Diagram 1.0 - Holistic view of 360 Degree Appraisal
(source: Satyawan et al, 2012)
According to 1.0 diagram (Satyawan, et al., 2012), 360-degree appraisal as it named, provides feedback from various levels as described above. Therein this appraisal helps employees to have a holistic view of the impact they have on the Organization due to their performance. Though 360-degree appraisal helps the employees for their career development, it further leads to help the Managers to obtain information on how their leadership style have the rapport and influence among the employees (Satyawan, et al., 2012).
The purpose of 360-degree appraisal is mainly for Leadership development. This further may tempt Leadership behavioral change for the Managers; since they receive feedback from all corners of the Organization thus ultimately influences Organizational change and improvements (Satyawan, et al., 2012).
According to (Thomas, et al., 1997), 360 appraisals provide an opportunity provides an opportunity to subordinates to express their views on Management about their behaviors and style. Hence, this can help employees to identify their strengths and weakness in the overall point of view, which the weakness can be mitigated by training and development processes. Further, it enhances two-way communication and increase confidence of subordinates that their voice is respected (Thomas, et al., 1997).
Opposed to traditional appraisals, 360-degree appraisal focuses on needed skills across the Organization. Therefore by delegating the responsibility for appraising to more than one person, many of the errors and discrimination found at traditional appraisals could be reduced (Drakes, 2008).
According to (Riboldi & Maylette, 2007), multiple views of evaluation result will be in a broader view about employee's performances and thereby it leads to reduce bias and discrimination which may result in individual appraisals.
Drawbacks of 360-degree appraisal
According to (Satyawan, et al., 2012 & Thomas, et al., 1997) following drawbacks could occur;
- Employees may try to sabotage or influence superiors. For e.g.: during upward feedback, deals may be done with subordinates to get high ratings in exchange.
- The rating could be used for a person’s mere personal short goals instead of thinking in terms of Organizational goals.
- Appraisal can be detrimental if factors were not given align with the Organization. For e.g.: if a Manager given an appraisal based on customer-centric values, he may prioritize customer relationships than others, thus, less time to his subordinates.
- Under the traditional appraisal method, the supervisor evaluates and can show the appraisal to the subordinate. But 360-degree appraisal includes upward feedback where low ranking employees appraise their superiors which could provide improper feedback due to anonymity issues.
- Appraisee may find difficult to accept feedback when understanding that the Appraiser is not enough competent to provide feedback. For e.g.: If a customer provides feedback, he may not be aware of the work-related pressures and other internal factors of the employee.
- It can be based on an individual’s memory and perception of Appraise, which may overlook past performances.
- According to (Campbell, 1994), 360 appraisal can be time consuming and expensive. He estimates that it is ten times more expensive than the traditional way appraising.
- 360-degree appraisal system which involves many evaluators, which will obviously more time and more cost comparing with other traditional methods (Robert, 2018).
According to (Wright, 2008), 360-degree appraisals are negatively correlated with the financial performances of the Organization. General Electric’s former CEO, Jack Welch once stated, that the 360-degree appraisal system has been manipulated, so that people were saying only the nice things to each other (Robert, 2018). Another disadvantage is that the input from peers, who are in fact the competitors for pay increments and promotions, might intentionally distort the data and harm the colleague’s performance appraisals (Robert, 2018).
Mitigating the drawbacks
Yet, so many Organizations adopt 360-degree appraisal despite its drawbacks, since the benefits outweigh the risk. One example is that Google has a unique approach to 360-degree appraisal, as it empowers Managers and employees to nominate ‘peer reviewers’ from anywhere in the Organization (Drew, 2009). Another biggest risk is confidentiality, in which some Organizations outsource the appraisal process to make stakeholders feel confident and comfortable that the information they share and receive are anonymous (Robert, 2018).
References:
Campbell, (1994), Conquering the fear of feedback, HR Focus, 21(3), cited in Thomas, NG, Michael, M & Mary, F,. (1997), 360 degree feedback: Its role in Employee Development, Journal of Management Development, 16(2), p. 145.
Drakes, S, (2008), ‘Everybody counts’, Black Enterprise 38(1), 58–59, cited in Robert, WDZ, (2018), The influence of a 360-degree performance appraisal on labour productivity in an automotive manufacturing organization, South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, p. 2.
Drew, G., (2009), ‘A 360-degree view for individual leadership development’, Journal of Management Development 28(7), 581–592, https://doi.org/10.1108/ 026217 10910972698, cited in Robert, WDZ, (2018), The influence of a 360-degree performance appraisal on labour productivity in an automotive manufacturing organization, South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, p. 3.
Riboldi, J, & Maylette, T., (2007), ‘Using 360 feedback to predict performance’, T&D 61(1), 48–52, cited in Robert, WDZ, (2018), The influence of a 360-degree performance appraisal on labour productivity in an automotive manufacturing organization, South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, p. 2.
Robert, WDZ, (2018), The influence of a 360-degree performance appraisal on labour productivity in an automotive manufacturing organization, South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, p. 2-3.
