In Simple Words
Think of a referee who only watches the last 30 seconds of a game versus one who sits on the sideline for the entire match; the referee who watches continuously can evaluate player effort, sportsmanship, and tactical skill fairly, rather than judging performance purely by who happened to score at the buzzer.
School managers in two separate samples
- US comparison sample
- 2.5 class visits a year
- Pakistan study sample
- 4.7 class visits a year
Descriptive comparison with a separate US principal sample. It does not test whether more observations improve ratings or establish a required number of visits.
See source →Research question
Subjective incentive systems fail if evaluators lack adequate direct information about employee workplace behaviors, leading to arbitrary ratings or reliance on noisy output proxies.
Participants
N = 189 school managers and 6,080 teachers across 234 private schools in Pakistan.
Study Design
Comparative administrative and survey analysis benchmarking study managers against US principal baseline data (National Center for Education Statistics / World Management Survey).
Results
Managers in the study conducted an average of 4.7 classroom observations per year (nearly double the US principal average of 2.5) and dedicated 17.5 hours per week (37% of total work time) to direct teacher management and observation.
Takeaway
Establish mandatory minimum observation quotas (at least 4-5 formal direct observations per employee per year) to ensure managers possess sufficient qualitative data to execute subjective appraisals accurately.