Forced Distribution Discussion Post

Although many firms have adopted forced distribution as a form of performance appraisal, I would rate this management system as unfair to the employees and negatively affects individual performance and teamwork rather than helping achieve an organization’s goals and objectives. Every employee has their strengths and weaknesses, hence cannot perform to equal measure. Therefore, using a forced ranking system to measure performance is unfair to some of the employees. Furthermore, the forced distribution system compares employees to each other rather than against particular standards hence does not consider employee’s ability. The forced distribution also specifies the number of employees in each category; for example, out of 100 employees, only ten could fall in the “top” category, a higher number in the middle, and others in the bottom category. The managers have to choose only ten people to be at the top, even if 20 qualified.

               As a human resource professional within an organization, I would not recommend forced rankings because the system leads to favoritism, kills employee morale, and reduces teamwork. Although organizations try to rate their employees fairly, the system is subject to bias. Managers may find it hard to give a poor rating to their people or carry poor performers throughout the year to have someone to place in the “poor” category every year. Forced rankings also foster the notion of survival for the fittest; hence each employee strives to be better than the others. Consequently, employees will not share ideas that could raise other employees’ standards or put them a notch higher. When employees recognize the competition with others, they may engage in unethical behavior to survive the competition; hence there is no teamwork. Because everyone focuses on the tasks they are assessed on, employees do not unleash their talents thus do not reach their full potential. Forced ranking would have the same effect in a class setting. If I got an 80 (B-), but I am ranked last, and having failed in the class, it would demoralize me.  I would let my professor know that I was only 20 marks away from the marking scheme even though I was ranked last; therefore, I had performed better relative to the key performance indicators.