Bulldozer00's Blog

The practice of performance appraisal is a mandated process in which, for a specified period of time, all or a group of employees’ work performance, behaviors, or traits are individually rated, judged, or described by a person other than the rated employee and the results are kept by the organization. – Coens, Tom; Jenkins, Mary. Abolishing Performance Appraisals

“Abolishing Performance Appraisals” was written 10 years ago. In their seminal book, Tom Coens and Mary Jenkins provide case studies of the following organizations as having replaced the Annual Performance Appraisal (APR) with something different:

University of Wisconsin Credit Union
Madison,Wisconsin, Police Department
Wheaton Franciscan Services, Inc.
Glenroy, Inc.
Gallery Furniture Company
Entre Computer Service
Memorial Hospital, Fremont, Ohio
Michigan State University
Electronic Data Systems (before being acquired by HP)
GM-Powertrain

I wonder how these orgs are doing today? Could some/most of them have gone down the tubola like most of the orgs in Tom Peters‘ revered “In Search Of Excellence“? If so, BD00 wouldn’t be surprised. Even when successful new practices are placed into operation, the powerful forces acting on an org to revert back to the old status quo are ever present. These forces usually win out when new management, indoctrinated with old FOSTMA thinking, takes over the reins.