Is employee ranking consistent with Lean thinking principles?
Here’s the opinion of some experts: • Nina Atwood, Executive Coach, TEC Chair3, and LEAN Affiliate: “Consider the impact to morale and trust. Employees often become suspicious of management’s motive – is it about improving performance or downsizing the organization? This suspicion can create unhealthy competition among employees, and rapidly erode the trust employees have with management.”4 • Lee Colan, President of The L Group, a management consulting firm in Dallas, Texas: “Forced ranking systems do just that – they force your management to make arbitrary decisions about their people. Instead of ranking, focus on mutual goal setting, employee involvement, and ongoing coaching with feedback and measurement of progress.”5 • W. Edwards Deming, educator and author: Deming lists “evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review of performance” as one of businesses’ “7 Deadly Diseases”: “Performance ratings build fear, and leave people bitter, despondent, and beaten. The effects o
