The Comp Doctor
Forced Ranking and Forced DistributionAn excerpt from the forthcoming book Forced Ranking: Making Performance Management Work To be published by the Harvard Business School Press in October 2005 Dick Grote will speak on At the NTCA meeting Thursday, June 16, 2005 There is little argument that those who contribute the most, have the greatest potential, and shoulder more than their share of the load, should be more generously rewarded. Likewise, almost no one would argue that those who contribute the least should be encouraged to either increase the quality of their contribution, or find employment at another organization where their talents and contributions are more in line with the organization’s expectations. “Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate nonperforming individuals in important jobs,” notes management authority Peter Drucker. “It may not be the employees’ fault that they are underperforming, but even so, they have to be removed.” The challenge — how do you figure out who’s in which group? If conventional performance appraisal systems were actually used as they were designed to be used, the need for any more rigorous procedure would be minimal. Most appraisal systems ask managers to identify their distinguished performers, their solid Steady-Eddies, and their also-rans. But, as we’ve seen, too many managers would rather fudge the facts and inflate their ratings than to face having the hard conversations that truthful performance assessments often require. The familiar performance appraisal system will fail if managers set their goals soft and have performance expectations that are low. To drive rigor and truth into performance appraisal assessments and discussions, many organizations today employ a technique called forced distribution, the setting of maximums and minimums in performance appraisal ratings to assure that there is differentiation. Read the full article:
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Grote Consulting Corporation Dick Grote is Chairman and CEO of Grote Consulting Corporation in Dallas, Texas. He is the developer of GroteApproach sm, the web-based performance appraisal system, and the author of the books, Discipline Without Punishment and The Complete Guide to Performance Appraisal. Both books were major book club selections and have been translated into Chinese and Arabic. Paramount Pictures bought the movie rights to Discipline Without Punishment and produced the video series “Respect and Responsibility” with Dick as host. His last book, The Performance Appraisal Question and Answer Book, was published in May, 2002. His next book, Forced Ranking: Making Performance Management Work, will be published by the Harvard Business School Press in October 2005. For five years, Dick was a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” program. His articles have appeared in the Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal. His biography appears in Who’s Who in America.
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