Directorate of distance education master of business administration

i. Identification of Performance Measures 
The first step is the identification of performance measures, that 
is, the outcome of an effective job performance. These measures could 
be identified by knowledgeable relevant people who may be usually 
superiors, jobholders and HR personnel or a combination of all of them.  
They are asked to identify the important dimensions of the job. 

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ii. Identification of Critical behaviours 
Critical behaviours are those which are essential for the 
performance of the job effectively.  These behaviours are generated 
from different dimensions of the job and are related to various critical 
incidents of the job.  These may be stated in a few short sentences or 
phrases using the terminology of the job in question. 
iii. Retranslation of Critical Behaviours 
Various critical behaviours as identified in step (ii) are retranslated, 
usually by a different group of personnel.  In the retranslation process, 
various critical incidents are classified into clusters with each cluster 
having similar critical incidents.  Those behaviours which are approved 
by majority of personnel are kept for further development and others 
discarded.  The basic idea of this step is to keep the number of behaviours 
to a manageable limit and which are more descriptive of the job.  The 
translation process assures the reliability of the critical behaviours 
consistent with the job dimensions. 
iv. Scaling of Critical Behaviours 
Those critical behaviours which are included for the performance 
apprisal during the process of retranslation are given scales usually in 
numbers with their description.  The scales may range from 1 to 7 or 
from 1 to 9, with each point of a scale demonstrating perceived level of 
performance.  The scale value will be determined on the basis of estimates 
provided by various persons in the retranslation process. 
v. Development of the BARS instrument 
The result of arranging various scales for different dimensions of 
the job (Known as behaviour anchors) produces a vertical scale for each 
dimension.  Then scale is used for performance appraisal. 
Merits of BARS method 
1. 
Employees’ behaviours and not their unobservable 
traits are measured which gives better description of 
employees. 

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2. 
BARS approach is aimed at specific dimensions of job 
performance 
3. 
The people, who are actually involved with the job,