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Read the following passage and answer the questions :

The Chairman astonished HR leaders by announcing the company’s discontinuation of annual reviews, substituting them with immediate feedback, goal-oriented coaching and weekly incentives. This transformation, once considered heretical, has gained widespread acceptance: around one-third of U.S. companies, including Adobe, Deloitte, GE, Microsoft and PwC, have transitioned from inflexible annual evaluations to regular, informal assessments. Conventional performance evaluations, previously effective for determining compensation and recognizing talent, have evolved into expensive, bureaucratic processes that are unpopular among both employees and managers. Critics contend that they prioritize historical conduct over prospective development, hinder collaboration and do not fulfill commercial requirements. Originating from the military’s merit rating system, performance appraisals have transitioned between accountability and development, influenced by variables including inflation, compulsory ranking at GE, executive compensation reforms and the competitive pursuit of talent. Currently, low inflation, streamlined organizational structures, agile work methodologies and the necessity for ongoing innovation have made annual reviews redundant. Organizations are currently emphasizing agility, collaboration, and personnel development, concentrating on continuous dialogue and immediate objective. Despite ongoing challenges-such as bias, salary discrepancies and inadequate supervisor training-organizations that implement continuous feedback mechanisms experience enhanced satisfaction, superior coaching and greater alignment with corporate objectives. The transition signifies a necessity: performance management must adapt to cultivate future talent.

Critics argue that conventional performance evaluations :

This question was previously asked in
UGC NET 2025 Management Question Paper (07-Jan-2026) (Shift 1)
The correct answer is

Prioritize historical conduct over development, hinder-collaboration and fail to meet business needs

 Option 3 — the three charges the passage attributes to critics.

The sentence. “Critics contend that they prioritize historical conduct over prospective development, hinder collaboration and do not fulfill commercial requirements.” Option 3 reproduces all three; options 1 and 2 state two of the three in reverse.

Criticism in the passageReversed in
Prioritises historical conduct over prospective developmentOption 1 — “future-oriented growth”
Hinders collaborationOption 1 — “encourage collaboration”
Does not fulfil commercial requirementsOption 2 — “fulfil commercial requirements effectively”

The technique the question uses. Two distractors are the exact negation of the passage. This is the commonest form of comprehension trap, and it is defeated by locating the sentence and checking the polarity of each clause — a reader who half-remembers the topic will accept a plausible-sounding positive statement.

Why the criticisms are substantively fair.

ChargeThe underlying problem
Backward-lookingThe appraisal rates what has already happened. Employees defend the past instead of discussing what to do next, and the conversation becomes a negotiation over a rating rather than a plan for development
Hinders collaborationWhere employees are rated individually — and worse, ranked against one another — helping a colleague lowers one’s own relative standing. Forced distribution makes this explicit and turns colleagues into rivals
Fails commercial needsA once-a-year cycle cannot keep pace with objectives that change quarterly, and the administrative cost is very large relative to what it produces

Note option 4. “Transparent ranking” sounds like a virtue, but the passage treats compulsory ranking at GE as one of the forces that shaped — and burdened — the appraisal system, not as a motivator.

Hence, the answer is option 3.

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Similar Questions

  1. Following steps are undertaken for developing a workforce score card.

    (a) Identify critical and carefully defined outcome measures.

    (b) Translate the measures into specific actions and outcomes.

    (c) Identify high and low performing employees.

    (d) Develop and communicate detailed description of what is expected.

    (e) Develop supporting HRM and measurement systems.

    What is the correct chronological order of these steps ?

  2. Read the following passage and answer the questions :

    The Chairman astonished HR leaders by announcing the company’s discontinuation of annual reviews, substituting them with immediate feedback, goal-oriented coaching and weekly incentives. This transformation, once considered heretical, has gained widespread acceptance: around one-third of U.S. companies, including Adobe, Deloitte, GE, Microsoft and PwC, have transitioned from inflexible annual evaluations to regular, informal assessments. Conventional performance evaluations, previously effective for determining compensation and recognizing talent, have evolved into expensive, bureaucratic processes that are unpopular among both employees and managers. Critics contend that they prioritize historical conduct over prospective development, hinder collaboration and do not fulfill commercial requirements. Originating from the military’s merit rating system, performance appraisals have transitioned between accountability and development, influenced by variables including inflation, compulsory ranking at GE, executive compensation reforms and the competitive pursuit of talent. Currently, low inflation, streamlined organizational structures, agile work methodologies and the necessity for ongoing innovation have made annual reviews redundant. Organizations are currently emphasizing agility, collaboration, and personnel development, concentrating on continuous dialogue and immediate objective. Despite ongoing challenges-such as bias, salary discrepancies and inadequate supervisor training-organizations that implement continuous feedback mechanisms experience enhanced satisfaction, superior coaching and greater alignment with corporate objectives. The transition signifies a necessity: performance management must adapt to cultivate future talent.

