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Human Resource Management, 13e (Mondy)
Chapter 8 Performance Management and Appraisal
8.1 Multiple-Choice Questions
1) Which term refers to the level of commitment that workers make to an employer?
A) organizational fit
B) job recognition
C) employee engagement
D) employee sensitivity
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Employee engagement refers to the level of commitment workers make to their
employer, seen in their willingness to stay at the firm and to go beyond the call of duty. Engaged
workers want to continue working for their employer; they are willing to exert extra energy at
work.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 1
2) Employee engagement is an important issue for HR because it ________.

A) alters perceptions
B) increases selection ratios
C) slows the recruiting process
D) affects organizational performance
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Engaged workers want to continue working for their employer; they are willing
to exert extra energy at work, which improves organizational performance. A Gallup study found
that those organizations in the top quartile on engagement had 18 percent higher productivity, 16
percent higher profitability and 49 percent fewer safety incidents compared with those in the
bottom quartile on engagement. There is a clear link between engagement and profitability.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 1
1
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
3) Which of the following is LEAST likely to improve employee engagement?
A) treating workers with trust and respect
B) encouraging workers to be innovative
C) identifying workers for job enlargement
D) assigning workers to jobs that utilize their skills
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Supervisors can positively affect engagement by such actions as assigning
workers to jobs that utilize their skills and abilities, encouraging them to innovate, and treating
them with trust and respect. Job enlargement involves increasing the number of tasks a worker
performs, which is less likely to engage them.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 1
4) Which term refers to a goal-oriented process directed toward ensuring that organizational
processes are in place to maximize productivity of employees, teams, and the organization?
A) performance appraisal
B) strategic HR planning
C) performance management
D) development analysis
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Performance management (PM) is a goal-oriented process directed toward
ensuring that organizational processes are in place to maximize the productivity of employees,
teams, and ultimately, the organization. It is a major player in accomplishing organizational
strategy in that it involves measuring and improving the value of the workforce.
Diff: 1
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 1
5) With performance management, a close relationship exists between performance and

________.
A) finances
B) competition
C) HR selection
D) incentive goals
Answer: D
Explanation: D) PM includes incentive goals and the corresponding incentive values so that the
relationship can be clearly understood and communicated. There is a close relationship between
incentives and performance.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 1
2
6) With performance management, the effort of every worker should be directed toward
________.
A) improving compensation awareness
B) analyzing corporate understanding
C) enhancing overall organizational fit
D) achieving strategic goals
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Every person in the organization is a part of the PM system. Each part of the
system, such as training, appraisal, and rewards, is integrated and linked for the purpose of
continuous organizational effectiveness. With PM, the effort of each and every worker should be
directed toward achieving strategic goals.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 1
7) A formal system of review and evaluation of an individual or team task performance is

referred to as ________.
A) performance appraisal
B) strategic planning
C) performance management
D) succession planning
Answer: A
Explanation: A) Performance appraisal (PA) is a formal system of review and evaluation of
individual or team task performance. PA is especially critical to the success of performance
management, which is a goal-oriented process directed toward ensuring that organizational
processes are in place to maximize the productivity of employees, teams, and the organization.
Diff: 1
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 2
8) Performance appraisals are used for all of the following purposes EXCEPT ________.
A) identifying training needs
B) defending personnel decisions
C) implementing selection tests
D) providing employee feedback
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Performance appraisals are used to provide feedback, encourage performance
improvement, make valid decisions, justify terminations, identify training and development
needs, and defend personnel decisions. PAs could be used to validate selection tests but not
necessarily for implementing them.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 2
3
9) How are performance appraisals used for recruitment and selection?
A) developing a promotional strategy
B) predicting applicant job performance
C) initiating applicant salary negotiations
D) determining training and development needs
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Performance evaluation ratings may be helpful in predicting the performance of
job applicants. For example, it may be determined that a firm's successful employees (identified
through performance evaluations) exhibit certain behaviors when performing key tasks. These
data may then provide benchmarks for evaluating applicant responses obtained through
behavioral interviews. PAs are helpful for assessing training needs of current employees rather
than of applicants.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 2
10) Sam is employed as an account associate at a publishing firm. Which of the following would
most likely help Sam with career planning and development?
A) applicant tracking systems
B) compensation programs
C) performance appraisals
D) work sample tests
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Performance appraisal data is essential in assessing an employee's strengths and
weaknesses and in determining the person's potential. Managers may use such information to
counsel subordinates and assist them in developing and implementing their career plans.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Application
LO: 2
11) Which of the following is a problem associated with performance appraisals?

A) Technical skills are not sufficiently assessed.
B) Performance does not indicate training needs.
C) Line managers are unfamiliar with subordinates.
D) Past performance does not necessarily indicate future potential.
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Although past behaviors may be a good predictor of future behaviors in some
jobs, an employee's past performance may not accurately indicate future performance in other
jobs. Most PAs stress technical skills and ignore other equally important skills. PAs are useful
indicators of training needs.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 2
4
12) In which case did the federal district court judge state, "There is sufficient circumstantial
evidence to indicate that age bias and age based policies appear throughout the performance
rating process to the detriment of the protected age group"?
A) Massachusetts v Hunt
B) Leonel v American Airlines
C) Mistretta v Sandia Corporation
D) Griggs v Duke Power Company
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Legislation requires that appraisal systems be nondiscriminatory. In the case of
Mistretta v Sandia Corporation, a federal district court judge ruled against the company,
stating,"There is sufficient circumstantial evidence to indicate that age bias and age based
policies appear throughout the performance rating process to the detriment of the protected age
group."
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 3
13) Which Supreme Court case supported validation requirements for performance appraisals?
A) Massachusetts v Hunt
B) Albemarle Paper v Moody
C) California Regents v Bakke
D) Griggs v Duke Power Company
Answer: B
Explanation: B) The Albemarle Paper v Moody case supported validation requirements for
performance appraisals, as well as for selection tests. Organizations should avoid using any
appraisal method that results in a disproportionately negative impact on a protected group.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 3
14) What have unions traditionally stressed as the basis for promotions and pay increases?
A) productivity
B) performance
C) teamwork
D) seniority
Answer: D
Explanation: D) The labor union is another external factor that might affect a firm's appraisal
process. Unions have traditionally stressed seniority as the basis for promotions and pay
increases.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 3
5
15) Which external factor would most likely be opposed to performance appraisal systems?
A) state and federal governments
B) professional organizations
C) trade associations
D) labor unions
Answer: D
Explanation: D) The labor union is another external factor that might affect a firm's appraisal
process. Unions have traditionally stressed seniority as the basis for promotions and pay
increases. They may vigorously oppose the use of a management-designed performance
appraisal system used for these purposes.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Application
LO: 3
16) Which of the following outcomes makes the strongest case for maintaining a traditional
performance appraisal system?
A) engaging employees
B) empowering employees
C) documenting poor performance
D) promoting teamwork
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Today, firms stress employee empowerment and engagement. They also want
employees to work in teams to accomplish their duties. Teams, not managers, are often making
the decisions, which runs counter to the traditional appraisal system. There are those who believe
that a firm cannot have an empowered and engaged workforce and still use a traditional
performance appraisal system. However, the legal department frequently encourages
management to use the appraisal system to document poor performance.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 3
AACSB: Use of IT
6
17) What is the first step of the performance appraisal process?
A) establishing employee job expectations
B) identifying specific performance goals
C) conducting a thorough job analysis
D) evaluating work performance
Answer: B
Explanation: B) The starting point for the PA process is identifying specific performance goals.
An appraisal system probably cannot effectively serve every desired purpose, so management
should select the specific goals it believes to be most important and realistically achievable.
Later in the process an employee's performance is evaluated.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 3
18) What is the most common cause for the failure of performance appraisal systems?
A) unclear goals and expectations
B) irrelevant development plans
C) time consuming for managers
D) high implementation costs
Answer: A
Explanation: A) The starting point for the PA process is identifying specific performance goals.
An appraisal system probably cannot effectively serve every desired purpose, so management
should select the specific goals it believes to be most important and realistically achievable. Too
many PA systems fail because management expects too much from one method and does not
determine specifically what it wants the system to accomplish.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 3
19) What is the final step in the appraisal process?

