They offered insights on why rating systems often fail to accurately identify excellence, how they sometimes demoralize employees, and also how they can be effective.
Confident people tend to overlook the kiss-up factor.
The comments that had been made to the employees were very praiseworthy, he says, but the rankings, used to grant raises, were average. Very few of these people were still with the company a year after this exercise. Still others note that the performance-rating system only makes sense if those being ranked against each other perform very similar jobs. My boss, who has to do such ranking, was completely baffled. In five or six years, folks who were solid middle are getting pressed to be cut.