Kris Dunn of the hr capitalist has a great riff on the middling trend in merit pay that I posted about recently. Kris says:
Why do socialists love weak performance management cultures? Because they de-emphasize the individual - especially the performer - and make everyone look the same. Next thing you know, national GDP is flat, the best jobs are in government and it takes 60 minutes of standing in line to get a loaf of bread ... It's like the Soup Nazi, no tolerance for deviation, even the positive kind ...
I also agree with Kris' assertion that, at least partly, this can be traced back to confrontation avoiding behavior on the part of managers. But if there are no consequences for behaving that way, many managers (who, let's face it, have a lot of demands on their time) will stick with the "path of least resistance". The best designed performance management process will ultimately go nowhere if those responsible for managing performance are not held accountable for doing so. And that accountability, like so many other aspects of corporate culture, must start at the top of the house.
I don't think its any accident that the organizations I have worked with whose CEO is the one driving the performance management process are also the ones where the process seems to be most successful.
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