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.
Why have annual reviews become redundant in organizations today ?
Due to low inflation, agile work methodologies, streamlined structures and innovation needs
Low inflation, agile methodologies, streamlined structures and the need for innovation — option 2.
The sentence in the passage. “Currently, low inflation, streamlined organizational structures, agile work methodologies and the necessity for ongoing innovation have made annual reviews redundant.” The word redundant appears in both the question and that sentence, which locates the answer precisely.
Why each of the four factors undermines the annual review.
| Factor | Effect on the annual review |
|---|---|
| Low inflation | Annual reviews were partly a mechanism for allocating annual pay rises. When inflation is low, increments are small and the elaborate ranking exercise that justified them is no longer worth its cost |
| Streamlined structures | Flatter organisations with fewer layers have less need of formal documentation to move people up a long hierarchy |
| Agile methodologies | Agile work runs in short cycles with continuous review. A twelve-month feedback loop is absurdly slow beside a two-week sprint |
| Need for ongoing innovation | Innovation requires experiment and tolerated failure. An annual evaluation that scores past outcomes discourages both |
Why the distractors fail. Option 1 names compulsory ranking and bureaucracy — both appear in the passage, but as features of the old system and as historical influences on it, not as reasons for its present redundancy; this is the sharpest distractor. Option 3 is not in the passage at all. Option 4 inverts a fact: the passage says appraisals originated from the military’s merit rating system, which is a statement about their beginning, not about their end.
The distinction being tested is between a criticism of a practice and a cause of its obsolescence. Bureaucracy is why people disliked annual reviews; the four factors in option 2 are why the environment no longer supports them. A comprehension question asking “why has X become redundant” wants the second kind of answer.
Hence, the answer is option 2.
Similar Questions
The positive model is applied to planned change through an approach is called appreciative inquiry (AI). Which of the following is not the cyclical step of AI ?
When the supervisor keeps a log of positive and negative examples of a subordinate’s work-related behaviour, it refers to which one of the following methods of performance appraisal ?
Arrange the basic process of HR strategy in correct orders :
A. Identify people issues
B. Communicate HR strategy
C. Identify strategic Business issues
D. Scan External Environment
E. Develop HR strategy
Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
What replaced annual reviews in the company, as announced by the Chairman ?
Critics argue that conventional performance evaluations :
Which of the following statements are correct as per paragraph ?
A. Companies like Adobe, Deloitte, GE, Microsoft and PwC have shifted to informal assessments.
B. Annual reviews are now seen as promoting collaboration and innovation.
C. Continuous feedback improves satisfaction, coaching and corporate alignment.
D. Annual evaluations originated from executive compensation reforms.
E. Current organizations emphasize agility, collaboration and personnel development through continuous dialogue.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
Match List - I with List - II.
List - I
(Concept)List - II
(Description)A. Origin of performance appraisals I. Compulsory ranking at GE B. Bureaucratic evolution II. Military’s merit rating system C. Factors influencing appraisal changes III. Expensive and unpopular processes D. Current organizational focus IV. Agility, collaboration and continuous dialogue Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
“Formulating and executing human resource policies and practices that produce the employee competencies and behaviours the company needs to achieve its strategic aims” is called?
In Flow Model, associated with forecasting personnel needs, the forecaster will-
A. Determine the time that should be covered.
B. Establish categories to which employees can be assigned.
C. Will not estimate the probability of transition.
D. Will solicit estimate of personnel needed from group of exports.
E. Count annual movements among states for several time period.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
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 ?
Important Questions from Concept, role and functions of HRM
Arrange the following management functions in a logical sequence of getting things done.
A. Planning
B. Staffing
C. Organizing
D. Coordinating
E. Controlling
F. Directing
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Male staff should take which of the following precautions?
Match List - I with List - II:
List - I (Concept) List - II (Description) A. Personnel management I. Focuses on profit maximization by contribution of the people B. Human Resource management II. Managing employee, employer relations amicably C. Industrial relation III. Managing Human resource challenges of international operations D. International HRM IV. Developing attitude of the people for their better contribution Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
Which one of the followings are not the Objectives of HRM ?
- Which of the following is not true in case of HRM ?
