) How do rater errors and personal emotions affect the performance appraisal process? How can firms manage the impact of both?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: Summary of suggested answer -
Rater error is the consistent bias on the part of the rater. This may take several forms.
• The halo error is the most prominent and occurs when the supervisor equalizes an employee's ratings or makes ratings fit his/her overall judgment.
• Restriction of range error is another form of rater error. The manager restricts his/her ratings to a small portion of the rating scale. This may take the form of leniency, severity, or central tendency error.

Liking can cause errors in performance appraisals when raters allow their like or dislike of an individual to influence their assessment of that person's performance. Field studies have found rater liking and performance ratings to be substantially correlated. Given the potentially biasing impact of liking, it is critical that supervisors manage their emotional reactions to workers. They should keep a performance diary of observed behavior for each worker to serve as the basis for evaluation and other managerial actions. An external record of worker behaviors can dramatically reduce error and bias in ratings.