A) reviewing the appraisal with the employee
B) examining the work performance of the employee
C) appraising the work performance of the employee
D) communicating performance criteria to the employee
Answer: A
Explanation: A) The starting point for the PA process is identifying specific performance goals.
Then the manager communicates performance criteria to the employee before examining and
appraising job performance. At the end of the appraisal period, the appraiser and the employee
together review work performance and evaluate it against established performance standards.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 3
7
20) Which of the following is a common appraisal criteria?
A) traits
B) behaviors
C) competencies
D) all of the above
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Management must carefully select performance criteria as it pertains to
achieving corporate goals. The most common appraisal criteria are traits, behaviors, and
competencies.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 4
21) Appearance and cognitive aptitude are examples of which appraisal criteria?
A) goal achievement
B) competencies
C) behaviors
D) traits
Answer: D
Explanation: D) The most common appraisal criteria are traits, behaviors, and competencies.
Certain employee traits such as attitude, appearance, and initiative are the basis for some
evaluations. However, many of these commonly used qualities are subjective and may be either
unrelated to job performance or difficult to define.
Diff: 1
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 4
22) Which case ruled that general characteristics such as leadership, appearance, and personal
conduct are subjective and may be unrelated to job performance?
A) Campbell v Miller Construction
B) Smith v Ardron Construction
C) Anderson v West Coast Energy
D) Wade v Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Certain employee traits such as attitude, appearance, and initiative are the basis
for some evaluations. However, many of these commonly used qualities are subjective and may
be either unrelated to job performance or difficult to define. In such cases, inaccurate evaluations
may occur and create legal problems for the organization as well, which was the case in Wade v
Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 4
8
23) As a manager, which of the following traits would be LEAST appropriate to consider when
conducting a subordinate's performance appraisal?
A) public acceptance
B) adaptability
C) judgment
D) attitude
Answer: A
Explanation: A) Traits such as adaptability, judgment, appearance, and attitude may be used
when shown to be job-related. Public acceptance, grooming, and loyalty are less likely to be
appropriate for PA purposes.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Application
LO: 4
24) Gina and her team members at Marshall Marketing recently received their annual
performance appraisals. Each team member was evaluated for developing others, cooperation,
and customer service orientation. Which of the following best describes these criteria?
A) traits
B) behaviors
C) goal achievement
D) improvement potential
Answer: B
Explanation: B) When an individual's task outcome is difficult to determine, organizations may
evaluate the person's task-related behaviors. For individuals working in teams, developing
others, teamwork and cooperation, or customer service orientation might be appropriate
behaviors to evaluate.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Application
LO: 4
25) What performance criteria include a broad range of knowledge, skills, traits, and behaviors
that are needed to perform a job successfully?
A) credibilities
B) competencies
C) accomplishments
D) future possibilities
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Competencies include a broad range of knowledge, skills, traits, and behaviors
that may be technical in nature, relate to interpersonal skills, or be business-oriented. The
competencies selected for evaluation purposes should be those that are closely associated with
job success.
Diff: 1
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 4
9
26) Competencies chosen for performance appraisal purposes should be closely related to
________.
A) job success
B) job seniority
C) pay grade
D) skill level
Answer: A
Explanation: A) Competencies include a broad range of knowledge, skills, traits, and behaviors
that may be technical in nature, relate to interpersonal skills, or be business-oriented. The
competencies selected for evaluation purposes should be those that are closely associated with
job success.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 4
27) When developing a performance appraisal system for telecommuters, managers should do all
of the following EXCEPT ________.
A) make sure that telecommuters are not treated differently from office-based workers
B) apply objective measures common to all employees when evaluating telecommuters
C) create different performance standards for common job duties performed by office-based
workers and telecommuters
D) create a well-defined understanding of job roles and performance measures
Answer: C
Explanation: C) When conducting performance appraisals for telecommuters, managers must
ensure that employees who are not in the office are not treated differently from in-office workers.
Certainly, there should be a well-defined understanding of job roles and performance measures.
Objective measurements that apply to in-office works should also apply to telecommuters.
Employers must take care not to vary the performance standards and metrics for virtual workers
who have job duties that are similar to those of office-based counterparts.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
10
28) Monica, a sales consultant, will receive a performance appraisal soon. Monica's supervisor
will be assessing Monica's ability to deliver products to clients according to schedule and her
ability to meet customer quality requirements. Which performance standard is most likely
important to Monica's employer?
A) improvement potential
B) strategic contribution
C) goal achievement
D) employee traits
Answer: C
Explanation: C) If organizations consider ends more important than means, goal achievement
outcomes become an appropriate factor to evaluate. At lower organizational levels, the outcomes
might be meeting the customer's quality requirements and delivering according to the promised
schedule. It is unclear from the information provided whether improvement potential, strategic
contribution, and traits are important to Monica's employer.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Application
LO: 4
29) If a firm wants to emphasize the future, including the behaviors and outcomes needed to
develop the employee, and, in the process, achieve the firm's goals, what performance criteria
should be used?
A) improvement potential
B) competencies
C) goal achievement
D) traits
Answer: A
Explanation: A) A firm that wants to focus on the future instead of the past needs improvement
potential standards. Firms can emphasize the future, including the behaviors and outcomes
needed to develop the employee, and, in the process, achieve the firm's goals. This involves an
assessment of the employee's potential. Including potential in the evaluation process helps to
ensure more effective career planning and development.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 4
11
30) Which of the following is primarily responsible for coordinating the design and
implementation of performance appraisal programs?
A) high-level executives
B) shared service center managers
C) labor union representatives
D) human resource departments
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Often the human resource department is responsible for coordinating the design
and implementation of performance appraisal programs. However, it is essential that line
managers play a key role from beginning to end. These individuals usually conduct the
appraisals, and they must directly participate in the program if it is to succeed.
Diff: 1
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
31) Which of the following has traditionally been responsible for evaluating employee
performance?
A) team members
B) subordinates
C) immediate supervisors
D) top corporate customers
Answer: C
Explanation: C) An employee's immediate supervisor has traditionally been the most logical
choice for evaluating performance and this continues to be the case. The supervisor is usually in
an excellent position to observe the employee's job performance and the supervisor has the
responsibility for managing a particular unit. Team members, subordinates, and customers
perform appraisals less frequently.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
12
32) All of the following are reasons that immediate supervisors conduct most performance
appraisals EXCEPT that supervisors ________.
A) regularly observe their employees' job performance
B) coordinate employees' flexible spending benefits
C) manage all aspects of work within a particular unit
D) need subordinates who are appropriately trained
Answer: B
Explanation: B) An employee's immediate supervisor has traditionally been the most logical
choice for evaluating performance and this continues to be the case. The supervisor is usually in
an excellent position to observe the employee's job performance, and the supervisor has the
responsibility for managing a particular unit. Also, subordinate training and development is an
important element in every manager's job. Supervisors do not manage employee benefits.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
33) Which of the following is the most likely problem of supervisors evaluating subordinates?
A) focusing too much on a single performance standard
B) coordinating employee training needs and programs
C) being responsible for only one department within the firm
D) lacking opportunities to observe the employee's job performance
Answer: A
Explanation: A) On the negative side, the immediate supervisor may emphasize certain aspects
of employee performance and neglect others. However, the fact that supervisors handle training,
manage single departments, and observe employee performance make them the appropriate
people to conduct performance appraisals.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
13
34) Adam, an IT specialist, is more technically knowledgeable than his boss. What would be the
most appropriate way to overcome this disadvantage for Adam's performance appraisal?
A) obtaining performance input from Adam's customers
B) providing Adam's supervisor with additional training
C) allowing Adam to assess the supervisor's performance
D) integrating appraisal criteria suggested by Adam
Answer: D
Explanation: D) When the appraised employee is more technically knowledgeable than the boss,
performance appraisal becomes a problem. One suggestion for overcoming this disadvantage is
to bring subordinates into the process more closely. Adam could suggest ways to fairly evaluate
his own performance, and then Adam's boss could use the suggestions as part of the appraisal
criteria.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
35) What is the benefit of having subordinates evaluate supervisors?

