Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this research was to determine the perceptions of the employees of the City of La Verne, California, regarding Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) system of employee appraisal. Research methodology. The research design of this study was descriptive, ex post facto (causal comparative). The questionnaire was personally distributed to each department manager by the researcher, with full distribution of 130 questionnaires of which 93 were completed and returned by the employees. Both supervisory and non-supervisory personnel were included because of the nature of the development of BARS. Since both categories of employees assist in the development of the behaviorial scales from the inception of the system, discrepancies in perceptions of supervisory and non-supervisory personnel were deemed of importance. In comparing the perceptional differences of supervisors and non-supervisors, Chi-Square along with Kolmogorov Smirnov statistics were used to determine the differences in the perceptions of the two groups. Findings. The study found that the employees of the City of La Verne, approved the BARS system of employee appraisal. In every question the approval was clear. The surprise statistic developed was in the perceptions of the supervisory and non-supervisory personnel. There were no significant differences in the perceptions of the two groups. Both groups felt that BARS was a fair system, could be used as an employee motivator, would aid employee/management relations, was useful as an employee development tool, was easily understood and accepted by both employee and supervisor and that rating behavior was superior to grading on traits or work output. Conclusions and recommendations. It was generally concluded that BARS was an acceptable employee rating system and the unbiased population had approved this concept, and that the advantages of the system far outweigh the disadvantages. BARS was concluded to provide the most important elements of an appraisal system. It was recommended that the City of La Verne and other organizations, both public and private, examine BARS in some depth in order to determine if the system would be of more benefit than the method in use.