When stack ranking should (and shouldn’t) be used
Stack ranking became popular in the 1980s thanks to General Electric’s then-CEO, Jack Welch. Ever since, this method of comparative performance management has been widely adopted and the subject of controversy.
Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo as well as big consulting firms and more traditional industries have faced criticism for using stack ranking. The biggest argument is that it encourages competition between co-workers and devalues teamwork. But does it?
Jack Welch writes in Wall Street Journal (Opinion) , «If you want teamwork, you identify it as a value. Then you evaluate and reward people accordingly. You’ll get teamwork; I guarantee it.»
Here’s what stack ranking is, its pros and cons, and when you should — and shouldn’t —use it.
What is stack ranking?
Stack ranking is an employee evaluation system where managers rate staff as top, average, or low performers based on how they compare with coworkers.
This rating leads to a bell curve: the top 20% are called top performers, the middle 70% average performers, and the bottom 10% low performers.
Note: The percentage distribution doesn’t have to be 20-70-10. You can assign any percentages you prefer or even use A-B-C grades as schools do.
In the past, companies like General Electric and others that adopted this approach used stack ranking to decide who to reward, who to put on performance improvement plans, and who to let go. That’s why some call it “rank and yank.”
That said, given its controversiality, these companies have largely moved away from stack ranking. They found that employees needed a different kind of feedback system to thrive. The competitive and seemingly cutthroat style of stack ranking did not scale well long-term for these organizations.
Even still, stack ranking is not without its benefits.
The benefits of stack ranking
By design, team members can’t all win with the stack ranking system. However, it’s not without its benefits.
Stack ranking brings transparency to your promotion and — when need be — lay-off decisions. It allows you to identify and retain high-performing employees while you understand how to help underperforming ones.
1. Clarifies areas of improvement for employees
Done transparently, stack ranking helps employees understand how the company assesses them. They understand which values are most important to the organization and spend more time working on tasks that represent the company’s values and objectives.
Let’s say you lead a customer success team at an agency, for example. You may prefer that team members receive fewer support tickets on the accounts they manage than that they resolve the tickets quickly.
In this scenario, with the added clarity that comes from stack ranking, you do not leave team members to assume what’s important. They know that proactively managing their accounts matters more — because you’ve already defined that.
As we mentioned, this transparency can help employees understand your decisions around bonuses, promotions, and layoffs. It also provides clarity for employees who are underperforming. When leveraging stack ranking methods, employees know exactly what they need to do to improve if they’re falling behind.
2. Identifies high-performers
Top performers are up to eight times more productive than average performers in the workplace. They accomplish more and help boost business profits.
With stack ranking, it’s easy to note who these people are so you can work to keep them.
Employee recognition strategies such as cash bonuses, time off, custom experience rewards, and promotions all help keep employees around longer.
Also, identifying high-performers allows you to learn what they do to drive their performance. That way, you can introduce peer learning , encouraging these high-performers to teach their peers to perform better, too.
3. Quickly identify opportunities for improvement
Just as you can recognize high-performing employees , stack ranking allows you to recognize underperforming employees as well.
With stack ranking, you can see where they’re falling behind – an essential first step in any performance improvement plan (PIP).
The drawbacks of stack ranking
Even though stack ranking may help improve performance, it may do so at the cost of innovation, empathy, and employee mental well-being . Beware these drawbacks.
1. Leaves room for bias and unfairness
Who decides the metrics for judgment and how do they reach that decision? If you leave stack ranking performance metrics up to individual interpretation, that opens the door to bias .
One manager may decide that innovation and teamwork are good performance evaluation metrics and rate their team based on them. Another may decide that the speed of project completion is more important instead. These differences in metrics may mean someone suffers on one team, where they would have thrived on another.
In company-wide ratings, people on teams with managers who advocate for them may also rank higher than other employees. There is often a perception, and possibly reality, that employee rewards depended on whether they had a manager who advocated for them.
