As companies globalize, are candid performance appraisals and employee rankings still possible in cultures where they seem to stir undesirable reactions?
It’s all a matter of throttle. Look, some cultures, particularly those in Asia, seem to, well, freak out when American managers start practicing differentiation, especially the ranking of employees into performance categories, such as the top 20%, middle 70%, and bottom 10%. Then again, some Asian cultures have welcomed it.
Indeed, we’ve seen companies in Chicago and Atlanta resist differentiation as often as we’ve seen ones in China and Europe embrace it. Our conclusion: Differentiation works everywhere when managers introduce it with clarity, spell out its benefits, and practice it fairly.
Sure, cultures with deep traditions of “politeness” need differentiation to be throttled in slowly. But people the world over long to know where they stand. When it comes to accepting change, only their speed limits differ.
This question and answer originally appeared in Business Week magazine on March 31, 2008.
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