Performance management is the process by which an organization utilizes its people resources to deliver on its organizational goals. In talent management terms, it is about how well people work towards achieving organizational goals, and how the organization continues to renew and rebuild capability year after year. However, most employee surveys express dissatisfaction with performance management. This is because organizations are often caught up with the process rather than the purpose of performance management, tending to focus on rating, differentiation and compensation outcomes, instead of its primary purpose of continuously enhancing the value that people can deliver to the organization. The bell curve is not a performance management tool; it is more of a compensation allocation tool. If one looks at the bell curve, one typically tends to conclude that that  success of the organization in meeting its goals was carried by the top 20 per cent of performers. However, it is har...