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INTRODUCTION TO 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK

360-degree feedback is a full circle, multi-source and multi-rater system ofobtaining information from peers, subordinates, and internal and external customers, about

the employee's performance. 360-degree assessment is based on the assessment of an

individual's management styles, competencies and behaviour by colleagues horizontallyand vertically by involving his boss, peers arid direct reports in the organisation. his is

supplemented !ith self-rating and customer ratings. 360-feedbacks can, therefore, be a

po!erful mechanism through !hich information regarding an individual's personal

development and his training needs, can be obtained. he advantage of this process is thatit enables one to obtain information from multiple sources and from people !ho routinely

!ork !ith and are affected by the employee's behaviour.

Diagrammatic presentation o 360-!egree ee!"ac#

Deinition

"he 360 degree feedback process involves collecting perceptions about a person's

behaviour and the impact of that behaviour from the person's boss or bosses, directreports, colleagues, fello! members in the pro#ect team, internal and external customers

and suppliers."-$epsinger, %&&

E$O%UTION OF 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK

he concept of 360-degree feedback has its roots in industrial and organisational

psychology !hen (adler )%&* conducted an employee attitude survey in !hich he asked

employees to rate their level of satisfaction !ith their immediate supervisor and topexecutives. +t !as branded as the '360 degree appraisal' in %&& in the . here are

various opinions about the origin of this method. /ccording to orbes )%&&6*, up!ard

feedback !as developed by 1eter arey of the 2ritish /ir!ays in %&3. ther vie!points!ere offered by 4arris and chaubroeck )%&*, !ho 5uoted studies conducted as far back

as in %&3 and 2racken )%&&6* 5uoted a %& revie! of 78 commercial feedback

instruments that existed at the time.9ecent studies and surveys, ho!ever, present a different picture. / study of ortune

00 companies by the :yatt ;ompany conducted in %&&3, had reported that 76 per cent

companies have been employing 360-feedback method )otorola, mith ?line 2eecham, (okia,

eagram, hell )+ndia*, 1hilips, /ditya 2irla group, ( and tar

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from numeric to 5ualitative comments. +nstead of being fixed the report formats are

becoming more customised.

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1age (o. 7

RE$IE& OF RE'EARC(E'

/ study by chmidt and 4unter )%&&*, )summarising research findings of the last

years* has reported that on comparison of % different selection procedures, peer

ratings have been found to be better than most other selection methods, viz. unstructuredintervie!s, #ob try-outs, #ob kno!ledge tests and assessment centres. 4o!ever, a research

by @augler and hornton )%&*, revealed that the validity of results from assessment

centres increases if they include peer evaluations. 9esearch undertaken by >c$ean,

ytsma and ?er!in-9yberg reveals the highest correlation )A0.80* !hen subordinates ratetheir superior and is the lo!est !hen subordinates rate a peer )-0.73*. he other

shortcomings reported by them in 360 degree feedback areB halo effect, bias or pre#udice,

lack of information, errors of strictness, central tendency, leniency, recency effect,cognitive dissonance and fear. >c$ean suggests that 360-degree feedback seems !ell

established !hen used for voluntary individual developmental purposes. / survey

conducted by $epsinger and $ucia )%&&*, regarding ho! 360-degree )multi-rater*feedback !as being used by companies, revealed that per cent of the companies !ere

using it for management and organisational development, 7 per cent for performance

appraisal, 70 per cent to support strategy implementation and culture change, and %& percent for team development. /lthough 7 per cent of the respondents have been using it for

performance appraisal, a ma#ority of the respondents !ere against this and favoured theuse of 360-degree feedback for linking employee development to focused organisational

development./nderson ;onsulting )7000*, administers t!o 360 degree feedback instruments for

populations -)i* 360 degree :ritten urvey method, and

)ii* 360 degree /nonymous +ntervie!ranscript method, !hich can provide both individual feedback and feedback in

organisational setting. hese are undertaken through registered centres called kill cope

and 1rospecto, !hich are centres for !ritten 360-degree feedback. or individual feedbackstudies, eight feedback providers complete their survey by giving their ratings

independently for an individual or a group on % dimensions of leadership. he % key

dimensions of leadership assessed by ;;$ are classified into the follo!ing five groupsB)a* information skills,

)b* decision making,

)c* interpretation,

)d* personal resources, and)e* effective use of self.

hey send these directly to the ;entre for ;reative $eadership );;$*. he ;;$ is an

organisational educational institution recognised by the that is devoted to behaviouralscience research in leadership education, !hich compares the self-ratings of the individual

on these dimensions !ith the group ratings. he group ratings become the base. hese

ratings are processed at ;;$ and the feedback is sent to the concerned individual or the

group. kill cope is being used by several organisations, the important among them being>arriott ;orporation, @eneral >ills and @eneral =lectric, among others.

1rospecto, on the other hand, gives feedback from a group of %% comprising current

supervisors, peers, direct reports, friends andCor family members to organisations in lo!supervisory level positions and in case of those !ith an opportunity to get into senior level

positions. he focus of feedback is on leadership related aspects and the individual's

attitude to learn ne! things, i.e.)%* engaging in opportunities )seeking opportunities, risk taking ability,

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understanding of business in different cultural contexts*, and

1age (o. 3

)7* creating a context ofD learning )openness to criticism, insightfulness, solicitingfeedback and using it, influencing others, and learning from mistakes*. +n the case of

1rospecto, the feedback given by the %% group members is compared not !ith self-rating,

but !ith a norm already decided for the group.

