Is 360-Degree Feedback Right for Our Company? Seeking Advice on Implementation

Hi Deepali,

We are preparing to formalize our review process. How can we determine if 360-degree performance appraisals are suitable for our company?

Thank you.

Hi Deepali,

As per my understanding, 360 Degree Feedback involves feedback from peers, subordinates, superiors, and self. The process is time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, the above feedback is used for people at the managerial level and above since the number of individuals in these positions is limited, and a comprehensive understanding is necessary.

Please find attached the document containing all the information related to 360 Degree Feedback.

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Deepak

Hi Deepali,

At the outset, the process would be as follows:

1. Derive the competencies
2. Identify the Appraisee
3. Map them into different Bands (if necessary)
4. Define the Respondent types (Self / Peer / Manager / Subordinate / Customer)
5. Identify the Appraisers for each Appraisee (minimum of 3 for Peer / Subordinate / Customer)
6. Conduct the survey, i.e., feedback, and then, of course, the reports section...

Do let me know if conducting the same would help you out with the details.

- Suresh

Hello Deepali,

A company is ready for a 360-degree process when:
1. Employees are willing to give honest feedback.
2. Managers are willing to accept the honest feedback.
3. Managers are committed to changing their behaviors.

Number 3 is very difficult if managers are left on their own to change their behaviors.

Bob

Hi Deepali,

A 360-degree process can be extremely helpful in a feedback situation as you have the opportunity to get information from all involved. However, as stated in some other replies, it is time-consuming, expensive, and potentially harmful. That's why you really need to look much deeper into this before you implement it.

I would recommend that you start by studying what is required and then take a realistic look around you to see if this would be possible in your organization. If you believe it is, it is very important that you also spend some time informing and training people on what they would need to do in a 360 feedback. This will involve all levels of your organization. Giving and receiving criticism is one of the most difficult things, and a 360-degree feedback puts this to the test.

Hi,

Thank you for the reply. I want to know if this doesn't give a negative impact on the employees regarding the management. In other words, I can say that employees have a platform to express what they want, but this can also lead to negative consequences.

Deepali

Hi,

If I understand you correctly, you are concerned that employees will use the 360 feedback to voice negative feedback. I would emphasize educating all parts of the company on what 360-degree feedback entails: it is a tool for providing constructive criticism, both positive and negative. It is intended to help us improve in our tasks and performance.

Of course, it can lead to negative outcomes if employees (or management) do not use it correctly. It may devolve into a blame game or be disregarded altogether, especially since many individuals are averse to conflicts. This is why handling it properly is challenging. While it may be easy to implement 360 feedback on paper, making it effective requires the entire company to be prepared and mature enough to handle it.

By the way, if employees use the 360 feedback to highlight negative aspects, then those issues likely existed already. :-)

Please let me know if you need further assistance or clarification.

Hello Deepali,

I want to know if this doesn't give a negative impact on the employees about the management. Do you mean if employees will be punished?

In other words, I can say that employees have a platform to express what they want, but this can also lead to negative consequences. The 360 feedback system we use includes 70 questions with optional comments. The managers should not know what a rater has said about them; responses by direct reports and peers must be anonymous.

Bob

Hi!

If you have a 180 process already in place, handling a 360 process will become easier. You can even compare the data.

Regards, Jennifer Isaac

Hi Deepali,

As per my suggestion, you should go for standard appraisal systems except the 360-degree because:
1.) 360-degree is so time-consuming.
2.) It will cost you more.
3.) The chances of negativity are too high.

In the standard appraisal system, you can include all the objectives and materialistic things like company objectives, employee attitude, skills, targets, performance, flexibility, etc.

Apart from the above, I would like to tell you that negativity will always be present. Sometimes it is high, and sometimes it is low.

Regards,
Rupendra

Hi Rupender,

Thank you for the suggestion. I want to implement 360-degree appraisal in our organization. My only concern is that it should not have a negative impact on the employees.

Deepali

Hi all,

Apart from prerequisites mentioned by other authors to make the 360 appraisal system workable, I believe that the organization concerned wishing to adopt the system should have a well-designed and developed IT system in place, as it may consume too much time to get the performance rated in the 360 system. Just a thought.

Regards,
Dorji

Well, according to my best understanding, it should be adopted when employees are involved directly with consumers. In this case, ratings by consumers are also considered, unlike in any other form of appraisal where this is not included.

Polky

Hi Deepali,

We are getting set to formalize our review process. How do we know if 360-degree performance appraisals are right for our company?

360-degree feedback is a method and a tool that provides each employee with 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.

360-degree feedback allows each individual to understand how their effectiveness as an employee, coworker, or staff member is viewed by others. The most effective 360-degree feedback processes provide feedback that is based on behaviors that other employees can see.

The feedback provides insight into the skills and behaviors desired in the organization to accomplish the mission, vision, and goals and live the values. The feedback is firmly planted in behaviors needed to exceed customer expectations.

People who are chosen as raters, usually choices shared by the organization and employee, generally interact routinely with the person receiving feedback.

The purpose of 360-degree feedback is to assist each individual in understanding their strengths and weaknesses and to contribute insights into aspects of their work needing professional development. Debates of all kinds are raging in the world of organizations about how to select the feedback tool and process, select the raters, use the feedback, review the feedback, and manage and integrate the process into a larger performance management system.

360-degree feedback system is a system in which everybody will evaluate everybody's performance in the organization. If I'm right, there is no specific occasion or any specific time to implement it because almost all organizations have adopted this. During the evaluation of performance, there is a chance to get biased, but it can be reduced by 360-degree feedback. Hence, every organization should adopt it.

Dear Deepali,

Before I suggest whether it's suitable for your organization, please let me know about the size of your organization in terms of business, human assets, and service/product line markets, etc.

Aravindan

This provides a good understanding of the 360 concept and recommendations for deployment. It is an impartial article.

[Link: http://www.visionmetrics.net/survey-resources/360-degree-feedback-software.aspx]

Hope this helps

Hi Deepali,

360-degree appraisal is well-suited to software companies because the number of customers is low (client). In this system, we have 4 entities (Self, immediate Supervisor, Dept Head/Unit Head, and the fourth one is Customer/client). In general trade, it is very difficult to collect customer feedback regarding our employees, but in software, we can obtain accurate data from clients because they know the performance of our employees (for onsite projects).

Regards,
Murty