Page 123 - HBR's 10 Must Reads 20180 - The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review

1980s 1990s 2000 2011 2016
Jack Welch McKinsey’s War Organizations got Kelly Services was the first big profes- Deloitte, PwC, and
championed for Talent study flatter, which dra- sional services firm to drop apprais- others that tried
forced ranking at pointed to a short- matically increased als, and other major firms followed going numberless
GE to reward top age of capable the number of suit, emphasizing frequent, informal are reinstating
performers, ac- executives and direct reports each feedback. performance rat-
commodate those reinforced the em- manager had, ings but using more
in the middle, and phasis on assess- making it harder Adobe ended annual performance re- than one number
get rid of those at ing and rewarding to invest time in views, in keeping with the famous “Agile and keeping the
the bottom. performance. developing them. new emphasis on
Manifesto” and the notion that annual developmental
targets were irrelevant to the way its
business operated. feedback.

Accountability focus
Development focus
A hybrid “third way”