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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Review and appraisal of individual performance

Which feature best distinguishes a behaviourally anchored rating scale (BARS) from a simple graphic rating scale?

A BARS ties each point on the rating scale to descriptions of specific, observable job behaviours, making ratings less subjective than a simple graphic scale with vague labels. It is not ranking, self-assessment or purely target-based measurement.

  1. AIt relies solely on the employee's self-assessment
  2. BIt ranks employees against each other from best to worst
  3. CIt anchors each rating point to examples of specific job behavioursCorrect
  4. DIt measures only whether quantified targets were met

Explanation

BARS links each point on the scale to descriptions of actual job behaviour, reducing subjectivity and ambiguity. Ranking is a comparative method, self-assessment is a different source, and target measurement describes results-based approaches such as MBO.

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