behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS)
A rating scale that uses critical incidents as anchor statements placed along a scale. Typically, 6 to 10 performance dimensions, each with 5 to 6 critical incident anchors, are rated per employee.

behavioral observation scale (BOS)
A method similar to the BARS that uses the critical incident technique to identify a series of behaviors that describe the job. A 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always) format is used to rate the behaviors.

central tendency error
A rating tendency to give ratees an average rating on each criteria. That is, on a 1 to 7 scale, circling all 4s; or on a 1 to 5 scale, selecting all 3s.

contrast effect
A rating error that occurs when a rater allows an individual's prior performance or other recently evaluated individuals to affect the ratings given to an employee.

criteria relevance
A good measure of performance must be reliable, valid, and closely related to an employee's actual level of productivity.

criteria sensitivity
A good measure of performance should reflect actual differences between high and low performers.

critical incident
The system of selecting very effective and ineffective examples of job behavior and rating whether an employee displays the type of behaviors specified in the critical incidents.

forced-choice format
A type of individually oriented rating format whereby the rater must choose which of several statements about work behavior is most descriptive of an employee.

forced distribution
A method of ranking similar to grading on a curve. Only certain percentages of employees can be ranked high, average, or low.

halo error
A rating error that occurs when a rater assigns ratings on the basis of an overall impression (positive or negative) of the person being rated.

interrater reliability
The extent that two or more raters give consistent/similar scores on ratings.

leniency rating error
The tendency to rate everyone high or excellent on all criteria.

management by objectives (MBO)
A managerial practice where managers and subordinates jointly plan, organize, control, communicate, and debate the subordinate's job and performance. As a performance evaluation technique, it focuses on establishing and measuring specific objectives.

paired comparison
A method of ranking whereby subordinates are placed in all possible pairs and the supervisor must choose which of the two in each pair is the better performer.

performance evaluation
The HRM activity that is used to determine the extent to which an employee is performing the job effectively.

performance management
Includes activities to ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner.

personal bias rating error
The bias a rater has about individual characteristics, attitudes, backgrounds, and so on, that influence a rating more than performance.

"recency of events" rating error
A tendency to use the most recent events to evaluate performance instead of using a longer, more complete time frame.