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After this evaluation, he held meetings with individual members of staff to discuss their rating. These meetings proceeded in a trouble free manner for the first fifteen employees. The next meeting, however, was to be with Mr. Akiyama. Full of creativity and a mine of fresh ideas, Mr. Akiyama is one of the most frank, articulate and opinionated members of staff he has. Mr. Yoshida thinks that although he is extremely capable, he is just a little bit too selfish. He doesn't associate with other colleagues and Mr. Yoshida himself, finds it difficult to handle him. Mr. Hara had warned him that Mr. Akiyama was very self-assertive and might dispute his performance evaluation at the meeting. He received a special pay increase three years ago and Mr. Yoshida graded him with a C this year.

As Mr. Yoshida had feared, Mr. Akiyama complained fiercely against this evaluation. He backed up his assertions with facts to prove that he had a good performance record and was much more capable by far than others in the office. Although Mr. Yoshida didn't have any concrete facts with which to refute these, he tried to rationalize his evaluation with, "I understand what you are saying. You received a special pay increase three years ago. I would like to award it evenly among as many staff as possible. Can you please try to put up with a C rating this year ? Yes, I'm aware that you have great ability, but I'm concerned that you aren't particularly sociable with your colleagues. You always have lunch alone, never with other staff. They used to ask you for a drink after work but you always refused to go. Now, nobody ever bothers to ask."

Mr. Akiyama responded at the top of his voice, "What are you talking about ? It doesn't matter with whom I have lunch or whether or not I go out for a drink with colleagues. In work, I make every effort to cooperate with my colleagues and quite often cover for them by suggesting good ideas. Distributing special pay increases evenly among employees is contrary to the system of merit and the principle of special pay increases for staff with good performance records. The rules for pay increases only state that no special pay increase shall be awarded to any one individual over two consecutive years. What you are doing is quite unethical. It bears no relation to the rules on this matter. If you insist on this evaluation, I will refuse to sign it, and will consult the Personnel Division as to whether your rating principle is permissible or not."

Mr. Yoshida was extremely upset and tried to persuade him otherwise by explaining in vain how he had rated in each element of the evaluation. Frightened that the Personnel Division might consider that he lacked leadership skills, he changed Mr. Akiyama's grade from C to B. Mr. Akiyama signed and asked him to push the Personnel Division to award a special pay increase even with a rating of B.

This change to Mr. Akiyama's rating created one excess B rating in the overall plan. Mr. Yoshida had to change the rating of one of the employees with whom he hadn't yet held a meeting. He decided to change that of Mr. Tsuchiya from B to C. Not particularly smart, Mr. Tsuchiya is nevertheless diligent and quiet. He performs every task as instructed without rising to complaint. He hadn't received a special pay increase in seven years and Mr. Yoshida had originally rated him B. Mr. Yoshida believed that there was no alternative but to grade him C this year. He didn't imagine, for a minute, that this would be met with much complaint.

 

 

 

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