Rater Bias

Rater Bias is a concern that almost each and every organization experiences in performance appraisal because we are all human beings and a degree of biasness is possessed by each and every one of us but the professional will actually try to remove the bias that we possess and conduct the performance appraisal from a neutral standpoint which is actually very difficult to conduct. If i look into the various organizations I have worked in, I have observed various kinds of Rater Bias which has actually affected the performance appraisal system because as soon as there is a entry of Rater Bias the transparency is no more there and organizations are actually trying to get rid of such activities.

There are different kinds of Rater Bias that I have observed, like:

for example if the employee is good in something then the rater may actually assume that if he is good in this then he is also good in that. The horn effect actually just the opposite of the Halo effect where one negative aspect of the employee may actually make the rater assume that the employee is bad in almost every thing.
Bias related to central tendency, lenient tendency, strict tendency - In central tendency bias the rater gives a score which is very much average like a 6 or 7 on 10. In lenient tendency the rater is lenient and is like the Halo effect while in strict tendency it is just like the horn effect.
Comparison bias and the recency bias - In the comparison bias the rater generally compares the employee with others and cite examples of other employees and their strengths. In recency bias the rater generally focus on recent events whereas the appraisal cycle may be of 12 months.
The similar to Me bias - In this case the rater tries to compare the employee with himself or herself and generally if someone is alike in nature will get an upper