Performance Evaluation Systems LO7799

Dr Ilfryn Price (101701.3454@compuserve.com)
Sun, 9 Jun 1996 09:43:35 -0400

Replying to LO7781 --

>A team was recently formed at my site to improve our performance
evaluation system. As of this weekt the team has discussed problems with
the current system, compared the four systems we are familiar with, and
consolidated the key attributes we felt were the best into one list, shown
below.
-- end of quote --

Geoffery

One think your team might like to try and do is to figure out, and
compare, the 'real' performance systems operating in each of the four
partnering companies. I can suggest an excercise for doing this if you [or
anyone else] are interested. In my observations of 'partnering situations'
[and other forms of changes to formal evaluation systems] it is the
Unwritten Rules' that frequently have more impact on actual behaviour than
whatever is written as the formal system. Much effort can be put into
designing and writing a new 'written' system to, unfortunately, little
effect.

The source of this insight, for me, was Peter Scott-Morgan's book which I
have mentioned before on this list. I had the pleasure of working with
Peter about 5 years ago in a company which had just spent an awful lot of
money and effort devising new competencies and reward systems to apply to
its future high flyers. After a weeks work we predicted that the new
system would not work. The HR Director's response was "We have just had an
18 month research project done which says exactly that. We were wondering
why"

I do not want that example to come across as advocacy of a miracle recipe.
I am using it only to make the point that it the performance system which
actually drives performance is often not the one that is assumed to drive
performance.

If people from your four partnering organisations are obliged, by their
parent companies, to play to different rules your chances of your group
succeeding in their endeavour to make a difference are drastically
lowered.

If Price
The Harrow Partnership
Pewley Fort Guildford UK
101701.3454@compuserve.com

-- 

Dr Ilfryn Price <101701.3454@compuserve.com>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>