I think "work" in the POSIWID [1] sense here means to give the people on top feelings of power by creating suffering and tension among the serfs, while increasing the need for middle managers to play power games, which keeps them busy and keeps the drama levels high.
It's totally repulsive to me. But as this guy's firing clearly indicates, part of the point is repulsing people who care about staff and want to actually get things done. If an organization focused primarily on being effective, that would be a huge disadvantage to the ladder-climbers and intrigue-lovers that have clawed their way to the top.
Yeah, so stack ranking doesn't really create toxicity at a company, it merely reveals the toxicity that is already there. The best advice for regular people applying for jobs or regular employees whose companies introduce stack ranking is summed up in two words: get out.
Why not both? As we see in some of the stories people are posting here, it sounds like stack ranking teaches both managers and employees to be toxic. But yes, I agree on the getting out part.
It's totally repulsive to me. But as this guy's firing clearly indicates, part of the point is repulsing people who care about staff and want to actually get things done. If an organization focused primarily on being effective, that would be a huge disadvantage to the ladder-climbers and intrigue-lovers that have clawed their way to the top.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_wha...