it's supposed to be about the work... right??

[The Professional]

just wanted some opinions,
Last week I met with my new dept head. After some chatting, I was asked to name who I felt were the best and worst members of the department. Given there's little work interaction among the 5 teams that make up our 30 person dept, I responded that I didn't feel I was capable of fairly answering. I then hear the following during a bit of back and forth,
everyone has to answer this question
just go by perception if you don't know
it's not just for the dept's benefit but for these individual's benefit
this will help me identify leadership ability and your judgement
some people wouldn't stop naming bad members so don't feel guilty

I have no problem giving honest feedback on team members that I work with, but to me this clearly wasn't a similar request. In my career, I hoped it would always be about the work and not some BS.
Keep in mind this is the first conversation I've had with her and there's no trust built up, but am I seeing this wrong?

[atomic]

If you truly feel that (1) you cannot provide an objective assessment, and therefore any response to the request would lack credibility; and (2) you are honestly uncomfortable with being coerced into a response, then stand your ground.

It sounds to me like your department head has been watching too many reality TV shows. :shake2: Work is not an episode of Hell's Kitchen or Survivor or American Idol. It is supposed to be a professional environment and evaluation is not done by rumors, backstabbing, and whispers, but through performance reviews. If you work at a company where that is not the case, you better start finding employment elsewhere, because unless you are willing to let them eat your soul, you will be thrown under the bus anyway.

[Doc Holiday]

:iatp:

[Buru Buru]

:lol: this is really bad. I think it happens at a lot of companies, but not this blatantly.

[AMMW]

just go by perception if you don't know

this will help me identify . . . your judgement:-?

I'm sorry this loser is your new leader :shake:

[3LittlePiggies]

Sounds like you work for my old pension consulting firm.

[Maine-iac]

:lol: this is really bad. I think it happens at a lot of companies, but not this blatantly.


I agree with the first part. It IS REALLY bad.

I disagree with the second part. I've been in the industry over 25 years, and I have only heard of one incident even remotely similar, and that was from a family member working for a software company. (Her manager called her in. She said he was practically in tears because he was told to rank all his staff in numerical order by their value. He said he valued everybody, but somebody had to be last, so he picked her just because she'd only been there about a month. He kept saying "It's not your fault!". She didn't get laid off. The company eventually went bankrupt, but she'd left by then.)

Weird stuff caused by weird management does happen, but it's not that common. This is definitely weird. And wrong.

[Doc Holiday]

This method of management certainly falls far from best business practices. If I were in this situation, I would leave the company. With as much time devoted to work and exams, I don't have the tolerance for this BS.

[Buru Buru]

I disagree with the second part.

I've seen stuff like that happen at a previous job. Not to that magnitude though.

[dressed up like the Cure]

just wanted some opinions,
Last week I met with my new dept head. After some chatting, I was asked to name who I felt were the best and worst members of the department. Given there's little work interaction among the 5 teams that make up our 30 person dept, I responded that I didn't feel I was capable of fairly answering. I then hear the following during a bit of back and forth,
everyone has to answer this question
just go by perception if you don't know
it's not just for the dept's benefit but for these individual's benefit
this will help me identify leadership ability and your judgement
some people wouldn't stop naming bad members so don't feel guilty

I have no problem giving honest feedback on team members that I work with, but to me this clearly wasn't a similar request. In my career, I hoped it would always be about the work and not some BS.
Keep in mind this is the first conversation I've had with her and there's no trust built up, but am I seeing this wrong?

Politics defined. Terrible stuff.

[3rookie]

"I'm the best. You're the worst. Put that on my review."

[Amy7]

What if his boss just asked who the best members were, but not the worst. That would not seem as bad to me. What do you guys think?

[Enough Exams Already]

just wanted some opinions,
Last week I met with my new dept head. After some chatting, I was asked to name who I felt were the best and worst members of the department. Given there's little work interaction among the 5 teams that make up our 30 person dept, I responded that I didn't feel I was capable of fairly answering. I then hear the following during a bit of back and forth,
everyone has to answer this question
just go by perception if you don't know
it's not just for the dept's benefit but for these individual's benefit
this will help me identify leadership ability and your judgement
some people wouldn't stop naming bad members so don't feel guilty

I have no problem giving honest feedback on team members that I work with, but to me this clearly wasn't a similar request. In my career, I hoped it would always be about the work and not some BS.
Keep in mind this is the first conversation I've had with her and there's no trust built up, but am I seeing this wrong?

Wow. Stanley Milgram would be proud. :shake2:

It should be about the work. In an ideal world and company, it would be.

[Enough Exams Already]

What if his boss just asked who the best members were, but not the worst. That would not seem as bad to me. What do you guys think?

It would sound suspicious to me. The OP's list of things said during the "bit of back and forth" sound coercive to me, and every one of them sets off alarm bells.

Anyone who asks me to render an opinion, positive or negative, on people I don't know is up to something I don't want to be a part of.

[Person Man]

What if his boss just asked who the best members were, but not the worst. That would not seem as bad to me. What do you guys think?
I imagine most people's lists will have the same top people, so it wouldn't do any good in identifying who the bottom 10% were. Which is the whole point of the exercise.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

"Let me get back to you."

Then don't.

[Loner]

Either layoffs are coming or this is not someone you want to work for. Either way get your resume in order.

[The Professional]

It was definitely an uncomfortable 20 minutes or so of refusing to answer. I finally gave in when I saw my only other option was to walk out of the meeting. I've been upset that I did answer and the more I think about it I should've just kept it real (Chappelle Show).

Our company is secure and has never done layoffs (from my understanding even firings are very, very rare), so it was a bit odd to hear the word "fired" being mentioned at least 4-5 times, even though it was never said in a direct threatening manner.

At least I made my thoughts clear when I named the asker.

[Loner]

It was definitely an uncomfortable 20 minutes or so of refusing to answer. I finally gave in when I saw my only other option was to walk out of the meeting. I've been upset that I did answer and the more I think about it I should've just kept it real (Chappelle Show).

Our company is secure and has never done layoffs (from my understanding even firings are very, very rare), so it was a bit odd to hear the word "fired" being mentioned at least 4-5 times, even though it was never said in a direct threatening manner.

At least I made my thoughts clear when I named the asker.

Yeah, start looking. And document this conversation for HR if it comes to that.

[Maine-iac]

What if his boss just asked who the best members were, but not the worst. That would not seem as bad to me. What do you guys think?

Just a sneakier way to get to the same thing. Those you don't mention are "damned by faint praise".

Asking for nominations for one "Best" co-worker for special recognition is about as far as I would think is OK. Once you start asking for multiple good people, everybody else is bad by default.

[Hydraskull]

Did ur new department head give you a piece of paper to deliver to another department head with the question "Will u go to the company dance with me?" and "YES" or "NO" checkboxes?

[Beach Bum]

Sounds like the show Survivor, if someone is a top performer everyone may knock him behind the scenes in order to get him out of there. Wow it adds a whole new dimension to work. Be a good performer, but not a TOP performer in fear of getting ousted.

I wish my work had a Survivor type saga.

[Bored]

I had a manager a while back who actually said that he wanted to create an atmosphere of competition in the office, like Survivor. He had some misguided idea that it would get everyone to perform at their best, when really all it does is make you hate going to work and eventually quit.

[proof by exhaustion]

Sounds like the show Survivor, if someone is a top performer everyone may knock him behind the scenes in order to get him out of there. Wow it adds a whole new dimension to work. Be a good performer, but not a TOP performer in fear of getting ousted.

I wish my work had a Survivor type saga.

this doesnt sound too far from reality. not reality tv, but real reality.