
- Negligent hiring liability (Correct answer)
- Constructive dismissal
- Wrongful discharge
Correct answer: Negligent hiring liability
Negligent hiring holds employers liable if they failed to conduct adequate background screening and the employee later caused harm.
Question 7: An employee claims they were constructively discharged. This means they allege:
- They were physically escorted from the building during termination
- Working conditions were made so intolerable that they felt forced to resign (Correct answer)
- Their job duties were constructively realigned without notice
- The employer failed to provide a written termination letter
Correct answer: Working conditions were made so intolerable that they felt forced to resign
Constructive discharge occurs when an employer deliberately creates unbearable conditions that effectively compel an employee to quit.
CPC Employee Relations & Performance Management 3
Which performance appraisal method requires managers to place employees into predetermined performance categories such as top 10%, middle 80%, and bottom 10%?