Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) directly assess performance behaviors. The BARS method depends on critical incidents or short descriptions of effective and ineffective behaviors that ultimately produce a number value. The assessor is responsible for rating the specific behaviors of an employee based upon the behavioral expectations that are provided as anchors. When rating the employee, most employers prefer to also provide written feedback for why the employee received a specific rating.
“Typically, supervisors rate several performance dimensions using BARS and score an employee’s overall job performance by taking the average value across all the dimensions” and “because the critical incidents convey the precise kinds of behaviors that are effective and ineffective, feedback from BARS can help an employee develop and improve over time.”
Source of the quote above: Colquitt, J.A., Lepine, J.A.,