Belling the bell curve – A tool of merit rating and it’s ramifications
Author : C.P.Hariharan
e mail id.: cphari_04@yahoo.co.in
The bell curve is a tool of performance evaluation. It emphasizes the need for merit based performance evaluation. It recognizes and rewards distinct performers. It’s transparent. It helps in tracing the training needs.
As each of us is unique, we do not like to be compared with our colleagues. But unfortunately, many a time, we face the situations of comparison in our career and we have to confront peer pressure. We get embarrassed by our boss’s remark that we are only a mediocre or else not up to the mark. Bell curve enables us to understand where we are standing in relation to others in the organization and what should we do to meet or beat the expectations of higher ups. If appraisal letters are based on facts and figures, it will be convenient to explain the logic behind merit rating system to employees. This way they come to know their position against their contemporaries. Unless the appraisal is based on data, it will not be convincing to employees. Bell curve does away with the tendency of painting all the employees with the same brush, a convenient way of treating everybody at par and shirking one’ s responsibility of evaluating performance sincerely. Attitudes of supervisors vary. Some are more lenient than others. Use of bell curve smoothen the differences and brings equality across the board. Blue chip companies like Infosys, Microsoft have done away with the bell curve and it is too early to judge what consequences this decision will usher. Merit rating largely hinges on the growth and development of the business, internal management efficacies, monitoring performance of employees through assessment on a consistent basis and through interactions. Abandoning the bell curve helps to avert biased ranking and will pave the way for better rating systems based on merit. But, building supervisory caliber throughout the organization to implement a performance evaluation system by resorting to regular assessment is not an easy to task accomplish. Corporate are not socially oriented organizations and comparisons and differentiations are part and parcel of any performance evaluation process. Repugnance against bell curve lies not in the tool as such but the way it is deployed. Bell curve differentiates distinct performers. As long as the approach is fair, it is fine. Face to face interactions and assessment is the crux of performance evaluation process.
So the question remains, how should we proceed with the performance evaluation .Managers should use the bell curve sagaciously without any bias, strings or encumbrances attached to it while evaluating performance. It is a subjective process. Tools of assessment and defining standards and expectations are crucial for making the system more convincing.
Finally, managers need to be systematic, frank and impartial in applying the bell curve in order to gain the credibility of employees. More often than not, managers pursue the patterns set by others to restore to the equilibrium. Managers should understand that they need to be distinct to honestly evaluate their team members. It is important that they give a corroborated feedback and clearly explain the logic of their approach.
Employers expect us to come out of comfort zone in order to keep a cut above the rest in the fray. Employees should remember that their delivered performance speaks for itself and they do not have to argue. Pointing fingers on others will only degenerate their own position in the organizational echelon. Employees should refrain from blaming the bell curve. When they are not playing their roles well, they cannot blame the system. If they can deliver performance, the system will ensure a fair pay compared to those who duck and buck and resort to dumping the work on others’ table.
Secret payroll system
Pay package is a very sensitive issue and is very much linked to performance. It is a great motivator and rules the roost of mind of most of us. It is always better to pursue secret pay roll system for creating a hail and healthy working environment. Each of us prefers to keep our pay package top most secret and nobody would like to share what salary we are drawing. Hence, the need for secret pay package need hardly be over emphasized. We are getting our pay package according to our own efficiencies and capabilities. Not that all the five fingers are equal. Each of us is unique and hence we should not compare ourselves with others. Somebody is getting more because they are contributing more to the success of the organization. Poking your nose into others’ pay package makes no sense. Open pay roll system creates havoc, friction among employees. Hence, an employer would always prefer secret payroll system. It is also logical in the sense, in what way we are concerned about what others are getting or not getting? Does it really make any difference to us? We should mind our own business. Much of our restlessness evolve when we poke our nose into others personal matters. We will get only what is predestined and what we deserve. Performance efficiencies differ. Hence, we have to give allowance for the same and we need to draw a line somewhere and mind our own business to improve ourselves and keep our kettle of mettle boiling. Even the holy book “Bhagavat Gita” says that we have only right to do our duties and the results are not in our hands and hence we should not bother about results. Everything will come to us when the time is ripe, if we deserve it and if we have rights on it and we do not have to run behind anything for that matter.
Realization of self
By resorting to self appraisal, we can reach higher echelons of the organizational ladder without bothering or apprehending about performance evaluation. For many people performance appraisal is a nightmare. They face sleepless nights even weeks before an annual performance appraisal. If we do our duties properly, we do not have to apprehend about performance appraisal. Self appraisal makes us more strong and resistant to face performance appraisal.
Every year corporate expects us to do self appraisal, self assessment regarding our achievements of targets and what are our strengths and weaknesses in order to help management to zero in on our pay hike. In the same way, we need to introspect, a sort of flash back, what we have really accomplished while we retire. Let us suppose that God almighty raises the following queries to us.
What have you really accomplished in your life?
What’s your contribution in ameliorating the vows of downtrodden communities?
Have you given the same importance to inculcating moral and spiritual values in the children just as you are boosting their academic career?
What you have done for the common welfare of mankind at large?
Have you shared at the least a miniscule of your wealth accumulations with those who were very much in need of it?
Have you adopted generosity, kindness, succor, love, tolerance and humility as a way of your life?
Have you treaded on the path of righteousness and truth?
Do you have ready and affirmative answers to such queries?
But, the truth is that nobody has ever really posed such queries to us?
The true fact is that we have to bear the brunt of our karma either in this birth or else in the ensuing births. If we deny help to the needy, we will also be denied help in the same fashion, when we are in need .We will be paid back in the same coin.
Our past actions have a bearing on the quality of our present life. Human birth provides us an opportunity to nullify, negate our past karmas. It is for us to refrain from karmas that have adverse impact on us. If we so wish, we can lead a life of serenity and fulfillment to liberate ourselves from the cycle of births and deaths.
How do we attain this? Sanatana dharma guides us in dealing with outside world and brings forth discipline in the way we live and enables us to imbibe and impart the traits of love and humility. It teaches us to pursue moral and cultural values and tells us to render services to mankind as service to mankind is service to God. It teaches us to tread in the path of truth, virtue and righteousness. It shows us the way to surrender to God almighty through the grace of guru, through devotion, by keeping good companions and by meditation.
Most of our problems begin as we are more curious to know about the external world rather than focusing our attention to the reality within. Ask yourself, who are we?
Gain knowledge about yourself first. What is your role here in this earth? Will I be subjected to repeated cycles of life and death? What is my ultimate destination?
Let us learn more about ourselves. This physical body is ephemeral. We experience it only when we are conscious and not while sleeping. It will grow and die out one day. The mind too is a pool of thoughts teeming with ego which stands as a stumbling block in our self realization. We are not the body, nor are we the mind, nor even are we the senses. We are the self (the atman) a reflection of eternal reality. Self is the infinite consciousness, endless like a line and unconditioned.
Once the self is known, then nothing else needs to be known. Nothing bothers us then. We become liberated. We remain immune to worldly pleasures, indiscriminate, random accusations and sadness. We attain the state of perfect bliss free from encumbrances, aversions, hatred, and the arguments of yours and mine. Do self appraisal and progress in your two pronged objectives of treading through the path of righteousness and finally reach the state of knowing the consciousness” Aham brhmasmi”, I am brahmn”. I am part of the infinite, eternal whole.
Author : C.P.Hariharan
e mail id.: cphari_04@yahoo.co.in
