Discussion Questions Chapter 6

1. What performance standards should guide a hospital emergency room or fire department? Ans: Performance expectations are the basis for appraising employee performance. Performances standard helps the employees performance with mutually understood expectations and minimize uncertainty in providing feedback. For a hospital emergency room or fire department performance standards, can provide specific feedback describing the gap between expected and actual performance. Effective performance standards for on organization Serve as an objective basis for communicating about performance. Enable the employee to differentiate between acceptable and unacceptable results. Increase job satisfaction because employees know when tasks are performed well. Inform new employees of your expectations about job performance. Encourage an open and trusting relationship with employees. If these standards are implemented it would help any organization to run their respective departments in a smooth and a systematic manner.

2. Can one control performance equally well with input standards and output standards? Ans: Controlling is one of the managerial functions. It is an important function as controlling helps an organization to check the errors and take corrective action so that the goals of an organization can be achieved. For an organization to perform well in this challenging period, an organization should have both input and output standards. Input standards for work efforts and output standards for work results. Both these standards are equally essential for an organization in-order to achieve their goals. Both standards have their own respective parts for in an organization.

3. What are the possible downsides to management by exception? Ans: Management by exception is the practice of examining the financial and operational results of a business, and only bringing issues to the attention of management if results represent substantial differences from the budgeted or expected amount. The downsides of management by exception are as follows: Small issues may be overlooked and these can turn into more serious problems later down the line. Staff may not feel valued if their concerns are not addressed or even looked into. Staff may feel completely isolated from the management due to no real interaction. Management may lose touch with everyday matters of the business.

Management by exception should be used when there is not enough staff or time to concentrate on every issue within the business and so the concerns need to be quickly prioritized.