A new study has cast doubt on the practice of self-assessment in performance management.

A survey covering 4,492 managers assessed various aspects of performance management systems.

It found that rating managers tended to be more revealing than having them rate themselves.

When managers were rated on performance aspects by two bosses, two peers, and two subordinates, there was a 62 per cent variance between the scores given and the managers’ perceptions of themselves.

Researchers found that actual performances accounted for just 21 per cent of the variance in ratings.

“Although it is implicitly assumed that the ratings measure the performance of the ratee, most of what is being measured by the ratings is the unique rating tendencies of the rater,” they said.

“Thus ratings reveal more about the rater than they do about the ratee.”

The full study is accessible here.