[funnybeam]

As someone that has been in this position (manager in the UK) I have to agree and think you have summed it up perfectly.

However, it is occasionally successful and those (admittedly rare) occasions have been some of the most rewarding experiences of my career.

I also don’t think that what you have described is necessarily a bad thing. As long as the manager goes into it in good faith and genuinely tries to understand what the problems are and to help solve those problems then the process works well for everyone - either they improve and become a happy and productive employee or they leave (voluntarily or not) and can seek a position more suited to their skills or personality.

Most of the times I have been through this the person involved was perfectly capable of doing the job but they just didn’t want to for various reasons and putting them on an improvement plan helped them see this and they move on themselves before they were forced to