Dear Bob ... In response to your recent posting, "Figuring out who's above average," first, remember that all evaluations are subjective. Second, the objective of evaluations is to spread a finite amount of money over an organizational grouping. Since most of us are only privy to one observation point, our own, we can not appreciate the agony and point splitting ofter done to "average" a yearly salary amoun Dear Bob …In response to your recent posting, “Figuring out who’s above average,” first, remember that all evaluations are subjective. Second, the objective of evaluations is to spread a finite amount of money over an organizational grouping. Since most of us are only privy to one observation point, our own, we can not appreciate the agony and point splitting ofter done to “average” a yearly salary amount across a department.On a scale of 1 to 15, I was rated an 11 by my boss (I wasn’t supposed to know that), then his boss (or even higher levels) reduced it to a 9. The average for our department was 8.5. I got a very nice raise, but was deprived of a couple of thousand in bonus. Some employees got much less. All of the cases I know about were reduced a couple of points. No employee got higher than a 12 although some led projects that save the company MILLIONS annually. Point is, when it comes to evaluations, there are many considerations. If you can find the dollar and where and who it went to, you’ll understand much better… – Clarifying the purposeDear Clarifying …I started to write the normal drivel about the “real” purpose of performance appraisals when I realized – I was confusing the purpose of performance feedback with the formal, annual performance appraisal. So I’m forced to agree: The formal appraisal has pretty much the purpose you describe, along with two others. The first is to force managers who otherwise would never provide any feedback at all to provide at least an hour of it a year. It’s better than nothing, but not as good as training the managers or replacing them with better ones who give frequent feedback.The second (if it’s incorporated into the process) is to provide managers throughout the company with a broader perspective as to what constitutes strong performance. Different managers have different standards – some are “easy graders,” others have unrealistic expectations. If part of the overall performance management process is to create a conversation among the company’s managers so everyone has a better understanding of how each thinks about such things, it’s possible to establish more of a shared mentality on this subject.Not a bad thing at all, although it doesn’t happen automatically. – Bob ——– Technology Industry