2. BARS: Behaviorally anchored rating scales
BARS are scales used to rate performance.
It is process of evaluating an employee’s
performance of a job in terms of its requirements.
It is an appraisal method that aims to combined
the benefits of narratives, critical incidents, and
quantified ratings by anchoring a quantified scales
with specific narrative as GOODS, MODERATES, and
POOR PERFORMANCE.
3. BARS METHOD
BARS rate these behaviors for each employee , which indicates
whether the behavior is exceptional, excellent, fully competent, or
unsatisfactory. The BARS method for this specific task in this specific
job could read as follows:
5 — Exceptional performance: Accurately completes and submits all
status change notices within an hour of request.
4 — Excellent performance: Verifies all status change notice
information with requesting manager before submitting.
3 — Fully competent performance: Completes status change notice
forms by the end of the workday.
2 — Marginal performance: Argues when asked to complete a status
change notice.
1 — Unsatisfactory performance: Says status change notice forms have
been submitted when they haven’t.
4. Advantage of BARS
It’s behaviorally based. The BARS system is totally
focused on employee performance.
It’s easy to use. The clear behavioral indicators make the
process easier for the manager to carry out and the
employee to accept.
It’s equitable. With its heavy emphasis on behavior, the
evaluation process comes across as fair.
It’s fully individualized. From the standpoint of
consistency within a company, BARS is designed and
applied individually and uniquely for every position.
5. Disadvantage of BARS
The process of creating and implementing BARS is time-consuming,
difficult, and expensive.
Sometimes the listed behaviors still don’t include certain actions
required of the employee, so managers can have difficulty as
signing a rating.
It’s high maintenance. Jobs change over time, which means that
BARS requires a high degree of monitoring and maintenance.
It’s demanding of managers. In order to successfully conduct BARS
evaluations, managers need detailed information regarding the
actions of their employees. Gathering such data can be quite time-
consuming, and many managers end up letting this slide.
