Barry Bonds - Case Study for Balance in Performance Management

By now, you've heard Barry Bonds broke the career home run record in Major League Baseball.  You also are likely aware that Bonds is the subject of allegations claiming he's been a steroid user over the last 6-7 years.   With those allegations in mind, many are convinced the record is tainted.

Assuming the allegations are true, it brings back to the forefront an old catch-22 - at what costs are organizations prepared to chase business results?

It also serves as a classic case study on performance management.  Work with me on this...

Most performance management systems capture performance.  Some do it in a very generalized way, with updated systems capturing performance via individual objectives set for each employee or each position within the company.  The best systems allow these individual objectives to be weighted on a percentage basis, since all objectives aren't created equal.  Some matter more than others.

For Bonds, it's undeniable that hitting for power and the home runs that naturally follow would be weighted heavily.

Of course progressive organizations don't stop there.  While understanding that individual objectives must be a part of the equation, companies that truly get it also put "corporate values" in place as part of the performance management system.   Why?  Because the best companies understand that while every individual must produce results, they have to do it in a way that is consistent with the value structure of the company.  Be a good teammate.  Communicate effectively.  Display Ethics and Integrity at every turn.  Don't break the law....  Get results with the right values, and the results keep coming at those companies...

If your performance management system has an Individual Objectives section and a Corporate Values section, how should they be weighted to impact the final performance review rating?  Are they 50/50?  or 75/25?  Weigh the Individual Objectives too high, and you'll get the results but probably have litigation.  Weigh the Corporate Values too high and good citizens will emerge with questionable results.  What is the right mix?

Let's use that question in an applied way.  If Baseball and the Giants knew or suspected the steroid use, what was their Individual Objectives/Corporate Values mix?    Is it any doubt it was 100/0, weighted toward individual objectives? 

Do we care?  Really?  If we cared, wouldn't the revenues of Major League Baseball be shrinking, not growing?

Comments

[Ann Bares]

Kris:

Great post - and an interesting way to frame the eternal performance management dilemma: results versus behaviors. Having helped a lot of organizations with their performance management programs over the year, I find it fascinating to watch the repercussions of tipping the scale toward one or the other roll through a business. And I wonder if the "no jerk" movement that seems to be underfoot (which you posted about recently) will result in a stronger emphasis on the values/behaviors component of performance.