360-degree feedback
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In human resources, 360-degree feedback is employee development feedback that comes from all around the employee. The feedback would come from subordinates, peers and managers in the organizational hierarchy, as well as a self-assessment, and in some cases external sources such as customers and suppliers or other interested stakeholders. ("360" refers to the 360 degrees in a circle.)
Also known as multi-rater feedback.
Compare to upward feedback where managers are given feedback by their direct reports, or a traditional performance appraisal where the employees are most often reviewed only by their manager.
The results from 360-degree feedback are often used by the person receiving the feedback to plan their training and development. The results are also used by some organizations for making promotional or pay decisions, which is sometimes called 360-degree review.
In addition, the cumulative results for a group of 360-degree feedback recipients provides organizations with crucial information required for effective strategic planning.
Contents |
[edit] Neutral Third Party
When conducting 360 degree feedback on an employee, it is often worthwhile to involve a “neutral” third party in the process. This can provide better objectivity and confidentiality. According to the Academy of Management Executive, since the third party has no strong emotions about the situation they can offer a more objective perspective that can be invaluable to those who are giving and receiving the feedback. (Cannon 132). Often these third parties will also have sophisticated survey deliver and analysis tools that can often be hard to find internally in an organization.
[edit] 360-Degree Feedback Rater Accuracy Trends
[edit] Who Are the Most Accurate Raters?
In Considering a 360-degree review it is important to know who the most accurate raters are. The most accurate being the boss or manager of an employee, followed by peers and direct reports, and the least accurate being the employee’s self evaluation. According to a study on the congruence of job performance ratings, seven task-oriented teams worked together for between 4 and 6 months on a project. At the end of the task, members were each subject to four task-performance ratings: from self, superior, team-peers, and a consultant who was part of the team. There were fewer than chance differences between the different teams on the congruence measures so the data was combined. While the congruence between self and manager, self and peer, and self and consultant ratings were very low, the manager peer, manager consultant, and peer consultant congruence was overall high. Observable behaviors like forward planning and communication showed overall highest congruence while less observable cognitive variables showed much lower congruence. These results are similar to previous studies in the area.(Furnham 517-530)
[edit] What Has the Most Effect on Rater Accuracy?
A study on the patterns of rater accuracy shows that how long the rater has known the person has the most effect on the accuracy of a 360 degree review. The study shows that subjects in the group “know for one to three years” are the most accurate followed by “known for less than one year” followed by “known for three to five years” and the least accurate being “known for more than five years.” The study concludes that the most accurate ratings come from knowing the person long enough to get past first impressions, but not so long as to begin to generalize favorably. (Eichinger 24)
[edit] Changes in Employee Attitude in Relation to 360-Degree Feedback
The claims that follow are three hypotheses that are supported by a study on 360-degree feedback to leaders conducted by Arizona State University. A feedback process was conducted in two organizations, an elementary school and a retail chain at two time periods. In both organizations, all leaders with three or more direct reports were asked to participate in a 360-degree feedback process (Brett 582-583). The hypotheses are as follows:
- Positive changes in relationship-oriented leadership behavior will relate to positive changes in employee job satisfaction.
- Positive Changes in relationship-oriented leadership behavior will relate to positive changes in employee intent to leave.
- Positive changes in relationship-oriented leadership behavior will relate to positive changes in employee engagement.
After careful analysis all three of these hypotheses showed a positive correlation. When the leader’s consideration and employee development behaviors improved, it was related to positive changes in employee engagement and satisfaction. And also positive changes in the leader’s behavior were also associated with reduced intentions to leave among employees. (Brett 589).
[edit] References
Brett, Joan. "360 Degree Feedback to Leaders." Group and Organization Managment 31(2006): 578-600.
Cannon, Mark and Robert Witherspoon. "Actionable feedback: Unlocking the power of learning and performance improvement." Academy of Management Executive 1905 2005 120-134.
Eichinger, Robert. "Patterns of Rater Accuracy in 360-degree Feedback." Perspectives 27(2004): 23-25.
Furnham, Adrian. "Congruence in job-performance ratings: A study of 360 degree feed back examining self, manager, peers, and consultant ratings." Human Relations 51(1998): 517-530.
