Friday, October 31, 2014

360 Degree Feedback: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly



Feedbacks are a great deal when it comes to business of a company. Aren’t we always reliable on feedbacks or the opinions of others? Similarly HR’s all over the world tried out phenomenon of 360 degree feedbacks which was widely appreciated and implemented by the fortune 500 companies.
But is this 360 degree feedback really working out in total, for that lets understand what 360 degree feedback is :-

It’s an evaluation method introduced by HR which incorporates feedback from workers, peers, supervisors, subordinates, customers. All the interpretation of the results of these surveys is tabulated and is shared with the workers, mostly with the managers. These surveys are usually confidential and the primary motive to do this survey is to provide the workers or managers with the appropriate information about his/her performance from different perspectives. All the interpretation of the result, trends and etc. are conveyed as a part of the feedback. This kind of feedback may help the workers or the managers to set goals for their own development and to climb up the ladder.

But why are the organizations all over the world questioning this process. The frequently debated questions asked by organizations are:-
  •      Lacking confidentiality
  •      The questions asked in the surveys are too vague.
  •       People prefer any feedbacks which are personal in nature rather than made up.
  •       Often no plans are set even after receiving the feedbacks.
  •       Usually workers weakness are being focused and jotted down whereas we still forget the integral thing that is strength.
  •     Even the follow up post the 360 plan happens only once.
  •    Which all Feedback tools and process are not be considered.
  •     How to use the feedbacks properly
  •       How to manage and integrate the complete process into a larger performance management system.
Thus this again brings us to a question that is 360 degree feedback is it good, bad and ugly as per the current changes.


                                                                                                                       - SWADHIN MISHRA