Prentice Hall, 2001Chapter 51 Judgment Issues and Specific Applications in Organizations Employment interviews Performance evaluation

Judgment Issues Halo effect The assessment of an individual on one dimension of performance “carries over” to other non-related dimensions and thus dominates the evaluation of the person Positive --- or “negative halo” (horn)

Judgment Issues (cont) Recency effect Our evaluation of performance (positive or negative) at the end of the review period dominates the rating for the entire period Information is easier to retrieve from memory Similarity error (clone) Giving better ratings to those who are like you in behavior and/or personality Spillover effects Continuing to downgrade an employee for performance errors in prior rating periods

Judgment Issues (cont) Implicit favorite Start out with a favorite (job candidate, candidate for promotion, etc..) Options are evaluated using decision criteria biased toward the favorite Job postings and criteria for the job Confirmation bias Tendency to seek confirmatory (supporting) information for what you think is true and neglect the search for disconfirming (unsupporting) information “This is an A or F student” and grading of essay exams

Judgment Issues (cont.) Contrast effect An “average” performer will be perceived more favorably if he or she is preceded by below average performers and less favorably if he or she is preceded by an above average performer Class presentations Annual performance reviews Job interviews

Training Raters Rater judgment errors Identify and describe judgment errors Recognition of halo errors found to be particularly effective Recognize that the longer the evaluation time period, the less accurate the ratings Performance dimensions Group discussions to identify and describe appropriate and desired dimensions of performance Unless a behavior affects performance it should not influence ratings

Performance Appraisal & the Fair-process Effect Independent of the amount of the raise, employees who perceive that performance appraisals are conducted in a fair manner, report more satisfaction with pay and more satisfaction with the appraisal itself

Attributes of a Fair Performance Appraisal Specific behavioral objectives (performance criteria) are identified and communicated in advance Subordinates have an opportunity to provide input in terms of setting the performance objectives Helps ensure that evaluation criteria are: appropriate, understood, and accepted Behaviors - not traits- are evaluated “Reports are finished late” versus “you are lazy”

Attributes of a Fair Performance Appraisal (continued) Appraisal is based upon accurate information Supervisor diaries Employee provides a review of activities, accomplishments achieved, and progress made during the period Appraisals conducted more often (timeliness) Once a quarter as opposed to once a year