/ccording to >etcalfe of the ;entre for $eadership tudies, niversity of $eeds, 360-degree feedback increases the staff's organisational commitment by t!o years follo!ing

the assessment provided it is linked to a specific development plan. Euorum 1sychologists

)7000* have reported that nearly 30 per cent of the organisations are making se of 360-degree appraisal feedback in UK and the number is continuing to gro!. /ccording to

them, in the case of a manager, the feedback is taken through a confidential 5uestionnaire

from approximately %0 colleagues. +n addition to the 5uestionnaire, verbatim commentsare also sought and recorded and are included in the feedback confidentially. he

5uestionnaires are collated and processed by a bureau on a computer and a 30 page report

is made, highlighting the strengths and development needs of the manager. hefacilitator's help is sought in identifying the most important areas of development for 'high

leverage'./ 5uestion fre5uently asked is "Fo raters respond differently if feedback is used for

assessment, i.e. promotions or salary decisions rather than for developmental purposesG"/n analysis of researches conducted over 80 years by Ha!ahar and :illiams )%&&*,

clearly indicates that feedback is more lenient !hen the raters think it is to be utilised for

assessment thanfor development. /s regards gender differences in rating, letcher )%&&*has found some evidence to suggest that self-ratings of female managers are closer to the

ratings given 'to them by their colleagues than are the self-ratings of male managers !hich

are much higher than their colleagues' ratingsfor them.ome studies have been undertaken to assess the influence of culture on the ratings

given by the individuals. /lthough there is no conclusive evidence, the findings suggest

that culture does influence ratings. +t has been observed that in /sian countries, employeeshesitate to offer honest feedback to their superiors and often under-rate themselves as a

mark of modesty. 4o!ever, more research is needed in this areafor reaching any definite

conclusions.

&() ORGANI'ATION' NEED 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK*

ne of the ma#or considerations for organisations, !hich have gone for 360-degreefeedback, has been strategic integration and alignment of performance management !ith

business goals in the increasingly competitive environment. +t has helped them create a

mechanism for integrating inputs, creating an appropriate !ork culture, and under-bidding

the company's leadership assessment and development programme. /lthough it !ould bedesirable to have a 360-degree feedback system in the entire organisation, the experience

in +ndia sho!s that it has so far been largely introduced at the top and in a fe! cases at the

middle levels in progressive companies.

A++%ICATION OF 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK

+ersona, Dee,opment o Emp,o.ees

/. +mproving perception of the individual about oneself by understanding ho! others

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perceive himCherD

2. 4elping an individual manage one's performance betterD and;. acilitating learning process for the employee.

Team Dee,opment

/. +ncrease in inter-personal communication among team membersD and

2. +mproved customer service as customer feedback is included in the 360 degree

feedback.

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1age no. 8

(/man Reso/rce anagement

/. 1ersonnel selection and employee coachingD

2. @eneral personnel decisions-promotions, pay +ncreases, probationary status or

terminationD

;. raining and Fevelopment-employee training, management development, and

organisational developmentD

F. 1lanning for development centres, identification of development needs like thepotential for leadership, development and honing of competencies, career planning and

development.

(o1 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK ')'TE ADD' $A%UE

"2eing the best !ay to produce an accurate picture of ho! people are perceived by

the people !ith !hom they !ork, be it their manager, co-!orkers, direct reports, clients orcustomers," 360 degree feedback enables an organisation to focus on developmental

efforts, at the individual and group levels, in the present business environment !here the

success of the company depends on continuous revolution, !hich is possible through

organisational development interventions involving changes in the culture of anorganisational system. nce introduced, 360-degree feedback facilitates the alignment of

individual capabilities and behaviours !ith organisational strategies. 4o! it adds value to

the organisation has been summarised belo!B

he multi-rater feedback gives a comprehensive vie! of an individual's

performanceD

+t captures uni5ue information, !hich other methods usually cannotD

+t serves to complement supervisory feedback as the only source for performance

standardsD

+t promotes a ne! psychological contract and increases the understanding aboutone's role expectationsD

+t focuses on competency frame!ork in various rolesD or top level executives, it can serve as a useful source of feedbackD

+t promotes self-directed learning and provides a road map for employees'

development planningD

+t builds in action-orientation around the self-monitoring of gaps in performancebet!een others' expectations and a person's perceived performanceD

+t helps everyone to !ork for a common standard and institutionalises performance

managementD

+t promotes commitment to good !ork among peopleD

+t acts as a key relationship-building tool to enhance team processes and !ork

relationshipsD +t is an important monitoring and regulatory deviceD

+t empo!ers individuals to obtain a realistic assessment of their strengths and areas

of improvementD

+t helps in the strategic integration and alignment of performance management,keeping in vie! the ne! organisational complexitiesD

+t creates mechanisms for integrating multiple constituencies and inputs andfacilitates the development of an appropriate culture for competitive advantageD and

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+t facilitates organisational transformation.

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1age no.

&() '(OU%D AN ORGANI'ATION U'E 360 DEGREE FEEDBACK*

+f an organisation is not clear about the benefits of 360 degree feedback, it needs to

ask itself the follo!ing 5uestionsB

+s the company in a position to meet the ne! challenges and the increasingcompetition !ith the existing competencies of its employeesG

/re the people in the organisation a!are of the organisation's future behavioural

needs to ensure its successG

Foes the changing environment call for a change in people's behaviourG

Foes the training and development system reflect and is it e5uipped to cater to

current and future re5uirements of #obsCpositionsCrolesG

+s there an alignment in the behaviour of people !ith the organisation's vision,

mission and valuesG

Fo people in the organisation receive feedback on their behaviour and performancefrom more than one sourceG

A''E''ING READINE'' OF T(E ORGANI'ATION FOR I+%EENTING

360-DEGREE FEEDBACK

he most significant aspect of the introduction of the 360-degree feedback system is

assessing the readiness of the organisation