

Would a Ratting System Work? - cwan
http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/ratting_system/

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MindTwister
I hope noone in a management position reads this. As a commenter on the site
says:

 _You run the risk of creating an atmosphere of paranoia, where everyone is
afraid of causing even the slightest insult to their coworkers for fear of
anonymous reprisal. Of course, that fear depends on whether or not management
acts on the anonymous tips, but if they do not, what's the point of the
system?_

And that really is the crucial part, if it works, people get paranoid, if it
doesnt work... there is no point.

 _Edit: spelling_

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matt1
I used to work at a place that did this.

We had an online system that everyone was required to use twice a year to rank
every other employee from best to worst. You could also provide comments. When
everyone was done they showed you what your results were and how your average
ranking compared to everyone else. The results were anonymous (except for one
time when a glitch let everyone see what everyone else said about them).

The comments were generally not very helpful, but for those used it to give
good feedback it was mildly beneficial. Some people took it seriously and gave
feedback which was useful. Other people used it to vent and others merely went
though and added things like "Good employee" to meet the required number of
comments.

Most of us hated it, but I think the management liked it. You could instantly
see what your employees thought of each other.

When it came time for evaluations and raises, the results always closely
aligned with the results of your peer rankings. Here's a question to ponder:
in general, would you rather your raises be based on your peer's assessment or
on your boss's?

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rauljara
Whenever you come up with a system which is tied to advancement (even if just
indirectly) you have to think what kind of person would most benefit from it,
because given time and natural selection, that will be the only kind of person
you have left. The kind of person I see most benefiting from an anonymous
criticism system is one who makes believable shit up about his or her
coworkers that is impossible to disprove. Because of the anonymity, no one
would be able to challenge it. Because the other coworkers look bad, they fail
to get promoted or actually get fired, leaving only backstabbers. Now, this
system does have the benefit of promoting only believable, measured, devious
backstabbing, which may in fact be of value in the corporate world, but good
God would I not want to work at any place that promotes this sort of behavior,
intentionally or otherwise.

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goodside
A fun addition would be an anonymous karma system. Tips that the boss finds
helpful will be upvoted, tips that seem petty or false can be downvoted, and
future tips will appear with credibility ratings depending on the anonymous
tipster's karma, but without revealing their name.

Also, indicate in a vague sense how many prior complaints the tipster has
submitted without giving an exact number. This helps with the concerns about
workplace paranoia, since you don't have to worry about running afoul of the
few idiots that make up lies about everyone they don't like.

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dmaclay
If management can't figure out what is going on without people deliberately
reporting to them, they're not much good at their job.

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mseebach
It exists, it's called writing an e-mail to your boss, requesting a private
meeting. Anonymity is out the window anyway, if the boss isn't completely
worthless, he has an approximate idea of tensions between his employees and
probably even their styles in writing. If he is worthless, no amount of
technological shenanigans is going to make that magically disappear.

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robotrout
You could have anonymity without losing data. Assign everybody a random id. Do
whatever data mining you need to, based on id number, to see how credible this
person's opinion is.

I think this system can work ... if it's not abused. Intelligent analysis of
the data will keep it from being abused.

You may actually be able to find inverse correlations among some of your more
aggressive aspiring manipulators, where a down-vote from them actually ends up
being a vote of support.

Let them do their worst. Statistics will out them, eventually.

As for the ethics of it. If the system is smart enough to avoid abuse, I think
it has merit. When is ignorance ever the right answer? If there's data to be
had as to whether you have, as an old boss of mine used to say "a leak in your
payroll", why is it evil to attempt to determine that?

~~~
pegobry
"I think this system can work ... if it's not abused."

Then by definition it can't work.

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madair
That's really horrible. It's not hyperbole to compare this to the Stasi, and
what we're doing is adding more and more power to corporate management
structures, precisely the _last_ place that should be receiving more power to
make judgment calls over people's lives.

Last week overstated ideas about intelligence when it's really power
structures that helped the entrenched grow their fortunes, this week ratting
systems. Hmmm, what's happening to Scott Adams? I guess he doesn't subscribe
to ideas in _The Lord Of The Flies_.

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dstorrs
My experience is that most workplace issue come from, or at least start with,
the boss. I sincerely doubt a toxic boss would fire himself just because of
anonymous complaints, and good bosses don't need this system.

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Mz
I have a suspicion that my own boss is becoming less tolerant of people's
crapola because of my presence. In spite of a serious medical handicap, I am
almost never late (maybe once a year?) and I cash in leave every year.
Although I am not a stellar performer, I usually make my numbers (and usually
sweat bullets to do it, and my boss knows it). I think this is part of why
some of the deadwood on my team has recently been cut. I think it has gotten
harder for my boss to buy lame excuses and be sympathetic to reasons to fail
to do your job. Yes, I require some minor accommodation for my handicap. No,
this does not mean that I expect my boss to put up with me failing to do my
job. That is not an "accommodation". That would be "charity", which I don't
want, thanks.

There's some saying about a "good example being the best lecture"...or
something like that. Whether my example subtly influenced my boss's decision
or not, I'm pleased to no longer have to put up with some of these people,
even though weeks later I am still cleaning up the messes left behind by one
of them. But I wouldn't want to work somewhere with a ratting system. I think
it would be a draconian environment and would sink to the lowest common
denominator in the worst possible way.

~~~
gwern
I'm not really familiar with business jargon - what does it mean to cash in
leave every year and why is it a good thing?

~~~
pbhjpbhj
He means he doesn't take his allocation of days away from work but instead he
sells those days back to the company.

Why is that good? Beats me. Unless he gets an above average holiday allowance
it sounds terrible both for his long term health and for his productivity.

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pmichaud
Maybe in some sense it could be workable, but there so many implementation
issues that it could collapse into worthlessness, or even create big problems
within the company.

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cracki
cut-throat environment? rather not.

if i want to complain over an incompetent coworker, i do that under my
identity, openly.

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sdave
I hope it doesn't !

