It's not Scotts' 'sink or swim' culture that's the problem. It's the 'good ole boy' network from the top to the bottom that creates an artificial environment of politics. It's all about winning favor with the right people - otherwise you will not be rewarded and may even be penalized because of where you stand politically (that is - who in the high ranks likes and supports you as an employee). And, Scotts promotes the 'forced ranking' performance review system. Not every manager uses forced ranking. Its manager's discretion on what degree to use forced ranking. So, if you work for the wrong manager, and let's say - in a department of about 5-15 people, he or she ranks everyone from 'best' to 'worst' and puts the 'worst' on a performance improvement plan. Don't worry - you don't actually get fired. It's just part of the system at Scotts that some managers use. However, remember the 'good ole boy' network? Where you stand every year in your manager's forced ranking is dependent on how you're viewed by the network - not by your performance. You can do the best job, and if you don't get the right alignment politically within the company - guess where you will stand at the end of the year? One has to deal with company politics everywhere, but at Scotts, I felt like the politics and aligning with the 'right' people was much more the job than the work that I was hired to do. If you're good with corporate politics, this is a place for you. If not, you may find the environment very frustrating in that whatever you do, you cannot get a 'pat on the back' saying 'good job'.