A) increasing the opportunity to expand a department
B) decreasing the reliance on traditional performance appraisals
C) increasing a supervisor's awareness of the work group's needs
D) decreasing a supervisor's authority over subordinates in a work group
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Firms reason that subordinates are in an excellent position to view their
superiors' managerial effectiveness. Advocates believe that this approach leads supervisors to
become especially conscious of the work group's needs and to do a better job of managing.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
36) What is essential when subordinates are given the opportunity to evaluate their supervisor?
A) training subordinates how to evaluate performance
B) teaching evaluators how to measure performance
C) guaranteeing anonymity of the evaluators
D) benchmarking all evaluations
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Critics of subordinates reviewing supervisors are concerned that the manager
(and instructors) will be caught up in a popularity contest or that employees will be fearful of
reprisal. If this approach has a chance for success, one thing is clear: the evaluators must be
guaranteed anonymity. Ensuring this might be particularly difficult in a small department and
especially if demographic data on the appraisal form could identify raters.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
14
37) Which of the following is NOT an advantage associated with using team members to
appraise performance?
A) Team members are familiar with each other's performance.
B) Team members are receptive to criticism from co-workers.
C) Peer review relies on more than one opinion.
D) Peer pressure motivates members of a team.
Answer: B
Explanation: B) A major strength of using peers to appraise performance is that they work
closely with the evaluated employee and probably have an undistorted perspective on typical
performance, especially in team assignments. In addition, peer pressure is a powerful motivator
for team members, and peer review involves numerous opinions and is not dependent on one
individual. Problems with peer evaluations include the reluctance of some people who work
closely together, especially on teams, to criticize each other.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
38) What appraisal method appeals to managers who want employees to participate in their own
evaluation and development?
A) superior
B) peer appraisal
C) subordinate
D) self-appraisal
Answer: D
Explanation: D) As a complement to other approaches, self-appraisal has great appeal to
managers who are primarily concerned with employee participation and development. If
employees understand their objectives and the criteria used for evaluation, they are in a good
position to appraise their own performance.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
15
39) A&B Enterprises may add customer appraisals as a component of employee performance
appraisals. All of the following are most likely reasons for A&B to use customer appraisals
EXCEPT ________.
A) fostering change
B) holding employees accountable
C) evaluating development programs
D) demonstrating customer commitment
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Customer behavior determines a firm's degree of success. Therefore, some
organizations believe it is important to obtain performance input from this critical source.
Organizations use this approach because it demonstrates a commitment to the customer, holds
employees accountable, and fosters change. Customer appraisals are less likely to be used to
evaluate training and development programs.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Application
LO: 5
40) Managing employee performance should be a ________ process if it is to be the most

