Trait Rating - Definition & Meaning

Published in Human Resources Terms by MBA Skool Team

What is Trait Rating?

Trait rating is the evaluation of an employee on the basis of the traits which that individual possesses. Trait is anything that an individual or rather an employee possesses. Trait rating includes parameters like appearance of a person, attitude of the person, the initiative that an employee took to implement a certain thing.


There are certain standards which help in formulating this performance appraisal. Some of these are Trait Rating, Behavioral Appraisal and Result based appraisal.

Work ethic is another very important criterion that comes under trait rating. The leadership quality of an individual and how he manages his subordinates, the loyalty of an employee for the organization and the most important thing in today’s world –adaptability i.e. how the individual adapts to new and unknown challenges. These are all traits.


The advantages of trait rating are that employee who likes to take initiative or is flexible and has great leadership skills tends to get higher appraisal ratings. These create a positive workplace in the organization. These employees become a sort of role model to others which helps in boosting the performance of others. So there can be a group of employees who becomes a loyal workforce and in turn helps the company in achieving its vision.


The disadvantage with this approach is that in trait rating is personal opinion can always influence the rating and hence affect the ratings. A person with personal favor can get more advantage than others. There is no hard and fast rule or parameters to judge these qualities. So there could be biased decision. The ideal way is so that the appraisal is done by more than one manager and also decision is taken from peers and colleagues which will help in making a fair decision.

Hence, this concludes the definition of Trait Rating along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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