n be divided into four categories: rating, ranking, critical incidents and other methods (Sagie & Koslowsky, 1994, p. 38). The rating technique is used to evaluate employees in a number of specific categories. For example, each employee could be rated with regard to quality of work, dependability, cooperation and knowledge of the job. In a ranking environment, employees are ranked against each other in a hierarchical fashion. Critical incidents (informally known as management by exception) makes notes of actual job behaviors and are evaluated as to whether these behaviors constitute effective or ineffective behavior. Other methods use different criteria, but often center around techniques similar to management by objectives (MBO) in which employees are judged against objectives that they, their supervisor, or the two acting in common have developed.
The advantages of the rating technique is that each employee is judged using the same criteria, and it is a more objective technique than the others. Employees can be compared against each other using the rating technique, which may help the supervisor form an effective team by using each employee's strengths and weaknesses to full advantage. However, the rating technique does not allow for subjective evaluation by the supervisor outside of exceptional cases, and employees may be rated in such a way that does not accurately reflect their situation during a specific period. For example, an employee whose work may be outstanding might have been absent due to a prolonged illness or surgery. While the employee would receive high marks for quality of work, he would receive low marks for attendance, although the illness was a one-time event. The rating method does not typically allow for such exceptions.
The ranking technique has the advantage of enabling one employee to be compared to another, but results in a hierarchical ranking that does not take into account the different tas...