After Several Years of Sound but Unimpressive Performance, Foothill Federal

question 123

Multiple Choice

After several years of sound but unimpressive performance, Foothill Federal was bought out by Cashcorp, a much larger financial organization. Hoping to turn the new network into a stronger asset to the corporation, Cashcorp's managers begin by examining Foothill's existing performance appraisal process. Cashcorp managers quickly determine that employee evaluations have been handled very superficially in the past, typically by division managers at the central location. As a result, seniority, rather than productivity, has been the primary rationale for promotions and rewards. The HR manager assigned to integrating Foothill into the Cashcorp family immediately sees that changes will need to be made in the performance appraisal process. However, he does not want to move too rashly, as the merger has already made the Foothill workforce worried that extensive terminations and layoffs are imminent. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support changing who is responsible for performance appraisals at Foothill?

• A) The supervisors carrying out appraisals were all assigned to Foothill's central location, even though most of the employees they evaluated were at branches.
• B) The web-based performance appraisal software already used by Cashcorp allows employees to do self-evaluations.
• C) Cashcorp has a more detailed and clearer set of corporate objectives than Foothill used in appraisals.
• D) Industry-wide research shows that peer appraisal has a more direct impact on employees than supervisor appraisal.
• E) A regional news report claimed that Cashcorp was prepared to trim the Foothill workforce by up to 30 percent.

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Definitions:

Inferior Good

A type of good for which demand decreases when consumers' income increases, opposite to normal goods.

Perfectly Inelastic

Describes a situation where the demand for a good does not change in response to a change in price.

Price Elasticity

A measure of how much the quantity demanded of a good responds to a change in the price of that good, defined as the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price.

Demand Curve

A diagram displaying the connection between a product or service's price and the amount requested over a specified timeframe.