Talent Management

Lecture Ten
Appraisal Biases/Errors

2
 Appraisal Biases
 Leniency Error: This occurs when an evaluator
consistently evaluates the employee at a higher end. The
appraisal tends to give employees either extremely high
rating. This can be solved by having a clearly defining
characteristics or dimensions of performance.

 Central tendency: It’s a performance rating error in

which all employees are rated above average and there is
reluctance to assign either extremely high or low ratings.

3
 Appraisal Biases

 Halo effect: A person who’s rated highly on one characteristic is

subsequently rated highly on other characteristics. This is purely on the basis
of the original impressions.
 Severity: This is the tendency for raters to be harsh or strict when scoring
others.
 Contrast effect: This is an error committed when a person is rated in
comparison with others. Therefore, the true rating is not obtained.
Performance appraisal in which an employee’s evaluation is biased either
upward or downward because of comparison with another employee just
previously evaluated e.g. an average employee may appear especially
productive when compared with poor performance. This occurs when raters
are required to rank employees.

4
 Appraisal Biases

 Recency Error: This refers to the tendency for evaluators to be

influenced by recent employee behaviors such as the month preceding
the review. The rater bases largely on the recent behaviors rather than
behavior throughout the whole appraisal period. This can be solved by
having many raters routinely document employee accomplishments and
failures throughout the whole appraisal period.

 Similar to me error: this is where the rater inflates the evaluation

ratings of the employee because of a mutual personal connection, that
is, having something in common, for example race, religion.

5
Decisions resulting from Appraisal Biases

 Training and development

 Layoffs
 Transfers
 Demotions
 Promotions
 Succession planning/employee development
 Reward and recognition

6
 Calibration
 Calibration is the process or method of establishing an accepted
and judicious standard by which overall employee performance is
measured by taking away the impression of having biased and
unfair reviews.
 The objective of calibration sessions is to ensure that different
managers apply similar standards in measuring and evaluating the
performance of subordinates. In the words of Grote, “Calibration
is to ensure a level playing field by neutralizing the effect of
‘tough graders’ and ‘easy graders’ on performance appraisal
ratings.”
 Calibration makes it easier for managers to deliver honest but
negative performance appraisals. It also has the benefit of
exposing talented employees to a larger number of senior leaders.
 Calibration is a simple and well-structured appraisal system for
performance evaluation. 7
 Calibration Process Continued…
 Managers use appraisal documents to assess their employees. For
example, their performance, potential or competencies. If required,
the employees also make self assessments.
 Talent management specialists organize one or more talent review
meetings in which the assessments made by multiple managers are
calibrated.
 Talent management specialists then update the appraisal documents
with the values from the relevant talent review meeting.
 Managers inform employees about the assessments made in the
talent review meeting and close the assessment process.

8
 Characteristics of Calibration in Talent Management

 Rank employees objectively: It removes inconsistency and

manager bias from your succession process to improve
decision making.
 Identify top performers: Analyze employees on a two-
dimensional grid of ratings, such as performance versus
potential.
 Compare talent side by side: Evaluate talent across teams
on dimensions such as work experience, education,
competency, leadership skills, geographic mobility, and more.
 Streamline processes: Simplify your overall talent allocation
processes, increasing the efficiency for everyone involved.
 Empower HR: Reduce the time required to manage
calibration and succession processes, allowing more time for
strategic activities.

9
Calibration Process for Employee Effectiveness

10
The END

11