Page 141 - DMGT406_HUMAN_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management

Notes (v) Central tendency: An alternative to the leniency effect is the central tendency, which
occurs when appraisers rate all employees as average performers. For example, a
professor, with a view to play it safe, might give a class grades nearly equal to B,
regardless of the differences in individual performance.
(vi) Stereotyping: Stereotyping is a mental picture that an individual holds about a person
because of that person's sex, age, religion, caste, etc. By generalising behaviour on
the basis of such blurred images, the rater grossly overestimates or underestimates
a person's performance. For example, employees from rural areas might be rated
poorly by raters having a sophisticated urban background, if they view rural
background negatively.
(vii) Recency effect: In this case, the rater gives greater weightage to recent occurrences
than earlier performance. For example, an excellent performance that may be six or
seven months old is conveniently forgotten while giving a poor rating to an
employee's performance which is not so good in recent weeks. Alternatively, the
appraisal process may suffer due to a 'spill over effect' which takes place when past
performance influences present ratings.
2. Poor Appraisal Forms: The appraisal process might also be influenced by the following
factors relating to the forms that are used by raters:

(i) The rating scale may be quite vague and unclear.
(ii) The rating form may ignore important aspects of job performance.
(iii) The rating form may contain additional, irrelevant performance dimensions.
(iv) The forms may be too long and complex.

3. Lack of Rater Preparedness: The raters may not be adequately trained to carry out
performance management activities. This becomes a serious limitation when the technical
competence of a ratee is going to be evaluated by a rater who has limited functional
specialisation in that area. The raters may not have sufficient time to carry out appraisals
systematically and conduct thorough feedback sessions. Sometimes the raters may not be
competent to do the evaluations owing to a poor self-image and lack of self-confidence.
They may also get confused when the objectives of appraisal are somewhat vague and
unclear.

Did u know? Why Performance Appraisals Fail?: Top 10 Reasons
1. Manager lacks information concerning an employee's actual performance.
2. Standards to evaluate an employee's performance are not clear.

3. Manager does not take appraisal seriously.
4. Manager is not prepared for the appraisal review with the employee.
5. Manager is not honest/sincere during the evaluation.

6. Manager lacks appraisal skills.
7. Employee does not receive ongoing performance feedback.
8. Insufficient resources offered to reward performance.
9. There is ineffective discussion of employee development.
10. Manager uses unclear/ambiguous language in the evaluation process.

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