Section Fourgraphic rating scales is that their lack of behavioral specificity
allows a standardized performance evaluation approach that
can be used across large numbers of jobs. Organizations often
find standardized approaches useful for comparison purposes,
such as in developing a list of employees to be laid off on the
basis of performance. However, because evaluators differ in the
degree to which they are strict or lenient raters, some means of
converting individual evaluators’ ratings into a standardized
score is required when evaluations are to be used for
comparison purposes. Finally, the results of graphic rating
scales are fairly easily translatable into numerical indices, which
can then be used for determination of raises. However, they
have somewhat limited value for use in developmental
counseling.^6
Narratives
Another traditional approach to performance evaluation is the
narrative description of performance written by an employee’s
supervisor. Such approaches, which can be highly individualistic
according to the unique aspects of the employee’s job, are
sometimes used with higher-level professionals and managerial
personnel. Disadvantages to this approach are the writing skills
required on the part of the evaluator and the time taken to
write thoughtful narratives. Further, it is difficult to translate