Such unfair decisions may leave hardworking employees dissatisfied. Soon enough, that dissatisfaction turns into disengagement, costing companies up to 18% of the employee’s annual salary.
2. Encourages competition above teamwork
At least one member of a team will end up labeled «poor performer» with stack ranking — even if they’re all superstars. That doesn’t leave much room for a we-rise-by-raising-others attitude.
Employees may take credit for their colleagues’ work, sabotage others, or use other unethical means to boost their grades. An example, 2016 saw a high-profile case of bank employees secretly opening unauthorized accounts for customers in order to hit their targets and receive bonuses.
In his opinion piece for Wall Street Journal, Welch argues, “We grade children in school, often as young as 9 or 10, and no one calls that cruel. But somehow adults can’t take it?”
But there’s a problem. The workplace is not a school.
The school is for the student. They (school) have a responsibility to prepare the student for competitive futures. By competing with other students to improve select, foundational skillsets, students help the school fulfill that responsibility.
Organizations, on the other hand, pay employees to help them achieve a business or team goal . It’s the employee’s responsibility to collaborate with others to achieve that common goal.
3. Innovation may suffer
When people know that promotions and bonuses are at stake, they may play it safe to get good scores.
Consider how this type of comparative evaluation and reward system might cause employees to try to be the big fish rather than do great work. For example, engineering talent might choose to be on teams with people they could compete with rather than join higher-quality teams working on challenging projects that might fail. Yet for companies to innovate and delight customers, they need engineers who are passionate about taking on the hard problems.
And even in laid-back teams, people would rather do what they’ve always done than try something new. After all, old known projects are safe, whereas new ones will have unpredictable results that may backfire.
Companies need to remember that, when it comes to performance management, compensation, and recognition systems, perception is as important as reality. If employees believe they will be rewarded or punished for certain behavior, or that the system is unfair, it will affect their work and engagement.
As one former Microsoft engineer, tells Vanity Fair “It was always much less about how I could become a better engineer and much more about my need to improve my visibility among other managers.”
4. Employees may burn and churn
Employees are 2.6x more likely to leave an employer when they experience burnout. And it costs six to nine months of an employee’s salary to replace them.
Unfortunately, stack ranking may encourage highly motivated, burned out teams .
Employees may work longer hours to keep up with their higher-performing co-workers. This constant overworking will ultimately lead to burnout, and the turnover that comes with it.
When to use stack ranking
Despite its drawbacks, there are times when stack ranking can help boost employee morale and profits.
- When there’s a high level of complacency in your workforce — Stack ranking can motivate complacent employees to work hard for rewards. And because there’s low tolerance for underperformance, employees will at least put in enough work to avoid negative repercussions. That means most employees will be more productive.
- When you want to understand the strength of each employee — Stack ranking lets you understand where each employee shines. That information can help you align responsibilities to employee strengths if you approach stack ranking from a people-first perspective.
- When you want to improve employees in their areas of weakness — Stack ranking can help you understand how to create a PIP that helps underperformers improve. You can see where those employees are failing, so you know where your PIP should focus.
- When you want to differentiate and reward high-performers — Stack ranking and rewarding based on it will help your hard workers know that you value their input. They’ll earn more promotions, bonuses, and recognition than employees who do not work as hard. This builds employee satisfaction in their roles, purpose in their work , and loyalty to your organization.
- When it’s important to be transparent with promotions and rewards — Stack ranking removes ambiguity around what your assessment criteria are. If an employee is working hard but not getting promoted, there’s a feedback system that tells them why.
If the majority of your workforce is underperforming, try using stack ranking to encourage hard work and commitment. Also, use stack ranking to introduce transparency in your performance appraisals and people management strategies.
When to avoid stack ranking
Avoid stack ranking if:
- You have a high-quality team already doing a great job together — Remember, you can only rate people compared to their peers with stack ranking. Employing it within a team that’s already working at peak performance , you risk crushing employee morale.
Your company relies on innovation and creativity for growth — Many Microsoft ex-employees say stack ranking is the reason for the company’s lack of innovation. People want to protect themselves so they’d rather do work with predictable results.
