9 Common Errors in Performance Appraisals

By Eileen Rivera, eHow Contributor Supervisors should be aware of common errors resulting in biased performance appraisals. If you work, you have no doubt gone through the process of a performance appraisal. Many employees and supervisors view performance appraisals as negative events. When done properly, however, performance appraisals are a balanced and accurate assessment of an employee's performance and a good point from which to set future goals. To reach this objective, supervisors should be aware of common errors that can result in inaccurate appraisals.

Central Tendency Error

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Some supervisors tend to rank all employees at about average, regardless of an employee's performance. A supervisor who believes in never rating an employee as excellent is demonstrating central tendency error.

Contrast Error
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Supervisors who rate subordinates as they compare against each other rather than how they compare against the performance standards commit contrast error. This error can cause an employee who is performing average against performance standards to rate high because his peers are under performing.

False Attribution
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False attribution is the tendency to attribute bad performance to internal causes and good performance to external causes. In other words, if an employee performs well, it's because the employee had help, such as a good leader; and if the employee performs badly, it's because the employee did something wrong, such as procrastinate.

Halo Effect
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The halo effect is when a supervisor forms a positive impression of an employee's skill in one area and then gives her high ratings across all rating criteria. Humans tend to view some traits as more important than other traits. When a supervisor rates employees with the traits that he deems more important higher in all rating areas than employees who do not possess those traits, the supervisor is committing the halo effect error.

Leniency Error
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Leniency error is the tendency of a supervisor to rate an employee higher than what his performance warrants. Reasons that a supervisor might do this could include avoiding confrontations, or feeling that by giving the employee a high rating, he will work harder to live up to the rating.

Perceived Meaning
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Perceived meaning becomes an issue when appraisers do not agree on the meaning of the rating criteria. For example, one supervisor may perceive an employee's constant reporting of problems as initiative, while another supervisor may feel this behavior demonstrates dependence on supervisory assistance instead of initiative.

Recency Error
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Recency error happens when a supervisor uses recent events to rate the employee. This usually occurs due to a lack of documentation of the employee's performance over the course of the entire performance appraisal period. An employee who performed highly over the course of the appraisal period may be rated low if the most recent events where negative.

Severity Error
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Severity error is the opposite of leniency error. In severity error, a supervisor tends to rate an employee lower than what her performance warrants. A potential cause of the error could be the use of unrealistic standards of comparison, such as the supervisor rating a new employee against himself. In this scenario, the supervisor forgets that it took time to reach the level of performance he operates at, and a new employee would not have had enough time to develop to that level.

Stereotyping
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Stereotyping is the tendency to apply the same generalizations to all members of specific social groups. One of the more common types of stereotyping that occur in the workplace is gender stereotyping. Research conducted by Madeline Heilman, a professor of psychology at NYU, suggests that women are often evaluated more negatively than men, even when both are trained to do a job the same way.

Ten Most Common Appraisal Errors of Performance Appraisals*

Gut feeling (subjectiveness)

Lack of follow-up Improper preparation; poor documentation Biases Similar to me Positive leniency - want to give everyone high scores Negative leniency - want to give everyone low scores Halo effect - the employee is a "saint" so must have high scores Attribution - tending to see poor performance more within control of the individual and superior performance as more of an influence of external factors o Stereotyping o Contrast effect - contrasting one employee's accomplishments against another o Unfair comparison - comparing one employee against another o First impression o Central tendency (forced bell curve) - expecting in any group that there will be some poor employees and some great employees Recency effect: over - emphasis on recent performance Inadequately defined and/or misunderstood standards/goals Lacking truth Poor interviewer (poor environment, poor use of time, domineering, poor listener, etc.) Conducting an "annual" review (as opposed to the ongoing review) Negative approach - catching them doing doing something wrong (as opposed to the One Minute Manager Approach of catching them doing something right)
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*From Ohio University Performance Management System Guidelines Traits of the Best Performance Management Systems

Performance management is a daily supervisory responsibility and integral to management. If proper goal setting, coaching and feedback are done periodically, then the results of the performance evaluation will not be a surprise. Supervisors understand and communicate how the goals of the organization directly impact the employee's job and performance. Supervisors see performance appraisal, training and development and career pathing as interrelated and essential for the organization's success. High performance is rewarded appropriately. Mediocre performance is not rewarded. Good managers are honest, fair and caring with all employees. They remember to listen and promote 2-way communications. Good managers know that turnover costs are high. They know that to retain employees, development and training are essential. Supervisors understand that following the policies and guidelines for performance management is critical for successful defense in a legal setting. Supervisors use the same process for all employees. Job content is used in developing goals and evaluating performance. Evaluations are behavior oriented and not personality trait oriented.

Employees are given the right to respond to the evaluation in writing and both the supervisor and employee sign the final copy. Confidentiality is respected.