Rating Scale – Importance and meaning Share ✕ Updated on: 18th Apr 2024 5 mins read HR Glossary Performance Definition: What is Rating Scale Rating Scale is a tool that you use at your workplace to measure your employees’ performance and check how they are doing. It’s often used in organizations as it’s easier to show the employee achievements and overall performance in numbers using them. That way, you can differentiate between employees as to who is performing exceptionally well and who you need to train, and more. Table of Content Definition: What is Rating Scale Types of Rating Scales How to Make a Rating Scale: What is the 5-Scale Rating Scale How are Rating Scales Commonly Used in Performance Evalutation What Are the Different Types of Rating Scales, and How Do They Vary? Can Rating Scales Be Used in Areas Other Than Performance Evaluations, Such as Product Assessments? What Challenges Might Organization Face While Implementing and Managing Rating Scales Types of Rating Scales Rating scales come in various types, each serving specific purposes. Here are some common types: 1. Graphic Rating Scale Graphic Rating Scale uses a visual representation, often a scale or series of numbers, to assess performance—for example, rating your employees on a scale from 1 to 5 for some specific criteria. 2. Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) It links the behaviours of employees to their performance levels and provide more specific feedback about them—for example, describing different behaviours at different performance levels for a salesperson. 3. Likert Scale It measures attitudes or opinions using a range of responses from strongly agree to strongly disagree—for example, asking employees to rate their satisfaction with a new policy on a scale of 1 to 5. 4. Numerical Rating Scale it assigns a numerical value to different levels of performance—for instance, rating your employees on a scale of 1 to 10 based on their meeting participation. 5. Forced Ranking It requires managers to rank employees from highest to lowest performance—for example, sorting employees into categories like top, middle, and bottom performers. 6. Comparative Rating Scale It involves comparing employees to each other rather than a set standard—for example, ranking employees in order of who has the most sales in a team. 7. Critical Incident Technique It focuses on specific events or behaviours that highlight exceptional or poor performance—for example, documenting instances where an employee went above and beyond or faced challenges. 8. Self-Assessment It allows employees to evaluate their own performance—for example, employees rating themselves on communication skills or project management. 9. 360-Degree Feedback It collects feedback from various sources, including peers, subordinates, and supervisors—for example, gathering input on teamwork skills from colleagues and team members. 10. Hybrid Rating Scales It combines elements of different rating scale types for a more comprehensive evaluation—for example, using a combination of numerical ratings and behavioural descriptions. How to Make a Rating Scale To create a rating scale, you’ll need to do a thoughtful planning and consider exact criteria for what you want to measure, then based on that you can begin the making of it. Here’s a process to help you with it. Begin by identifying the purpose of your rating scale. What are you creating it for: employee performance, customer satisfaction, or another specific aspect? Outline what criteria you want to assess. Choose what type of scale you’ll use for it—for example, numerical, descriptive, or behavioural. Determine what the range of this scale will be like—for example, a 1 to 5 scale or a scale with descriptors like “poor,” “average,” and “excellent.” Describe each point of the scale. Make sure that your scale is balanced and has an equal number of positive and negative points. Test your scale before using it officially to know if there’s any room for improvement. Train new everyone about how to use this scale. Make sure everyone knows understands the criteria and knows how to use it properly. Gather feedback about your scale. Monitor and improve it based on the feedback and your understanding of it. What is the 5-Scale Rating Scale A 5-scale rating scale ranges from 1-5, where one being the poor performance and 5 being the best performance, and the middle number shows that the performance somewhere in between. How are Rating Scales Commonly Used in Performance Evalutation They’re used as a structured and systematic way to assess each employee’s job performance. What Are the Different Types of Rating Scales, and How Do They Vary? Here’s the list of the different types of scales whose difference we have already discussed: Numerical Rating Scale Descriptive Rating Scale Graphic Rating Scale Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) Likert Scale Forced Ranking Comparative Rating Scale Critical Incident Technique Self-Assessment 360-Degree Feedback Hybrid Rating Scales Can Rating Scales Be Used in Areas Other Than Performance Evaluations, Such as Product Assessments? Yes, rating scales are versatile tools, and you can use them to measure different types of performances other than individual employee’s. What Challenges an Organization Might Face While Implementing and Managing Rating Scales Organizations might face several challenges while implementing and managing rating scales such as bias and fairness, consistency, clarity of criteria, training, resistance to change, or numeric overemphasis.
