Mason, the director of engineering at Frost Inc., was very impressed with the fact that Blake, a production engineer, had not missed a single day of work in the past year. Mason rated Blake very high on all dimensions of his performance appraisal based on this one aspect of Blake's performance, disregarding the fact that Blake's performance was poor in two quarters of the year. This error in the performance appraisal process is known as __________.
A) a halo effect
B) projection
C) a contrast error
D) a leniency error
E) selective perception

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The halo effect occurs when an evaluator lets one or a few positive aspects of a person's performance or characteristics influence all other aspects of their performance or characteristics, leading to a skewed overall evaluation. In this case, Mason's high rating of Blake's performance based on his perfect attendance, despite Blake's poor performance in other areas, is an example of the halo effect.

Mason, the Director of Engineering at Frost Inc