Why Managers Misread Rankings

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Why Managers Misread Rankings

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Rankings can distort decisions when people compare options from groups of different sizes. Across eight experiments involving more than 4,400 participants, researchers found that people favored

Imagine you’re a manager making an internal hire. You are considering two finalists: Monica and Jessica. Each comes from a different department, so you can’t compare them directly. Instead, you rely on their managers’ rankings of them within their teams. Monica is ranked third out of 12 employees in her department, and Jessica is ranked sixth out of 24 in hers. Who do you hire?