Seeing this brand new approval process, the researchers all looked like wilted gourds.
In the past, approvals were so simple, all they had to do was persuade Ni Guangnan. Although Ni Guangnan was upright and never engaged in any frivolous matters, he was quite easy to fool if you understood his approach.
The simplest way was to emphasize the importance of the project, its benefits to the nation and its people, its historical significance, or how it put China ahead of other countries. With such arguments, Ni Guangnan would almost always approve.
So, after the initial year or two, everyone had mastered the routine, and applying for projects became incredibly easy, requiring almost no effort.
However, with the introduction of the new approval scheme, everything changed. There were now three checkpoints. Besides the institute director's review in the middle, the other two involved reviews by multiple people.
The most troublesome thing in the world is not having too few people in charge, but too many.
If there are few people in charge, and they are corrupt, you can also become corrupt to navigate the system.
But if too many people are involved, it's difficult to satisfy everyone, and the challenge increases exponentially. What's more, in two of the stages, everyone has to approve, and in the other, you don't even know who your reviewers are, making it impossible to prepare beforehand. This was a real setback.
Upon seeing this review process, all the researchers understood that their good old days were over. They would all have to rack their brains to get their projects approved. As for any ulterior motives, those were completely out of the question.
They now had to focus on how to align themselves with the three main guidelines to pass the review.
If this policy change had been introduced without the recent incident, Ni Guangnan, as the institute director, would likely have been the first to object to such a complex review system.
Even if he had come to terms with it, his subordinates would have instigated him, or they would have caused trouble themselves, turning the entire institute into a mess. Even Huang He would have found it difficult to resolve the institute's problems, as an institute is fundamentally people-driven. Losing valuable research talent, or creating discord and fragmentation among the staff, would have been irreversible.
However, after this incident and Huang boss's decisive removal of Ni Guangnan, everyone was intimidated.
Furthermore, with Ni Guangnan gone, they had lost a strong advocate who could negotiate and fight for their interests. Everyone was scattered and disorganized.
Anyone who still wished to cause trouble would have to consider their own vulnerabilities.
At the same time, for the sake of their own safety, they were forced to work diligently.
This series of measures effectively prevented any form of unrest, showing that the timing of the changes was impeccable.
This first reform was already difficult enough for everyone, but seeing the second reform, many people's expressions changed.
"What? We have to implement KPIs too?" many exclaimed in disbelief.
KPI, originating from an Italian economist and popularized in China, was a performance appraisal system that instilled fear in countless corporate drones. The fact that it was now being introduced into the R&D center, with performance appraisals for the entire R&D center, almost made those who read it explode.
"I quit! We are R&D personnel, not assembly line robots. How can a performance appraisal system be applied to us? We absolutely refuse!" someone immediately declared their indignation, refusing to accept such a monstrous system.
"Exactly! The parent company, the entire Jiangnan Group, doesn't have a KPI system. The chairman himself said that KPIs are the most foolish system in the world. Why should we be subjected to KPI pressure!" another person loudly stated, clearly having studied Huang boss's speeches extensively and able to quote his famous sayings.
"Please, you two, keep reading. Don't just jump to KPIs. Is this really a KPI?" someone nearby said impatiently. The two angry individuals paused and continued reading.
They discovered that although it was a form of assessment system, it wasn't a performance appraisal system, and it seemed different from the KPIs they were familiar with.
The core of any KPI system lies in setting performance indicators. Top management sets the company's plans and goals for the upcoming year, and then identifies the key business areas for the year based on these objectives.
With these key business areas identified, multiple business metrics are generated based on them. These metrics are referred to as corporate KPIs.
After establishing the corporate KPI standards, these are then broken down into department-level KPIs, taking into account the characteristics of each department.
This process continues down the hierarchy, eventually being broken down to each individual, where specific KPI standards are set. Employees are then required to meet these KPIs throughout the year, or they are deemed unqualified and placed on the company's optimization list.
