Delete comment from: Simplicity @ the other side of Complexity
I knew of a line manager who made the performance appraisal system more transparent to deal with this issue. He asked the team members to present their accomplishments/achievements to everyone in the team and then asked for their anonymous ratings for each of their team members. The final ratings were still based on the discretion of the manager. The manager believes that this mechanism helped create a group buy in on who their relative performances. Somehow, I feel, even when 75% people think that their performance is above average, the best performers stand out and would be accepted by all??? I also tend to believe that people know when they have not achieved as per expectation. So, can we assume that the major issue would be for those who are at the border?
Although, one need not make absolute achievements as a mechanism, I am reminded of another strategy that a line manager used. He would have minimum mandatory targets and some stretch targets. If you dont achieve the minimum targets, you are below par and if you achieve the stretch targets you are above par. The trick then would lie in designing the right goals. However, the sector plays a major role in the ease of goal setting. A sales organization might be able to set goals more easily than a research organization.
May 15, 2012, 7:03:09 AM
Posted to Performance ratings and the ‘above average effect’