Satyawan, B, Sharma, C, and Bhatt, JK., (2012), “360 Degree Feedback Appraisals- An innovative approach of Performance Management System”, International Journal of Management & Information Technology, 1(2), p. 57-8, 60.
Thomas, NG, Michael, M & Mary, F., (1997), 360 degree feedback: Its role in Employee Development, Journal of Management Development, 16(2), p.136-144.
Wright, AD., (2008), ‘At Google, It takes a village to hire an employee’, HR Magazine 53(1), 56–57, cited in Robert, WDZ, (2018), The influence of a 360-degree performance appraisal on labour productivity in an automotive manufacturing organization, South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, p. 2.
Agree, but the puzzle is whether the 360-degree evaluation is an effective feedback mechanism? According to the studies, they emphasize the point that feedback interventions will be effective if employees' attention is focused on the task performance level. feedback interference is less effective if the concentration is shifted to the self-level. Unfortunately, several aspects of a 360-degree assessment often increase the likelihood that the focus will shift to self, while other aspects of a typical 360-degree system will decrease the likelihood that any feedback will be valid for other reasons (Lepsinger and Lucia, 2009).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Sahan. Agree with your view. But the advantages of this appraisal are greater than its disadvantages. Feedback from different perspectives, identifying development opportunities, focusing on core competencies are some of them. (Connectus, 2016). The number one global company Google is behind this appraisal is an example of this appraisals effectiveness.
DeleteAgreed, this is one of the most reliable method of feedback an employee could receive as the employees are being interacted and communicated on a regular basis in terms of their work (Edwards & Even, 1996).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Shakir. Futher, 360 degree appraisal tool can be developed to solicit feedback that is directly linked to the organization’s core competencies (Patricia, 2019).
DeleteAgreed with you Chandran, 360 degree feedback helps each person to consider how others perceive his or her effectiveness as an employee, co-worker or employee.Feedback from the most effective processes is based on behaviors that other employees can see ( Aquinas,2009)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Namal. Further 360 feedback increases involvement of people at all levels of the organization, increases individual ownership for self-development and learning and familiarity with the implications of cultural or strategic change (Kankana, 2016).
DeleteInsightful critical analysis on the 360 degree evaluation system, thank you for sharing! Though there are many drawbacks, due to the greater benefits many organizations use the system as you have stated. According to Ghorpade (2000), a large majority of the Fortune 500 companies adopted 360 degree programs in the 90's, AT&T, Exxon, GE, Amoco, IBM, Caterpillar, Levi Strauss, and Shell Oil to name a few. At my current organization, we use 360 degree feedback surveys however, we do not use the feedback in the evaluation system due to the drawbacks you have discussed. However, the feedback collected is used by the supervisors to provide individuals feedback on areas they can improve on.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Nadeeranga. Adding to above, a 360 degree feedback improves the quality of performance measures by using multi people providing a more balanced and comprehensive view. The information is more reliable, valid and credible because the providers interact regularly with the employee at work (Edwards & Even, 1996).
DeleteHi Chandra, Very important area in HR. The steps which are followed during 360 degree feedback implementation may differ from an organization to another according to its structure and employee profile. Ward (2004) introduces two types of feedback results expected and unexpected results. Expected information from the raters is defined under two headings such as ‘developmental areas’ and ‘strengths. Developmental areas include the attitudes the raters find improvement necessary. Strengths represent the powerful sides of the appraisee which are evaluated by the rater. When the ratee receives the feedback on how he or she is seen by the rater and is surprised by these results, it is called unexpected information.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sithari for your valuable insight. Hence, a Research has shown that the reliability, fairness and acceptability of the feedback process are increased when the input is drawn from multiple sources (Kankana, 2006).
DeleteHi Chandran, with the latest HRM trends, 360 degrees appraisal system has given the cutting edge to the employers to gather the most accurate information about the employee. As Mukhopadhyay (2006) describes, the 360 degrees appraisal system not only gives an avenue to carry out the appraisal for the supervisors but also an opportunity for the employee to remodel himself and be more competent in his various aspects of work.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sahan for your comments. 360 degree feedback is aimed at improving performance by providing a better awareness of strengths and weakness. The employee receives feedback, in anonymous form, or performance ratings from peers, superiors and subordinates (Kaplan &Pauls 1994).
DeleteYes Chandran some advantages of 360 Degree appraisal are as follow:
ReplyDelete- It provides complete and accurate assessment of the employee competencies, behaviour and performance outcome.
- Improves credibility of performance appraisal.
- Opinions gathered from lots of staff are sure to be more persuasive.
- Offers a more comprehensive view towards the performance of employees.
-People who undervalue themselves are often motivated by feedback from others.
- Colleague‟s feedback will help strengthen self -development.
- Increases responsibilities of employees towards their customers.
- The combination of ideas can give a more accurate assessment.
Thank you Sheron for your comments. 360 degree feedback improves the quality of performance measures by using multi rates providing a more balanced and comprehensive view. The information is more reliable, valid and credible because the providers interact regularly with the employee at work (Edwards & Even, 1996).
Delete