Free WGU Organizational-Behavior Practice Exam with Questions & Answers | Set: 2

Performance evaluations serve several vital functions within an organization's management system. The primary purpose isto assist management in making human resource decisions. These decisions include identifying who should receive promotions, who is eligible for salary increases, and who might need to be transferred or even terminated.

Beyond administrative decisions, evaluations provide essential feedback to employees about how the organization views their performance. This feedback acts as a basis for personal development and career planning. Furthermore, evaluations help identify training and development needs by pinpointing specific skill deficiencies that an employee may have. They also provide a criterion against which the organization can validate its selection and development programs; for instance, if employees who scored high on a hiring test perform poorly on their evaluations, the hiring process may need to be adjusted. Therefore, rather than being a psychological diagnostic tool (Option B) or a pre-hiring screen (Option C), the performance evaluation is a retrospective and developmental tool used to manage the existing workforce effectively.

Values represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite mode. In Organizational Behavior, Milton Rokeach created the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS), which classifies values into two distinct sets: Terminal values and Instrumental values.

Terminal valuesrefer to desirable end-states of existence. These are the goals a person would like to achieve during their lifetime, such as world peace, prosperity, or a sense of accomplishment.Instrumental values, on the other hand, refer to preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving the terminal values. Being "ambitious" and "cheerful" are behavioral traits or methods that an individual employs to reach their ultimate goals. For instance, being ambitious (an instrumental value) is the "means" an employee uses to achieve the "end" of financial success or career status (a terminal value). Similarly, being cheerful is a mode of conduct that might help an individual achieve the terminal goal of social recognition or happiness. Therefore, because these descriptions focus on thehowof behavior rather than thewhatof ultimate life goals, they are strictly categorized as instrumental values. Understanding these values is crucial for managers because they influence motivation and how employees perceive organizational rewards and culture.