effective.
A) formal
B) continuous
C) structured
D) bi-annual
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Although there is nothing magical about the period for formal appraisal
reviews, in most organizations they occur either annually or semiannually. Even more
significant, however, is the continuous interaction (primarily informal), including coaching and
other developmental activities, that continues throughout the appraisal period. Managers should
be conditioned to understand that managing performance is a continuous process that is built into
their job every day.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 5
16
41) The ________ of appraisal compares each employee's performance to a predetermined
standard or expected level of output.
A) critical incident method
B) work standards method
C) forced distribution method
D) behaviorally anchored rating scale method
Answer: B
Explanation: B) The work standards method of performance appraisal compares each
employee's performance to a predetermined standard or expected level of output.
Diff: 1
Chapter: 8
Skill: Application
LO: 6
42) The ________ of appraisal requires managers to keep written records of highly favorable and
unfavorable work actions.
A) rating scales method
C) forced distribution method
D) critical incident method
Answer: D
Explanation: D) The critical incident method of performance appraisal requires keeping written
records of highly favorable and unfavorable employee work actions.
Diff: 1
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 6
43) A popular appraisal method that involves input from multiple levels within the firm and
external sources is best known as ________.
A) 360-degree feedback evaluation
B) rating scale
C) critical incident
D) paired comparison
Answer: A
Explanation: A) The 360-degree feedback evaluation method is a popular performance appraisal
method that involves evaluation input from multiple levels within the firm as well as external
sources. The 360-degree method is unlike traditional performance reviews, which provide
employees with feedback only from supervisors. Rating scale, critical incident, and paired
comparison are other types of appraisal methods.
Diff: 1
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 6
17
44) Kyra works as a marketing assistant and will be receiving a performance appraisal soon.
Kyra will receive ratings from her supervisors, team members, subordinates, and customers.
Kyra will also be asked to review her own performance. Which performance appraisal method is
most likely used at Kyra's firm?
A) rating scales method
C) critical incident method
D) 360-degree feedback evaluation method
Answer: D
Explanation: D) The 360-degree feedback evaluation method is a popular performance appraisal
method that involves evaluation input from multiple levels within the firm as well as external
sources. In this method, people all around the rated employee may provide ratings, including
senior managers, the employee himself or herself, supervisors, subordinates, peers, team
members, and internal or external customers.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Application
LO: 6
45) Dixon Manufacturing is a large firm that produces automotive parts for sports cars.
Employees at Dixon receive annual performance appraisals from their supervisors. However, top
executives at Dixon have decided that performance appraisals should be conducted more
frequently and that a new method of appraisal should be implemented. Which of the following, if
true, best supports the argument that the 360-degree feedback evaluation method is the most
appropriate performance appraisal tool for Dixon to use?
A) Numerous Dixon employees have complained that the current appraisal method is biased and
have threatened to sue the firm.
B) Executives at Dixon want a performance appraisal method that focuses on an employee's
potential for success at the firm.
C) Employees at Dixon participated in developing their own performance standards when they
were first hired by the firm.
D) Due to the firm's large staff, executives want an appraisal method that is both quick and cost
effective.
Answer: A
Explanation: A) 360-degree feedback shifts the responsibility for evaluation to more than one
person, which provides a more objective measure of a person's performance. Including the
perspective of multiple sources results in a broader view of the employee's performance,
minimizes biases, and makes the process more legally defensible. However, 360-degree feedback
is time consuming and can be costly.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
Skill: Critical Thinking
LO: 6
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
18
true, best supports the argument that the BARS method is the most appropriate performance
appraisal tool for Dixon to use?
A) Dixon recently invested in an applicant tracking system to help HR manage recruiting and
selection tasks.
B) Dixon supervisors want to provide subordinates with upward feedback to illustrate employee
ratings.
C) Dixon has provided HR with a small budget for implementing a new performance appraisal
system.
D) Dixon supervisors want specific examples of good and poor behavior in order to facilitate
rating discussions.
Answer: D
Explanation: D) The BARS method provides examples of an employee's behavior that
correspond to a rating scale. This approach facilitates discussion of ratings because it addresses
specific behaviors. Upward feedback is given by subordinates about supervisors. BARS is not a
cost effective method because each job category requires its own BARS.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
LO: 6
true, best supports the argument that the forced distribution method is the most appropriate
performance appraisal tool for Dixon to use?
A) Organizational fit is a problem among newly hired Dixon employees.
B) Many managers at Dixon are hesitant to fire poor performing employees.
C) Dixon organizes most departments into project-based teams of employees.
D) Multiple appraisals are needed at Dixon to minimize employee discrimination.
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Proponents of forced distribution believe they guard against weak managers
who are too timid to get rid of poor performers. They think that forced rankings require
managers to be honest with workers about how they are doing. Multiple appraisals are
characteristic of the 360-degree feedback method.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
LO: 6
19
true, best supports the argument that the ranking method is the most appropriate performance
appraisal tool for Dixon to use?
A) Employees at Dixon are provided training opportunities based on performance appraisal
results.
B) Dixon executives want the firm to become a high performing work system within five years.
C) Dixon will be reducing its workforce and eliminating the lowest performing employees.
D) Supervisors at Dixon work with HR to hire, fire, and train all employees.
Answer: C
Explanation: C) The ranking method is a performance appraisal method in which the rater ranks
all employees from a group in order of overall performance from highest to lowest. This method
would provide HR with the needed data to know which workers are the lowest performing.
Diff: 3
Chapter: 8
LO: 6
49) What is the biggest risk associated with the 360-degree feedback evaluation method?
A) poor individual development
B) minimal effectiveness
C) questionable legality
D) lack of confidentiality
Answer: D
Explanation: D) The biggest risk with 360-degree feedback is confidentiality. Many firms
outsource the process to make participants feel comfortable that the information they share and
receive is completely anonymous, but the information is very sensitive and, in the wrong hands,
could impact careers. An advantage of the method is that it is legally defensible.
Diff: 2
Chapter: 8
Skill: Concept
LO: 6
20
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its own means, within its own borders, for its own exemption from
European colonial intrusion.
No question in its day excited more intemperate discussion,
excitement, and feeling between the Executive and the Senate, and
none died out so quickly, than this, relative to the proposed congress
of American nations. The chief advantage to be derived from its
retrospect—and it is a real one—is a view of the firmness with which
the minority maintained the old policy of the United States, to avoid
entangling alliances and interference with the affairs of other
nations; and the exposition, by one so competent as Mr. Adams, of
the true scope and meaning of the Monroe doctrine.
At the session of 1825–26 attempt was again made to procure an
amendment to the Constitution, in relation to the mode of election of
President and Vice-President, so as to do away with all intermediate
agencies, and give the election to the direct vote of the people. In the
Senate the matter was referred to a committee who reported
amendments dispensing with electors, providing for districts equal
in number to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to
which the State was entitled in Congress, and obviating all excuses
for caucuses and conventions to concentrate public opinion by
providing that in the event of no one receiving a majority of the
whole number of district votes cast, that a second election should be
held limited to the two persons receiving the highest number of
votes; and in case of an equal division of votes on the second election
then the House of Representatives shall choose one of them for
President, as is prescribed by the Constitution. The idea being that
the first election, if not resulting in any candidate receiving a
majority, should stand for a popular nomination—a nomination by
the people themselves, out of which the election is almost sure to be
made on the second trial. The same plan was suggested for choosing
a Vice-President, except that the Senate was to finally elect, in case of
failure to choose at first and second elections. The amendments did
not receive the requisite support of two-thirds of either the Senate or
the House. This movement was not of a partisan character; it was
equally supported and opposed respectively by Senators and
Representatives of both parties. Substantially the same plan was
recommended by President Jackson in his first annual message to
Congress, December 8, 1829.
It is interesting to note that at this Session of 1825 and ’26,
attempt was made by the Democrats to pass a tenure of office bill, as
applicable to government employees and office-holders; it provided
“that in all nominations made by the President to the Senate, to fill
vacancies occasioned by an exercise of the President’s power to
remove from office, the fact of the removal shall be stated to the
Senate at the same time that the nomination is made, with a
statement of the reasons for which such officer may have been
removed.” It was also sought at the same time to amend the
Constitution to prohibit the appointment of any member of Congress
to any federal office of trust or profit, during the period for which he
was elected; the design being to make the members wholly
independent of the Executive, and not subservient to the latter, and
incapable of receiving favors in the form of bestowals of official
