Forced ranking was never more than a smoke screen so that management could eliminate higher paid employees and reduce the workforce into compliant fools. Short term monetary gains are possible when companies can milk old products but eventually the company will die due to management incompetence and a spineless workforce - witness GE. It is very telling that Cummins is committed to this path and it won’t end well.
Originally posted by @midl+17JVURVK.
If this is true, great.
Cummins decided today that everyone gets 3% increase and no one would get a rating
I was involved with many force ranking discussions over the years being a director at Cummins. The cases and observations here are spot on. No one mentioned people of 'color'. I saw many of these poor performers pushed up the ranking list because they were afraid of 'problems' resulting. Unfortunately, it looks like this is all HR is good for anymore...protecting the poor performers of color. Shameful.
The forced ranking system works short term, but long term it hurts a company. It’s one of the things that is taught in MBA programs (thanks for paying for mine Cummins. I’ve used it successfully to leave and get better jobs at better companies). Forced ranking pits employees against each other in a "survival of the fittest" system, leading employees to "feel unmotivated and disengaged" as well as creating "unnecessary internal competition that can be destructive to synergy, creativity and innovation.
In my 14 years at Cummins I found that it had little to do with my actual performance and it had more to do with how well my manager could argue on my behalf. If you had a passive manager you’re screwed. If you had a pit bull for a manager you did well. For many years I worked for a pit bull. After she left, I started realizing how unfair it was. It wasn’t long thereafter that I left.
As you may have read in many comments, forced ranking is a tool/excuse to get rid of people you want too not that they are underperforming. Many people where high performers and doing a good job and yet where considered low performer while someone else that is connected to the boss is getting a good performance rating. It's political and everyone knows it. Especially when you have a good performance and are still let go.
The new direction is to move towards fuel cells and hydrogen. They are starting to commercialize with new product portfolio. Inevitably and unfortunately the reduction of workforce will happen in the long run with the declining diesel market. As individual we really don’t have too much choice other than equip ourselves with new skillset/knowledge to adapt the changes. Moaning is just not the solution and will not change the status quo. Everybody in this company is on the same boat including myself. The change of direction is challenging but we really don’t have choices and must adapt and make our way forward.
I don’t like force ranking neither which is happening right now. But I do see the point to weed out those underperformed. It is people who makes the difference. For the cut due to strategy/direction/cost saving, no commercial company is running like a charity. I went through rounds of rounds RIF and was impacted. I understand how painful it is to individual as we all need a job to make a living and raise family. BUT we have to be realistic to this and prepare ourselves for the change.
I hope this helps, it definitely help myself to stay rational.