Training Today: Manager-Employee Gap Widens November 16, 2009
By Margery Weinstein
Your managers and employees don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, and performance reviews are no exception. A research study measuring employee development and contribution by Novations Group, Inc., uncovered a discrepancy between managers and employees on performance ratings. As outlined in the white paper, "Mind the Gap," the ratings discrepancy impacts employee development programs, job assignments, leadership development, and other talent management priorities.
Novations partnered with several leading organizations to study employee development and contribution. The research began in 2007, and the resulting data set includes information on the contribution and development of more than 2,000 managers and direct reports. Participating managers were asked to rank-order their direct reports by contribution and performance. By completing a behavioral and competency-based survey about each direct report, managers also assessed how their direct reports contribute to their respective organizations. The direct reports were asked to complete the same survey, providing their own assessment of their contribution.
"Mind the Gap" shows managers rated their direct reports approximately a half a stage lower than direct reports rated themselves, with a mean difference of .48. According to Novations, this suggests managers believe their direct reports are behaving more dependently than independently. The report points out the following known reasons for bias in performance reviews:
• Self-rater bias: Need for self-esteem. The implicit need we all have to see ourselves in a positive light.
• Self-rater bias: Lack of self-awareness. People may have unintentionally inflated their self-ratings. For some, the difficulty may lie in understanding what high contribution looks like for certain competencies.
• Manager bias: Lack of awareness. Companies may need to consider whether managers are aware of the contributions of their direct reports.
• Manager bias: Justification of role. Managers' perception they are only necessary if they have direct reports in need of supervision.
• Manager bias: Justification of budget. Some people argue managers are "incentivized" to rate people lower to keep the budget tied to compensation down and to keep short-term promotional expectations in check.
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