Ratings of Managerial Characteristics: Evaluation Difficulty, Co‐worker Agreement, and Self‐awareness

Abstract

This research examined variables contributing to self‐awareness and coworker agreement on 30 managerial characteristics. The first study collected data from 233 management students on the difficulty of rating different characteristics. It also developed reliable measures of self‐protection mechanisms that may negatively influence self‐awareness. Four self‐protection factors were identified: Denial, Giving Up, Self‐Promotion, and Fear of Failure. The second study collected self‐, supervisor, peer, and subordinate ratings of the managerial characteristics to derive multiple measures of self‐awareness. There was a total of 283 co‐worker ratings for 36 target middle managers. The results showed that within‐sample co‐worker disagreement measures from Study 2 were higher for items that were perceived by the sample in Study 1 as more difficult to rate. Self‐ratings were more highly related to the average of co‐worker ratings than to the ratings provided by any one co‐worker alone. Co‐workers' ratings of the target's use of self‐protection mechanisms were negatively associated with self‐awareness measures. Ideas are discussed for other correlates of self‐awareness and ways to enhance the value of feedback processes.

Business accomplishments, gender and entrepreneurial self-image

“…In general, these studies indicate that women tend to underrate their skills or performance as compared to men (Wohlers and London, 1989;Lindeman et al, 1995). This underrating has been attributed to the fact that women often do not take credit for success, attributing success to external sources or luck rather than to effort or ability (Rosenthal et al, 1996;Parsons et al, 1982;LaNoue and Curtis, 1985).…”

“…At the macro level, female and male entrepreneurs appear to differ with respect to the type of entrepreneurial activity they engage in and the way in which they manage this activity (Verheul and Thurik, 2001; U.S. Small Business Administration, 1995;OECD, 1998;Carter et al, 1997;Kalleberg and Leicht, 1991;Fischer et al, 1993). In addition, the management literature indicates that, as compared to men, women tend to underrate their own performance (Wohlers and London, 1989;Lindeman et al, 1995). Accordingly, we expect to find an indirect effect of gender (through entrepreneurial activity) on entrepreneurial self-image, as well as a direct gender effect (controlling for entrepreneurial activity).…”

360‐degree feedback with systematic coaching: Empirical analysis suggests a winning combination

“…If indeed there is incongruence between self-ratings and referent others' ratings, we propose that as one's selfawareness increases, the level of discrepancy between self-assessment and those provided by referent others (e.g., supervisors, peers, direct reports) will decrease. This is because managers who became self-aware of a discrepancy between their self-ratings and others' ratings could, through systematic coaching, eliminate the rating incongruency (Wohlers & London, 1989).…”

Comparing Rater Groups: How To Disentangle Rating Reliability From Construct-Level Disagreements

“…Elaborate process mechanisms have been postulated to explain why peers and supervisors are rating different constructs even when presented with the same rating instrument (Borman, 1979;Wohlers & London, 1989). Hypotheses have been advanced that the opportunity to observe differs across peers and supervisors, which results in construct-level differences.…”