James Carrington asks:
>One of the things I find very interesting concerning this debate
>regarding ranking and PA systems is that while proponents of such systems
>can point to specific systems that seem to work (Hewlett-Packard, L.L.
>Bean), opponents have not yet pointed to any specific examples of
>successful companies that have thrown out their old appraisal/ranking
>systems in favor of an alternative.
I know of only a few organizations that have made a major change from
their traditional performance management system which includes a summary
rating of the employee into one of three or four or five categories.
- Park Nicollet Health Care, I believe their current name is Health
Systems Minnesota, eliminated their performance review and ratings system
several years ago as a part of their quality transformation, which was
based on Deming's teaching. Two years later they reported that they were
very happy with the new approach which focused on performance feedback.
I've put in a call to get an update now that new management has taken
over.
- Homestyles Publishing in St. Paul, MN replaced a very unpopular
traditional system with performance feedback and competency based pay.
They have struggled with competency based pay but the performance feedback
process which includes no type of rating is considered a great success.
- Diversified Graphics of Minneapolis eliminated their traditional rating
system many years ago and now have a paperless system that relies on
face-to-face, real time, communication among all employees.
- I have heard that Hallmark Cards in Kansas City eliminated their formal
written system and now rely entirely on verbal communication. I've also
placed a call to verify this information.
All surveys that I've seen show that most employees and managers are very
dissatisfied with their traditional, top down, performance management
system. Although there is a lot of tweaking going on, I haven't heard of
many major changes. However, I do believe that ranking is a very rarely a
component of a company-wide system. I know of no other company than
Hewlett Packard and Osram Sylvania that use it. (Rol uses the term
ranking for LL Bean's triage system, but this is more typically called a
performance rating system.)
--Roxanne Abbas mailto:rabbas@comp-web.com http://comp-web.com
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