In performance appraisals, Personal Bias (Stereotyping) occurs when:

• A. Managers rely exclusively on objective measures
• B. Managers allow individual differences to affect ratings
• C. Raters base judgments on group consensus
• D. Ratings are adjusted only by HR

Answer: (B)

Personal bias in performance appraisals shows up when a rater lets stereotypes or personal opinions about a person or a group influence the rating instead of focusing on what was actually performed. This means judgments are colored by differences the rater personally notices or believes about the individual—like age, gender, personality, or other characteristics—rather than by objective performance evidence. For example, a manager might rate someone lower because of a stereotype about that person’s background, even if their work meets the required standards. Using objective measures helps keep ratings grounded in performance, while basing judgments on group consensus or having HR adjust ratings introduces other dynamics but doesn’t capture this individual-bias effect as directly.