Errors in rating for Performance Appraisal

Question

What are types of errors in rating for Performance Appraisal?

Answer 1

Different errors in rating for Performance Appraisal are:

(a) Halo Effect:  It is the inclination to rate an employee constantly high or low on the basis of overall impression. If the person doing performance appraisal is influenced by one trait of the employee more than other, it might influence appraisal on all other traits.

(b) Stereotyping: If the person doing performance appraisal has formed an image of a person based on his age, caste, sex or religion. It is the hindrance in the proper assessment of job performance.

(c) Central Tendency: To avoid commitment or involvement, he might assign average ratings to all the employees. This is done because the rater does not want to justify or clarify the average ratings.

(d) Constant Error: Some evaluators are lenient while others could be strict in assessing performance. In the first case, performance is overvalued (leniency error) while in the second type it is underrated (strictness error). This could be avoided by holding meetings and making raters understand what is required of them.

(e) Personal Bias: If the rater does not like an employee then performance appraisal may become worthless. Such prejudice mainly arises on the grounds of habits or interpersonal conflicts and regional or religious beliefs.

(f) Spill Over Effect: The rater assesses the employee on the basis of his past performance. For example, regency is if only recent behavior or performance of an employee is used to judge him.