In preparing performance appraisals, the sales manager ranked Aniket as the overall best salesperson because he had the highest level of sales, and Amit as the overall worst salesperson because he had the lowest level of sales. The other salespeople were placed between Aniket and Amit in order of their sales. What performance appraisal format was used by the sales manager?

Ranking methods compare one employee to another, resulting in an ordering of employees in relation to one another. Rankings often result in overall assessments of employees, rather than in specific judgments about a number of job components. Straight ranking requires an evaluator to order a group of employees from best to worst overall or from most effective to least effective in terms of a certain criterion. Alternative ranking makes the same demand, but the ranking process must be done in a specified manner (for example, by first selecting the best employee in a group, then the worst, then the second-best, then the second-worst, etc.).