Forced ranking

Imagine you and your friends were competing in a race. Your teacher has to rank everyone based on who ran the fastest or slowest. Forced ranking is just like that race. In the business world, bosses or managers have to rank their employees based on who's performing the best or the worst.

Forced ranking means that the boss must put their employees in different categories or "buckets." The first group is the best employees, called the "A players." The second group is the "B players" who are doing okay but need improvement. The last group is the "C players" who are struggling and need to improve or risk losing their jobs.

This ranking system can be good because it helps the company to identify the best and the worst employees. It also encourages employees to work harder to move up from the lower group to a higher group. However, some people argue that this ranking system can be unfair because it puts a lot of pressure on the employees, and not everyone can be an "A player."

Overall, forced ranking helps businesses to identify their top-performing employees and manage their workforce. But it can also create stress and tension between employees who are all trying to be the best.