appraisal
Appraisal is the sacred ritual through which organizations measure the difference between achievement and sloth, dispensing equal parts praise and reproach. At quarter-end, countless feelings soar untethered from numbers, and a stack of paper decrees human worth. The true purpose is not the appraisal itself, but the spectacle it provides for meetings. Everyone claims to want fairness, yet those who believe in it harbor the deepest doubts.