What approach can best reduce the issues of leniency or strictness in performance appraisals?

Imposing a performance distribution is an effective approach to mitigate the concerns of leniency or strictness in performance appraisals. This method introduces a structured way to evaluate employee performance by requiring that a certain percentage of employees fall into defined categories, such as high performers, average performers, and low performers.

This approach encourages raters to differentiate more among employees instead of clustering most evaluations in the 'average' range, which often arises from leniency bias. It can also help counteract strictness bias by creating a framework that prevents raters from disproportionately rating too many employees as poor performers. Additionally, implementing a performance distribution encourages a more egalitarian view of performance standards, fostering constructive feedback based on comparative performance and providing clearer expectations for evaluation.

By doing so, the organization can achieve a more accurate and fair assessment of employee performance, which can lead to enhanced motivation and productivity. In sum, utilizing a performance distribution capably addresses the extremes of bias that can skew performance appraisals, helping evaluators maintain objectivity and leading to more effective performance management.