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Managing Human Element at Work

Notes to make extreme ratings (in either direction); the inability to distinguish between
and among ratees; a form of range restriction. Raters who are prone to the central
tendency error are those who continually rate all employees as average. They
follow a play safe policy because of answerability to management or lack of
knowledge about the job and person he is rating or least interest in his job. This
type of rating will create problems, especially if the information is used for pay
increases.
(iv) Personal Prejudice: The rater’s personal prejudice can influence the objectivity of
performance appraisals. If the rater dislikes an employee he may rate him poorly.
(v) Consequence of Appraisal: If the evaluator knows that a poor appraisal could
significantly hurt the employee’s future (particularly opportunities for promotion
or a salary increase) the evaluator may be reluctant to give a realistic appraisal.
(vi) The Recency Effect: Raters generally remember the recent actions of the employee
at the time of rating. If a favourable action has taken place recently, the employee
will be given a high rating. Conversely, he will be given a poor rating if an
unfavourable action has taken place recently.
(b) Opportunity Bias: This results when the amount of output is influenced by factors
beyond the control of employees. Some employees have better working conditions,
supportive supervisors, more experienced co-workers and hence their output may be
greater than others working on identical tasks.
(c) Group Cohesiveness: Cohesive groups with high morale can produce more than less
cohesive groups with low morale.
(d) Knowledge of Predictor Bias: A rater’s knowledge of the performance of an employee
on predictors can influence his appraisal ratings. An employee who topped in the
selection list might leave the impression that he is the best among the employees and
hence, the rater may rate him as ‘good’ when his performance is moderate.
(e) Similarity Error: When evaluators rate other people in the same way that the evaluators
perceive themselves, they are making a similarity error. Based on the perception that
evaluators have of themselves, they project those perceptions on others. For example,
the evaluator who perceives himself as aggressive may evaluate others by looking
for aggressiveness.

Do a survey and collect the information about the different types of
appraisal methods used by the company or organizations.

5.5 Ways for Improving Performance Appraisals

5.5.1 Choosing the Appraisal Method
With a wide range of appraisal methods currently available, an organization is faced with
the difficult task of selecting the best approach to meet its needs. Before selecting the method
of appraisal to be followed we should examine two areas with special care:
(i) Various factors that can help or hinder the implementation of a particular appraisal
programme, and
(ii) The appropriateness of the appraisal method for the special jobs to which the appraisal
system will apply.

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