Perfromance, the context or individual?

In the October issue of the Harvard Business Review there is an interesting article titled HR for Neophytes the article suggests front-line managers are taking on duties that were once the preserve of human resources.

Written by Peter Capelli, there are a number of great observations and points raised one that struck me in particular is his assertion that one of largest misconceptions of about managing talent is that individual failure is the greatest cause of performance issues. Whilst he doesn’t quote the specific research he asserts the notion of ‘A’ Players is largely a myth in essence people are not innately excellent, poor or average performers it’s the workplace context, systems, procedures, support and market conditions that play a larger part in performance.

I have to say I agree, all too often individuals are castigated for results that are not in line with a budget or forecast without sufficient introspection about how that team and or individual were supported and indeed the validity of the budget or forecast.

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