Forced ranking under the spotlight

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Forced ranking under the spotlight

There seems to be books and articles all over the place about forced ranking - even though it is still languishing on the periphery of mainstream performance management in the UK. One of the secrets of success, writes Keith Rodgers in a recent issue of Personnel Today, is combining it with other measurement tools.

By now, most of you will be familiar with the Jack Welch-inspired concept of "culling" the lowest-ranking employees. All too often, it does not get a good press, but Keith Rodgers reckons that when it is used in conjunction with other HR tools such as competency profiling, career development processes and e-learning, "it offer organisations the chance to really leverage their human capital assets".

What you will find in this article

This two-page Personnel Today feature:

• takes readers through the basics of forced ranking
• looks at the pros and cons
• examines how "anomalies can be ironed out" using other software and management tools
• includes a mini-case study of developments at Siebel Systems, a Silicon Valley-based computer software company.

A final word

"In many companies ranking is evolving into a highly sophisticated measurement activity, supported by a growing array of software tools and business processes." - Keith Rodgers, Personnel Today.

Want to know more?

Title: "Making the grade", by Keith Rodgers, Personnel Today, 2 April 2002.

Availability: Visit the Personnel Today web site for subscription details . . . www.personneltoday.com