Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)

BARs is a rating scale developed by Smith and Kendall in the year 1963. This rating scale uses critical events or incidents placed against a scale as anchor statements. This is also a combination of the critical incident method of rating with the graphic rating scale.

Most of the employees are rated against 6-7 performance dimensions which are placed against 5-6 critical incident anchors. The person who is evaluating the employee is asked to pick the most important job behaviors that will be used to anchor the scale for a particular job. These job behaviors should be the best fits for a specific job dimension to be used during a rating period. The scale that is used can either be narrative or a 3 or 5 point scale.