To be or Not to be Appraised...

I did learn about Maslow's theory of need and motivation, and other relating theories of motivating individuals to work and perform under given parameters, during my graduation and post graduation days. I along with others did attempt to apply that theory in many of the stints we've done, and seen it work at places. If you want to learn more - google for it.

But when you come to organisation life - this changes a bit; reason - age (for the more technical reader - maturity). As, we grow old in life our needs increases - it's not the other way round - ofcourse we are looking at cumulative need of recognition and money. And then, comes mid-life crisis - where virtually most of the things are either going too good or the inevitable becomes reality.

Where I work, it's not about old people, but about young talented individuals who have suddenly been exposed to the concept of relative grading and percentile (this does not goes in saying that I also understand the concept or I am on the higher level of the intellect scale or I am old, we'll never talk about that).

On the absolute front we all are talented individuals - what makes our talent vanish or deplete is the whole funda of comparison, productivity figures, and others questioning the ability of a creative person. But that's how business functions - procedures, policies, productivity and people. It's just that procedure and policy effect the people productivity (now count the number of "p" in this paragraph).

That's what appraisals are all about - a policy which initiates a procedure to help people improve their productivity (competitively). What you actually see at the end of it is some smiling faces and some facing inevitability.

And, life goes on...