Exercise on Biases in Performance Reviews
Performance management is crucial for aligning employees’ goals with those of your organization. When evaluating your team members, you typically consider both task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) – those extra efforts employees make that go beyond their formal duties to support your team and your organization. These are often included in a 360-degree review.
Date: 20. November 2024
Categories: PGExercise
Performance management is crucial for aligning employees’ goals with those of your organization. When evaluating your team members, you typically consider both task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) – those extra efforts employees make that go beyond their formal duties to support your team and your organization. These are often included in a 360-degree review.
Is your team member’s performance review coming up soon? Below, you will find practical exercises to help you avoid common biases during the performance appraisal process.
Contrast Bias
Contrast bias occurs when a manager’s perception of a team member is influenced by comparisons to other employees. For example, if an employee is compared to a previous top performer, they might seem less impressive—even if their own performance is solid. Since performance evaluations often happen in one day, this bias can easily come up.
Exercise to counter contrast bias
For your next performance evaluation, try spreading the reviews across several days. If your team consists of 12 members, evaluate 2 team members each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, over two weeks. This approach will reduce contrast bias by giving you time to reflect between evaluations and make your judgments more objective.
Recency Bias
Recency bias happens when managers give too much weight to the most recent experiences, performance or information, often overlooking earlier performance. For example, an employee’s recent achievements or mistakes may have a stronger impact on their review than their overall performance throughout the year.
Exercise to counter recency bias
Both managers and employees should keep notes throughout the months, recording key tasks and extra efforts (OCB) made to support the team or organization. For example, spend 5 minutes every Friday noting down what was accomplished during the week. This way, when it’s time for the performance review, you’ll have a broader, more accurate view of performance over several months—not just the past week. This will help reduce recency bias.