Alternatives to stack ranking employees
Consider these alternatives if you want to build a high-performance culture without stack-ranking employees.
Management by objectives (MBO)
The MBO system uses goals employees set for themselves to increase company performance.
- Managers share company objectives with employees.
- Employees collaborate with their managers to identify and set personal goals that can further those objectives.
- Employees meet with managers one-on-one to discuss challenges and progress, and to get real-time feedback .
- And the end of the assigned timeframe, the manager can measure employee performance based on the set goals.
This performance review system makes the employee feel included and builds trust in management.
Peer performance reviews
With peer performance reviews, co-workers rate each other’s skills, competencies, performance, and attitude.
- The feedback is anonymous, or open if the culture allows for open feedback.
- Feedback indicates areas where the employee is strong, average, or needs improvement.
- All feedback — whether from reports, peers or managers — carries the same weight.
Since teammates work together more often than with a manager, they may provide a more accurate evaluation of performance.
360-degree feedback
Coworkers, managers, and customers or clients review each employee in a 360 feedback system .
The results give managers a more comprehensive picture of an employee’s performance. It enables better talent management too. Managers learn where employees can improve, and tailor training efforts accordingly.
Play to employee strengths
Despite its benefits, stack ranking can foster a culture of fear, competition, sabotage, and shame.
That culture doesn’t harm your people alone, your company may suffer too. Wells Fargo paid $3 billion to resolve its fraudulent sales practices case. Without unrealistic pressure to perform, this couldn’t have happened.
There’s a reason why companies like Microsoft and General Electric stopped stack ranking employees.
What’s a better way to improve performance without jeopardizing culture, innovation, and profits? Personalized reviews that play to employee goals and strengths.
Stack ranking can help you understand your workforce. Use that understanding not to fire, but to maximize your employee potential.
You can coach employees to get better at their areas of interest and strengths. Those strengths will drive innovation and productivity for your organization. And that is the goal of good people management.
Перевод «stack rank» на русский
ранг стека — это перевод «stack rank» на русский. Пример переведенного предложения: Forced-distribution stack rankings have been replaced by an annual Rewards Check-in. ↔ Навязанное ранжирование персонала заменили ежегодные вознаграждения.
stack rank
An ordering of items for prioritization.
+ Добавить перевод Добавить stack rank
английский — русский словарь
ранг стека
An ordering of items for prioritization.
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Автоматический перевод » stack rank » в русский
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Переводы «stack rank» на русский в контексте, память переводов
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все точно любой
Forced-distribution stack rankings have been replaced by an annual Rewards Check-in.
Навязанное ранжирование персонала заменили ежегодные вознаграждения.
Literature
Each VP and director had been asked to stack—rank their subordinates and lose at least one out of ten.
Каждого начальника отдела попросили пройтись по списку подчиненных и отказаться как минимум от одного из десяти.
Literature
On this morning Stanley had stacked the top of the piano with ranks of beer mugs.
В то утро Стэнли уставил крышку рояля рядами пивных кружек.
Literature
The rank sat in the shade of a chimney stack, waiting and killing time in their various ways.
Отряд сидел в тени дымохода, ожидая и убивая время самыми различными способами.
Literature
Stacks start at rank 0 and there are 10 ranks in total.
Отряды начинают с ранга 0 и могут получить до 10 рангов за игру.
ParaCrawl Corpus
It takes 1000 experience for a stack of rank 0 level 1 creatures to advance to rank 1 and this number increases each rank, much as a hero’s experience does.
Нужно 1000 опыта для отряда существ 1 ур. ранга 0, чтобы продвинуться до ранга 1, и это число увеличивается с каждым рангом, так же как и у героя.
ParaCrawl Corpus
Challenge your friends by sending zombies to invade their towns, and see where your stack of zombies ranks on the leaderboard.
сразиться со своими друзьями, отправляя зомби, чтобы вторгнуться в их городах и увидеть, где ваш стек зомби ряды на leaderboard.
