Neha Kapoor (Kapoor) and Tina Menon (Menon) were excited about their first job offer from a

leading multinational company, Meridian Business Solutions (Meridian). Meridian, a UK-based

consultancy, offered business development and improvement solutions to organizations in a wide
range of industries. Kapoor and Menon had just passed out from a prestigious business school with a
masters degree in business administration. Both were bright students and Menon had been a topper all
through in college. As students, Kapoor and Menon had always dreamt of working for a multinational
company like Meridian. Their dream finally came true when they received a call from Meridian.
Having topped the written test and the personal interview, both were offered the position of business
development executives in the company. Their job responsibility was to tap potential clients from the
corporate world. This seemed to be an ideal break for them as they were keen on getting a job that
offered wide exposure to the business environment. The job was a challenging one that provided
adequate opportunities for valuable corporate experience. Besides, the compensation offered was also
at par with the best in the industry.

The first few months at Meridian were a learning experience for both of them. Kapoor and Menon
were extremely enthusiastic about their jobs. The company had given them adequate training and
reasonable autonomy to perform their job. They soon began handling clients independently. They
were involved in getting new clients and were also responsible for maintaining smooth relationships
with them. Both of them reported to the regional sales manager, Nitish Bajaj (Bajaj). Of the two, Bajaj
was more impressed with Menon’s performance. Within a couple of months of joining the company,
Menon had obtained and closed a deal with a very high profile client. Business with this client was
expected to rake in huge profits for the company. In a party organized in the company to celebrate the
occasion, Bajaj announced a cash award for Menon in appreciation of her commitment and dedication
to the job. This served to reinforce Menon’s motivation and made her strive even harder to better her
performance.

After both of them had completed a year of working in the company, the time for their performance
review came up. The company had a yearly performance appraisal system which rated employees on
the basis of their performance throughout the year. Based on these ratings, the employees were paid
hefty performance bonuses that served as effective motivators for its employees. However, the yearly
performance appraisal brought with it a rather unpleasant surprise for Menon.

Menon had hoped to receive a handsome bonus as an outcome of her performance review. She was
aware that she would be appraised by Bajaj who had expressed appreciation for her good performance
and announced a cash award for her within a few months of her joining the company. Meridian,
however, did not have a transparent policy regarding appraisals and remuneration paid to employees.
So, the outcome of the appraisal was not immediately known to anyone but the employees
themselves. It was only in course of time that details about the rewards could be gathered informally.
In Menon’s case too, it took a while for her to know the outcome of her colleague, Kapoor’s appraisal.
And what she heard shocked her. Kapoor had been given a bonus much higher than what she had been
given. It came as a surprise not only to Menon, but to the rest of the employees as well that Kapoor
had been rated higher than Menon, since everyone in the company knew that Menon was better at the
job than Kapoor. The performance bonus thus, served as a demotivating factor for Menon as she
began to feel that she deserved much more than what she had got and that her performance certainly
did not call for receiving a lower bonus than Kapoor.

Menon’s demotivation was evident from her subsequent performance on the job. She stopped working
as enthusiastically as she did earlier and was content with doing just the bare minimum required for
her job. This change in attitude took place as she obviously felt that there was no point working so
hard when she wasn’t being recognized for doing a good job. On comparing the efforts she had put
into the job and the reward she had received, with the efforts put in by Kapoor and the reward given to
her, Menon began to perceive an inequity in the way employees were rewarded at Meridian. Since she
was being paid less than her expectations, she decided to put in less effort so as to bring about a
perceived equity of pay between Kapoor and herself.
Consequently, Menon’s productivity level deteriorated and, in turn, it affected the performance and
profitability of the organization. Thus, Menon’s negative attitude resulted in negative implications for
the organization. Also, this frustration at the job made Menon look around for new jobs.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

1. The annual performance review had a demotivating effect on Tina Menon. Briefly discuss the
motivational theory that best describes Menon’s response to the appraisal.

2. Based on the equity theory, explain in what other ways Menon could have reacted to the outcome
of the performance appraisal?

Personality - org- CULTURE fit

BELONGS TO THE LEADERSHIP TEAM OF THE COMPANY
POTENTIAL - READINESS - REDUNDANT
STRATEGY OF THE COMPANY
Which of the following statements is not true about an industrial dispute?

The dispute may relate to employment.

The dispute may relate to non-employment.
The dispute may be between worker and worker.
The dispute may be between employer and government.

