Forced Ranking Appraisal

1. What's your opinion regarding forced ranking performance appraisal? Do they motivate employees? Explain

Forced ranking system does motivate employees. There is a need for some sort of

reward system to motivate employees, especially those who has a goal-settings aligned in getting the rewards. It would only be fair for those who has outstanding performances to be rewarded kindly, and those who has standard performances being rewarded according to standard share. This is where the forced ranking system works best; to separate talented people with

common people, and to motivate certain employees with abilities, to perform even better.

Some employees that are too lacking or without the motivation or future promises are normally in the lowest ranking with high risk of getting salary cut and even dismissal, to allow a more ‘useful’ employee to join and contribute to the workforce.

This seems harsh, however could be the turning point for some employees in getting other jobs that might suit their abilities.

This system could also be useful in motivating lower ranking employees to work harder to achieve better rankings, and therefore better rewards. Employees who had a goal-setting to achieve better performances due to lower ranking drop would show persistence and tenacity in achieving their target.

2. How would equity theory explain some employees negative reactions to forced ranking?

A forced ranking system comparing employee performances against each other would mean that certain number of employees would need to get a lower ranking despite similar effort and performances shown. This is required to achieve certain quota

on the forced ranking, otherwise there will be no bottom level of the ranking. This would question the organizational justice as below :

Distributive justice - the distribution of rewards such as promotions and other favourable decisions can go against a certain group of employees with similar performances due to the ranking...