{"id":2309,"date":"2014-11-10T05:57:34","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T05:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.synergita.com\/?p=2309"},"modified":"2025-12-05T06:05:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T06:05:33","slug":"how-to-avoid-common-rating-errors-during-performance-appraisal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.synergita.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-common-rating-errors-during-performance-appraisal\/","title":{"rendered":"How to avoid common rating errors during performance appraisal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Organizations would like to conduct their performance appraisals in an objective manner.\u00a0 But, a certain bit of subjectivity and bias do seem unavoidable when the manager rates employees on their performance. One main factor for subjectivity in rating is due to difficulty in setting-up number driven goals for all employees and tracking and measuring the same.<\/p>\n

The most common rating errors in a performance appraisal are mentioned below:<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Halo effect:<\/b> When an employee performs well in a few areas of his work, then the general tendency of a manager is to rate him well even in un-related areas where his performance was mediocre. \u00a0This is called a \u201cHalo\u201d effect.\u00a0 The opposite of Halo effect is called \u201cHorns\u201d effect in which a manager rates an employee poorly, when he spots a few areas where he has been not performing well.\u00a0 In other words, in this type or rating error, the overall rating of an employee gets influenced by good or bad performance in a few areas of his\/her work.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Recency:<\/b> Another common error in rating is the problem of recency.\u00a0 Though performance appraisals are done to rate an employee\u2019s performance through-out a year (or 6 month period etc.), managers tend to remember only the past few months performance, and rate the employee\u2019s performance based on that.\u00a0 So any performance highs or performance lows of an employee in the last few months, significantly influences the rating.<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Central tendency:<\/b> Central tendency is again a very common rating error. Sometimes, managers with the intention of avoiding conflict, play it safe, by rating employees in the middle of the rating scale.\u00a0 So it might be a \u201cmet expectation\u201d for all performance parameters, irrespective of whether in reality they have not met it or not.<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Leniency \/ Severity:<\/b> Sometimes, managers tend to rate employees leniently or severely. This may be due to factors like:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Whether manager\u2019s like an employee or not.\u00a0 Personal bias or preferences creep in the rating.<\/li>\n
  2. Their general style is either lenient or strict.<\/li>\n
  3. They compare employee\u2019s performance with their personal standards (instead of standards expected from the role).\u00a0 This is also called as \u201cFrame of reference\u201d error.<\/li>\n
  4. Sometimes when employees are similar to the manager, it influences the manager\u2019s rating which will then be lenient.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So in this case the rating is either positively or negatively skewed.<\/p>\n

    5)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Contrast effect:<\/b> This occurs when managers rate an employee by comparing him with other employees. So, instead of giving rating based on the standards required for the job, managers rate a person by comparing with other employees performance.\u00a0 In such cases, a person may be given higher ratings just because he is better than others, but he may still lag behind when compared to the standards expected.<\/p>\n

    6)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Stereotyping:<\/b> Stereotyping occurs when managers generalize about employee\u2019s performance based on a group. Grouping can be age-wise, experience-wise, region-wise or university-based and so on.\u00a0 For instance, managers may generalize or stereotype saying that all young employees do not take ownership of their work, or that freshers hired from a particular university have great technical skills and so on.\u00a0 But actually, it is important that managers should consider individual differences<\/p>\n

    HR team can educate managers about these common rating errors, and ask them to be beware of them, when they do the performance rating.\u00a0 Managers, who are well aware about the performance rating issues, will tend to approach it more objectively and ensure that bias does not creep in their rating.<\/p>\n

    Make your own growth story with\u00a0Synergita<\/a><\/strong>, the employee performance management and engagement software with comprehensive analytical reports.\u00a0Call Us Today!<\/p>\n\n

    \n
    \"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Organizations would like to conduct their performance appraisals in an objective manner.\u00a0 But, a certain bit of subjectivity and bias…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,25,14],"tags":[111,146,147,37,119,127,30,10,108,48,73,13,24,22,20],"ppma_author":[57],"yoast_head":"\nHow to avoid common rating errors during performance appraisal?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rating errors are common while doing performance appraisal. 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