The Curmudgeonly Trainer

It’s scary. Just plain scary. A person who’s identity I have removed - a an HR person/trainers said about employee rankings and ratings:
On 11 May 2004 at 21:23, edllarena wrote:
The use “words” or “numbers” (or both) in evaluating or “rating a performance” is very common. Some people find “words” to be more accurate in describing [...]

On feedback upwards, appraisals to supervisors and supervisors:
I think we need to separate two different functions - one is judging (my manager does this or that well or badly), and providing critical information or feedback to help the manager do his or her job, and support the employee in getting their jobs done.
If we are [...]

Here’s a take on the use of rewards in the workplace.
First, with rewards like this, staff will habituate, so you may get an initial increase in performance, which will fall off rapidly. Or, a bigger problem may arise.
Second, while I can hardly stand Alfie Kohn’s work, the one thing that stands out and I believe [...]

Thought this might be of interest.
http://www.cob.sjsu.edu/facstaff/malos_s/bookchap.htm
It’s a book chapter analysis of legal issues and performance appraisals, and it seems pretty comprehensive, citing a truckload of case law.
Whether it supports or doesn’t support the use of performance appraisals, I can’t say. It’s not exactly bedtime reading BUT if you really are into these things, worth checking [...]

Fred Nichols has oft suggested that we scrap performance appraisals, while I contend that we need to teach people to use it intelligently. Here’s a bit from the ongoing conversation.
I think this is a great example showing that we have a tendency to look at performance appraisal issues through our own direct experience, which is [...]