Merit Rating and Productivity in an Industrial Research Laboratory: A Case Study

A merit rating plan based only on one criterion, over-all performance, was tested in one section of approximately sixty engineer-scientists in a large industrial research laboratory. The procedure used is discussed along with some general results. In addition, a measure of individual productivity was developed based on the average number of technical reports, publications, and patent disclosures written per year. A fairly good correlation was found between the merit ratings and the measure of productivity.