Forced ranking in corporate America has been around for years.  It is a process that forces management to rank employees in order to determine how to move the company forward.  According to Wikipedia, Jack Welch of GE used forced ranking this way:

The "top 20" percent of the workforce is most productive, and 70% (the "vital 70") work adequately. The other 10% ("bottom 10") are nonproducers and should be fired.

The result was motivated employees at the top of the rank and employees at the bottom were let go.  Read here about the details of the GE program.

Training Magazine (June 2008) discusses forced ranking in terms of the effect on the training department.  Basically, in order for organizations to be successful, their workforce needs to be effective. Forced ranking is the formula that puts employees on the right track and training then is responsible for insuring that employees get what they need and when they need it.   What success stories can you share about forced ranking in your organization?