Can a Bell Curve Work for a Small Team? Seeking Advice on Fair Incentive Distribution

ram.buccaneer
In my organization, we have a total of 74 employees, of which in my department, we are only 4. There are a total of six departments excluding HR and Admin. As mentioned, our team has people with different expertise, experience, and designations.

When we are given targets to achieve, it was 4 Cr per year for all the departments irrespective of the department's strength. During the budget time 2018-19, our chairman announced that the team which performs well will be rewarded with an incentive, and the underperforming teams will be penalized.

To achieve the target, our team worked smart and hard. Most of the time, we worked from 9 am to 9 pm, whereas my office timing is 10:30 am to 6:30 pm. We worked almost every weekend, and finally, the target was achieved.

At the end of the year, the results showed that our team (A) with 4 employees, and the other teams (B & C) with 40 & 12 employees performed excellently. We surpassed the given target and generated a surplus of 50 lac, while the other two teams (D & E) performed well, and Team F performed poorly.

Regarding this, we approached the management for the incentive, and they agreed but asked us to propose an incentive scheme for employees. We suggested that it could be done through appraisals for rating and that employees would receive incentives based on their monthly salary. For example, those with 91 and above ratings would be eligible for 3 months' salary, 81 to 90 for 2 months' salary, and 71-80 for 1 month's salary.

Everyone agreed, but my HR is saying that in a team, there can't be more than one excellent performer and is suggesting implementing a Bell curve.

Questions About the Bell Curve

1. Is it possible to apply a Bell curve for a team of 4 employees?

2. Is it logical to assess employees of different designations and experiences using a Bell curve?

3. Can there be more than one outstanding performer? (If so, then achieving targets and generating a surplus would not have been possible.)

How can this problem be solved? Is there an effective solution? Please share your opinion.
nashbramhall
Thank you for providing some background information. I will attempt to address the questions raised.

Is it possible to create a bell curve for 4 employees?

No. Please refer to https://ask.metafilter.com/220512/Is...nce-management.

Isn't it logical to assess employees of different designations and experiences using a bell curve?

It is illogical. (Please proofread your posts.)

Can there be more than one outstanding performer?

If so, then we could not have achieved our targets and made surpluses. All four could be equally good.

How can this problem be solved?

Please read some articles at https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=...amp;amp;uact=5 and then talk to your HR person. It would be useful to know how qualified your HR is.
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