The Hindu Business Line : Ranking against peers

IT HAS nowadays become common to rank institutions which offer similar services or perform similar functions. For instance, educational institutions, such as universities, colleges or business schools are evaluated with reference to specified parameters, including the perception of those having dealings with them.

Even countries do not escape coming under the scanner and ranked. Transparency International grades countries on the basis of corruption perception index, and international development, financing, banking, investment and rating agencies keep on doing the ranking all the time. Within countries too, the practice is gaining ground. India Today is notable among media enterprises in undertaking surveys on the relative standing of the States in respect of the various aspects of governance.

It will be presumptuous on the part of any agency to assert the infallibility of its rankings. There is always the possibility of errors of judgment, and even unintended bias, in the choice of criteria, the adequacy and reliability of the sample, and the nature of questions asked of respondents. Sometimes the way questions are framed and the tone and manner in which they are asked may also influence the answers. But there can be no quarrel with such exercises so long as they are gone through in good faith and the methodology is transparently laid out and on the face of it sound and credible. The rankings do broadly reflect the realities on the ground and serve as the basis for corrective action. That consideration alone may not be sufficient to make the results acceptable or palatable, particularly to the organisations or countries which fare poorly. Among the States in India, Bihar comes at or near the bottom in most respects, but there are many in Bihar, belonging to the political class as well as enlightened sections of opinion, who are convinced that the rest of India is deeply prejudiced against the State.

There is a lot to be said in favour of appraising performance of employees by ranking them against his peers in the same office, in preference to the present system of assessing each employee individually. Awareness of his rank among colleagues may spur the employee to strive to be on par with, if not ahead of, them and generate a spirit of healthy competition. It seems an idea whose time has come.

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