The way Performance, Aptitude and Potential of an individual is rated, assessed and rewarded …. Weighs very heavily against most Experts, Technocrats, Specialists and all those who have a focused interest for going deep into any specific domain. The system encourages, promotes and overrates traits of GENERALIST MANAGERS who have a superficial broad base and bigger numbers under their shadow ( not necessarily under their Control ).
In larger organizations three most common methods are used for appraisal and career advancement:
1.?????Force-Fitting all employees under a “normalized” Bell Curve to determine Super-performers, Average Performers and Under Performers, based on degree of achievement of target or exceeding them as per Excel-sheet report.
2.?????A 360 degree feedback is used to find opinion of all stakeholders around an individual, covering more of behavioural side visible aspects.
3.?????Assessment of potential in a “Development Centre” where the person is assessed by “members of jury” for typical soft Leadership skills, while enacting a mock hypothetical situation. This is usually a part of much envied “quick rise” scheme where candidate can jump hierarchy.
?BELL CURVE application …
- Assumes that all job profiles and deliverables are modular and comparable… while this may be applicable for software industry, army kind of organization or sales and marketing; it is simply not true for technical experts, designers, R&D personnel and people who do creative work.
- It is always a challenge to compare two individuals who are into entirely different functions at any common reference parameter that gives due emphasis to the core competence and notion of excellence in different domains.
- Achievement of assigned target seems an objective approach …BUT then how difficult the assigned targets were, remains very much a subjective and debatable matter.
- How tactical team targets are split between peers and superior-subordinate remains another dicey area.
- What kind of support and resources were available / provided to an individual for achieving targets remain yet another contestable area.
- There are always insinuations and protests against “cherry picking” of more visible roles and targets that have higher chances of success with ease.
- Bell curve approach certainly does not promote Innovation and Out-of-Box thinking, by restricting the roles and deliverables to fewer non overlapping KPIs that oversimplify and generalize for administrative convenience
- Since there are quotas and inter-functional rivalries … this kind of Performance Management System usually takes toll of teamwork and supporting each other. On the contrary it is seen to vitiate work environment by indulgences in showmanship during fire-fighting situations, blame game and pass the buck syndrome.
?Subjectivity in assessment ….
- If Leader has been a farmer he carries a notion that everybody should do farming. Likewise, a Sales & Marketing Chief rates those jobs much higher than others. It is indeed a challenge to come out from own professional silhouette when one rises higher.
- Any judgement by a group of people carries some “give and take”, “you scratch my back I scratch yours” and tacit “division of quota” system in what gets passed.
- By definition expertise is something that cannot be understood and appreciated by masses; hence an expert may not be popular and should not restrict himself to populist kind of stuff.
- Generally Senior Management likes those who (often quite literally ) show results.
- Only if Senior Management and HR could develop interest, patience and capability ?to refrain from gross oversimplification and resist tendency to drive all with the same “carrot and stick approach”, and go deeper into individual roles and personalities to assess individual’s challenges and situations, and then make / decide upon personalized longer term plans to develop, nurture and motivate.
- Assessment based on what is really important for the specific function, rather than getting swept by glamour of certain notional stereotype personality profiles and traits.
