ALTHOUGH PERSONALITY TRAITS ARE STILL DOMINANT CRITERIA FOR PERSONNEL APPRAISAL, BEHAVIOR-ORIENTED MEASURES OF JOB PERFORMANCE ARE BECOMING MORE POPULAR SINCE THEY AVOID MUCH OF THE AMBIGUITY OF TRAIT RATINGS BY REDUCING THE PERFORMANCE CONSTRUCTION TO THE JOB ITSELF. THE BEHAVIORALLY ANCHORED RATING SCALES (BARS) IS ONE SUCH SCALE. IT HAS BEEN CRITICIZED FOR WASTING COSTLY INFORMATION SINCE ONLY 5 TO 10 OUT OF 20 TO 50 CRITICAL INCIDENTS PER JOB DIMENSION TESTED ARE UTILIZED. TO REDUCE THE SHORTCOMINGS OF THE BARS, THIS PAPER PROPOSES A NEW PERFORMANCE EVALUATION SCALE--THE BEHAVIOR DESCRIPTION INDEX (BDI)--AND APPLIES IT TO A JOB APPRAISAL OF ASSISTANT BRANCH MANAGERS. THE SCALE IS BASED ON DESCRIPTIONS OF CRITICAL JOB BEHAVIOR INCIDENTS AND CONSTITUTES A PSYCHOMETRIC IMPROVEMENT ON THE USE OF TASK SAMPLING FOR SCALE CONSTRUCTION. THE NEW SCALE SHOWS EVIDENCE OF CONSTRUCT VALIDITY AND DEMONSTRATES THAT BEHAVIORALLY ORIENTED SCALES NEED NOT BE ORGANIZATION SPECIFIC IT PROVES THAT THE PSYCHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF BEHAVIOR-ORIENTED SCALES CAN BE IMPROVED BY LIMITING THE NUMBER OF BEHAVIOR SAMPLES USED PER SCALE. MOREOVER, BECAUSE OF THE INCREASED UTILIZATION OF JOB INFORMATION, AND THE SPECIFIC FEEDBACK TO RATERS, EVALUATORS, AND RATEES, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE BDI CAN BE USED AS THE BASIS OF AN EVALUATION SYSTEMS OFFERING INFORMATION TO BOTH TRAINERS AND MANAGERS ALIKE. REFERENCES ARE CITED. (MJW)