REACTIONS TO APPRAISAL DISCREPANCIES - PERFORMANCE RATINGS AND ATTRIBUTIONS

The traditional top-down approach to performance appraisal has been cr iticized as not keeping pace with the move toward more participative o rganizations of the last decade. This has led many organizations to ad opt newer performance appraisal systems that use multiple feedback sou rces (e.g., 360-degree feedback systems). However, research indicates that multiple feedback sources often disagree on performance ratings a nd attributions. The current paper reports the results of one laborato ry and one field study that show the importance of performance and att ributional rating discrepancies on the appraisal process.