As a manager, my incentive is to rate my employees fairly and honestly, so that the company’s systems work. As an employee, my incentive is certainly to perform well, but it’s also rational for me to argue, argue, argue with my manager to drive up my rating (as long as I don’t push so hard my manager gets angry). It costs my manager nothing, save perhaps a little integrity (alas), and for me as an employee a higher rating means more money and opportunity. And I can afford to spend several hours a week preparing my arguments, while my manager not only doesn’t have the time to do so for each of
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