Appraising or rating errors refer to both unconscious and deliberate distortions made by evaluators during the personnel assessment or, to a lesser extent, the personnel selection process. These errors often stem from limitations in perception, cognition, or intentional manipulation and can significantly impact the fairness and effectiveness of human resource decisions.
Categories of Rating Errors
Appraising errors can be grouped into three main categories:
1. Perceptual Biases
These biases arise unconsciously during the perception or interpretation of employee behavior or traits:
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Halo Effect: One prominent characteristic (e.g., eloquence) disproportionately influences ratings across unrelated dimensions (e.g., integrity, reliability).
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Recency Effect (Nicholas Effect): Recent events are overweighted in the evaluation.
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Primacy Effect: First impressions or initial information disproportionately shape the assessment.
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Glue Effect: Employees not recently promoted may be unconsciously underrated.
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Hierarchy Effect: Individuals in higher positions are rated more favorably due to their status.
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Laurel Effect: Past achievements unduly influence current performance ratings.
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Andorra Effect: Based on Max Frisch’s novel Andorra, it describes a self-fulfilling prophecy—individuals perform in ways consistent with the evaluator’s expectations.
2. Scale-Related Biases
These involve the improper or inconsistent application of rating scales due to differing standards or expectations:
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Central Tendency Bias: Excessive use of middle-range ratings, avoiding extremes.
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Leniency Bias: Ratings are inflated due to lower standards or a desire to avoid conflict.
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Strictness Bias: Ratings are overly harsh due to unrealistically high expectations.
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Sympathy/Antipathy Bias: Likeable individuals are rated more favorably, while those less liked may be downgraded regardless of actual performance.
3. Cognitive and Deliberate Errors
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Cognitive Distortions: These include unconscious errors in observing, interpreting, and remembering employee behavior—leading to unintentional inaccuracies in judgment.
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Deliberate Manipulations (Will Problems): These involve intentional distortions, such as inflating ratings for bonuses, downrating for dismissal, or favoring specific applicants for personal or strategic reasons.
Minimizing Rating Errors
Organizations can reduce rating errors by:
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Implementing structured evaluation criteria
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Providing rater training
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Using multi-source feedback (e.g., 360-degree reviews)
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Encouraging self-assessments and peer reviews to cross-validate supervisor ratings
Understanding and addressing these rating errors is essential to ensure fair and effective human resource management and to maintain employee trust and engagement.
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