Whether you are a top, average or a bottom performer, is a question that almost every employee dreads in the run-up to the much awaited appraisal trip and its aftermath. Companies are gradually switching their 'appraisal' gears in favour of new inclusive assessment tools such as feedback-based performance systems, or absolute rating that takes cognisance of employee-employer dialogue in assessing an employee's performance. This means that the much in use 'bell-curve' strategy has almost reached its nemesis as many companies say they no longer resort to force-bracket individuals into performance categories. Also, the trend for yearly appraisals is slowly being replaced by 'check-point' reviews where employees are subjected to multiple yearly appraisals, as against a single annual review. Others have since implemented more inclusive evaluation processes that are supposedly friendlier in tone and help to empower employees at all levels in their assessments. One of the pitfalls of the 'bell-curve' system was documented in a Harvard Business Review (HBR) article in 2012 that attributed Microsoft's 'lost decade' to the rigidly implemented the bell-curve that encouraged engineers and developers, but also led them to compete with each other rather than work in collaboration. In an informal dipstick survey, Corporate Citizen attempts to unfurl the viability of the 'bell-curve'
I have never been a fan of the bell-curve. If there is a bell, there's always 'noise'. It is not about the bell-curve, it is all about how you engage people. Why do you need a bell-curve? Why aren't you putting learning as the focal point rather than performance as the point? When you put performance as the central point, then it becomes a bell-curve. When you put learning as the central point, performance becomes a sub-product of learning. But then how do you reward people? Well, it's a different ballgame altogether. You'll have to move away from a task-based reward system to a team-based system. That's what we are trying to do in terms of aligning our business. If you reward the team by moving away from a task-based reward system to a team-based system, it helps. When you put an individual task, it always becomes a selfish goal. Then you don't put the organisation before you. When there is a complex customer problem, and we work as a team and the entire team gets a reward, then we are on the right track, says Vinodh Chelambathodi, Chief Human Resource Officer at Intellect Design Arena Limited (a Polaris Group company).
If you reward the team by moving away from a task-based reward system to a team-based system, it helps. When you put an individual task, it always becomes a selfish goal. Then you don't put the organisation before you. When there is a complex customer problem, and we work as a team and the entire team gets a reward VINODH CHELAMBATHODI, Chief Human Resource Officer at Intellect Design Arena Limited
However, the notion on the viability of the bell-curve continues to engage enough debates and mixed feelings amongst HR circles. When it comes to embracing the bell-curve mechanism, sector-specific HR functions do make the call in favour of employee engagement_with or without the bell-curve 'aura'.
For Arti Raghava, Director of Human Resources at JW Marriott Hotel, Bengaluru, despite the recent trends of prominent corporate players moving away from 'bell-curve'; it still holds good for the hospitality industry in India. "The merits for redundancy of the bell-curve and usefulness enjoy equal merits when you look at the foundation of both systems. The undeniable reality in current scenario of pegging an employee's performance in comparison to another one is embedded in our conditioning. It starts early in our life from when we are learning to walk and its impact on parents is evident in all generations including millennia's," she said.
For Aparna Sharma, Senior HR Leader, Independent Director on the Board of T S Alloys Ltd. and a author of 'Reality Bytes -The Role of HR in Today's World', the 'bell-curve' is far from redundant in the entire performance evaluation process. "While there are companies who have moved away from it to try and implement other methods, there are those that still swear by the bell-curve. To draw a parallel from the fashion apparel industry_some of the trends of Short Kurtis or Anakarlis (for women) or bandhgala or, Nehru' jackets (for men) had been shelved for several decades before making a comeback again in the last few years."
Aparna explained that there was a lot of criticism for the bell-curve; hence every-one wanted to try out alternate evaluation methods. "Few companies have jumped onto the bandwagon after internal alignment on the alternate method. However, please note that there is a science and art involved in the Performance Appraisal & Evaluation process. The current day Performance management processes followed in organisations of which bell-curve was a part had both the Science & Art parts to it. Moving away from this method since it did not agree with those who fell on the bottom (lower end) of the curve, can be a populist stand. Needless to say, we must keep improvising and reviewing processes based on employee feedback so that they remain dynamic," said Aparna.
"Bell-curve is merely a representation of learning curve for employees and to view it the workplace evil only poses question mark on our own conditioning and value systems" ARTI RAGHAVA, Director of Human Resources at JW Marriott Hotel, Bengaluru
It was quite a big wave of a change since 2013 in corporate appraisal mechanism when bigwigs, the likes of Accenture, CISCO and online retailers like Flipkart, Yepme and cab aggregator Ola joined the tribe of companies such as Microsoft Services, Google, Adobe, and KPMG to gradually discard the bell-curve and similar methods deployed for annual performance appraisals. Companies like Juniper and Kelly Services abandoned the bell-curve much before the others did. For Accenture, the idea was to build on their on-going real-time feedback mechanisms which were seen as a positive step for its employees; around 30 percent (2015) of whom were based out of India. In fact, GE, the pioneer of the bell-curve momentum in HR circles too has gradually transitioned to more moderate mechanisms in assessing their employees. The surge continued in 2015, as Infosys too slowly moved away from the bell-curve by bringing in more flexibility amongst managers in assessing their teams but, retained their ratings system.
"The 'bell-curve' is still considered a key parameter to design a company's compensation and benefit approach as well as identify key development areas and providing career opportunities. The utility stretches further in shaping succession planning strategies to elevate organisation's human capital management efforts and capabilities. This utility is of great advantage to human resources when the performance management is given its due credit and performed with the utmost sincerity. A meaningful and well-structured performance management is significant in driving a company's talent management strategies and aligning it with overall business success," explained Arti Raghava.
While there are companies who have moved away from it to try and implement other methods, there are those that still swear by the bell-curve. To draw a parallel from the fashion apparel industry - some of the trends of short kurtis or anakarlis(for women) or bandhgala or Nehru' jackets (for men) APARNA SHARMA, Senior HR Leader, Independent Director on the Board of T S Alloys Ltd.
"The bell-curve still carries a lot of weight in our industry as it aids to address many complex decisions with regards to the organisation's talent management strategies as mentioned before including succession planning. Human work behaviour is very dynamic and 'bell-curve' performance approach has been delivering sustainable support in successfully achieving our business goals and managing the human capital assets. Though, 'bell-curve' system has been receiving much criticism in recent times, it truthfully and sincerely projects our most basic human needs of finding a way to categorise front-runners and followers. If this system deserves to be redundant then the first step has to be look at societal norms and conditioning our children from early age to promote a non-rating approach and non-competitive environment for everything they go through from childhood to finding admission in top schools and finding employment in top companies," said Arti. According to Arti, the hospital-ity industry represents many intangible performance goals for employees and many are very challenging to translate into a boxed approach of appraisals. The 'bell-curve' therefore is a true fit in the hospitality industry as it helps line managers to really appreciate those employees, who excel in comparison to average performers. "This is most noteworthy usefulness of 'bell-curve' in face of imbedded complexities of rating human behaviour at work functioning at different motivational level though performing in similar environments", Arti said.
While the debate rages on whether to completely axe the bell-curve, Aparna's remedy to the bell-curve syndrome is that, "Alternate(appraisal) processes which are/will be followed are more subjective and fluid and have to stand the test of time and a few appraisal cycles before the final verdict is in their favour. The moot point is that organisations need to follow the Performance Management Process with an ongoing feedback and assessment mechanism for it to get embedded into the organisational culture".
By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar
