Question

Jonathan, a supervisor, needs to assess megan, a subordinate's, performance. he considers that megan is reliable and meets all his requirements, so he will rate her as a good performer. but then jonathan thinks about an exceptional employee, sue, in his department, and decides that, compared with her, megan is just average. in this way, jonathan's rating is a _____ error.

Answer 1

There are six types of errors, a supervisor or a manager can make in assessing his subordinate. They are:

1. Halo effect

2. Leniency error

3. Central tendency error

4. Recency error

5. First impression error and

6. Similar-to-me error

Jonathan made a first impression error in rating Sue, which he thinks is an exceptional employee. He rated Sue higher than Megan even if he finds Megan a good performer, reliable and meets all his requirements.

Answer 2

This is a contrast error. Even though Megan is doing a more-than-acceptable job in her position, she might rate as incompetent when compared with other employees who are doing exemplary work. The contrast errors occur when these comparisons are made, instead of Megan's work being compared against the standards set by the company.