ParaCrawl Corpus
Even so, it does make sense to rank countries regarding their capacity to achieve growth. Each country is interested in knowing whether its policies and institutions stack up against those of other nations in the capacity to achieve and sustain economic growth.
Каждой стране интересно знать, насколько ее методы управления и учреждения выдерживают сравнение с методами управления и учреждениями других наций по способности достигать и поддерживать экономический рост.
News commentary
In 2006, The Boston Phoenix ranked the Cyberdemon as the 13th greatest boss in video game history, adding that «in the annals of lazy game journalism, little stacks up to GamePro magazine’s ‘pro tip’ for conquering Doom’s baddest foe: ‘To defeat the Cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies.'»
В 2006 году газета The Boston Phoenix назвала Кибердемона 13-м величайшим боссом в истории компьютерных игр, добавив, что «в анналах ленивой игровой журналистики известен маленький стек журнала GamePro — „профессиональный совет“ для победы над опаснейшим врагом Doom: „Чтобы победить Кибердемона, стреляйте в него, пока он не умрёт“».
WikiMatrix
When a single pawn or a pawn on top of some stack reaches the last rank it is promoted to the piece that was behind that pawn initially.
Когда одиночный ратник или ратник во главе башни попадают на последнюю линию, он превращается в ту фигуру, которая была за ним в начале игры.
ParaCrawl Corpus
If you combine troops with different amounts of experience, the experience of the stacks will be averaged; this may result in a lower rank for the new combined stack.
Если вы соединяете войска с разным количеством опыта, опыт отрядов будет усреднен; это может привести к снижению ранга у вновь созданного отряда.
ParaCrawl Corpus
He is now standing in 44th place in the ranking with a total chip stack of 937,000.
Он оказался на 44 месте в общей таблице, с 937,000 фишками.
ParaCrawl Corpus
If a pawn reaches the last rank being inside some stack (i.e. not on top of it) then it is not promoted.
Если ратник попадает на последнюю линию, будучи внутри башни (т.е. не верхней фигурой), превращения не происходит.
ParaCrawl Corpus
You retain your own form, but you gain the natural and extraordinary senses ofthe creature you choose, as well as its skill ranks (though these do not stack with any ranks you already have in the same skills), for the duration of the spell. Thus, depending on your choice of animal, you could gain blindsight, scent, and ranks in Listen, Spot, or other skills.
Вы сохраняете вашу собственную форму, но Вы получаете естественные и экстраординарные чувства существа, которое Вы выбираете, также как ее степени навыков (хотя они не складываются с любыми разрядами, Вы уже имеете в тех же самых навыках) на время действия заклинания.
ParaCrawl Corpus
The level of spell may vary by rank, and for certain creatures, their spell Enchantments may even affect ALL friendly stacks once the stack reaches a high enough rank. 408 w undefined yet ability (reserved) 409 This bonus gives the stack the ability to temporarily Reduce the target’s Defense.
Уровень заклинания может зависеть от ранга или вида существ, заклинания могут даже быть наложены на ВСЕ дружественные отряды, если отряд достигнет высокого ранга. 408 w неопределенная способность (в резерве) 409 Этот Бонус дает отряду способность временно ослабить Защиту у цели.
ParaCrawl Corpus
However, if the player decides to split his stack and leave the pawn (either a singe piece or on top of remaining sub-stack) on the last rank then the pawn is promoted as the result of such splitting move.
Однако, если в дальнейшем игрок решает разделить эту башню, переместив лишь верхнюю её часть и оставив ратника (либо одиночного ратника, либо во главе нижней части разделяемой башни) на последней линии, то этот ратник превращается в результате подобного хода.
ParaCrawl Corpus
When a promoted pawn is captured (by any player) it is demoted back to a pawn (just like in Shogi). If a pawn is brought back to the 2nd rank inside some stack then it can’t jump two squares again.
Если ратник возвращается (внутри какой-то башни) обратно на второй ряд, то он уже не может прыгнуть на две клетки так, как он мог это сделать в начале партии.
