People Analytics

Some may say that a data-driven approach to human resources has a chill to it.

But a growing number of companies are trying to apply a data-driven approach to the unpredictable world of human interactions.

Google is at the leading edge of this approach to management.

In Project Oxygen, the statisticians gathered more than 10,000 observations about managers—across more than 100 variables, from various performance reviews, feedback surveys and other reports. Then they spent time coding the comments in order to look for patterns.

Does this mean performance evaluations will be more objective, more impartial, and free of biases and prejudices? Not necessarily, considering that the "variables" are still human.  

(Via The New York Times)