Commonly Found Perceptual Errors

An important part of performance management is evaluating performance. When properly executed, performance evaluation helps to increase employee motivation and goal achievement. In reality, performance evaluations can be wrought with error due to evaluators' personal attributions and perceptions. This activity is important because understanding the most common perceptual errors in performance evaluations will help you to minimize their influence on your own evaluations of others' performance, thereby increasing the accuracy, and usefulness, of your evaluations.

The goal of this exercise is to demonstrate your understanding of common perceptual errors and how they are exemplifled in the workplace.

Definitions

Tendency to provide average ratings

Tendency to rely heavily on newest information

Consistent tendency to evaluate positively

Tendency to evaluate by comparison

Tendency to evaluate specific aspects of performance based on overall impressions

Examples

First, read through the common perceptual errors. Then, click and drag each of the definitions of perceptual errors to the correct error. Finally, click and drag each example to the error it best exemplifies.

Definition

Halo

Example

Leniency

Central Tendency

Rating an employee's performance