ParaCrawl Corpus
At the end of two days of play, 67 players were remaining and Mikolaj was ranked in 4th place, with a stack of 715,000 chips.
По окончании двухдневной игры, Миколаш, имея стек на 715 000 фишек, удерживал 4-е место среди 67 оставшихся.
ParaCrawl Corpus
To see a troop stack’s current experience and list of rank bonuses (in or out of combat), double-click on it to bring up the info screen, then right-click on the creature’s portrait.
Чтобы посмотреть текущий опыт армии и список бонусов ранга (в битве или вне ее), — двойной клик по отряду откроет вам окно информации, затем — правый клик по картинке существа.
ParaCrawl Corpus
The damage done is increased by a percentage that may be higher at higher ranks. 401 This bonus gives the stack the ability to Regenerate lost health for the topmost creature.
Урон становится сильнее с повышением Рангов. 401 Этот Бонус дает отряду способность Регенерировать здоровье у первого существа в отряде.
ParaCrawl Corpus
The current rank (if above 0) is indicated by yellow carets (^) on the troop’s stack icon.
Текущий ранг (если больше 0) отображается желтыми *птичками* (^) на картинке отряда.
ParaCrawl Corpus
Stack Experience 0 0 2 10 1 1 900 Troop Stacks gain Experience Troop stacks gain experience after each battle and may go up in rank, improving their stats and/or abilities.
Stack Experience 0 0 2 10 1 1 900 Система опыта существ Отряды солдат получают опыт после каждой битвы и могут расти в рангах, развивая свои навыки/способности.
ParaCrawl Corpus
TROOP STACKS GAIN EXPERIENCE Option 900 by Slava (hard coded) Troop stacks lead by a hero will gain experience after each battle and may go up in rank, improving their stats and/or special abilities.
ОТРЯДЫ В АРМИЯХ ГЕРОЕВ ПОЛУЧАЮТ ОПЫТ Опция 900 [автор: Слава Сальников] (встроено) Отряды солдат, ведомые героем будут получать опыт после каждой битвы и могут расти в рангах, развивая свои навыки и/или способности.
ParaCrawl Corpus
So a level 1 hero will never face anything higher than a rank 2 neutral unit in combat. A «neutral unit» is defined as a monster stack on the map or any other unowned monster that you do battle with when visiting an adventure map site.
Т.е. герой 1 ур. никогда не будет драться с нейтральными войсками выше 2го ранга. «Неятральными войсками» являются отряды монстров на карте или любые другие монстры без хозяина, с которыми вы сражаетесь на местности или в нейтральных городах.
ParaCrawl Corpus
Damage reduction may increase at higher ranks. Note: the reduction to damage will NOT be shown in the combat text display but will be applied correctly to the Deflecting stack. 412 This bonus gives the stack a chance of Deflecting part of an attack.
Поглощение урона больше на высших рангах. Замечание: уменьшение урона НЕ БУДЕТ показано в тексте битвы, но будет действовать корректно на Поглощающий отряд. 412 Этот Бонус позволяет отряду Поглотить часть урона.
В Microsoft корпоративная революция. Упразднен «самый деструктивный процесс» в компании
Microsoft отказалась от деструктивной системы мотивации, которая заставляла сотрудников предавать друг друга для того, чтобы повысить свой рейтинг. Новая система призвана поддержать новую стратегию корпорации, для эффективного воплощения которой все сотрудники и подразделения должны работать между собой максимально слаженно.
Microsoft вводит полностью новую систему мотивации, сообщает The Verge со ссылкой на письмо сотрудникам корпорации от исполнительного вице-президента Microsoft по кадрам Лизы Бруммел (Lisa Brummel).
Новая система призвана поднять эффективность работы Microsoft, стремящейся превратиться из производителя программного обеспечения в поставщика интегрированных решений — устройств, приложений и сервисов. Эта стратегия была в прошлом году анонсирована генеральным директором Стивом Балмером (Steve Ballmer).
