Get Rid of the Performance Review!

July 26, 2010
With clear, straightforward (and sometimes profane) language, Culbert (Beyond BullshH t) outlines his strategy for creating a “dynamic setting where employees joyfully live up to their potential.” Culbert attacks the review process as “self-serving, biased opinion cloaked in a numerical package of claimed objectivity and stated as essential to organizational results.” After examining the archaic system with humor and precision, Culbert outlines the shift in mindset that he feels will be necessary to create a more productive working climate. He illustrates his ideas with narratives from his own experience, first-hand tales of woe from stakeholders in the review process, and useful analogies. In addition to advocating for the end of the performance review currently in use, Culbert assails the idea of pay for performance, using humor and insight to outline win-win strategies for managers, decision makers, and even rank and file employees.

August 1, 2010

Culbert (management, UCLA; Beyond Bullsh*t), together with Wall Street Journal senior editor Rout, condemn the practice of performance reviews, contending that rather than motivating employees to do better, performance reviews instead demoralize and discourage them. At the root of their campaign against reviews is what appears to be a vendetta against HR departments, whom they compare to the KGB. While the authors detail the faults of the performance review in depth, they fail to flesh out fully their proposed alternative, the "preview," whereby performance issues would be addressed as they occur and subordinates would have the opportunity to rate their employers' performances. Their criticism, while largely valid, is overly repetitive, and they do not speak to legal issues, which would have been helpful. Culbert's narration is somewhat garbled and stilted. An optional purchase. [Includes a bonus interview with the author.--Ed.]--Risa Getman, Hendrick Hudson Free Lib., Montrose, NY

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