{cajobportal Insights} Bell Curves and Ethical Dilemmas
Competition, as the clichéd statement says, brings out the best in an individual. The prospect of winning increases an individual’s testosterone and dopamine hormones and thus we become more confident and pro-risk. But an intended consequence of it is also that one becomes blind to ethical considerations. When there are a few winning slots and stakes for money/advancement/fame are high, it can be a problem. It results in colleagues who have a strong rivalry at work, managers who need to make their numbers for the quarter and even political parties that are campaigning for power. When performance is relative, it’s the trigger for unintended consequences. One classic way to create competition is to benchmark players relative to each other, as in the much hated “Bell Curve” in annual appraisals. In such a stacking reward system, typically the top 20% performers are disproportionally rewarded, the mediocre 70% are modestly rewarded - if at all - and the lowest 10% performers ...