Definition (1):
Leniency or Strictness is the problem that occurs when a supervisor has a tendency to rate all subordinates either high or low. This problem is especially serious with graphic rating scales. On the other hand, ranking forces supervisors to distinguish between high and low performers.
Definition (2):
Leniency or Strictness is the error of an evaluator. Each evaluator has her/his own procedure for valuation which is considered as her/his evaluation standard. For instance, some teachers evaluate the answer books very strictly while others do that quite leniently. The leniency is called positive leniency error while strictness is known as negative leniency error. Because of these errors of evaluators, the rating can be high or low.
Definition (3):
Leniency or Strictness errors are related to overall ratings. For instance, if an interviewer rates all applicants with a rating of “Excellent”, people can suspect that leniency error has occurred. Strictness is the opposite of the leniency error. For instance, a supervisor performs a performance appraisal on six candidates and he rates all as poor.
Evaluators should have a standard distribution of performers or candidates so that the ratings can reflect or show the proportions accordingly: bad, below average, average, good, and excellent. Thus, they can avoid the above errors.