Performance evaluations usually end with employees receiving a single overall performance rating, such as “below expectations” or “exceeds expectations”, etc. Today’s best managers know that overall performance scores can incorrectly “label” an employee and can overlook employee strengths and weaknesses. An overall performance label can hurt employee self-esteem and lower motivation. To help solve this problem, some companies are avoiding overall ratings, and giving employees only scores for specific job performance skills that could be improved or changed. This approach can lead to higher job performance and higher employee self perceptions.
Source: King, J. F. 2008. How managers think: Why the mediated model makes sense. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1, 180-182.