patronage.
The tariff of 1828 is an era in our political legislation; from it the
doctrine of “nullification” originated, and from that date began a
serious division between the North and the South. This tariff law was
projected in the interest of the woolen manufacturers, but ended by
including all manufacturing interests. The passage of this measure
was brought about not because it was favored by a majority, but
because of political exigencies. In the then approaching presidential
election, Mr. Adams, who was in favor of the “American System,”
supported by Mr. Clay (his Secretary of State) was opposed by
General Jackson. This tariff was made an administration measure,
and became an issue in the canvass. The New England States, which
had formerly favored free trade, on account of their commercial
interests, changed their policy, and, led by Mr. Webster, became
advocates of the protective system. The question of protective tariff
had now not only become political, but sectional. The Southern
States as a section, were arrayed against the system, though prior to
1816 had favored it, not merely as an incident to revenue, but as a
substantive object. In fact these tariff bills, each exceeding the other
in its degree of protection, had become a regular appendage of our
presidential elections—carrying round in every cycle of four years,
with that returning event; starting in 1816 and followed up in 1820–
24, and now in 1828; with successive augmentations of duties; the
last being often pushed as a party measure, and with the visible
purpose of influencing the presidential election. General Jackson was
elected, having received 178 electoral votes to 83 received by John
Quincy Adams. Mr. Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, who was on the
ticket with Mr. Adams, was defeated for the office of Vice-President,
and John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, was elected to that office.
The election of General Jackson was a triumph of democratic
principle, and an assertion of the people’s right to govern themselves.
That principle had been violated in the presidential election in the
House of Representatives in the session of 1824–25; and the
sanction, or rebuke, of that violation was a leading question in the
whole canvass. It was also a triumph over the high protective policy,
and the federal internal improvement policy, and the latitudinous
construction of the Constitution; and of the democracy over the
federalists, then called national republicans; and was the re-
establishment of parties on principle, according to the landmarks of
the early years of the government. For although Mr. Adams had
received confidence and office from Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe,
and had classed with the democratic party during the “era of good
feeling,” yet he had previously been federal; and on the re-
establishment of old party lines which began to take place after the
election of Mr. Adams in the House of Representatives, his affinities
and policy became those of his former party; and as a party, with
many individual exceptions, they became his supporters and his
strength. General Jackson, on the contrary, had always been
democratic, so classing when he was a Senator in Congress under the
administration of the first Mr. Adams; and when party lines were
most straightly drawn, and upon principle, and as such now
receiving the support of men and States which took this political
position at that time, and maintained it for years afterwards; among
the latter, notably the States of Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The short session of 1829–30 was rendered famous by the long
and earnest debates in the Senate on the doctrine of nullification, as
it was then called. It started by a resolution of inquiry introduced by
Mr. Foot of Connecticut; it was united with a proposition to limit the
sales of the public lands to those then in the market—to suspend the
surveys of the public lands—and to abolish the office of Surveyor-
General. The effect of such a resolution, if sanctioned upon inquiry
and carried into legislative effect, would have been to check
emigration to the new States in the West, and to check the growth
and settlement of these States and Territories. It was warmly
opposed by Western members. The debate spread and took an
acrimonious turn, and sectional, imputing to the quarter of the
Union from which it came an old and early policy to check the
growth of the West at the outset by proposing to limit the sale of the
Western lands, by selling no tract in advance until all in the rear was
sold out; and during the debate Mr. Webster referred to the famous
ordinance of 1787 for the government of the northwestern territory,
and especially the anti-slavery clause which it contained.
Closely connected with this subject to which Mr. Webster’s
remarks, during the debate, related, was another which excited some
warm discussion—the topic of slavery—and the effect of its existence
or non-existence in different States. Kentucky and Ohio were taken
for examples, and the superior improvement and population of Ohio
were attributed to its exemption from the evils of slavery. This was
an excitable subject, and the more so because the wounds of the
Missouri controversy in which the North was the undisputed
aggressor, were still tender. Mr. Hayne from South Carolina
answered with warmth and resented as a reflection upon the Slave
States this disadvantageous comparison. Mr. Benton of Missouri
followed on the same side, and in the course of his remarks said, “I
regard with admiration, that is to say, with wonder, the sublime
morality of those who cannot bear the abstract contemplation of
slavery, at the distance of five hundred or a thousand miles off.” This
allusion to the Missouri controversy, and invective against the free
States for their part in it, by Messrs. Hayne and Benton, brought a
reply from Mr. Webster, showing what their conduct had been at the
first introduction of the slavery topic in the Congress of the United
States, and that they totally refused to interfere between master and
slave in any way whatever. But the topic which became the leading
feature of the whole debate, and gave it an interest which cannot die,
was that of nullification—the assumed right of a State to annul an act
of Congress—then first broached in the Senate—and in the
discussion of which Mr. Webster and Mr. Hayne were the champion
speakers on opposite sides—the latter voicing the sentiments of the
Vice-President, Mr. Calhoun. This turn in the debate was brought
about, by Mr. Hayne having made allusion to the course of New
England during the war of 1812, and especially to the assemblage
known as the Hartford Convention, and to which designs unfriendly
to the Union had been attributed. This gave Mr. Webster an
opportunity to retaliate, and he referred to the public meetings which
had just then taken place in South Carolina on the subject of the
tariff, and at which resolves were passed, and propositions adopted
significant of resistance to the act; and consequently of disloyalty to
the Union. He drew Mr. Hayne into their defence and into an avowal
of what has since obtained the current name of “Nullification.” He
said, “I understand the honorable gentleman from South Carolina to
maintain, that it is a right of the State Legislature to interfere,
whenever, in their judgment, this government transcends its
constitutional limits, and to arrest the operation of its laws,*** that
the States may lawfully decide for themselves, and each State for
itself, whether, in a given case, the act of the general government
transcends its powers,*** that if the exigency of the case, in the
opinion of any State government require it, such State government
may, by its own sovereign authority, annul an act of the general
government, which it deems plainly and palpably unconstitutional.”
Mr. Hayne was evidently unprepared to admit, or fully deny, the
propositions as so laid down, but contented himself with stating the
words of the Virginia Resolution of 1798, as follows: “That this
assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the
powers of the federal government as resulting from the compact, to
which the States are parties, as limited by the plain sense and
intention of the instrument constituting that compact, as no farther
valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that
compact, and that, in case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous
exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the States
who are parties thereto have the right, and are in duty bound, to
interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining,
within their respective limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties
appertaining to them.”
This resolution came to be understood by Mr. Hayne and others on
that side of the debate, in the same sense that Mr. Webster stated, as
above, he understood the gentleman from the South to interpret it.
On the other side of the question, he argued that the doctrine had no
foundation either in the Constitution, or on the Virginia resolutions
—that the Constitution makes the federal government act upon
citizens within the States, and not upon the States themselves, as in
the old confederation: that within their Constitutional limits the laws
of Congress were supreme—and that it was treasonable to resist
them with force: and that the question of their constitutionality was
to be decided by the Supreme Court: with respect to the Virginia
resolutions, on which Mr. Hayne relied, Mr. Webster disputed the
interpretation put upon them—claimed for them an innocent and
justifiable meaning—and exempted Mr. Madison from the suspicion
of having framed a resolution asserting the right of a State legislature
to annul an Act of Congress, and thereby putting it in the power of
one State to destroy a form of government which he had just labored
so hard to establish.
Mr. Hayne on his part gave (as the practical part of his doctrine)
the pledge of forcible resistance to any attempt to enforce
unconstitutional laws. He said, “The gentleman has called upon us to
carry out our scheme practically. Now, sir, if I am correct in my view
of this matter, then it follows, of course, that the right of a State
being established, the federal government is bound to acquiesce in a
solemn decision of a State, acting in its sovereign capacity, at least so
far as to make an appeal to the people for an amendment to the
Constitution. This solemn decision of a State binds the federal
government, under the highest constitutional obligation, not to
resort to any means of coercion against the citizens of the dissenting
State.*** Suppose Congress should pass an agrarian law, or a law
emancipating our slaves, or should commit any other gross violation
of our constitutional rights, will any gentlemen contend that the
decision of every branch of the federal government, in favor of such
laws, could prevent the States from declaring them null and void,
and protecting their citizens from their operation?*** Let me assure
the gentlemen that, whenever any attempt shall be made from any
quarter, to enforce unconstitutional laws, clearly violating our