In essence, KPIs establish specific goals for everyone in the company except the owner, and require everyone to achieve them.
The primary effect of KPIs is to hover over everyone like a death sentence, creating anxiety among employees. This, in turn, drives them to work overtime and do more, ultimately achieving their goals.
For individuals, KPIs are clearly a dehumanizing element, yet companies highly promote them because they can effectively eliminate idle and complacent employees.
KPIs cannot be judged as right or wrong, but companies favor them because they create an atmosphere of intense effort and overtime throughout the company.
Huang boss himself had also thoroughly considered KPIs. In his previous life as an employee, Huang boss detested KPIs.
This was because the company's KPIs were set to be extremely unrealistic. Normal work, let alone working overtime every day from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week, made it impossible to achieve the KPI targets.
This led Huang boss to curse the company's top management as fools daily. Later, Huang boss realized they weren't fools at all; they deliberately set the KPI targets so high that they could issue various unreasonable commands and demands for overtime and rush work to employees under the guise of KPIs.
Otherwise, they would say, "Even if you don't care about your own KPIs, do you not care about the entire department's KPIs? Do you want to drag everyone down with you, fail to meet the KPIs collectively, and then have everyone's bonuses deducted and prepare to be fired?"
After such pronouncements, Huang boss had no choice but to diligently join the overtime efforts.
This seemingly perfect arrangement allowed the company to increase output without increasing salaries. However, there's always a countermove, and one should never underestimate employees' retaliatory tendencies.
Many colleagues, upon realizing that the KPI targets were unattainable, began to intentionally slack off. In the later stages, some even engaged in counterproductive actions.
Many people often wonder why large companies do such bizarre things, seemingly losing their minds and deliberately offending all their users.
In reality, there might be individuals seeking revenge through indirect means.
However, after becoming a boss, Huang boss personally experienced the importance of KPIs. That is, without the pressure of KPIs, many employees would readily become slackers. Laziness is ingrained in everyone. Expecting everyone to be a saint who doesn't slack off is fundamentally impossible. KPIs effectively pressure these individuals to stop slacking. This has also been evident in Jiangnan Group. After Huang boss firmly stated that he would not implement KPIs, he frequently received complaints.
These complaints stated that people around them were not working hard, were slacking off, and were not proactively taking on work, yet they were receiving their full salaries.
Meanwhile, those who worked hard and diligently in the company only received the same rewards.
Even more frustratingly, because they did less, they made fewer mistakes, so their work records were cleaner, and they even had a chance for promotion at the end of the year.
However, those who did more also made more mistakes, resulting in a checkered record by the end of the year, almost leading to their dismissal. In the end, their bonuses for the entire year were deducted.
Finally, this employee stated that if the company did not find a way to correct this situation, they would have to learn from the advanced experiences of others, slack off more, and do less work, while maintaining a spotless work record for the year.
This report deeply moved Huang boss. Reflecting on his own past experience as an employee, Huang boss fully understood the complexity of the world.
However, expecting Huang boss to change his tune and retract his stance on not implementing KPIs would be impossible; Huang boss also valued his reputation.
Therefore, after much deliberation, Huang boss's company introduced a brand-new system. Although this system was still called an assessment system, it was not a performance appraisal system but a contribution appraisal system.
This system appears to be no different from a performance appraisal system, but the announcement clearly explained the distinction.
A performance appraisal system assesses the basic work a person is supposed to complete. However, a contribution appraisal system assesses the work a person completes beyond their basic duties.
The contribution appraisal system has two specific assessment indicators: a basic work indicator and an additional contribution indicator.
The basic work indicator refers to the essential tasks a person must perform in their daily work, such as clocking in and out on time, and completing assigned tasks. These are the most fundamental indicators that every employee must fulfill.
Only after an employee meets the basic work indicator are they eligible for further assessment of the additional contribution indicator.
The additional contribution indicator assesses the extra contributions and work an employee makes to the company after completing their daily basic duties.