Just some food for thought: If your company’s HR department implies a strict ‘normal distribution’ for appraisals (you know, where the most of the people perform ‘on par’, some above and below par and only some extremely good or bad), how are you as a manager supposed to invest in your team?

Even if this theory is correct on a macro level, on a real life micro level, it causes some problems:

• a manager that works hard to create a top team is forced to give a mediocre or even bad score to some team members in order to fit the ‘normal distribution’.
• HR people themselves are apparently doing a bad job at matching people to the specific job and the company requirements for people.
• It demotes people.

In my opinion, a normal distribution is just plain old school for scoring people (although I can see it work for giving bonuses).

How do you motivate people?

Happy appraisals!