Here are my thoughts regarding your observations/comments in the order listed in your post:
1. Mike, you’re right on this. Many companies wonder what to do instead. When a caller asked Dr. Deming what to do instead, he said with a smile, “I don’t know if there is anything better at demoralizing a workforce! The Performance Appraisal just might be the perfect answer!” Of course he was just trying to be funny. His contention was ‘why’ is it even necessary to replace an individual measurement and ranking system? For some reason, business feels compelled to replace ‘this’ with ‘that’. It’s like replacing an addiction with another. He further went on to say that the business (and managers) should be busy measuring the output of the System, not People.
I appreciate that you are open minded and patient and this reflects well in your postings.
2. I hope that nobody here (especially me) has given you or anyone else the feeling that they are stupid because they think or see things differently. Instead, I hope that folks here have presented their thoughts in a way that anyone reading them might pause a moment to reflect on their theory and refine it as necessary (as I often do). Nothing in my mind is permanently fixed, and as with you, I am capable of turning a 180° as necessary. At this time though, my studies have led me to believe that PAs are counter productive and harmful. As for companies that have scrapped the process, I refer you to “Abolishing Performance Appraisals” by Tom Coens and Mary Jenkins who cite several examples.
3. PDCA is good advice and applicable anywhere. Also, it is important to understand as fully as possible what it is one is thinking and doing. We will never have perfect answers, but we can have more “informed opinion” about things and hopefully this leads to better decision making.
Well, I don’t know if I did anything here to modify anyone’s theory on the need for/against performance appraisals but here is a reading list/links (those that have influenced my thinking) I have compiled for those who are interested:
Alfie Kohn:
THE CASE AGAINST STANDARDIZED TESTING:
Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools (2000)
NO CONTEST:
The Case Against Competition (1986/1992)
PUNISHED BY REWARDS:
The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes (1993/1999)
THE SCHOOLS OUR CHILDREN DESERVE:
Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards" (1999)
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A CLASSROOM . . . and Other Essays (1998)
Peter Scholtes:
The Leader’s Handbook
Tom Coens and Mary Jenkin’s
Abolishing Performance Appraisals
Myron Tribus
Many of his papers can be found at this link (pay attention to those he has written on education):
http://deming.ces.clemson.edu/pub/den/deming_tribus.htm
David Langford
A link to his site and many offerings:
http://www.langfordlearning.com/
W. Edwards Deming:
Out of the Crisis
The New Economics
Brian Joiner:
Fourth Generation Management
I have read another three or four books by authors who hold an opposite view point, but I can’t recall their names or the title clearly. Here is an attempt at an incomplete list:
Motivation: How to reward employees
Organizational Behavior
If necessary, I’ll post those titles and authors when I get a chance.
Many contributors to this thread from several vantage points: great discussion folks! .
Regards,
Kevin