Because of the authoritarian mindset, problems are ascribed to individuals, not systems. This produces the classic approach to performance appraisal, including ranking of employees, merit pay, etc. Another outcome of this approach is to act only when it is absolutely necessary. Of course, this tendency is partially offset by the threat of being blamed for not meeting goals set by higher authorities. Managers solicit feedback from employees and review data in reports before making a decision.
Results are marginally better than with the purely judgmental approach.
However, data are always incomplete and the element of judgment can never be completely removed. To the extent that the manager abdicates her responsibility for making a judgment, the quality of the decision will suffer. Another problem is the time involved in collecting data. Most experts in management advocate making management decisions based on a combination of the manager's judgment and reasonable amounts of data analysis. Managers, working with all parties impacted, formulate a coherent model of the system.