essential rights, our leaders (whoever they may be) will not be found
reading black letter from the musty pages of old law books. They will
look to the Constitution, and when called upon by the sovereign
authority of the State, to preserve and protect the rights secured to
them by the charter of their liberties, they will succeed in defending
them, or ‘perish in the last ditch.’”
These words of Mr. Hayne seem almost prophetic in view of the
events of thirty years later. No one then believed in anything serious
in the new interpretation given to the Virginia resolutions—nor in
anything practical from nullification—nor in forcible resistance to
the tariff laws from South Carolina—nor in any scheme of disunion.
Mr. Webster’s closing reply was a fine piece of rhetoric, delivered
in an elaborate and artistic style, and in an apparent spirit of deep
seriousness. He concluded thus—“When my eyes shall be turned to
behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him
shining on the broken and disfigured fragments of a once glorious
Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent
with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood. Let their
last feeble and lingering glance, rather, behold the gorgeous ensign of
the Republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full
high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original
lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured,
bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as, What is all
this worth? nor those other words of delusion and folly, Liberty first
and Union afterwards; but everywhere, spread all over in characters
of living light, blazing in all its ample folds, as they float over the sea
and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that
other sentiment, dear to every true American heart—Liberty and
Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!”
President Jackson in his first annual message to Congress called
attention to the fact of expiration in 1836 of the charter of
incorporation granted by the Federal government to a moneyed
institution called The Bank of the United States, which was originally
designed to assist the government in establishing and maintaining a
uniform and sound currency. He seriously doubted the
constitutionality and expediency of the law creating the bank, and
was opposed to a renewal of the charter. His view of the matter was
that if such an institution was deemed a necessity it should be made
a national one, in the sense of being founded on the credit of the
government and its revenues, and not a corporation independent
from and not a part of the government. The House of
Representatives was strongly in favor of the renewal of the charter,
and several of its committees made elaborate, ample and
argumentative reports upon the subject. These reports were the
subject of newspaper and pamphlet publication; and lauded for their
power and excellence, and triumphant refutation of all the
President’s opinions. Thus was the “war of the Bank” commenced at
once in Congress, and in the public press; and openly at the instance
of the Bank itself, which, forgetting its position as an institution of
the government, for the convenience of the government, set itself up
as a power, and struggled for continued existence, by demand for
renewal of its charter. It allied itself at the same time to the political
power opposed to the President, joined in all their schemes of
protective tariff, and national internal improvement, and became the
head of the American system. Its moneyed and political power,
numerous interested affiliations, and control over other banks and
fiscal institutions, was truly great and extensive, and a power which
was exercised and made to be felt during the struggle to such a
degree that it threatened a danger to the country and the government
almost amounting to a national calamity.
The subject of renewal of the charter was agitated at every
succeeding session of Congress down to 1836, and many able
speeches made for and against it.
In the month of December, 1831, the National Republicans, as the
party was then called which afterward took the name of “whig,” held
its convention in Baltimore, and nominated candidates for President
and Vice-President, to be voted for at the election in the autumn of
the ensuing year. Henry Clay was the candidate for the office of
President, and John Sergeant for that of Vice-President. The
platform or address to the people presented the party issues which
were to be settled at the ensuing election, the chief subjects being the
tariff, internal improvement, removal of the Cherokee Indians, and
the renewal of the United States Bank charter. Thus the bank
question was fully presented as an issue in the election by that part of
its friends who classed politically against President Jackson. But it
had also Democratic friends without whose aid the re-charter could
not be got through Congress, and they labored assiduously for it. The
first Bank of the United States, chartered in 1791, was a federal
measure, favored by General Hamilton, opposed by Mr. Jefferson,
Mr. Madison, and the Republican party; and became a great
landmark of party, not merely for the bank itself, but for the
latitudinarian construction of the constitution in which it was
founded, and the precedent it established that Congress might in its
discretion do what it pleased, under the plea of being “necessary” to
carry into effect some granted power. The non-renewal of the charter
in 1811, was the act of the Republican party, then in possession of the
government, and taking the opportunity to terminate, upon its own
limitation, the existence of an institution whose creation they had
not been able to prevent. The charter of the second bank, in 1816,
was the act of the Republican party, and to aid them in the
administration of the government, and, as such, was opposed by the
Federal party—not seeming then to understand that, by its instincts,
a great moneyed corporation was in sympathy with their own party,
and would soon be with it in action—which the bank soon was—and
now struggled for a continuation of its existence under the lead of
those who had opposed its creation and against the party which
effected it. Mr. Webster was a Federal leader on both occasions—
against the charter in 1816; for the re-charter in 1832. The bill passed
the Senate after a long and arduous contest; and afterwards passed
the House, quickly and with little or no contest at all.
It was sent to the President, and vetoed by him July 10, 1832; the
message stating his objections being an elaborate review of the
subject; the veto being based mainly on the unconstitutionality of the
measure. The veto was sustained. Following this the President after
the adjournment removed from the bank the government deposits,
and referred to that fact in his next annual message on the second
day of December, 1833, at the opening of the first session of the
twenty-third Congress. Accompanying it was the report of the
Secretary of the Treasury, Hon. Roger B. Taney, afterwards Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, giving the reasons
of the government for the withdrawal of the public funds. Long and
bitter was the contest between the President on the one side and the
Bank and its supporters in the Senate on the other side. The conduct
of the Bank produced distress throughout the country, and was so
intended to coerce the President. Distress petitions flooded
Congress, and the Senate even passed resolutions of censure of the
President. The latter, however, held firm in his position. A committee
of investigation was appointed by the House of Representatives to
inquire into the causes of the commercial embarrassment and the
public distress complained of in the numerous distress memorials
presented to the two Houses during the session; and whether the
Bank had been instrumental, through its management of money, in
producing the distress and embarrassment of which so much
complaint was made; to inquire whether the charter of the Bank had
been violated, and what corruptions and abuses, if any, existed in its
management; and to inquire whether the Bank had used its
corporate power or money to control the press, to interpose in
politics, or to influence elections. The committee were granted ample
powers for the execution of these inquiries. It was treated with
disdain and contempt by the Bank management; refused access to
the books and papers, and the directors and president refused to be
sworn and testify. The committee at the next session made report of
their proceedings, and asked for warrants to be issued against the
managers to bring them before the Bar of the House to answer for
contempt; but the friends of the Bank in the House were able to
check the proceedings and prevent action being taken. In the Senate,
the President was sought to be punished by a declination by that
body to confirm the President’s nomination of the four government
directors of the Bank, who had served the previous year; and their re-
nomination after that rejection again met with a similar fate. In like
manner his re-nomination of Roger B. Taney to be Secretary of the
Treasury was rejected, for the action of the latter in his support of the
President and the removal of the public deposits. The Bank had lost
much ground in the public estimation by resisting the investigation
ordered and attempted by the House of Representatives, and in
consequence the Finance Committee of the Senate made an
investigation, with so weak an attempt to varnish over the affairs and
acts of the corporation that the odious appellation of “white-washing
committee” was fastened upon it. The downfall of the Bank speedily
followed; it soon afterwards became a total financial wreck, and its
assets and property were seized on executions. With its financial
failure it vanished from public view, and public interest in it and
concern with it died out.
About the beginning of March, 1831, a pamphlet was issued in
Washington, by Mr. John C. Calhoun, the Vice-President, and
addressed to the people of the United States, explaining the cause of
a difference which had taken place between himself and the
President, General Jackson, instigated as the pamphlet alleged, by
Mr. Van Buren, and intended to make trouble between the first and
second officers of the government, and to effect the political
destruction of himself (Mr. Calhoun) for the benefit of the contriver
of the quarrel, the then Secretary of State, and indicated as a
candidate for the presidential succession upon the termination of
Jackson’s term. The differences grew out of certain charges against
General Jackson respecting his conduct during the Seminole war
which occurred in the administration of President Monroe. The
President justified himself in published correspondence, but the
inevitable result followed—a rupture between the President and
Vice-President—which was quickly followed by a breaking up and
reconstructing the Cabinet. Some of its members classed as the
political friends of Mr. Calhoun, and could hardly be expected to
remain as ministers to the President. Mr. Van Buren resigned; a new
Cabinet was appointed and confirmed. This change in the Cabinet
made a great figure in the party politics of the day, and filled all the
