What is meant by Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)?

[shamsudeen]

Explain BARS (Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales) used as a tool for performance appraisal?

[nbm]

This is a new appraisal technique which has recently been developed. Its supports claim that it provides better, more equitable appraisals as compared to other techniques. The procedure for BARS is usually five stepped.

1. Generate Critical Incidents—Persons with knowledge of the job to be appraised (job holders/ supervisors) are asked to describe specific illustrations (critical incidents) of effective and ineffective performance.

2. Develop Performance Dimensions—These people cluster the incidents into a smaller set of performance dimensions. Each cluster is then defined.

3. Reallocate Incidents—Any group of people who also know the job then reallocate the original critical incidents. They are given the cluster's definitions, and critical accidents, and asked to redesign each incident to the dimension it best describes. Typically a critical incident is retained if some percentage (usually 50 lo 80%) of this group assigns it lo the same cluster as the previous group did.

4. Scale of Incidents—This second group is generally asked to rate (7 or 9 point scales are typical) the behaviour described in the incident as to how effectively or ineffectively it represents performance on the appropriate dimension. „

5. Develop Final Instrument—A subset of incidents (usually 6 or 7 per cluster) are used as "behaviour anchors" for the performance dimensions. 

Though BARS technique is more time-consuming and expensive than other appraisal tools, yet it has got certain advantages, such as:

1. A more accurate gauge, since BARS is done by persons expert in the technique, the results are sufficiently accurate.

2. Clear Standards. The critical incidents along the scale help to clarify what is meant by "extremely good" performance, "average" performance and so forth.

3. Feedback. The use of critical incidents may be more useful in providing feedback to the people being appraised.

4. Independent dimensions. Systematically clustering the critical incidents into 5 or 6 performance dimensions, helps in making the dimensions more independent of one another.

5. Rater - Independence. The technique is not biased by the experience and evaluation of the rater.