Identify and describe the various perceptual errors that can affect appraisal accuracy.

Perceptual errors that can undermine appraisal accuracy include the following: (a)central tendency rating error,which occurs when appraisers rate all employees as "average" in everything; (b)halo error,which occurs when appraisers rate an individual either high or low on all characteristics because one characteristic is either high or low; (c)recency effect,which is the tendency of appraisers to overweight recent events when appraising employee performance; (d)contrast effect,which is the tendency for a set of performance appraisals to be influenced upward by the presence of a very low performer,or influenced downward by the presence of a very high performer; (e)similarity effect,which is the tendency of appraisers to inflate the appraisals of appraisees they see as similar to themselves; (f)leniency effect,which is the tendency of many appraisers to provide unduly high performance appraisals; and (g)harshness effect,which is the tendency of some appraisers to provide unduly low performance appraisals.