opposition newspapers, and had many sinister reasons assigned to it
—all to the prejudice of General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren.
It is interesting to note here that during the administration of
President Jackson,—in the year 1833,—the Congress of the United
States, as the consequence of the earnest efforts in that behalf, of Col.
R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky, aided by the recommendation and
support of the President, passed the first laws, abolishing
imprisonment for debt, under process from the Courts of the United
States: the only extent to which an act of Congress could go, by force
of its enactments; but by force of example and influence, has led to
the cessation of the practice of imprisoning debtors, in all, or nearly
all, of the States and Territories of the Union; and without the evil
consequences which had been dreaded from the loss of this remedy
over the person. The act was a total abolition of the practice, leaving
in full force all the remedies against fraudulent evasions of debt.
The American system, and especially its prominent feature of a
high protective tariff was put in issue, in the Presidential canvass of
1832; and the friends of that system labored diligently in Congress in
presenting its best points to the greatest advantage; and staking its
fate upon the issue of the election. It was lost; not only by the result
of the main contest, but by that of the congressional election which
took place simultaneously with it. All the States dissatisfied with that
system, were satisfied with the view of its speedy and regular
extinction, under the legislation of the approaching session of
Congress, excepting only South Carolina. She has held aloof from the
Presidential contest, and cast her electoral votes for persons who
were not candidates—doing nothing to aid the election of General
Jackson, with whom her interests were apparently identified. On the
24th November, 1832, two weeks after the election which decided the
fate of the tariff, that State issued an “Ordinance to nullify certain
acts of the Congress of the United States, purporting to be laws
laying duties and imposts on the importation of foreign
commodities.” It declared that the Congress had exceeded its
constitutional powers in imposing high and excessive duties on the
theory of “protection,” had unjustly discriminated in favor of one
class or employment, at the expense and to the injury and oppression
of other classes and individuals; that said laws were in consequence
not binding on the State and its citizens; and declaring its right and
purpose to enact laws to prevent the enforcement and arrest the
operation of said acts and parts of the acts of the Congress of the
United States within the limits of that State after the first day of
February following. This ordinance placed the State in the attitude of
forcible resistance to the laws of the United States, to take effect on
the first day of February next ensuing—a date prior to the meeting of
the next Congress, which the country naturally expected would take
some action in reference to the tariff laws complained of. The
ordinance further provided that if, in the meantime, any attempt was
made by the federal government to enforce the obnoxious laws,
except through the tribunals, all the officers of which were sworn
against them, the fact of such attempt was to terminate the
continuance of South Carolina in the Union—to absolve her from all
connection with the federal government—and to establish her as a
separate government, wholly unconnected with the United States or
any State. The ordinance of nullification was certified by the
Governor of South Carolina to the President of the United States, and
reached him in December of the same year; in consequence of which
he immediately issued a proclamation, exhorting the people of South
Carolina to obey the laws of Congress; pointing out and explaining
the illegality of the procedure; stating clearly and distinctly his firm
determination to enforce the laws as became him as Executive, even
by resort to force if necessary. As a state paper, it is important as it
contains the views of General Jackson regarding the nature and
character of our federal government, expressed in the following
language: “The people of the United States formed the constitution,
acting through the State Legislatures in making the compact, to meet
and discuss its provisions, and acting in separate conventions when
they ratified those provisions; but, the terms used in the constitution
show it to be a government in which the people of all the States
collectively are represented. We are one people in the choice of
President and Vice-President. Here the States have no other agency
than to direct the mode in which the votes shall be given. * * * The
people, then, and not the States, are represented in the executive
branch. * * * In the House of Representatives the members are all
representatives of the United States, not representatives of the
particular States from which they come. They are paid by the United
States, not by the State, nor are they accountable to it for any act
done in the performance of their legislative functions. * * *
“The constitution of the United States, then, forms a government,
not a league; and whether it be formed by a compact between the
States, or in any other manner, its character is the same. It is a
government in which all the people are represented, which operates
directly on the people individually, not upon the States—they
retained all the power they did not grant. But each State, having
expressly parted with so many powers as to constitute, jointly with
the other States, a single nation, cannot, from that period, possess
any right to secede, because such secession does not break a league,
but destroys the unity of the nation, and any injury to that unity, is
not only a breach which could result from the contravention of a
compact, but it is an offence against the whole Union. To say that any
State may at pleasure secede from the Union, is to say that the
United States are not a nation; because it would be a solecism to
contend that any part of a nation might dissolve its connection with
the other parts, to their injury or ruin, without committing any
offence.”
Without calling on Congress for extraordinary powers, the
President in his annual message, merely adverted to the attitude of
the State, and proceeded to meet the exigency by the exercise of the
powers he already possessed. The proceedings in South Carolina not
ceasing, and taking daily a more aggravated form in the organization
of troops, the collection of arms and of munitions of war, and in
declarations hostile to the Union, he found it necessary early in
January to report the facts to Congress in a special message, and ask
for extraordinary powers. Bills for the reduction of the tariff were
early in the Session introduced into both houses, while at the same
time the President, though not relaxing his efforts towards a peaceful
settlement of the difficulty, made steady preparations for enforcing
the law. The result of the bills offered in the two Houses of Congress,
was the passage of Mr. Clay’s “compromise” bill on the 12th of
February 1833, which radically changed the whole tariff system.
The President in his message on the South Carolina proceedings
had recommended to Congress the revival of some acts, heretofore in
force, to enable him to execute the laws in that State; and the
Senate’s committee on the judiciary had reported a bill accordingly
early in the session. It was immediately assailed by several members
as violent and unconstitutional, tending to civil war, and denounced
as “the bloody bill”—the “force bill,” &c. The bill was vindicated in
the Senate, by its author, who showed that it contained no novel
principle; was substantially a revival of laws previously in force; with
the authority superadded to remove the office of customs from one
building or place to another in case of need. The bill was vehemently
opposed, and every effort made to render it odious to the people, and
even extend the odium to the President, and to every person urging
or aiding in its passage. Mr. Webster justly rebuked all this
vituperation, and justified the bill, both for the equity of its
provisions, and the necessity for enacting them. He said, that an
unlawful combination threatened the integrity of the Union; that the
crisis called for a mild, temperate, forbearing but inflexibly firm
execution of the laws; and finally, that public opinion sets with an
irresistible force in favor of the Union, in favor of the measures
recommended by the President, and against the new doctrines which
threatened the dissolution of the Union. The support which Mr.
Webster gave to these measures was the regular result of the
principles which he laid down in his first speeches against
nullification in the debate with Mr. Hayne, and he could not have
done less without being derelict to his own principles then avowed.
He supported with transcendent ability, the cause of the constitution
and of the country, in the person of a President to whom he was
politically opposed, whose gratitude and admiration he earned for
his patriotic endeavors. The country, without distinction of party, felt
the same; and the universality of the feeling was one of the grateful
instances of popular applause and justice when great talents are seen
exerting themselves for the good of the country. He was the colossal
figure on the political stage during that eventful time; and his labors,
splendid in their day, survive for the benefit of distant posterity.
During the discussion over the re-charter of the Bank of the United
States, which as before mentioned, occupied the attention of
Congress for several years, the country suffered from a money panic,
and a general financial depression and distress was generally
prevalent. In 1834 a measure was introduced into the House, for
equalizing the value of gold and silver, and legalizing the tender of
foreign coin, of both metals. The good effects of the bill were
immediately seen. Gold began to flow into the country through all
the channels of commerce, foreign and domestic; the mint was busy;
and specie payment, which had been suspended in the country for
thirty years, was resumed, and gold and silver became the currency
of the land; inspiring confidence in all the pursuits of industry.
As indicative of the position of the democratic party at that date,
on the subject of the kind of money authorized by the Constitution,
Mr. Benton’s speech in the Senate is of interest. He said: “In the first
place, he was one of those who believed that the government of the
United States was intended to be a hard-money government; that it
was the intention and the declaration of the Constitution of the
United States, that the federal currency should consist of gold and
silver, and that there is no power in Congress to issue, or to authorize
any company of individuals to issue, any species of federal paper
currency whatsoever. Every clause in the Constitution (said Mr. B.)
which bears upon the subject of money—every early statute of
Congress which interprets the meaning of these clauses—and every
historic recollection which refers to them, go hand in hand in giving