  3. __________ is a profile of job holders department-wise and offers a snapshot of who will replace if there is a job opening.

  4. Under which method of performance appraisal many evaluators join together to judge employee’s performance in several situations with the use of a variety of criteria ?

  5. Following steps are undertaken for developing a workforce score card:

    (a) Identify critical and carefully defined outcome measures.

    (b) Translate the measures into specific actions and outcomes.

    (c) Identify high and low performing employees.

    (d) Develop and communicate detailed description of what is expected.

    (e) Develop supporting HRM and measurement systems.

    What is the correct chronological order of these steps?

  6. Which one of the following statements is not true in the case of Human Resource Management?

  7. Which one of the following training methods is not a managerial on-the-job training method?

  8. Arrange the following steps of training and development process in the right sequence:

    a. Need analysis

    b. Validation

    c. Evaluation

    d. Implement the programme

    e. Instructional design

  9. Match the following:

    List - IList - II
    (a) Programmed learning(i) A development technique in which teams of managers compete by making computerized decisions regarding realistic but simulated situations.
    (b) Case study(ii) Any attempt to improve current or future management performance by imparting knowledge, changing attitudes or increasing skills.
    (c) Management Game(iii) A development method in which the manager is presented with a written description of an organizational problem to diagnose and solve.
    (d) Management development(iv) A systematic method for teaching job skills, involving presentation of questions or facts, allowing the person to respond and giving the learner immediate feedback on the accuracy of his answers.
  10. Match the following:

    List - IList - II
    (a) Career management(i) The lifelong series of activities that contribute to a person's career exploration, establishment, success and fulfilment.
    (b) Career development(ii) The deliberate process through which someone becomes aware of personal skills, interests, knowledge, motivations and other characteristics and establishes action plans to attain specific goals.
    (c) Career planning(iii) The process for enabling employees to better understand and develop their career skills and interests and to use these skills and interests more effectively.

Important Questions from Concept, role and functions of HRM

  1. Male staff should take which of the following precautions?

  2. Match List - I with List - II:

    List - I (Concept)List - II (Description)
    A. Personnel managementI. Focuses on profit maximization by contribution of the people
    B. Human Resource managementII. Managing employee, employer relations amicably
    C. Industrial relationIII. Managing Human resource challenges of international operations
    D. International HRMIV. Developing attitude of the people for their better contribution

    Choose the correct answer from the options given below :

  3. Match the items of List-I with those of List-II with regard to operative functions of HRM and indicate the code of correct matching.
    List – IList – II
    a. Procurementi. Performance appraisal
    b. Developmentii. Discipline
    c. Integrationiii. Induction
    d. Maintenanceiv. Personnel research
    Codes :
  4. Following steps are undertaken for developing a workforce score card.

    (a) Identify critical and carefully defined outcome measures.

    (b) Translate the measures into specific actions and outcomes.

    (c) Identify high and low performing employees.

    (d) Develop and communicate detailed description of what is expected.

    (e) Develop supporting HRM and measurement systems.

    What is the correct chronological order of these steps ?

  5. Read the following passage and answer the questions :

    The Chairman astonished HR leaders by announcing the company’s discontinuation of annual reviews, substituting them with immediate feedback, goal-oriented coaching and weekly incentives. This transformation, once considered heretical, has gained widespread acceptance: around one-third of U.S. companies, including Adobe, Deloitte, GE, Microsoft and PwC, have transitioned from inflexible annual evaluations to regular, informal assessments. Conventional performance evaluations, previously effective for determining compensation and recognizing talent, have evolved into expensive, bureaucratic processes that are unpopular among both employees and managers. Critics contend that they prioritize historical conduct over prospective development, hinder collaboration and do not fulfill commercial requirements. Originating from the military’s merit rating system, performance appraisals have transitioned between accountability and development, influenced by variables including inflation, compulsory ranking at GE, executive compensation reforms and the competitive pursuit of talent. Currently, low inflation, streamlined organizational structures, agile work methodologies and the necessity for ongoing innovation have made annual reviews redundant. Organizations are currently emphasizing agility, collaboration, and personnel development, concentrating on continuous dialogue and immediate objective. Despite ongoing challenges-such as bias, salary discrepancies and inadequate supervisor training-organizations that implement continuous feedback mechanisms experience enhanced satisfaction, superior coaching and greater alignment with corporate objectives. The transition signifies a necessity: performance management must adapt to cultivate future talent.

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