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Susan M. Heathfield, the About.com Guide to Human Resources, takes on the subject of 360-degree feedback, providing a balanced overview of the topic and clear and concise bullet points on the pros and cons.
Susan’s definition of the term “360-degree feedback”:
“A method and a tool that provides each employee the opportunity to receive performance feedback from his or her supervisor and four to eight peers, reporting staff members, coworkers and customers. Most 360 degree feedback tools are also responded to by each individual in a self assessment.”
Her strong words of caution:
Implemented with care and training to enable people to better serve customers and develop their own careers, 360 degree feedback is a positive addition to your performance management system.Started haphazardly, because it’s the current flavor in organizations, or because “everyone” else is doing it, 360 feedback will create a disaster from which you will require months and possibly years, to recover.
The pros (or, more precisely, areas of benefit to the company and employees):
- Improved Feedback From More Sources
- Team Development
- Personal and Organizational Performance Development
- Responsibility for Career Development
- Reduced Discrimination Risk
- Improved Customer Service
- Training Needs Assessment
Given my professional orientation as an employment lawyer, I was particularly interested in the point on reduced discrimination risk.
What Susan says in this regard makes a lot of sense to me:
“When feedback comes from a number of individuals in various job functions, discrimination because of race, age, gender, and so on, is reduced. The “horns and halo” effect, in which a supervisor rates performance based on her most recent interactions with the employee, is also minimized.”
The cons:
- Exceptional Expectations for the Process
- Design Process Downfalls
- Failure to Connect the Process
- Insufficient Information
- Focus on Negatives and Weaknesses
- Rater Inexperience and Ineffectiveness
- Paperwork/Computer Data Entry Overload
Note that what I have referred to as the “cons” are more accurately described as problems to watch out for when implementing 360-degree feedback, as they are all potentially correctable.
Source:
About.com Human Resources: “360 Degree Feedback: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”
Additional resources:
- Genene Koebelin: “Are You Ready for 360?” (detailed discussion drawing on research; useful if considering implementation or improvement of 360-degree program).
- Wikipedia discussion (good points distinguishing 360-degree feedback from 360-degree review).
- Google search for “360 degree feedback.”
Photo credit: clickykbd via flickr
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Comments
[...] George’s Employment Blawg » Pros and Cons of 360 Degree Feedback A good introduction to 360 feedback (tags: 360_feedback psychology development behaviours) [...]
I’ve implemented 360 Degree Reviews in the past, and the first time I did it we unfortunately did not explain the process, or purpose very clearly and it was not as successful as we had hoped. However, subsequent reviews went much once everyone understood what it was for and how it would help!
Pros and Cons of 360 Degree Feedback…
I would very much agree with the summary of the article by Susan Heathfield on the Pros and Cons of 360 Degree Feedback.
As someone who has developed very specific 360 Degree Feedback models to support appraisal, training and leadership development, I…
the pros and cons are a good overview of the ins and outs, what is needed now is to google your way to an overview of the process and implement it….if it suits your organisation style.
A good introduction!