End of Question 1

Question 2.
Which of the following is not a cause of industrial dispute?

demand for pay and benefits hike

demand for hygienic and safer working conditions
demand for better labour welfare
None of the above

End of Question 2

Question 3.
When employees resort to unauthorized strike in violation of the labour contract or
agreements, it is called

pen-down
tools-down
sit-in strike
wild-cat strike

End of Question 3

Question 4.
Which of the following is a specific form of protest organized with the intention to prevent
or dissuade the non-striking employees from attending to their work during the strike
period?
 hunger strike
work-to-rule strike
picketing
sick-out strike

The strike organized to express solidarity with the striking employees in the same
organization, industry or region is called

hunger strike
sympathy strike
tool-down strike
None of the above

End of Question 5

Question 6.
Which of the following dispute settlers cannot make a binding decision?

arbitrator
adjudicator
conciliator
industrial tribunal member

End of Question 6

Question 7.
“One party gains at the expense of another” normally refers to which type of collective
bargaining?

distributive bargaining
integrative bargaining
centralized bargaining
None of the above

Which of the following techniques permits the grievant (complainant) to remain

anonymous?
 The exit interview
The gripe-box system
The opinion survey
None of the above

The presence of grievances among employees may cause

indiscipline among them

strain on the labour–management relations
a decline in the employees’ performance and productivity
all of the above

In which of the following methods are grievances ascertained at the time of employees
quitting the organization?

The exit interview method

The gripe-box system
The open-door policy
Opinion surveys

Which of the following acts has a direct relevance for grievance handling practices?

The Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Act, 1946

The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
The Factories Act, 1948
All of the above

End of Question 5

Question 6.
Which of the following is not a grievance concerned with supervision?

A misunderstanding between the supervisor and the workers

Rigidity in the interpretation of rules and regulations
Ambiguous job instructions
Violation and/or non-fulfilment of the terms of collective bargaining
agreements
 End of Question 6

Question 7.
When workers are encouraged to meet the relevant manager in his office and to share their
opinions, it is called

an opinion survey
the gripe-box system
the open-door policy
the exit interview method

End of Question 7
Performance management is viewed as a process carried out as a(n)

once-a-year task
twice-a-year activity
ongoing process or cycle
None of the above

End of Question 1

Question 2.
Performance evaluation can be defined as a process of evaluating

past performance
present performance
future performance
past and present performance

End of Question 2

Question 3.
The term performance rating system stands for

a grade or score concerning the overall performance

the information about the extent to which the work objectives were met
the past objectives of the organization
the achievements for a period of one year

End of Question 3

Question 4.
The 360-degree performance feedback involves the evaluation of employees by

HR managers
employees
 supervisors
all who are directly in contact with the ratee

End of Question 4

Question 5.
Which of the following is the most essential requirement for an effective points-based rating
system?

Close coordination between the management and the HR department

Comprehensive, dependable and consistent information
Impartiality in evaluation
None of the above

End of Question 5

Question 6.
When the focus of the evaluation is on facts and not on traits, it is known as _____
evaluation.

objective
subjective
performance
career

End of Question 6

Question 7.
The purpose of the Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale(BARS) is to

evaluate a good or bad performance

define a job
improve inter-personal relationship skills
None of the above
 End of Question 7

Question 8.
Which of the following is an essential prerequisite of MBO?

Joint goal-setting
Mid-term review
Developing reviews
All of the above

End of Question 8

Question 9.
The evaluation method that requires the supervisors to keep a written record of positive
and negative work-related actions of the employees is called

Critical incident method

Essay method
Work standard method
Field review method

End of Question 9

Question 10.
In which of the following methods is the evaluation done by someone other than the
employee’s own supervisors?

Essay method
Critical incident method
Field review method
None of the above

End of Question 10
Question 11.
Job evaluation is a technique adopted for determining the _______ of the job.

internal worth
external worth
internal and external worth
None of the above

End of Question 11

Question 12.
When each job is individually compared with every other in the organization, it is called

Ranking method
Paired comparison method
Point ranking method
Factor comparison method

End of Question 12

Question 13.
Which of the following is not an analytical method of job evaluation?

Point ranking method

Factor comparison method
Paired comparison
None of the above

End of Question 13

Question 14.
Which of the following is an analytical method of job evaluation?
 Paired comparison
Ranking method
Job grading
Point ranking method

End of Question 14

Question 15.
When jobs are grouped on the basis of the similarities found in their characteristics and
values, it is called

Paired comparison
Ranking method
Job grading
Point ranking method