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Six Factors That Distort Performance Appraisals

Six factors can distort performance appraisals: 1) Stereotyping, where evaluators let stereotypes influence ratings; 2) Similarity bias, where evaluators rate those similar to themselves more positively; 3) Leniency bias, where evaluators inflate ratings to avoid conflict; 4) Halo and devil effects, where first impressions unduly influence overall ratings; 5) Attribution bias, where attributions like stress are incorrectly used to differentiate employees achieving the same results; and 6) Affective reaction, where an evaluator's personal relationship with an employee biases their rating. These factors undermine the objectivity of performance appraisals.

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5K views2 pages

Six Factors That Distort Performance Appraisals

Six factors can distort performance appraisals: 1) Stereotyping, where evaluators let stereotypes influence ratings; 2) Similarity bias, where evaluators rate those similar to themselves more positively; 3) Leniency bias, where evaluators inflate ratings to avoid conflict; 4) Halo and devil effects, where first impressions unduly influence overall ratings; 5) Attribution bias, where attributions like stress are incorrectly used to differentiate employees achieving the same results; and 6) Affective reaction, where an evaluator's personal relationship with an employee biases their rating. These factors undermine the objectivity of performance appraisals.

Uploaded by

eh024
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Six Factors That Distort Performance Appraisals

Most companies use performance appraisals, also known as job evaluations, to determine whether employees are meeting expectations, and to get some clues about how the employee could improve for the benefit of the business. Even so, performance appraisals have a major flaw in that they are not completely objective. Six major factors cause distortions in performance appraisals.

1. Stereotyping
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People usually can fall into at least one general category based on physical or behavioral traits, and performance evaluators sometimes let stereotypes associated with those categories sway their employee appraisals. For example, a boss might assume that because many Asians excel, an Asian worker who doesn't meet a performance objective simply isn't working hard enough, even if the worker tried his best.

Similarity
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Often, people tend to seek out and rate more positively those who are similar to themselves. This tendency to approve of similarity may cause evaluators to give better ratings to employees who exhibit the same interests, work methods, points of view or standards. A major problem with this cause of distortion is that it can stifle innovation in a company, as "different" people must struggle to rise in the ranks.

Leniency
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Leniency, sometimes referred to as inflation, is the tendency of evaluators to give employees higher marks than deserved across the board, usually because of the desire to avoid conflicts. The issue with this distortion cause is that a person's qualifications and successes are misrepresented, with sometimes undeserving individuals getting pay raises and other perks. Related to this concept is the tendency of evaluators to use "central tendency," scoring all employees at roughly the same level.

Halo and Devil Effects


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The halo and devil effects refer to the first impression an evaluator has of an employee. If the first impression is good, the evaluator looks at the employee through a "halo" lens, viewing the employee's work as good overall, even if it is not. If the first impression is poor, the evaluator may score the employee lower than is deserved.

Attribution Bias
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Attribution bias occurs when two or more employees have achieved the same level or goal. It assumes that even though the levels or goals are the same, the employees aren't necessarily deserving of the same rating based on various factors, or attributions. These attributions can be things like medical issues, stress, IQ or social skills.

Affective Reaction
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Affective reaction is bias that happens in evaluations because of the relationship the evaluator has with the employee. Usually, affective reactions are based on what the evaluator has observed and done with the employee over time. An example of this would be if an employee was consistently late because she couldn't afford to fix her unreliable car, and the evaluator marked her as "satisfactory" in the "on time" on category because he felt sorry for her situation.

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