Для того чтобы выполнить поставленную задачу, все подразделения и отдельные небольшие группы разработчиков, а также отдельные сотрудники должны работат слаженно между собой. Именно такую цель будет преследовать новая система мотивации.
Ключевыми элементами системы станут упор на командной работе и взаимодействии, росте и развитии отдельных сотрудников. При этом будет упразднен рейтинг сотрудников — именно этот элемент играл ключевую роль в существующей до сих пор системе мотивации в Microsoft, и именно он вызывал наибольшее неприятие в кадрах.
Курт Эйхенвальд (Kurt Eichenwald), автор исследования внутренней политики Microsoft, написал в опубликованной в журнале Vanity Fair в прошлом году статье следующее: «С кем бы из текущих и бывших сотрудников Microsoft я ни беседовал — каждый из них отзывался о stack ranking как о самом деструктивном процессе внутри Microsoft, который заставил покинуть компанию неисчислимое количество сотрудников».
Система мотивации stack ranking
Stack ranking — это именно та система мотивации, которая действовала в Microsoft до настоящего времени. Stack ranking — это процесс, когда менеджеры подразделений оценивают успехи всех своих подчиненных, разделяя их на тех, кто добился хороших, средних и низких результатов. Таким образом, даже если вся команда работает хорошо, кто-то из сотрудников обязательно получит низший рейтинг, иначе система не будет работать.
Вторая больница в России получила международный сертификат за цифровизацию медпомощи
Цифровизация
Это приводило к тому, что сотрудники, находясь в одной команде и решая одни и те же задачи, были вынуждены конкурировать между собой вместо того, чтобы конкурировать с другими компаниями. «По этой причине коллеги довольно часто поступали друг с другом предательски», — отзывается один из бывших сотрудников Дэвид Ауэрбах (David Auerbach).
Указанная система получила широкое распространение в американской корпоративной среде в 80-х годах после того, как была опробована в компании General Electric Джеком Уэлчем (Jack Welch), впоследствии ставшим ее генеральным директором и проработавшим на этой должности до 2001 г.
Исследования выяснили, что использование гауссовой кривой (другое название stack ranking) приводит к появлению в команде нескольких лидеров, в то время как средняя продуктивность всех остальных сотрудников падает. В результате многие компании отказались от такой системы. Например, в прошлом году это сделала Adobe Systems, назвав систему устаревшей и не отвечающей современным реалиям. Между тем, некоторые продолжают ее использовать, включая Yahoo, где она была внедрена новым CEO Марисой Мейер (Marissa Mayer).
Смена системы мотивации — а новую систему Бруммел планирует сделать максимально гибкой — является одним из важных изменений в Microsoft, которое предстоит принять ее сотрудникам. Еще одним важным изменением станет смена генерального директора — а августе Стив Балмер объявил о намерении сложить полномочия в течение 12 месяцев. Сейчас выполняется поиск преемника, и среди наиболее вероятных кандидатов — вице-президент подразделения Devices & Services компании Nokia Стивен Элоп (Stephen Elop) и глава Ford Motor Алан Маллали> (Alan Mulally).
What does stack rank mean?
What’s stack rank mean for a work item in Team Foundation Server 2010? Is it a user characteristic of some kind?
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asked Oct 5, 2010 at 12:36
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4 Answers 4
In most cases, priority and stack rank are aligned, i.e., on average higher priority items will have lower/earlier rank. BUT
Stack Rank is not priority. It is just the order in which your team will work, i.e., Rank 1 is the item on which your team will work first, Rank 2 is the second, and so on.
so when does a lower priority item get an earlier/lower rank..
Example 1 Let’s say you choose 3 bugs to fix in the current iteration. 1 is a high priority, and 2 are medium priority. But let’s assume that fixing one of the medium-priority bugs means regression testing. So you would like to fix it at the earliest, so that regression effects are visible at the earliest.
Example 2 a higher priority item needs more info before you can start working on it. You will keep its priority high but will move some lower priority items to an earlier rank so that your team can continue working.