Appraisal System - a disease?
I recently came across a discussion thread that talked about Dr Deming and the 5 Deadly Diseases he mentioned way back in 1984. One of the 5 diseases is called Annual rating of Performance - this can go by many other names i.e. Merit System, Management by Oobjectives / Pay for Merit / Reward performance, etc. The contributors' shared a wealth of thoughts, many of which resonated strongly with my past experience and views.
In an organisation where I worked previously, I had a colleague who led a large team in the region. Very nice guy, very high on EQ, used his heart more than his head and wanted to promote as many people as many times as he could - all from a belief of "greater good". In our daily car pooling, we used to discuss (and sometimes argue as well) about this subject. For me, a promotion was a function of at least 3 things: past performance, potential for future performance and positions' fitment within overall organisational structure.
But what worried me was that all our KPI's from the appraisal process were with a myopic horizon - next 6 months or at beast 12 months. After all, these KPI's decided our performance bonuses. More importantly, it gave us a sense of accomplishment - almost like instant gratification. There was no need to think long term, because in the long term, "you're dead"!
Yet, for years I hear about dissatisfaction with the Performance Appraisal system - doesn't matter which organisation or what country. This is all pervasive. Then, how come, this theory from Dr Deming never got the kind of acceptance it deserves? Perhaps, deep down, most managers and leaders agree with the notion, but do not have the courage to adopt it in their organisations.
As one of the contributors quoted, "If you think Annual Reviews are a great idea, try doing one on your spouse on your Anniversary."
In an organisation where I worked previously, I had a colleague who led a large team in the region. Very nice guy, very high on EQ, used his heart more than his head and wanted to promote as many people as many times as he could - all from a belief of "greater good". In our daily car pooling, we used to discuss (and sometimes argue as well) about this subject. For me, a promotion was a function of at least 3 things: past performance, potential for future performance and positions' fitment within overall organisational structure.
But what worried me was that all our KPI's from the appraisal process were with a myopic horizon - next 6 months or at beast 12 months. After all, these KPI's decided our performance bonuses. More importantly, it gave us a sense of accomplishment - almost like instant gratification. There was no need to think long term, because in the long term, "you're dead"!
Yet, for years I hear about dissatisfaction with the Performance Appraisal system - doesn't matter which organisation or what country. This is all pervasive. Then, how come, this theory from Dr Deming never got the kind of acceptance it deserves? Perhaps, deep down, most managers and leaders agree with the notion, but do not have the courage to adopt it in their organisations.
As one of the contributors quoted, "If you think Annual Reviews are a great idea, try doing one on your spouse on your Anniversary."
posted by Sandeep Gupta at
9:55 am
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