W.E. Deming, Jerome Juran and many others have thought hard about ratings and grades. They didn't pay much attention to the grades we give students in school, which is probably a very large portion of all grades given. Although, when Microsoft first came out with Powerpoint for many presentations, the data they gathered to see if the effort was worthwhile found the business world full of presentations outside of schools. It might be that more grades and evaluations are given out of school than in, for all I know.
They were more interested in business and organizational situations where people are asked to rate their co-workers. Many people have studied the problem of evaluation of workers, colleagues and employees. Of course, some people are going to be more valuable, more productive than others. I guess most of us would attribute superior performance to superior ability and superior diligence. They would clearly matter. However, chance is a big factor and sometimes the opportunities one person gets are quite rich while another is hit by bad luck.
But ratings themselves can be affected by personality and bias, explicitly and also unconsciously. If your face reminds me of my least favorite uncle, I make find your work inferior for reasons neither of us would ever know about. If you don't like people with English surnames, I might never get a very good rating from you.
But if you and I work in the accounting department, we might look at what the department has achieved over the past year and rate that effort instead of the individuals in the department. It might help all of the members of our department to think about the department as a whole and its record. What have we done well as a group? What was not done well?
Trying to move the focus of evaluation from individuals to the group's effort and effect can benefit all. There is less bickering and backbiting and more genuine thought on what will make for progress on variables of importance.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
