Employee Ranking Systems LO16526

Kenneth Brown (ken.brown@lakeheadu.ca)
Tue, 13 Jan 1998 12:16:51 -0500

Replying to LO16503 --

On 12 January 1998, Roxanne Abbas wrote ...

>Please help!
>
>The January issue of ACA (American Compensation Association) News includes
>an article about Osram Sylvania^Rs new Performance Management System. I
>was surprised to learn that they had implemented two practices that I have
>long considered archaic and counter-productive: company-wide employee
>ranking (3700 employees) and forced distribution of performance ratings ...
[... and so on]

Roxanne's contribution reminds me of the book: Milton, O., H.R.Pollio,
and J.A. Eison. 1986. Making Sense of College Grades. Jossey-Bass. 287
pp.

Chapter 9 is especially insightful on two topics: 1) why teachers grade
and 2) what happens to learning when teachers use grades to rank students.
Although Milton et al. are clearly writing about school, it seems likely
that their points apply more broadly to situations wherein people are
being evaluated and ranked.

Roxanne's comments cover some of the same ground.

Kenneth M. Brown
Professor of Forestry
Lakehead University
Thunder Bay, ON
Canada P7B 5E1

Voice: (807) 343-8114 (W)
(807) 344-8638 (H)
Fax: (807) 343-8116
e-mail: kbrown@mist.lakeheadu.ca
or: ken.brown@lakeheadu.ca

-- 

ken.brown@lakeheadu.ca (Kenneth Brown)

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