INTRODUCTION TO 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK 360-degree feedback is a full circle, multi-source and multi-rater system of obtaining 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 horizontally and 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 that it 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# De inition " 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, direct reports, 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 top executives. +t !as branded as the '360 degree appraisal' in %&&, in the -.. here are various opinions about the origin of this method. /ccording to 0orbes )%&&6*, up!ard feedback !as developed by 1eter 0arey of the 2ritish /ir!ays in %&'3. 3ther vie!points !ere offered by 4arris and .chaubroeck )%&,,*, !ho 5uoted studies conducted as far back as in %&63 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 0ortune 600 companies by the :yatt ;ompany conducted in %&&3, had reported that 76 per cent companies have been employing 360-feedback method )<inson, %&&6*. he finding of 'recent surveys' reported by =d!ards and =!en )%&&6* estimate that &0 per cent of the 0ortune %000 firms have been using some form of multi-source assessments. /ccording to a %&&' survey , per cent of the companies used this approach and 6& per cent planned to introduce it in the next three years. +n +ndia, it !as initiated in the mid-%&,0s and is emerging as a prominent 49 tool being used for developmental purposes by companies like :ipro, the +ndian obacco ;ompany )l ;*, >otorola, .mith ?line 2eecham, (okia, .eagram, .hell )+ndia*, 1hilips, /ditya 2irla group, (- and .tar <, among other progressive companies. he process of 360-degree feedback has undergone considerable change in design and approach over the years. +nitially it included executives and individuals at all levels in the organisation but in recent years it has become more focused on superiors, subordinates, peers, customers and self. =ven the process is gradually changing from the manual to the electronic method. +n the :est, the paper or scan forms of feedback are being replaced by computer-based electronic, paperless e-mail feedback. he rigid design of survey is giving !ay to customised surveys being undertaken by the company. he feedback has moved

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

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1age (o. 7 RE$IE& OF RE'EARC(E' / study by .chmidt and 4unter )%&&,*, )summarising research findings of the last ,6 years* has reported that on comparison of %, different selection procedures, peer ratings have been found to be better than most other selection methods, viz. unstructured intervie!s, #ob try-outs, #ob kno!ledge tests and assessment centres. 4o!ever, a research by @augler and hornton )%&,'*, revealed that the validity of results from assessment centres increases if they include peer evaluations. 9esearch undertaken by >c$ean, .ytsma and ?er!in-9yberg reveals the highest correlation )A0.80* !hen subordinates rate their 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 $ucia )%&&'*, regarding ho! 360-degree )multi-rater* feedback !as being used by companies, revealed that 6, per cent of the companies !ere using it for management and organisational development, 76 per cent for performance appraisal, 70 per cent to support strategy implementation and culture change, and %& per cent for team development. /lthough 76 per cent of the respondents have been using it for performance appraisal, a ma#ority of the respondents !ere against this and favoured the use of 360-degree feedback for linking employee development to focused organisational development. /nderson ;onsulting )7000*, administers t!o 360 degree feedback instruments for populations -)i* 360 degree :ritten .urvey method, and )ii* 360 degree /nonymous +ntervie! ranscript method, !hich can provide both individual feedback and feedback in organisational setting. hese are undertaken through registered centres called .kill .cope and 1rospecto, !hich are centres for !ritten 360-degree feedback. 0or individual feedback studies, eight feedback providers complete their survey by giving their ratings independently for an individual or a group on %6 dimensions of leadership. he %6 key dimensions of leadership assessed by ;;$ are classified into the follo!ing five groupsB information skills, decision making, interpretation, personal resources, and 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 behavioural science 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,

understanding of business in different cultural contexts*, and 1age (o. 3 creating a context ofD learning )openness to criticism, insightfulness, soliciting feedback 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, 360degree 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 360degree 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 comments are 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. he facilitator'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 than for development. /s regards gender differences in rating, 0letcher )%&&'* 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' ratings for 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, employees hesitate 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 area for reaching any definite conclusions. &() ORGANI'ATION' NEED 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK* 3ne of the ma#or considerations for organisations, !hich have gone for 360-degree feedback, 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 be desirable 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, De-e,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 ;. 0acilitating learning process for the employee. Team De-e,opment /. +ncrease in inter-personal communication among team membersD and 2. +mproved customer service as customer feedback is included in the 360 degree feedback.

1age no. 8 (/man Reso/rce 0anagement /. 2. ;. F. 1ersonnel selection and employee coachingD @eneral personnel decisions-promotions, pay +ncreases, probationary status or terminationD raining and Fevelopment-employee training, management development, and organisational developmentD 1lanning for development centres, identification of development needs like the potential for leadership, development and honing of competencies, career planning and development. (o1 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK ')'TE0 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 or customers," 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 an organisational system. 3nce 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 about one's role expectationsD +t focuses on competency frame!ork in various rolesD 0or 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 performance bet!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 and facilitates the development of an appropriate culture for competitive advantageD and

+t facilitates organisational transformation.

1age no. 6 &() '(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 increasing competition !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 performance from more than one sourceG A''E''ING READINE'' OF T(E ORGANI'ATION FOR I0+%E0ENTING 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK he most significant aspect of the introduction of the 360-degree feedback system is assessing the readiness of the organisation