Employee Ranking Systems

By Andy Meisler - Forced ranking is a subject that makes many top managers cringe. I believe that the reason for the great reluctance about talking about forced ranking, says Dick Grote, founder and head of Grote Consulting Corporation in Addison, Texas, is that in our culture we have a bone-deep belief in egalitarianism. That all people are essentially the same. And one of the great advantages of forced ranking is that it requires reluctant managers to actually identify the most and the least talented members of the work group. (Added: 8-Aug-2005 Hits: 1673 )

By Robert Bacal - It's an important question. We tackle whether the rank and yank techniques actually work. You may be surprised at the answer. (Added: 12-Oct-2006 Hits: 1437 )

By Loren Gary - Performance appraisals used to be a way to reward employees. Now so-called forced rankings are being used to lay them off. But will you be sued if you use them? (Added: 28-Jul-2005 Hits: 1770 )

By Tom Osborne and Laurie A. McCann - Comprehensive discussion of employee forced ranking systems, legal and ethical issues, and effectiveness. Highly recommended. (Added: 28-Jul-2005 Hits: 1265 )

By Patty Davis - When an effective performance management system is combined with a compensation management process, the results can be the same as those sought in a forced distribution system, but without the negative effects. Instead of looking for a crutch, organisations need to set clear expectations and hold managers accountable for achieving them in addition to tracking performance and providing coaching and honest feedback. By doing so, the organisation's human resources management processes will have integrity. After all, wasn't that the objective all the time? (Added: 28-Jul-2005 Hits: 1208 )

By Robert Bacal - Rank and yank is based on a number of false assumptions. We examine the first which has to do with the idea that new hires will be better than the people that got yanked. (Added: 12-Oct-2006 Hits: 658 )

By Robert Bacal - One fallacy upon which rank and yank procedures are based has to do with the absolute differences between poor employees and less poor employees. (Added: 9-Jul-2007 Hits: 785 )