to that instrument the meaning which this proposition ascribes to it.
The power granted to Congress to coin money is an authority to
stamp metallic money, and is not an authority for emitting slips of
paper containing promises to pay money. The authority granted to
Congress to regulate the value of coin, is an authority to regulate the
value of the metallic money, not of paper. The prohibition upon the
States against making anything but gold and silver a legal tender, is a
moral prohibition, founded in virtue and honesty, and is just as
binding upon the Federal Government as upon the State
Governments; and that without a written prohibition; for the
difference in the nature of the two governments is such, that the
States may do all things which they are not forbid to do; and the
Federal Government can do nothing which it is not authorized by the
Constitution to do. The framers of the Constitution (said Mr. B.)
created a hard-money government. They intended the new
government to recognize nothing for money but gold and silver; and
every word admitted into the Constitution, upon the subject of
money, defines and establishes that sacred intention.
Legislative enactment came quickly to the aid of constitutional
intention and historic recollection. The fifth statute passed at the
first session of the first Congress that ever sat under the present
Constitution was full and explicit on this head. It declared, “that the
fees and duties payable to the federal government shall be received in
gold and silver coin only.” It was under General Hamilton, as
Secretary of the Treasury, in 1791, that the policy of the government
underwent a change. In the act constituting the Bank of the United
States, he brought forward his celebrated plan for the support of the
public credit—that plan which unfolded the entire scheme of the
paper system and immediately developed the great political line
between the federalists and the republicans. The establishment of a
national bank was the leading and predominant feature of that plan;
and the original report of the secretary, in favor of establishing the
bank, contained this fatal and deplorable recommendation: “The
bills and notes of the bank, originally made payable, or which shall
have become payable, on demand, in gold and silver coin, shall be
receivable in all payments to the United States.” From the moment of
the adoption of this policy, the moneyed character of the government
stood changed and reversed. Federal bank notes took the place of
hard-money; and the whole edifice of the government slid, at once,
from the solid rock of gold and silver money, on which its framers
had placed it, into the troubled and tempestuous ocean of paper
currency.
The first session of the 35th Congress opened December 1835. Mr.
James K. Polk was elected Speaker of the House by a large majority
over Mr. John Bell, the previous Speaker; the former being
supported by the administration party, and the latter having become
identified with those who, on siding with Mr. Hugh L. White as a
candidate for the presidency, were considered as having divided from
the democratic party. The chief subject of the President’s message
was the relations of our country with France relative to the continued
non-payment of the stipulated indemnity provided for in the treaty
of 1831 for French spoliations of American shipping. The obligation
to pay was admitted, and the money even voted for that purpose; but
offense was taken at the President’s message, and payment refused
until an apology should be made. The President commented on this
in his message, and the Senate had under consideration measures
authorizing reprisals on French shipping. At this point Great Britain
offered her services as mediator between the nations, and as a result
the indemnity was shortly afterwards paid.
Agitation of the slavery question in the United States really began
about this time. Evil-disposed persons had largely circulated through
the Southern states, pamphlets and circulars tending to stir up strife
and insurrection; and this had become so intolerable that it was
referred to by the President in his message. Congress at the session
of 1836 was flooded with petitions and memorials urging federal
interference to abolish slavery in the States; beginning with the
petition of the Society of Friends of Philadelphia, urging the abolition
of slavery in the District of Columbia. These petitions were referred
to Committees after an acrimonious debate as to whether they
should be received or not. The position of the government at that
time is embodied in the following resolution which was adopted in
the House of Representatives as early as 1790, and substantially
reaffirmed in 1836, as follows: “That Congress have no authority to
interfere in the emancipation of slaves, or in the treatment of them
within any of the States; it remaining with the several States to
provide any regulations therein which humanity and true policy may
require.”
In the Summer preceding the Presidential election of 1836, a
measure was introduced into Congress, which became very nearly a
party measure, and which in its results proved disastrous to the
Democratic party in after years. It was a plan for distributing the
public land money among the States either in the shape of credit
distribution, or in the disguise of a deposit of surplus revenue; and
this for the purpose of enhancing the value of the State stocks held by
the United States Bank, which institution, aided by the party which it
favored, led by Mr. Clay, was the prime mover in the plan. That
gentleman was the author of the scheme, and great calculations were
made by the party which favored the distribution upon its effect in
adding to their popularity. The Bill passed the Senate in its original
form, but met with less favor in the House where it was found
necessary. To effectuate substantially the same end, a Senate Bill was
introduced to regulate the keeping of the public money in the deposit
banks, and this was turned into distribution of the surplus public
moneys with the States, in proportion to their representation in
Congress, to be returned when Congress should call for it; and this
was called a deposit with the States, and the faith of the States
pledged for a return of the money. It was stigmatized by its
opponents in Congress, as a distribution in disguise—as a deposit
never to be reclaimed; as a miserable evasion of the Constitution; as
an attempt to debauch the people with their own money; as
plundering instead of defending the country. The Bill passed both
houses, mainly by the efforts of a half dozen aspirants to the
Presidency, who sought to thus increase their popularity. They were
doomed to disappointment in this respect. Politically, it was no
advantage to its numerous and emulous supporters, and of no
disservice to its few determined opponents. It was a most
unfortunate act, a plain evasion of the Constitution for a bad
purpose; and it soon gave a sad overthrow to the democracy and
disappointed every calculation made upon it. To the States it was no
advantage, raising expectations which were not fulfilled, and upon
which many of them acted as realities. The Bill was signed by the
President, but it is simple justice to him to say that he did it with a
repugnance of feeling, and a recoil of judgment, which it required
great efforts of his friends to overcome, and with a regret for it
afterwards which he often and publicly expressed. In a party point of
view, the passage of this measure was the commencement of
calamities, being an efficient cause in that general suspension of
specie payments, which quickly occurred, and brought so much
embarrassment on the Van Buren administration, ending in the
great democratic defeat of 1840.
The presidential election of 1836 resulted in the choice of the
democratic candidate, Mr. Van Buren, who was elected by 170
electoral votes; his opponent, General Harrison, receiving seventy-
three electoral votes. Scattering votes were given for Mr. Webster,
Mr. Mangum, and Mr. Hugh L. White, the last named representing a
fragment of the democracy who, in a spirit of disaffection, attempted
to divide the democratic party and defeat Mr. Van Buren. At the
opening of the second session of the twenty-fourth Congress,
December, 1836, President Jackson delivered his last annual
message, under circumstances exceedingly gratifying to him. The
powerful opposition in Congress had been broken down, and he had
the satisfaction of seeing full majorities of ardent and tried friends in
each House. The country was in peace and friendship with all the
world; all exciting questions quieted at home; industry in all its
branches prosperous, and the revenue abundant. And as a happy
sequence of this state of affairs, the Senate on the 16th of March,
1837, expunged from the Journal the resolution, adopted three years
previously, censuring the President for ordering the removal of the
deposits of public money in the United States Bank. He retired from
the presidency with high honors, and died eight years afterwards at
his home, the celebrated “Hermitage,” in Tennessee, in full
possession of all his faculties, and strong to the last in the ruling
passion of his soul—love of country.
The 4th of March, 1837, ushered in another Democratic
administration—the beginning of the term of Martin Van Buren as
President of the United States. In his inaugural address he
commented on the prosperous condition of the country, and declared
it to be his policy to strictly abide by the Constitution as written—no
latitudinarian constructions permitted, or doubtful powers assumed;
that his political chart should be the doctrines of the democratic
school, as understood at the original formation of parties.
The President, however, was scarcely settled in his new office
when a financial panic struck the country with irresistible force. A
general suspension of the banks, a depreciated currency, and
insolvency of the federal treasury were at hand. The public money
had been placed in the custody of the local banks, and the notes of all
these banks, and of all others in the country, were received in
payment of public dues. On the 10th of May, 1837, the banks
throughout the country suspended specie payments. The stoppage of
the deposit banks was the stoppage of the Treasury. Non-payment by
the government was an excuse for non-payment by others. The
suspension was now complete; and it was evident, and as good as
admitted by those who had made it, that it was the effect of
contrivance on the part of politicians and the so-called Bank of the

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8.1 Multiple-Choice Questions

2) Employee engagement is an important issue for HR because it ________.

5) With performance management, a close relationship exists between performance and

7) A formal system of review and evaluation of an individual or team task performance is

11) Which of the following is a problem associated with performance appraisals?

19) What is the final step in the appraisal process?

35) What is the benefit of having subordinates evaluate supervisors?

40) Managing employee performance should be a ________ process if it is to be the most

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